CNS: 11th ICAAP

Showing posts with label 11th ICAAP. Show all posts

Gender Violence Increases HIV Vulnerability

Swapna Majumdar, CNS Special Correspondent
Is there a cure for HIV? The success stories of Timothy Brown and the two Boston patients, who rid themselves of the HIV cells through bone marrow transplants, led to hopes that a cure had finally been found. This was further boosted by the fact that the transplants received by them were diametrically different; Brown a transplant with cells that were resistant to HIV and the Boston patients with non-resistant cells. They remained virus-free for months after stopping treatment. However, in December last year, the virus recurred in both the Boston patients.

"Eight tips for using Twitter around health-related events" was first prepared by @francetim (Inis Communication) and @GlobalHealthTom in collaboration with CNS and was launched at the 11th International Conference on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific. Since then it has adapted and used by delegates of various health-related events around the world (and those not attending but following these events online). Most recently it was adapted and disseminated by Mulat Pinoy, CNS and Inis Communication at 7th Asia Pacific Conference on Reproductive and Sexual Health and Rights (7th APCRSHR). This brief guide provides eight simple tips to make the most of one social media platform – Twitter – around 7th APCRSHR. Please contact Inis Communication for getting this guide adapted to your health event!

TB/HIV co-infection: Why is ICAAP silent?

Dr Sugata Mukhopadhyay - CNS
“I am infected with HIV and not scared of AIDS, but definitely of TB. I know TB can knock me down at any time.” Space to discuss crucial issues of TB/HIV co-infection and management appears to be extremely limited in the current ICAAP. Surprisingly, community advocates and activists are also not very vocal on what should be a burning issue for the region.

Shobha Shukla - CNS
India HIV/AIDS Alliance, through a Global Fund supported Pehchan (meaning identity) project is working to build the capacity of 200 Community Based Organizations in 17 Indian states by reaching out to 453, 750 MSM, transgenders and hijras (MTH) using a community driven and rights based approach. Pehchan conducted a cross sectional midline study across 23 districts in 6 Indian states to understand the demographics, behaviour, programme impact and needs of the MTH ensuring protection of rights of these communities by involving them in this research. Active community involvement was prioritised at all steps of the study right from its design to report finalisation. The research instrument was developed using a community led process and the 601 MTH respondents were interviewed by community members and engaged in data analysis and report writing.

Bobby Ramakant - CNS
According to Jim Pickett, Chair of International Rectal Microbicides Advocates (IRMA): Rectal microbicides are products currently under research – that could take the form of gels or lubricants – being developed and tested to reduce a person's risk of HIV or other sexually transmitted infections from anal sex. The risk of becoming infected with HIV during unprotected anal sex is 10 to 20 times greater than unprotected vaginal sex because as the rectal lining is only one-cell thick, the virus can more easily reach immune cells to infect.

Shobha Shukla - CNS
According to a new UNAIDS report on HIV in Asia and the Pacific, there is mixed progress on eliminating new HIV infections in infants. Cambodia, Malaysia, Myanmar and Thailand have over 50% coverage of all services to prevent PTCT (parent to child transmission) of HIV while Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka lag behind with less than 30%. All countries in the region are trying to introduce WHO recommended PPTCT treatment option B to provide early and immediate ARV treatment to all HIV+ positive mothers. Yet overall there has been only 9% reduction in new infections among infants between 2010 and 2012. Cutting down the number of such infections by 90% requires great effort.

Shobha Shukla — CNS
Based on pre-ICAAP interviews conducted by Jeanne Marie Hallacy: Voices of affected community representatives
Repeal punitive laws
“Almost 90% of countries in the Asia Pacific region have retained laws that come from colonial times and are not progressive. They are making it difficult for the communities to access services or even address stigma and discrimination. Repeal of punitive laws in this region is very important.”
Moi Lee Liow, Asia Pacific Council of Aids Service Organizations (APCASO)

Nenet Ortega - CNS
Two decades ago, people living with HIV and AIDS (PLHIV) including their families had been stigmatized in all areas of social life, from communities where they lived and in areas where they normally do their daily grind.

Lwin Lwin Thant - CNS
Since the launch of the Global Commission on HIV and the Law report in July 2012, there have been significant positive outcomes shaping in the Asia-Pacific region. “Today there are 82 countries across the world where UNDP, UN partners, civil society organizations among others have been working together and followed up on the recommendations of this report. We assume this is a good follow up which includes reviewing legal environments in the country, working with judiciary, police, and parliamentarians, and increasing access to justice programmes. There has been very interesting follow-up in the Asia Pacific region too on a range of issues including key populations, intellectual property (IP) and treatment access, among others” said Mandeep Dhaliwal, Director (HIV, Health and Development Practice), UNDP.

