Rocking chair syndrome gripping the TB response?

[watch the video] Akin to a rocking chair that moves forwards and backwards without any real progress, we cannot assume busy TB programmes which may appear to have a lot of movement, to be making any real progress - unless they are doing what is warranted as per science and evidence to end TB.

One step towards making the world free of TB

Let us share an old story you might have read it already. But guiding lights always guide. This is one of them for us: "Once upon a time, there was an old woman who used to go to the ocean to do her writing. She had a habit of walking on the beach every morning before she began her work. Early one morning, she was walking along the shore after a big storm had passed and found the vast beach littered with starfish as far as the eye could see. Off in the distance, she noticed a small girl approaching.  As the girl walked, she paused ever so often and as she grew closer, the woman could see that the girl was occasionally bending down to pick up an object and throw it into the sea.  The woman called out, "Good morning!  May I ask what it is that you are doing?" The girl paused, looked up, and replied “Throwing starfish into the ocean. When the sun gets high, they will die, unless I throw them back into the water.”  The woman replied, “But there must be tens of thousands of starfish on this beach. I am afraid you would not really be able to make much of a difference." The girl bent down, picked up yet another starfish and threw it as far as she could into the ocean. Then she turned, smiled and said, “It made a difference to that one!”

CNS at AIDS 2024

Feminist world-building: Creative energies, collective journeys

watch the video | listen to podcast | हिन्दी

... So goes the theme of the 4th Asia Pacific Feminist Forum (APFF) which will be held in Chiang Mai in northern Thailand next month. This theme is a pointer towards channelising the energies of people of all genders who work to defend human rights and promote gender equality to collectively resist the patriarchal, militarised and greed-driven world we are living in, and envisioning a feminist world order.

[podcast] Asia Pacific not on track to end AIDS, viral hepatitis and sexually transmitted infections

This special Podcast features Dr Po-Lin Chan, Regional Advisor (HIV, Hepatitis and Sexually Transmitted Infections - STIs) at World Health Organization (WHO) South-East Asia Regional Office, and Dr Ishwar Gilada, who is a part of Organising Committee of 25th International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2024) and Governing Council of International AIDS Society (IAS). They were in conversation with CNS Founder Executive Director and Managing Editor Shobha Shukla in Munich Germany. CNS is among the official media partners of AIDS 2024.

• Opening and closing instrumental piano music is played by Ms Reya Iyer Shukla from UK.

Listen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Spotify, YouTube Podcasts, TuneIn, Podtail, BluBrry, Himalaya, ListenNotes, American Podcasts, CastBox FM, Ivy FM, Player FM, iVoox, and other podcast streaming platforms.

[podcast] 2024 Asia Pacific Feminist Forum to focus on "Feminist world-building: Creative energies, collective journeys"

This special Podcast features leaders from 2024 Asia Pacific Feminist Forum #APFF4 (Chiang Mai, Thailand: 12-14 September 2024). The theme of APFF4 is "Feminist world-building: Creative energies, collective journeys." Panelists include: Abia Akram, a disability rights activist and the founder and CEO of the National Forum of Women with Disabilities in Pakistan; Eni Lestari, a migrant rights activist and the Chairperson of International Migrants Alliance; Ivy Josiah, a women's rights activist who has led Malaysia’s Women’s Aid Organisation for 20 years as its Past President and Executive Director. They are in conversation with CNS founder Executive Director and feminist leader Shobha Shukla.

• For more information on APFF4, click here. 
• Opening and closing instrumental piano music is played by a 7 years old feminist Ms Tara Iyer Shukla from UK.

Listen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Spotify, YouTube Podcasts, TuneIn, Podtail, BluBrry, ListenNotes, American Podcasts, CastBox FM, Ivy FM, Player FM, iVoox, and other podcast streaming platforms.

Move from rhetoric to action on #PutPeopleFirst

Transformative empowerment is mostly not given by ‘experts from the outside,’ but happens when the most affected people themselves rise to take back power to transform their lives and wellbeing. “When we put people first, then we cannot just address one or two issues they face,” rightly says Amrita Sarkar of India HIV/AIDS Alliance who has worked on a range of issues related to transgender people since last 23 years.

Global Media Briefing in lead up to UN High-Level Meeting on Antimicrobial Resistance

Call to register

The United Nations General Assembly will convene a High-Level Meeting on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) for the second time during its 79th session in New York on 26th September 2024. The theme of the meeting is “Investing in the present and securing our future together: Accelerating multi-sectoral global, regional and national actions to address Antimicrobial Resistance.”

