Monday, July 26, 2010
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Thailand: Practising what you preach
‘We already had a supportive environment for people living with HIV working and volunteering for PPAT. However this did not go far enough and was not reflected through an HIV workplace policy. In April 2009, in order to show that we practise what we preach, we began to develop an HIV workplace policy to formally adopt into our Constitution.
There are many benefits to adopting an HIV workplace policy. It will ensure that we continue to have a non-stigmatizing work environment with positive attitudes towards people living with HIV and will improve the quality of the services we provide. As part of the policy there will be ongoing training for all staff and volunteers. This will cover HIV prevention and treatment, legal and ethical issues, stigma and discrimination, and how best to support colleagues, family or friends who are living with HIV. The training will help staff and volunteers to provide non-stigmatizing services and to better understand some of the varied needs of people living with HIV. The policy will also mean that we will actively encourage people living with HIV to apply to PPAT positions, to take part in projects and to volunteer for us. This meaningful involvement of people living with HIV will help us to further improve our HIV projects as a result.
The workplace policy was formally adopted in April 2010 and implementation is currently underway. Developing and implementing a workplace policy is another step forward in our response to HIV. It shows that we are a proactive employer with regard to HIV issues and will help us to be a role model for other sexual and reproductive health and HIV organisations in Thailand.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Criminalize hate, not HIV
IPPF's 'Criminalize hate, not HIV' campaign was launched on Tuesday, 20 July at the conference. This campaign aims to raise awareness about the criminalization of HIV transmission and how this impacts efforts in reducing stigma and discrimination towards people living with HIV and other key populations thought to be at high risk.
The speakers highlighted the complexity of the process of translating law into action, the important role of civil society in advocating for promoting health and human rights, and the complicated process needed (that goes beyond the law) to support efforts to effectively achieve universal access and address HIV.
Colombia: Stepping out and coming alive
‘I am a transsexual. Initially I was so apprehensive about coming to the LGBT Community Centre for the first time. I contacted them many times to find out about what they did and I even tried to visit twice. Both times I could not pluck up the courage to go in and returned home. It was daunting, and I was scared I wouldn’t be accepted for what I am. I am a woman trapped in a man’s body and I didn’t think the people at the Centre would understand me. Luckily I was wrong.
When I finally managed to visit the Community Centre, it was to my great relief that everyone treated me with respect, and I felt well supported by the staff. I was able to access many services such as counselling about my own feelings being a transgender woman. I am now receiving therapy to help me to understand my own identity.
Even though I look like a man, after visiting the Community Centre several times, people started calling me by my female name. It was a hard personal challenge to make that first move to come, but now there is no looking back. Everyone here has been so respectful, I can’t express how much that means.
I now visit the community centre regularly. There are loads of things to do here such as tuition in other languages and social activities such as yoga, games and movies. I now work as a volunteer at the Centre. I am an artist and enjoy sharing my knowledge and skills with the other people who come to the Centre.’
Monday, July 19, 2010
AIDS 2010
Yesterday was the first day of the 18th International AIDS Conference in Vienna, Austria.
We started off first thing on Sunday morning with a satellite session - Gender Gaps: Sex and Stigma - organized by the German BACKUP Initiative and IPPF. Speakers from Bangladesh, Dominican Republic, Ethiopia and the United Kingdom discussed the emerging stigma trends intheir countries and shared experiences of stigma and discrimination.
We also set up our exhibition booth with the theme 'Tried and applied' to highlight IPPF's efforts to scale up links between SRH and HIV andresearch to stregthen the evidence base. This will be the theme of the booth until Tuesday morning.
'Exposures - Lives lived in the shadows and light of an epidemic' is proving to be very successful. This photo exhibition highlights the work of IPPF Japan Trust Fund for HIV and AIDS. Located in front of the main session hall, this exhibition is receiving a lot of traffic by conference delegates. For more information about the exhibition: Exposures.
