Compiled by Martin Flynn & Bruce Wainwright
Islamists attack Morocco’s ‘condom culture’
A civil war is brewing in Casablanca, Morocco’s largest city, over condom
use. As UNAIDS and local HIV doctors fight a growing epidemic at Europe’s
gateway to Africa, radical Islamists are accusing them of promoting what they
call ‘the culture of the condom’ in a TV telethon to raise funds.
Prominent HIV activists have also come under attack such as Simo Ben Bachir
(right) of Ruban Rouge, pictured here with Arab TV personality Haïfa
while campaigning for Oprah Winfrey to receive the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize.
The newspaper Attajdid argued campaigners were trying to import foreign and
non-Islamic culture into Morocco and said they could face ‘divine punishment’
for advocating condom use, ‘against fidelity to religion and marriage’.
• www.rubanrouge.org
Global Fund bets on RED
The
Global Fund to fight Aids, TB and Malaria has become a great success in its
first four years and saved millions of lives, a meeting at the House of Commons
was told. Plans to add to this success were announced with a new global brand,
‘Product Red’, launched by rock icon Bono. Companies including
Gap, Nike and Armani will sell a range of ‘RED’ branded projects
from spring, with a contribution from all sales going directly to the Global
Fund. A ‘RED’ American Express Card would pay at least one per
cent on transactions to the Global Fund. “We are cautiously optimistic
that RED will be seriously big in the next few years,” said Professor
Richard Feachem, executive director of the Global Fund. “And apart from
raising substantial funds, it will also have the immediate effect of raising
awareness.”
But Professor Feachem, addressing a meeting at the House of Commons, warned
there was a long way to go to achieve universal access to antiretrovirals
by 2010, promised by Tony Blair and other G8 leaders at last summer’s
Gleneagles Summit. Professor Feachem explained that the Global Fund had already
raised $4.7 billion and that a further $4 billion has been pledged; 385 grants
to 128 countries had now been approved. The Fund, whose mantra is ‘Raise
it, Spend it, Prove it’, has provided antiretrovirals to 384,000 people
living with HIV and aims to reach at least 1.5 million people over the next
four years. It has tested 3.9 million people for HIV and provided care and
support to nearly 400,000 Aids orphans.
UKC was among the first UK HIV charities to formally support the initiative.
UKC chief executive Stephen Bitti said: “RED is an exciting initiative.
We applaud the efforts of the private sector in
support of the Global Fund.” More than half the money the Global Fund
has raised has come from Europe, with the US providing 30 per cent. However,
only two per cent has come from the international business community.The good
news is that the Global Fund is now receiving “a moral and ethical long-term
multi-decade commitment” from the world’s wealthy countries,
Dr Feachem added.
• www.theglobalfund.org
• www.joinred.com
Businesses wise-up as HIV hits profits
Nearly half of the 11,000 business leaders questioned in 117 different countries
now believe that HIV/Aids is going to have an adverse effect upon them. That’s
according to global thinktank, the World Economic Forum. Not only must firms
take action to prevent the spread of the virus, they must also design comprehensive
care schemes which prolong the working lives of staff and lift morale, the
Davos forum heard.Because HIV disproportionately hits young people of working
age, firms have found it has an increasingly serious impact on company profits,
particularly in labour-intensive industries. HIV also has an impact on the
consumption of their products, though consumption of staple goods tends to
suffer more than luxuries. Now, the forum says the challenge for firms around
the globe, including those in the growth economies of Brazil, India, Russia
and China, is to convert this concern into schemes that manage the impact
of the disease on their operations. It says firms need to develop increasingly
robust HIV and Aids workplace programmes. At Barclays Bank, in Africa, staff
are offered confidential testing, with infected employees receiving free drug
therapy for themselves and up to three members of their family. Meanwhile,
US-based firms have told the forum that they would be willing to expand programmes
in the workplace if the virus posed a threat to their customer base, or if
distribution or supply chains were hit because of the illness. Nearly half
said they would be willing to step up schemes if workforce prevalence rose
above one per cent in the next five years, or if Aids philanthropy was shown
to boost their firm’s reputation.
