The Australian government’s efforts to curb the spread of HIV by advocating harm-reduction initiatives, such as needle-exchange programs and drug substitution therapy, for injection drug users serve as a model for other countries throughout the region, UNAIDS Asia Pacific Director Prasada Rao said recently, the AAP/Sydney Morning Herald reports.

Rao said that Australia has called on Asian states to increase harm-reduction programs and examine current drug laws, especially in those states where penalties for drug users can include the death penalty. Rao said, “Australia is a good model for harm reduction programs and also for looking at drug laws and revamping them. In fact, quite a few countries in Asia have learned their harm reduction strategies in good examples from Australia.” Parliamentary Secretary for International Development Assistance Bob McMullan said that it is still possible for countries to adopt effective prevention and harm reduction strategies to combat HIV without encouraging drug use. He said that a “very big important part of the Australian government policy” is working “strongly” with drug users. He added that “in terms of reducing the spread of HIV, we have to focus on prevention.” Rao’s comments came as McMullan announced an additional 640,000 Australian dollars, or about $470,000, for nongovernmental organizations working in Asia (Corben, AAP/Sydney Morning Herald, 5/3).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.

© 2009 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

Ghana’s minister of justice and attorney general, Betty Mould-Iddrisu, recently called on private and public employers to create policies that would provide comprehensive care to employees living with HIV or tuberculosis, as well as their families, GNA/GhanaWeb.com reports. Mould-Iddrisu was speaking at the launch of an HIV/TB workplace project in the capital of Accra. She said that people living with HIV and TB should receive support and information in their workplaces. She continued, “HIV has no national boundaries and is no respecter of the rich. Therefore, no country can afford to ignore the disease.” Both private and public organizations should raise awareness about these diseases and address stigma surrounding those living with HIV/AIDS, she said.

Elizabeth Leiss, program manager for the German Technical Cooperation’s HIV/TB Project, said the project will enable almost 1,000 employees of the Ministry of Justice and their families to access no-cost counseling, condoms and antiretroviral treatment at their workplaces. She said that the project plans to provide “prevention and diagnosis of HIV/TB, treatment, care and support of infected and affected employees and their close family members and enable a non-discriminative environment in the framework of an HIV/TB policy.” Sakyi Awuku Amoah, director-general of the Ghana AIDS Commission, called on people in the country to collaborate and support the HIV/AIDS workplace project (GNA/GhanaWeb.com, 5/4).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.

© 2009 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

President Obama has proposed a $63 billion, six-year global health initiative as part of his fiscal year 2010budget, Reuters reports (Bohan, Reuters, 5/5). Obama’s plan calls for the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief to receive $51 billion over six years to fight HIV, tuberculosis and malaria, while the remaining $12 billion would be directed to other global health issues (Stolberg, New York Times, 5/6). The other issues include pre- and post-natal care and child health initiatives (BBC News, 5/5). Obama’s proposal would increase FY 2010 spending on global HIV, TB and malaria to $7.4 billion, $366 million more than this year (New York Times, 5/6),

“We cannot fix every problem,” Obama said in a statement, adding, “But we have a responsibility to protect the health of our people, while saving lives, reducing suffering, and supporting the health and dignity of people everywhere” (Elliott, AP/Google.com, 5/6). “We cannot simply confront individual preventable illnesses in isolation. The world is interconnected, and that demands an integrated approach to global health,” Obama said, citing the H1N1 outbreak as an example (New York Times, 5/6).

The Times reports that the plan represents a “broader global health strategy” than HIV, which was the “centerpiece” of former President George W. Bush’s PEPFAR program that is “regarded as one of his most significant achievements” (New York Times, 5/6).

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said, “Our investments in programs to combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, TB and other preventable diseases save millions of lives, reduce maternal and child mortality, and reflect our nation’s leadership as a positive force for progress around the world” (AP/Google.com, 5/6). Clinton added that the new global health initiative will be a “crucial component of American foreign policy and a signature element of smart power” (Telegraph, 5/5). White House Deputy Secretary of State Jack Lew said the Obama administration is expanding efforts to fight “poverty, food insecurity and disease with solutions that will leave behind the tools to sustain long-term progress” (AP/Google.com, 5/6).

Reaction
Critics of the plan said Obama’s proposal falls short of a campaign pledge, the AP/Google.com reports (AP/Google.com, 5/6). As a presidential candidate, Obama said that he would expand PEPFAR “by $1 billion a year in new money over the next five years” and that he would provide $50 billion by 2013 to fight HIV/AIDS worldwide. The White House on Tuesday said that Obama would meet the $50 billion goal over six years instead of five, but did not provide specific details. Lew said, “We continue to support PEPFAR. We’re saying we want to take what we know works and expand it because we can make a big difference in the world” (New York Times, 5/6). According to the White House, PEPFAR funding constitutes 70% of U.S. global health funding under Obama’s proposal (White House statement, 5/5).

“They are expanding the mandate, but not expanding the pie,” Paul Zeitz, executive director of the Global AIDS Alliance, said. He added, “To me, [Obama's proposal] is a betrayal of trust” (New York Times, 5/6). Christine Lubinski, director of the Center for Global Health Policy, said the proposal is “worse than we had feared,” adding that Obama has “overlooked the growing threat of tuberculosis.”

Irish musician Bono released a statement from his advocacy group ONE, praising the increase in funding. “The question is no longer whether we can fight these diseases in the poorest countries, it is how much do we want to do? The president is answering ‘a lot’” (AP/Google.com, 5/6).


A transcript of the White House briefing is available online.

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© 2009 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

The report, which was launched by Development Minister Ivan Lewis MP, at the Palace of Westminster, coincided with International Midwifery Day.

It makes a number of practical recommendations for tackling the HIV/AIDS virus in Africa.

The report notes the importance of targeting young people, as only approximately 30% of young men and less than 20% of young women aged 15 to 24 and living in the developing world have an accurate and comprehensive understanding about HIV, and how to avoid being exposed and infected (page 13).

Marcus McGilvray, CEO of Africaid said:

“Africaid welcomes the launch of the FPC report on HIV/AIDS which features our work in South Africa using football as a medium to teach life skills to young people to help them stay HIV negative. A majority of young people do not know enough about HIV and AIDS, so educating them with the skills needed to bring about behavioural change not only helps them stay safe, it also helps to remove some of the stigma and discrimination associated with infection which can marginalise people living with HIV and make them less likely to seek treatment.”

The full FPC report, which includes a case study on Africaid’s work can be found at http://fpc.org.uk/

Source
Africaid