Over 80 IPPF delegates joined us for our 'Coffee & Cake' reception. Gill Greer and Kevin Osborne welcomed the delegates and gave insightful and motivating talks to ensure we all make the most of the conference. This was also a great opportunity for us to meet volunteers, board members, and staff from across the Federation.UK: A journey of self discovery
Between May and September 2009, 867 people living with HIV in the UK were interviewed by their peers about experiences of living with HIV, stigma and discrimination, living positively, accessing health and other services. Pamela was one of the peer interviewers:
Since my diagnosis I have worked my way up, realizing that there is life after HIV! In actual fact, I have been so much happier overall since my positive diagnosis. It has helped me to be even more focused on looking after my wellbeing over everything else. I have learnt a lot from listening to other people’s experiences of living with HIV and this was especially true when I got involved in the People Living with HIV Stigma Index research.
The research was done in three main stages; the training on how to be good interviewers, the interviewing process itself, then the data analysis and entry. I have to say that I was most grateful and gratified to be involved in all of these stages as a person living with HIV. For me, to be at the forefront of trying to influence change and policy was something that I never thought would be possible. While doing the interviews someone asked me if it wasn’t boring to live with, work and build a career around HIV. I replied that, while I wasn’t there when the Stigma Index started, I will make it a point to be there when change happens. I will be able to testify that, in the end, I was part of it.
Being part of the IPPF UK Stigma Index research team was one of my proudest moments as I was able to connect and reconnect with different people. More than that was listening to people’s experiences. It just spurred me on to want to do even more to reduce the stigma and discrimination of people living with HIV. The journey continues…’
‘When I was diagnosed with HIV in 2005 I didn’t know much about it and had no idea how it would impact on my life. I thought that HIV would never happen to me so why should I worry about it?
Since my diagnosis I have worked my way up, realizing that there is life after HIV! In actual fact, I have been so much happier overall since my positive diagnosis. It has helped me to be even more focused on looking after my wellbeing over everything else. I have learnt a lot from listening to other people’s experiences of living with HIV and this was especially true when I got involved in the People Living with HIV Stigma Index research. The research was done in three main stages; the training on how to be good interviewers, the interviewing process itself, then the data analysis and entry. I have to say that I was most grateful and gratified to be involved in all of these stages as a person living with HIV. For me, to be at the forefront of trying to influence change and policy was something that I never thought would be possible. While doing the interviews someone asked me if it wasn’t boring to live with, work and build a career around HIV. I replied that, while I wasn’t there when the Stigma Index started, I will make it a point to be there when change happens. I will be able to testify that, in the end, I was part of it.
Being part of the IPPF UK Stigma Index research team was one of my proudest moments as I was able to connect and reconnect with different people. More than that was listening to people’s experiences. It just spurred me on to want to do even more to reduce the stigma and discrimination of people living with HIV. The journey continues…’
Time to Pull the Plug on the International AIDS Conference?
By Kevin Osborne, International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF)
This Sunday, July 18th, 2010, 25,000 participants and 2,500 media representatives will converge on the XVIII International AIDS Conference (IAC) in Vienna, Austria. This biennial shindig brings together all those involved in combating the global AIDS epidemic: researchers, healthcare workers, governments, UN organizations, activists, donors, industry, the media, and, critically, people living with HIV and AIDS.
As a veteran of over ten such conferences, I believe the time is long overdue to take stock, to question its value.
Is it, whisper it, time to pull the plug on the International AIDS Conference?
When the first Conference took place in 1985, it was a cutting edge forum for researchers and activists to come to terms with a new, deadly and unknown threat to human health. We agreed that no community, organization or government can effectively address the HIV and AIDS pandemic working in isolation, and the International AIDS Conferences have provided a global venue for this effort.
Back then we were still working in the dark. The first FDA-approved antiretroviral drug AZT didn't debut until 1987. The same year latex condoms were found to be effective in preventing the transmission of the virus through sexual intercourse. Transcriptase inhibitors, drugs that help suppress the transcribing of viral RNA into healthy cells, were years away. And treatment as prevention was a pipedream.
Since then we have learned so much about HIV: about both prevention and treatment, about the side effects of stigma and discrimination and how they direct the path of an epidemic.
