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In this issue of the ICEM HIV/AIDS newsletter, we report, among other items, on the VCT campaign in Tanzania sponsored by the IG BCE's Women Department, the efforts to include people living with HIV/AIDS in the health insurance scheme in India, and how the 2010 Soccer World Cup can score goals of another kind. This e-bulletin is also available on the ICEM Website.
The ICEM Calls on its Affiliates to Contribute to this e-bulletin
ICEM affiliates are already engaged in a wide range of HIV/AIDS activities. To spread the information on new agreements, awareness, and prevention campaigns, and educational activities, affiliates and project coordinators are invited to send news and information to hiv.aids@icem.org. Any feedback on the format and contents of the e-bulletin is also welcome.
Editor: Hans J Schwass, ICEM HIV/AIDS Consultant
IG BCE Women Support Project in Tanzania
Since their Congress in October 2008, the Women's Department of the German ICEM affiliate IG BCE (mining, chemical and energy workers) has collected funds for an HIV/AIDS project in Tanzania, in cooperation with ICEM affiliates TUICO (industry) and TAMICO (mining).
After extensive preparatory work, which included a workshop for the TAMICO and TUICO Women's Committees, and a refresher course for male and female peer educators and lay counsellors, activities culminated in a 'Know-your-Status' Campaign in Dar es Salam on 13 June.
Workers and their families were mobilised through union structures and at the workplaces and by pre-campaign radio announcements. With the technical support from the African Medical and Research Foundation (AMREF), facilities for voluntary counselling and testing (VCT) were set up.
From early morning on 13 June, the Mnazi Mmoja grounds were crowded with people wearing white T-shirts, emblazoned with the four logos of the IG BCE, ICEM, TAMICO, and TUICO, and the slogan of the campaign "Know Your HIV Status – Get Tested", in Swahili. People living with HIV/AIDS gave their testimonies and urged participants to get tested. Condoms and femidoms, as well as leaflets and educational brochures were distributed.
More than 600 people turned up at the grounds and well over half of them queued up in front of the African Medical and Research Foundation (AMREF), tents to be tested.
In this outstanding example of international solidarity, EUR 14,000 has been collected so far by the women of IG BCE. This was the first VCT campaign organised by the trade union movement and as donations are still coming in from IG BCE regional and local structures, it is expected to continue the work in 2010.
India: Health Insurance for People with HIV/AIDS?
The National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) is set to make a case for a social security safety net for people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHA). It is exploring the options of getting the Union Labour Ministry's health insurance scheme (RSBY) extended to PLHAs. This health insurance related policy proposal, along with an anti-discrimination Bill protecting PLHAs, and another Bill seeking to protect consumers from being exploited when they procure blood for transfusion, are among the priorities of NACO.
The RSBY scheme was introduced by the Labour Ministry for families below the poverty line in April last year. The Centre or State pays the premium, while the individual pays INR 30 (about USD 0.60) as a registration fee and receives INR 30,000 coverage for hospitalisation for a five-member family. NACO supports PLHAs for HIV-related illnesses, but they are also susceptible to other illnesses such as malaria, appendicitis and heart-attacks, illustrating the need for a social security net.
The anti-discrimination HIV/AIDS Bill, seeking among other things to protect PLHAs at their workplace, has been with the Union Law Ministry for some time.
(Source: Business Line, The Hindu, 3 June)
Soccer World Cup Campaign
Authorities in South Africa have begun construction of one of the 20 planned Football for Hope centres in Africa -- part of a 2010 World Cup campaign called "20 Centres for 2010" aimed at reducing the prevalence of HIV/AIDS, poverty and crime in local communities. The centre, under construction in South Africa's Khayelitsha Township, will include a soccer field, community centre and after-school programs that will focus on sex education and HIV/AIDS education.
The International Federation of Football Associations (FIFA) is providing the campaign with $10 million in funding. Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Namibia, Rwanda and other African countries will be home to the remaining 19 centres. According to FIFA President Joseph Blatter, the centres will "provide a platform for communities to address social issues such as children's rights, education, health, HIV/AIDS prevention and will leave a legacy for Africa that will last long after the final whistle of the 2010 FIFA World Cup has been blown."
