CNS: 10ICAAP

Showing posts with label 10ICAAP. Show all posts

Decriminalize and engage MSM and transgender populations in HIV responses

Shobha Shukla - CNS
In memory of the light and force in the struggle of gender justice and sexual rights, late Shivanand Khan OBE, we are reproducing what he said to CNS in the recent past:
[Audio podcast] Policies that criminalize same-sex behaviour and punitive laws continue to impede access to existing healthcare services for those at heightened risk of HIV such as men who have sex with men (MSM) and transgender populations. The 10th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (10th ICAAP) is being organized in South Korea - a country where a lot more needs to be done to provide safe, supportive and dignified access to services for LGBT community. "South Korea doesn’t have a very good record regarding programming around sexual minorities and HIV. If you look at the data, one of the highest number of people dying among young LGBT people are here. There is a whole issue around shame and culture that impacts upon their lives. The government is not very responsive, and no education system exists on these issues" said Shivanand Khan, Chief Executive of Naz Foundation International and Co-Chair of Asia Pacific Coalition on Male sexual health (APCOM).

Shobha Shukla - CNS
In memory of the light and force in the struggle of gender justice and sexual rights, late Shivanand Khan OBE, we are reproducing what he said to CNS in the recent past:
[Audio podcast] Stigma within healthcare settings blocks access of men who have sex with men (MSM) and transgender populations to existing services to an alarming level. "The Asia Pacific Coalition on Male sexual health (APCOM) has been looking at this issue of stigma within healthcare settings which prevents people from accessing services and in fact kills people if nothing else. So what NFI and APCOM are doing is engaging more with the UN system, WHO, and other stakeholders to improve quality of education for the health sector, to engage in issues around health sector reforms and to improve services at grassroots level" said Shivananda Khan, Chief Executive of Naz Foundation International (NFI) and Co-Chair of Asia Pacific Coalition on Male sexual health (APCOM) at the 10th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (10th ICAAP) in Busan, South Korea.

Socialist Party (India) demands ending imports from China

In wake of Chinese intrusion into 19kms of Indian territory, the Socialist Party demands that the Government of India must stop all imports of Chinese goods into India. Banares Sarees, Holi 'pichkaaris, woolen clothes, religious statues, various kind of electronic goods, etc are some examples where our markets are flooded with Chinese products. We do not support direct military action at this stage and believe that the dispute should be resolved through bilateral negotiations. But we do support and demand policies which should protect our local markets of small and middle scale industries and local craft artisans across the country. Such a decision will strengthen our economic power. Banning imports from China and promoting domestically produced products will give double boost to our economy and put more pressure on China to respect international borders including India’s.

Way back in 1997, an article ‘Hepatitis C: Waiting for the Grim Reaper’ by Alex Wodak published in Medical Journal of Australia, warned of a potential Hepatitis C epidemic, ringing the alarm bells for Australia. The author called this viral infection a public health problem comparable in magnitude with HIV, and argued that as injecting drug use is undeniably the major mode of transmission, encouraging drug users to adopt non-injecting routes of administration may be the most effective way of controlling it.

In June of this year, world leaders including the former Secretary-General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, the Executive Director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (The Global Fund) Dr Michel Kazatchkine and 5 former presidents and prime ministers, formed the Global Commission on Drug Policy, and released a report after reviewing the global body of evidence. The report’s very first sentence succinctly describes their findings: “The Global War on Drugs has failed, with devastating consequences for individuals and societies around the world.”

Fuelled by the HIV pandemic and the spread of drug-resistant strains, tuberculosis (TB) has re-emerged as a major threat to global health. TB is a curable disease that continues to affect millions of people globally each year, and is a leading cause of death in HIV positive people. According to the 2009 WHO Report on Global TB Control, there were 9.4 million new TB cases in 2008, out of which 1.4 million (14%) were HIV positive (78% of them were in Africa and 13% in Southeast Asia). Mortality from TB was 1.7 million, and about 0.5 million of these deaths were in People Living with HIV (PLHIV), who are at a much increased risk of contracting TB. In high burden HIV settings (like the sub Saharan region) more than 70% of TB patients are living with HIV. So, universal access to HIV care cannot be achieved without addressing TB.

'Production of quality affordable generic medicines is key in access to life saving /life-extending treatments for people who need it, and narrow national economic interests should not take precedence over a global commitment to save lives of People Living With HIV (PLHIV)...'. This message was brought out clearly at the recently concluded 10th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (10th ICAAP), held in Busan, Korea.

The Busan Police turned violent on peaceful demonstrators at the 10th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (10th ICAAP), which was attended by over 2500 delegates and one of whose main issues is to protect the human rights of populations affected with HIV/ AIDS. Activists including people living with HIV (PLHIV) from all over the world, who attended the 10th ICAAP joined Korean activists in a peaceful anti-Free-Trade Agreements (FTAs) march. Korea is in the process of signing FTA treaties with USA and the European Union (EU), and this is likely to block the production of generic medicines and increase the prices of essential medicines including antiretroviral (ARV) drugs, thus further limiting their access to those for whom they are intended.

HIV/AIDS is a serious health challenge, and the law itself is in crisis in responding to this epidemic in the Asia and the Pacific Region. The legal impediments to universal access, which also enhance stigma and discrimination, were discussed at length at the recently concluded 10th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (10th ICAAP) in Busan, South Korea.