Meanwhile the conference has taken its own path, from an inspiring research-based symposium to a multi-million pound behemoth. At a conservative estimate the conference costs about $27 million to stage. Then there's inestimable outlay in terms of time and effort preparing for this colossal event. When you throw in the costs of travel, accommodation (as much as 300 EUR a night in Vienna) and cultural programmes, you can see it's quite a bankable enterprise, and one which the IAC secretariat is understandably reluctant to change. Whether it is really at this stage of the AIDS response the best use of our time, talents and money is another question.
Then again, can a conference really be said to have credibility when the largest implementer of HIV programmes has been missing in action for the past few years? The US Government made the political decision to effectively withdraw from the conference since 2004, a move interpreted by many AIDS experts as payback for the heckling of the then Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson at the 2002 AIDS conference.
There is an alternative. On alternate years to the IACs, regional conferences are held. Inevitably they are overshadowed by the more glamorous and cosmopolitan IAC. But these regional gatherings are where, I believe, we should be directing our funds and our energies. For too long the global stage has been used as a platform to utter platitudes about what we should do - only for these very politicians and speakers to return to their home countries and regions with very little intention of changing the status quo. This is especially true for those at the forefront of the epidemic in different regions: young women and girls; men who have sex with men; sex workers and their clients and people who use drugs.
In the scramble to surpass the last conference, to stage a bigger and better spectacle, these global summits lose sight of one quintessential feature: this is an extremely parochial pandemic.
One thing we've learned over the last 25 years is that one size doesn't fit all. Paying more attention to and gaining real political commitment to the regional variations means the difference between life and death. By focussing on the nuances of each regional epidemic and addressing the structural determinants of HIV, we can better meet the needs of those in different regions and from contrasting cultures. Take the conference venue for example. Central and eastern Europe is experiencing one of the fastest growing epidemics fuelled primarily by drug use, but in Africa where sex is the primary mode of transmission, young woman and girls are bearing the brunt. In Latin America, a region which struggles to catch donors' attention, men who have sex with men are disproportionately affected; as they are in the Arab World from where there is an ill-omened silence.
In this age of both scarce resources and if we really want to convince governments of the importance of continued HIV investment we need to do it through better targeted regional meetings. For that reason, it¹s time to give the IAC a rest, or, at least, cut it back to every four years. Time enough for new research to bear fruit, for strategies to have been tested and for data to have been evaluated. That way, the next time the great IAC bandwagon rolls into town, there will be something genuinely new onboard.
Accessed: Time to Pull the Plug on the International AIDS Conference? RHRealityCheck.org
This Sunday, July 18th, 2010, 25,000 participants and 2,500 media representatives will converge on the XVIII International AIDS Conference (IAC) in Vienna, Austria. This biennial shindig brings together all those involved in combating the global AIDS epidemic: researchers, healthcare workers, governments, UN organizations, activists, donors, industry, the media, and, critically, people living with HIV and AIDS.
As a veteran of over ten such conferences, I believe the time is long overdue to take stock, to question its value.
Is it, whisper it, time to pull the plug on the International AIDS Conference?
When the first Conference took place in 1985, it was a cutting edge forum for researchers and activists to come to terms with a new, deadly and unknown threat to human health. We agreed that no community, organization or government can effectively address the HIV and AIDS pandemic working in isolation, and the International AIDS Conferences have provided a global venue for this effort.
Back then we were still working in the dark. The first FDA-approved antiretroviral drug AZT didn't debut until 1987. The same year latex condoms were found to be effective in preventing the transmission of the virus through sexual intercourse. Transcriptase inhibitors, drugs that help suppress the transcribing of viral RNA into healthy cells, were years away. And treatment as prevention was a pipedream.
Since then we have learned so much about HIV: about both prevention and treatment, about the side effects of stigma and discrimination and how they direct the path of an epidemic.
Meanwhile the conference has taken its own path, from an inspiring research-based symposium to a multi-million pound behemoth. At a conservative estimate the conference costs about $27 million to stage. Then there's inestimable outlay in terms of time and effort preparing for this colossal event. When you throw in the costs of travel, accommodation (as much as 300 EUR a night in Vienna) and cultural programmes, you can see it's quite a bankable enterprise, and one which the IAC secretariat is understandably reluctant to change. Whether it is really at this stage of the AIDS response the best use of our time, talents and money is another question.