Nenet Ortega - CNS
Gender diversity has a long and rich history in the Asia-Pacific region. Most societies are patriarchal, leaving women in general as second-class citizens who face significant economic, social and health challenges compared with men. The situation is even worse for transgenders and sex workers. Stigma and discrimination force most to live on the margins of society. Due to fear, discrimination and isolation, they are often unable to seek out and obtain adequate health and social services. Partly for those reasons, they have long experienced HIV and TB prevalence far above national averages.

Jamie Uhrig - CNS
As many people from around the region head to Bangkok to be on time for the opening of the ICAAP 11, those from Indonesia carry a special piece of news with them. Quietly, The Ministry of Health is encouraging the practice of Test and Treat.

Bobby Ramakant - CNS
At 11th ICAAP, all delegates must have heard the words: stigma and discrimination. But often we refer to external factors that contribute to stigma and discrimination for key populations living with HIV, and might fail to look inside. “We also need to look at stigma and discrimination keeping the ‘self’ factor in mind - on how young men who have sex with men (MSM) and transgender people absorb external stigma and discrimination for instance” said Tung Duy Bui from Viet Nam. Bui is also the Regional Coordinator of “Youth Voices Count (YVC)” which is a network of young MSM and transgender people in Asia Pacific. He spoke to 11th ICAAP Insight team after the symposium on self-stigma among young MSM and transgender.

Hara Mihalea - CNS
In response to the numerous unmet needs of women, girls, and transgender people-- especially those affected by HIV, TB or malaria—the Women4GF (women for Global Fund) initiative was launched earlier this year (2013) as part of The Global Fund Gender Equality Strategy. Preceding the 11th ICAAP held recently in November 2013 in Bangkok, a two day workshop on Gender Equality for advocates and activists of Key Affected Populations (KAPs) was organized by the AIDS, Strategy Advocacy and Policy (ASAP) and funded by the Global Fund for TB, AIDS and Malaria (GFTAM or simply GF).

Photo credit: Vinai Dithajohn/UNAIDS

Hara Mihalea and Bobby Ramakant
Signalling an essential shift away from tokenistic participation of young people in HIV programming to encouraging genuine leadership by them was given strong emphasis at the first ICAAP media briefing ahead of the opening ceremony. “We should put the responsibility of fighting AIDS in the hands of people who have a future, rather than in hands of people who had a history,” declared Mechai Veravaidya, Chairperson of the ICAAP local host organization, The Population and Community Development Association.

Sumita Thapar – CNS
“A man is not a financial plan”, a website advises young women in the Philippines. “Babies are not blessings” it further asserts. Through active use of social media and mobile phone ‘apps’ the web site sexandsensibilities.com reaches out to young, middle class girls with positive notions about sexuality. “Sexuality is about self-identity, self-worth, it is our ‘divine’ right – it is part of being human,” asserts Ana P Santos, the journalist and sex educator who runs the site.

Shobha Shukla - CNS
The complexity in addressing sexual orientation and gender identity in the HIV response has marginalized the issues and needs of transgenders (TGs). While HIV programming in the Asia and the Pacific has scaled up considerably, TGs do tend to get subsumed under the MSM (men who have sex with men) category. Calls to separate programming and resource allocation to address their specific needs and concerns are growing louder.

Shobha Shukla – CNS
Born in 1948 in India, Shivananda Duncan Khan migrated to the UK when he was ten years old. In 1988 he founded an organization for South Asian LGBTs in London called Shakti, followed by health support groups for MSMs across India, Bangladesh and other South Asian countries. After losing a close gay Muslim friend to AIDS in the early 1990s, Mr Khan became active in the AIDS response and founded the Naz Foundation International based in London and Lucknow.

Ishdeep Kohli – CNS

A number of countries in the Asia and the Pacific are showing commitment and leadership by increasing domestic investments for HIV. Malaysia currently funds 97% of its own AIDS response, China 88% and Thailand 85%; India too has committed to increase domestic funding to more than 90% in its next phase of the AIDS response.

Nenet Ortega - CNS
The Global Fund has helped governments and civil society organizations to ‘jump start’ their programmes by funding national HIV, tuberculosis (TB) and malaria initiatives. This has included support to community work, and ART provision etc. This has also helped stimulate domestic health spending, as governments are expected to provide counterpart funds, and eventually to address issues of longer-term sustainability.

Citizen News Service - CNS
You may think that superheroes only fight crime, but they can also fight serious public health issues like drug overdose – a major and often overlooked cause of death among people who inject heroin or other opioids. Armed with naloxone the safe, effective, and easy-to-use antidote to opioid overdose, I travel the world fighting the overdose epidemic. And I’m not the only superhero with naloxone. Drug users, their families, outreach workers, and police around the globe have been trained to use naloxone to save lives.