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Positive Victorians Contributing to the Global Response to HIV/AIDS.A number of positive Victorian men and women are currently involved in the global response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic. This page intends to keep you up to date with what's happening internationally. The page is co-ordinated by Susan Paxton, currently Australia's representative on APN+ (Asia Pacific Network). Contact s.paxton@pgrad.unimelb.edu.au
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REUTERS (24 Nov 98)Global HIV Infections Rise 10% in 1998.By Patricia Reaney LONDON, Nov 24 (Reuters) - Nearly 20 years into the AIDS epidemic and despite promising new drugs and improved prevention, global HIV infections rose 10 percent in 1998 and half of the new cases were in young people under 24. Every minute of the year 11 men, women and children contracted the deadly virus that causes AIDS, bringing the worldwide total to 33.4 million people.UNAIDS, the United Nations agency set up to combat the spread of the deadly virus, said more than 95 percent of all HIV infected people now live in the developing world. ``The epidemic has not been overcome anywhere. Virtually every country in the world has seen new infections in 1998 and the epidemic is frankly out of control in many places,'' UNAIDS said in its annual update of the epidemic. Carol Bellamy, the executive director of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), likened the epidemic to a plague that is systematically devastasting entire societies. ``Those numbers are framed by one terrible, inescapable fact: that it is young people up to the age of 24 who are bearing the brunt of the casualites,'' she told a news conference to launch the report on Tuesday. The research painted a horrifying picture of an epidemic whose death toll rises every year. Nearly six million new cases were reported this year. The developing world, particularly sub-Saharan Africa, is the epicentre of AIDS. Up to a quarter of adults in some African nations are infected with the virus. South Africa alone has one of every seven new infections on the continent. More than 22 million people in sub-Saharan Africa are estimated to have the virus, 6.7 million people in South and Southeast Asia and 1.4 million people in Latin America. The epidemic started later in Asian and Eastern European countries but is rapidly gaining ground there. In many developing countries AIDS is eating away the economic advances built up over decades. Dr Peter Piot, executive director of UNAIDS, said the six million new cases and 2.5 million deaths this year represent a collective failure because more was known now about prevention and protection than ever before. War, famine, political turmoil, lack of medical facilities, shame and secrecy have fuelled the epidemic in many poor nations where the disease is invisible and many people do not even realise they are infected. But he said Uganda, Thailand, Senegal and Tanzania were examples of success stories where local prevention programmes had helped to curb the disease. Antiretroviral drugs that have prolonged the lives of sufferers in the West are unaffordable in most developing countries. But Piot noted that the therapeutic success has not been accompanied by progress in prevention because the number of new cases has remained stagnant in North America and Western Europe with about 75,000 new cases each year. And with a vaccine against the HIV virus at least four or five years away, he said prevention was the best way to fight the epidemic. ``I predict in the near future we will see much progress (in vaccines),'' he told the news conference, adding that several vaccines were in early trials.
APN+ASIA PACIFIC NETWORK OF PEOPLE LIVING WITH HIV/AIDS1998 Annual Report Susan Paxton,APN+ Australian Representative and Human Rights Convenor APN+, the Asia Pacific Network of People living with HIV/AIDS, was formed in 1994 and has fast become the most developed regional network of PWA in the world. APN+ is committed to improving the quality of life of people living with HIV/AIDS in the region. The aims of the network are to: - provide a strong, proactive voice and advocate on behalf of PWA - lobby for equal representation of PWA on all relevant decision making bodies - facilitate communication and the exchange of information between PWA - provide opportunities to develop a range of skills and respond to PWA needs - overcome the fear, ignorance, prejudice and discrimination PWA face - lobby for improved access to treatments, care and support APN+ is managed by a Board of Representatives comprising of positive representatives from countries within the region. Country Representatives on the APN+ Board are elected for a two year period. The Board of Representatives is responsible for developing the vision, policy and direction of APN+ and carrying out the yearly workplan. The APN+ Secretariat was relocated to Singapore in July this year. Responsibility for the day to day running of the Secretariat rests with the Coordinator, who is managed by a Steering Committee. APN+ sits on the International Advisory Committee of the Fifth International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific to be held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in October 1998. APN+ activities take place in Working Groups, which are open to any PWA in the region: Skills Building Within the Asia Pacific region many competent and committed people are often at a major disadvantage in contributing because of a lack of skills retraining in the AIDS arena. APN+ sees capacity building of PWA as a definite way of preparing them to take on roles as community leaders and get involved in policy and decision-making process at all levels. The APN+ Capacity Building Program is a multi-faceted, multi-site program and includes both regional and in-country training. The objective is to develop sustainable skills so that people living with HIV/AIDS can move beyond tokenism. In 1998 APN+ offered training in Information Technology to Board Members and other PWA from developing countries, with funding from the European Union. Further workshops in this area will be offered, for PWA only, at the forthcoming Fifth International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific in 1999. At its annual Strategic Planning Meeting in September 1998 APN+ identified the urgent need to train positive people in a variety of skills, from organisational development to English language. Current APN+ Board Members and Alternate Representatives are in immediate need of training in basic proposal writing and facilitator training so that they are able to pass on their skills to other PWA in their communities. APN+ sees twinning and information sharing as an excellent way to achieve this. At a meeting during