The 10th International Congress on AIDS In Asia and the Pacific (10th ICAAP) recently held in Busan, South Korea, clearly brought out the need to engage the key affected young population of the Asia and Pacific region in ownership and leadership of HIV responses. It would not be possible to achieve the three zeros - Zero new HIV infections, Zero discrimination and Zero AIDS related deaths - without meaningful participation of the young community.

The Commission on AIDS in Asia report (March 2008) gave an Asian perspective to HIV epidemic and had put forth evidence-based recommendations to improve HIV responses locally. “The Commission on AIDS in Asia report had a major impact because for the first time somebody has said very clearly about Asian epidemic. Otherwise generally all epidemics in the world are put in the same bracket along with Africa and same solutions are prescribed to everybody” said Dr JVR Prasada Rao, Senior Adviser to UNAIDS Executive Director. Dr Rao gave an exclusive interview to CNS at the 10th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (10th ICAAP).

For thirty years now, HIV has continued to spread across all levels of our societies, killing 30 million people and infecting another 30 million. In order to realize the goal of the three zeroes - Zero New Infections, Zero AIDS Related Deaths, and Zero Discrimination and Stigma it is imperative to tackle the last one to achieve the first two. This message was brought out clearly during the 10th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (10th ICAAP) held in Busan, Korea.

Thirty years into the AIDS epidemic, and on the occasion of the 10th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (10th ICAAP), being held at Busan, the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) released a new report on the HIV epidemic in the Asia-Pacific region. The report titled ‘HIV in Asia and the Pacific: Getting to Zero’, provides the latest regional and country-level data on the HIV epidemic and response, and offers perspectives on the situations, opportunities and challenges currently at play.

Voices from the Women's Community Forum at ICAAP

The Women's Community Forum organized in lead up to the 10th International AIDS Congress in Asia and the Pacific (10th ICAAP) in Busan, South Korea, has undoubtedly made it clear: women and girls need to be recognized not only as key affected populations but also as equal partners at all levels of HIV responses in local contexts.

[Audio podcast] Stigma within healthcare settings blocks access of men who have sex with men (MSM) and transgender populations to existing services to an alarming level. "The Asia Pacific Coalition on Male sexual health (APCOM) has been looking at this issue of stigma within healthcare settings which prevents people from accessing services and in fact kills people if nothing else. So what NFI and APCOM are doing is engaging more with the UN system, WHO, and other stakeholders to improve quality of education for the health sector, to engage in issues around health sector reforms and to improve services at grassroots level" said Shivananda Khan, Chief Executive of Naz Foundation International (NFI) and Co-Chair of Asia Pacific Coalition on Male sexual health (APCOM) at the 10th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (10th ICAAP) in Busan, South Korea.

[Audio podcast] Policies that criminalize same-sex behaviour and punitive laws continue to impede access to existing healthcare services for those at heightened risk of HIV such as men who have sex with men (MSM) and transgender populations. The 10th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (10th ICAAP) is being organized in South Korea - a country where a lot more needs to be done to provide safe, supportive and dignified access to services for LGBT community. "South Korea doesn’t have a very good record regarding programming around sexual minorities and HIV. If you look at the data, one of the highest number of people dying among young LGBT people are here. There is a whole issue around shame and culture that impacts upon their lives. The government is not very responsive, and no education system exists on these issues" said Shivanand Khan, Chief Executive of Naz Foundation International and Co-Chair of Asia Pacific Coalition on Male sexual health (APCOM).

In the lead up to the 10th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (10th ICAAP), an issue-focussed and time-limited online consultation was facilitated on the issue: key affected women and girls, on SEA-AIDS by the Asia Pacific Alliance for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (APA) and Citizen News Service (CNS) during 1-20 August 2011 [The summary report of this online consultation is online here. It will be released at the Women Community Forum of 10th ICAAP too on 25th August 2011].

The 10th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (10th ICAAP), which is being convened in Busan from 26th August to 30th August, 2011, promises to promote equal access to prevention, support, treatment and care for all people. It raises our hopes to address the needs and rights of key affected women and girls (who include those living with HIV, female sex workers, female drug users, transgender women, wives/partners of drug users, wives of men-who-have-sex-with-men - MSMs) in HIV programmes.

....Thus spoke Mr Myung Hwan Cho, Congress Chair of the 10th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (10th ICAAP) which is being convened in Busan, South Korea from 26th to 30th August, 2011. ICAAP, the largest HIV/AIDS Forum in Asia Pacific Region, is a biennial gathering for the release and discussion of scientific, programmatic and policy developments in the global response to the issues of HIV/AIDS.

The Asia Pacific Alliance for Sexual and Reproductive Rights (APA), Citizen News Service (CNS) and SEA-AIDS eForum Resource Team have launched the topic 2 of online consultation in lead up to the 10th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (10th ICAAP). The Topic 2 is open for comments during 1-20 August 2011. GUIDING QUESTION is: What strategies would you priorities to address the needs and rights of key affected women and girls? In your response, please clarify who you consider key affected women and girls and what are the main challenges in ensuring a more enabling environment for these women and girls? Please share examples. Have your say! (send comments to bobby@citizen-news.org)