[video] Feminist world-building: Creative energies, collective journeys

Reaching the unreached migrants in unorganised workforce with health services

According to the Ministry of Labour and Employment of Government of India, the workers in the unorganised sector constitute about 93% of the total workforce in the country. A lot of them are informal migrant workers who live in difficult conditions and are most likely to be left behind when it comes to accessing healthcare and social protection services.

AIDS deaths declining globally except in Eastern Europe and Central Asia

AIDS-related deaths have declined worldwide except in Eastern Europe and Central Asia region. The latest data from joint United Nations programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) released last month shows that as compared to 2010, AIDS-related deaths have declined globally by more than half (51%) by 2023 but increased by 34.4% in Eastern Europe and Central Asia region.

No one is safe from drug-resistant microbes until everyone is safe

"No one is safe until everyone is safe," said Dr Umesh Dahal, Director General, Department of Livestock Services, Government of Nepal. He was referring to antimicrobial resistance or drug resistance when microbes (such as bacteria, virus, fungi or parasites) stop responding to medicines – which makes diseases difficult (or impossible) to treat.

AIDS response caught in a debt trap

When countries are unable to repay debts, domestic financing for health, education or social protection gets slashed which disproportionately affects the already impoverished and marginalised communities in the Global South. Richer nations and financial institutions of the Global North have relentlessly imposed neoliberal policies that force Global South countries to prioritise debt repayment over human rights (or risk debt default) through a mix of regressive anti-people taxation, privatisation of public services, deregulation and cuts on public spending that undermine essential services guaranteed under international and national laws.

No one is immune to antimicrobial resistance

"Even the healthiest amongst us could face a life-threatening situation through a minor injury, routine surgery, or common lung infection, if antimicrobials fail,” said Dr Rajesh Sambhajirao Pandav, World Health Organization (WHO) Representative to Nepal. “For those with pre-existing conditions like cancers, HIV, or diabetes, an untreatable infection can become an unexpected and deadly adversary.”

The power of profit: People-led social enterprises

While community-led organisations are playing a critical role in the people-centred delivery of HIV prevention, care and treatment services, financial sustainability often becomes a major roadblock for them. Social entrepreneurship could be an innovative business model to generate revenue and keep them afloat, despite shrinking donor funding. Apart from creating financial stability, social enterprises also impact innovative HIV prevention, treatment and care models, new partnerships with the private sector, and increased inclusion for gender diverse people.

South Asia regional media workshop to combat AMR to take place in Kathmandu

Health TV Online, Nepal

Health TV Online, Kathmandu- Nepal is gearing up to host the first South Asia Regional Media Workshop to Prevent Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) on August 7th in Kathmandu. Recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO) as one of the foremost global public health and development threats, AMR poses significant risks to the South Asia region.

[video] Do not leave migrant workers behind in AIDS response

[video] World has a chance to heal if ... listen to Annabelle Mandeng, film and TV actress at AIDS 2024

[video] Youth-led initiatives give hope for holistic care and support for children and adolescents living with HIV

[video] Asia Pacific is not on track to end viral hepatitis, HIV, TB, sexually transmitted infections

AIDS is at a crossroads: Would governments expand the proven key population-led services?

“We are at a critical juncture in our response to end AIDS. As of now, we have 6.7 million people living with HIV in our region. Despite the progress we have made in our AIDS response, there are still 300,000 new HIV infections and 150,000 AIDS related deaths each year,” said Harry Prabowo of Asia Pacific Network of people living with HIV (APN Plus) and Seven Alliance. Even one AIDS death is a death too many because we have the science-based tools to avert it.

Youth-led initiatives spark hope for children and adolescents living with HIV

"As a young person living with HIV, I had self-stigmatised myself due to the fear of discrimination… fear of discrimination if I dare disclose my HIV positive status to others… this fear had stopped me from living life like a normal person,” said a youth living with HIV who is interning with Human Touch Foundation in Goa, India.

If some countries in Asia Pacific can be on track to end AIDS then why cannot all?

Not just richer nations like New Zealand are meeting some of the 2025 HIV-related targets but also low- and middle-income countries like Nepal, Cambodia and Thailand in Asia and the Pacific region.