the Geneva World AIDS Conference, AFAO and the Australian Department of Health committed funds to train PWA who are in leadership positions within the region. This training will occur in Australia early in 1999. A further need repeatedly expressed by many PWA within the region is training in public speaking and presentation skills. Because this need is widespread, APN+ has decided to produce a Public Speakers’ Manual. The manual will be translated into five Asian languages and will be launched at the Fifth International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific in October 1999. Human Rights To successfully respond to the AIDS pandemic, APN+ believes it is necessary to place human rights at the cornerstone of our fight. However, before we can counter the various forms of discrimination faced by PWA, it is necessary to document and describe the critical human rights issues facing PWA and examine the impact of discrimination on the quality of life of people living with HIV/AIDS. In order to move human rights forward in the Asia Pacific region APN+ commenced a Human Rights Initiative, a peer based project to document violations of human rights of PWA in the region, in October 1997. This is the first systematic documentation of discrimination experienced by PWA to be carried out in the world, and is now at the forefront in the field of Human Rights and AIDS. It is largely funded by UNAIDS. This project is designed and carried out (including data collection) by HIV positive people. APN+ believes, in line with the GIPA Principle, that positive people are best placed to monitor and report on PWA violations. Involving PWA in project implementation builds an awareness of human rights violations and provides them with the information to enable self-advocacy. The process of training PWA and involving them in an ongoing discourse with NGOs and GOs is as important as the product. Activities carried out over the past year:
The Human Rights Working Group is currently discussing the adoption of this Human Rights Initiative in other regions. There has been a keen response from PWA and legal groups in South Africa and Uganda who are interested in beginning similar documentations. In 1999 APN+ plans to analyse and disseminate the information gleaned to date; create in-country fora for a human rights discourse; initiate interventions based on the data collected; train the current documenters to train the next generation of interviewers within their own countries; develop advocacy strategies for community action on human rights and AIDS, including mechanisms to influence policy makers and lobby governments and NGOs around critical human rights issues and effect attitudinal, legislative and policy change towards PWA; expand the project and carry out a more extensive documentation in India, Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia and amongst Indigenous Australians. Information Exchange APN+ operates an e-mail discussion group, open to PWA only, APN Plus Share. This e-mail discussion network has enhanced opinions and discussions amongst PWA in the Asia Pacific region. It now has over 400 subscribers. Access to Treatments The impact of lack of access to various forms of treatments for PWA in developing countries was brought home to many of us towards the end of last year, when APN+ lost a Board Member, Marife Tanate. In 1996/7 Marife had been stationed at the UNAIDS Asia Pacific Intercountry Team office in Bangkok for a project assessing the information needs of PWA in the region. She was the first paid worker within APN+. During her period of employment she had access to antiretroviral therapies. On her return to the Philippines, however, without access to continued medication, her health declined rapidly, and she died of TB, an easily curable disease, within months. She was an intelligent, gentle, committed and dearly loved sister and is sadly missed within the network. APN+, through its Access to Treatments Working Group advocates for equitable access to treatment, care and support for all PWA. APN+ attempts to pressure and influence decisions of governments and drug companies, build and maintain partnerships with international agencies and organisations, and come up with mechanisms to improve access to drugs in countries lacking them. Outreach APN+ now has contact with PWA in 15 countries: Australia, Fiji, Guam, Hong Kong, Indonesia, India, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam. At its 1998 Strategic Planning Meeting APN+ decided to develop a new Outreach Working Group in order to actively pursue contact with PWA in other, particularly less developed countries in the region. Countries targeted for specific outreach programs over the next twelve months are Bangladesh, Laos and Cambodia, as well as other Pacific Countries. September 1998
Susan Paxton
(4 Sept 97) APN+ Human Rights Initiative - A Global FirstAPN+, the Asia Pacific Network of People living with HIV/AIDS, has recently been successful in a funding submission to UNAIDS to establish a Human Rights Initiative in the Asia Pacific region. This is a global first in terms of a regional documentation of human rights violations in relation to HIV. The fact that the project is designed and implemented by people living with AIDS is significant and necessary in order to stimulate debate and develop a comprehensive understanding of the interrelationship between Human Rights and HIV/AIDS in the region, to provide PLWHA with the information to enable self-advocacy, and to work towards legal reform and more enlightened public health policy. The Initiative aims to:
The project is about to employ a project coordinator based in Hong Kong. He will:
Within each country, trained PLWHA will document human rights concerns including confidentiality after testing, discrimination by health workers, dismissal from work/school/social group, medical insurance, access to treatment and care, women's rights within marriage, children's rights to attend school, sexual rights, preparing for death. For further inquiries contact the Convenor of the APN+ Human Rights Working Group: smpaxton@pgrad.unimelb.edu.au Back to Top
(5 Sept 97) 3rd International Indigenous Conference 1998The Third 'Healing Our Spirit Worldwide' International Indigenous Conference 1998 will be held in Rotorua, New Zealand from the 1-6 February 1998. The aim of this conference is to provide a forum for indigenous people worldwide to network and share resources, research and information associated with the prevention and treatment issues relating to drug and alcohol abuse. For more information contact : Phone : 647 - 333-2609, Fax : 647 - 333-2608 Back to Top |
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Send mail to posvic@msn.com.au with questions or comments about this web site.
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