Peter Busse RIP
(1958-2006)
Leading
South African HIV activist Peter Busse died suddenly from liver failure in
January, at the age of 48.
Peter lived openly with HIV for 20 years and was a founder of the Soweto Township
Aids Project (TAP) and former director of the National Association of People
Living with HIV/Aids (NAPWA).
He spoke passionately in Positive Nation last February (PN109) about the liberalising
effect of HIV disclosure.
Peter Busse was liked and respected for the passion in which he supported
HIV positive people as well as for his undoubted strength and personal charm.
l Condolences can be left at:www.our-memories-of.com/Peter_Busse/Home.aspx
GNP+ hires new chief executive
The
Global Network of People Living with HIV/Aids (GNP+) has appointed a new international
co-ordinator and chief executive.
Pharmacist Dr Kevin Moody, 42, has been active with HIV positive groups for
many years, working as director of the European Aids Treatment Group, consulting
for i-base (London) and most recently as a technical officer at the World
Health Organisation.Dr Moody is a Canadian living openly with HIV. He lives
with his husband in Amsterdam where he has resided for over seven years.
www.gnpplus.net
Argentina and Brazil unite to produce HIV
drugs
Following a century of bickering, Argentina and Brazil have agreed to begin
manufacturing their own antiretrovirals in a jointly owned factory. Plans
were announced in Brasilia last month for the
construction of a $10 million plant following a meeting between health minister
Gines Gonzales and his Brazilian counterpart José Saraiva Felipe. Both
countries presently provide free medication and treatment to all HIV positive
patients and officials argue that paying for medication is cheaper than having
people in intensive care in public hospitals. Brazil already makes some HIV
drugs that are not covered by patents and has agreed, together with Argentina,
to carry out further research. The Brazilian government has also been successful
in forcing foreign-owned drug companies to lower the prices of antiretrovirals
several times in recent years by threatening to break patents and produce
generic versions locally.
At present, Argentina spends about $60 million a year treating some 30,000
patients while Brazil treats around 160,000.
HIV adds to Iraq’s woes
In common with many Arab countries, anyone seeking to enter Iraq must take
an HIV test. So far, according to Dr Wadah Hamed, director of the country’s
Aids Research Centre, 15 foreigners who have tested positive have been deported.
Despite these controls, the centre has reported 26 new cases since October
2005, most of them in Baghdad. Eight were Iraqi nationals and the rest foreigners.
At present, 75 patients are being treated freely, even though government officials
say they barely have enough antiretrovirals. These are supplied by the health
ministry through support from the World Health Organization.According to Hamed,
in 73 per cent of recorded cases, the source of infection has been infected
blood transfusions, while 16 per cent were through sexual transmission. Most
are between the ages of 28 and 48 and the reported rate of infection is higher
for men than women. Most infected women have either acquired the virus from
their husbands or through transfusions.
words
“Today, black men with the disease are six times as likely to die
of the disease as white men, and black women are nine times as likely to die
as white women”
Mark Santora, in the New York Times
“Multinational corporations are using their economic might to push
for trade rules that will hinder, not help, poor countries”
Dominic Eagleton, ActionAid
“We will not allow multinational drug companies to improperly extend
their monopolies and price important medicines out of the reach for the majority
of Indians and the Global South”
Anand Grover, India Lawyers Collective
“There are 903 children under the age of 16 who are currently reported
to be living with a diagnosis of HIV infection in England”
Caroline Flint, public health minister
“Having HIV doesn’t mean there is no longer any need to worry
about taking care of your sexual health”
Tim Molloy, GMFA
“Most women become infected through their partners’ high-risk
behaviour, which they have little or no control over”
Evelyn Ullah, Miami-Dade County health department director