Call to leave #NoOneBehind: 100-100-100 to end TB and end AIDS before 2030

 
Over 1500 people from 73 countries are unequivocally demanding that all people with HIV or TB must have access to full cascade of standard health services and social support in people-centred, rights-based and gender transformative ways. Unless best of WHO recommended prevention, diagnostics, treatment, care and support reaches everyone in need globally, we cannot end TB or AIDS.

Alarm rings in Asia Pacific for not making U-equals-U and HIV prevention accessible to all

The latest 2024 data from United Nations joint programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) show that highest number of people who got newly infected with HIV in Asia and the Pacific region in 2023, were linked to those who do not know that they were HIV positive, followed by those who were diagnosed but not able to access treatment, or not virally suppressed. Governments have failed to ensure that every person living with HIV receives lifesaving antiretroviral therapy and remains virally suppressed. If a person is virally suppressed, then there is no risk of any HIV transmission linked to this person, as per the World Health Organization (WHO).

Corporate greed continues to impede AIDS response

"We do not have an HIV vaccine or cure yet, but we have the next best thing: a prevention medication that is 100% effective!" said Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of United Nations joint programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). She appealed to Big Pharma to "share it with UN-backed Medicines Patent Pool and allow generic licenses in low- and middle-income countries."

A-for-Accountability is missing in responses to HIV, hepatitis, STIs and TB

We have the science-based tools to prevent, diagnose, treat and manage all four infections: HIV, hepatitis, sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and TB. Despite this, TB has been the biggest infectious disease killer in the world till COVID-19 had hit us (but more people died of TB in high-burden countries than those who died of COVID). Now, another preventable infection, hepatitis, has emerged to kill as many people as those who died from TB in 2022 (around 1.3 million). 630,000 people died due to AIDS in 2022.

Beyond the shadow of stigma: Internal stigma is out of the shadows at AIDS 2024

"Stigma can be so insidious. It cuts deep and affects all of us," said Shaun Mellors, Director, Community Stakeholder Engagement, ViiV Healthcare who was speaking on Zero HIV Stigma Day during the opening plenary of LIVING2024. “Every day should be Zero HIV Stigma day,” rightly said Shaun.

Underfunded fight against AIDS is failing to focus on people who are key to end AIDS

The fight against AIDS in Asia and the Pacific region is not only severely under-resourced but also struggling to focus on key populations. Key populations are not only more at risk of HIV acquisition but also have proven to be gamechangers when genuinely engaged in the HIV programmes at all levels.

Advanced HIV disease threatens to wither away the gains made in fight against AIDS

No one needs to die of AIDS because, thanks to science, lifesaving antiretroviral therapy and viral suppression can gift all people living with HIV a healthy and fulfilling life. But, unfortunately, many a slip between the cup and the lip. "Even one AIDS death is a death too many. Despite having the tools and scientific know-how to avert AIDS deaths, 630,000 people died of AIDS in 2022. Governments, donors, pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturing companies, HIV and health advocates and activists, and all other stakeholders could have done better if we were to avert AIDS-related deaths," said firebrand health and human rights activist Loon Gangte who leads Delhi Network of People living with HIV (DNP Plus) and International Treatment Preparedness Coalition (ITPC) in South Asian region.

Why are key populations on the blindspot in the global HIV response?

"Put people first is a reminder that the people we serve is at the very heart of our work” said Professor Sharon Lewin, International Co-Chairperson of world’s largest AIDS conference this year (25th International AIDS Conference or AIDS 2024). But when we look at the global HIV response, those people who are most at risk of the virus, are seldom receiving HIV and other health services with right, human dignity and without any stigma, discrimination or criminalisation.

We have more infection-prevention options now but are they actual choices for the people?

Scientific research and development has thankfully increased the number of prevention options we have today to stop the spread of several infections including HIV and TB. But are they actual choices for the people-at-risk of getting infected?

Putting people first means following Gandhi's Talisman

What can be a better explanation of what #PutPeopleFirst means than what was explained so candidly by Mahatma Gandhi. He had said: "I will give you a talisman. Whenever you are in doubt, or when the self becomes too much with you, apply the following test- Recall the face of the poorest and the weakest man [or woman or any gender] whom you may have seen, and ask yourself if the step you contemplate is going to be of any use to him [or her or them]. Will he [or she or they] gain anything by it? Will it restore him [or her or them] to a control over his [or her or their] own life and destiny? Then you will find your doubts melt away."