(Source: Medical News Today, 28 May)
South Africa: President Addresses Increased Access to ARVs
In his first state-of-the-nation address, South African President Jacob Zuma said he wants to have 80 percent of HIV-positive South Africans who need antiretrovirals (ARVs) on them by 2011. The government would strive to step up measures to improve health care in Africa's strongest economy. "We have set ourselves the goals of reducing inequalities in health care ... and step up the fight against the scourge of HIV and AIDS, TB and other diseases," Zuma said.
Over 630,000 people are on the government's ARV programme currently and provisions are in place to increase that number to 1.4 million by 2011. During his address Zuma also discussed the need for the government to collaborate with stakeholders on a comprehensive plan which aims to reduce the rate of new HIV infections by 50 per cent by the year 2011.
According to the third national 'HIV prevalence, incidence and communication survey', conducted in 2008 by the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), the percentage of people living with HIV in South Africa has barely changed in the last six years, but the survey revealed that between 2002 and 2008 there were many changes in HIV knowledge, risk behaviour and testing habits.
The findings, based on interviews with about 21,000 individuals, 15,000 of whom agreed to anonymous HIV tests, give a fairly detailed picture of South Africa's mixed success in fighting the largest HIV epidemic in the world. Prevalence appears to have stabilized at about 11 per cent, and infection rates among children and teenagers have decreased, not least because of a significant increase in the use of condoms.
HIV infection in the country's nine provinces still varies widely. KwaZulu-Natal, which has consistently carried the highest burden, now has a prevalence of 26 percent in the 15 to 49 age group, up from 22 percent in 2005; in Western Cape, levels increased slightly from 3 percent in 2005 to 5 percent in 2008, but are still the lowest in the country.
(Source: Medical News Today, 9 June and IRIN PlusNews, 9 June)
Namibia: Court Case Highlights Workers' Rights
In a landmark case in Namibia, 22 hotel workers are taking their employer and a doctor to court for allegedly testing them for HIV without their informed consent. According to the allegations, the owner of the Oshakati Country Lodge hired a doctor to conduct HIV tests on all the lodge's employees.
The Legal Assistance Centre (LAC) in the capital Windhoek, which is handling the case, said that the test results were displayed on notice boards in the lodge. The LAC is seeking monetary compensation on the basis that the lodge owner and the doctor violated the workers' rights to privacy and dignity, as guaranteed by the country's constitution. The case will be heard by the High Court in Windhoek at the end of July.
(Source: IRIN PlusNews, 3 July)
Joint Action for Results – UNAIDS Outcome Framework 2009-2011
UNAIDS recently launched its outcome framework for 2009-2011 called Joint Action for Results. This Outcome Framework, which builds upon the UNAIDS Strategic Framework (2007–2011), will guide future investment and hold the Secretariat and the Cosponsors accountable for making the resources of the UN work for results in countries.
Under the Outcome Framework for the period 2009–2011, UNAIDS will focus its efforts on achieving results in eight priority areas. These priority areas have been selected, based on a series of consultations with the cosponsors, communities, civil society, and a broad range of other stakeholders, their realization will accelerate the achievement of universal access.
The eight priority areas include: the prevention of mothers from dying and babies from becoming infected with HIV; treatment of people living with HIV; the prevention of people living with HIV from dying of tuberculosis; the protection of drug users from becoming infected with HIV; the removal of punitive laws, policies, practices, stigma and discrimination that block effective responses to AIDS; stopping violence against women and girls; empower young people to protect themselves from HIV; and enhancing social protection for people affected by HIV.
(Source: UNAIDS website www.unaids.org)
The full document can be downloaded here.
News from the Global Union Federations
The fortnightly HIV/AIDS updates of the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) report on, among other things, the UNAIDS Outcome Framework 2009-2011, the inclusion of the Guyana Clerical and Commercial Workers' Union in the country's Global Fund Coordinating mechanism, and on increased efforts in Ghana to create HIV/AIDS workplace policies (www.itfglobal.org).
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This ICEM release is also available on the ICEM Web-site (http://www.icem.org/en/72-HIV-AIDS/3322-ICEM-HIV-AIDS-e-bulletin-No.-46-July-2009) |
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