Then again, can a conference really be said to have credibility when the largest implementer of HIV programmes has been missing in action for the past few years? The US Government made the political decision to effectively withdraw from the conference since 2004, a move interpreted by many AIDS experts as payback for the heckling of the then Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson at the 2002 AIDS conference.
There is an alternative. On alternate years to the IACs, regional conferences are held. Inevitably they are overshadowed by the more glamorous and cosmopolitan IAC. But these regional gatherings are where, I believe, we should be directing our funds and our energies. For too long the global stage has been used as a platform to utter platitudes about what we should do - only for these very politicians and speakers to return to their home countries and regions with very little intention of changing the status quo. This is especially true for those at the forefront of the epidemic in different regions: young women and girls; men who have sex with men; sex workers and their clients and people who use drugs.
In the scramble to surpass the last conference, to stage a bigger and better spectacle, these global summits lose sight of one quintessential feature: this is an extremely parochial pandemic.
One thing we've learned over the last 25 years is that one size doesn't fit all. Paying more attention to and gaining real political commitment to the regional variations means the difference between life and death. By focussing on the nuances of each regional epidemic and addressing the structural determinants of HIV, we can better meet the needs of those in different regions and from contrasting cultures. Take the conference venue for example. Central and eastern Europe is experiencing one of the fastest growing epidemics fuelled primarily by drug use, but in Africa where sex is the primary mode of transmission, young woman and girls are bearing the brunt. In Latin America, a region which struggles to catch donors' attention, men who have sex with men are disproportionately affected; as they are in the Arab World from where there is an ill-omened silence.
In this age of both scarce resources and if we really want to convince governments of the importance of continued HIV investment we need to do it through better targeted regional meetings. For that reason, it¹s time to give the IAC a rest, or, at least, cut it back to every four years. Time enough for new research to bear fruit, for strategies to have been tested and for data to have been evaluated. That way, the next time the great IAC bandwagon rolls into town, there will be something genuinely new onboard.
Accessed: Time to Pull the Plug on the International AIDS Conference? RHRealityCheck.org
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Rwanda: Life on the move
A 44 year old grandmother, Frida, heads the Women’s Association in Kageyo in the Eastern Province of Rwanda. She, and her whole community have recently returned from Tanzania after spending 14 years there as refugees after the Rwandan genocide. Frida says:
‘If it wasn’t for the Association Rwandaise pour le Bien-Etre Familial (ARBEF), we women would still be in the dark hole we have been in our entire lives. Being beaten by our husbands was part of our custom. In fact, it was even believed to be a sign that they cared, but now we know better.
I have seven children and four grandchildren and before ARBEF came to our community I had never heard of HIV nor family planning. When I was approached by a peer educator I was very reluctant to listen at first as I felt I would be going against my beliefs.
The peer educator talked about diseases that kill our kin. We always thought that we were victims of witchcraft when we got a sexually transmitted infection. We had never heard of HIV or AIDS. We used to think that cow’s milk could curse anyone. Now we know that most of our sisters and brothers died through ignorance.
Armed with this information, I realized that I had a lot to gain by changing my attitude. Therefore I wanted to convince my husband to also become involved. His peers had tried talking to him several times. But it was only when he started noticing the positive changes in his friends’ lives as a result of challenging the harmful beliefs and practices the community had followed that he too changed. To my delight, he began to follow the advice of the peer educators too. We both began to regularly attend the community education sessions and encouraged our children to do the same.
I am very grateful for the knowledge I have gained through the peer educators trained by ARBEF. Now we always have the strength to work hard, confident that we can afford our children’s needs as we no longer worry about unplanned pregnancies and know about HIV prevention. Without this project we would still be trapped in the dire situation we were in before returning to Rwanda.’
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Macedonia: Under one roof
‘We were left without a single gynaecologist. When I heard of free gynaecology services at the new HERA Centre I thought I’d go for advice regarding family planning. I was surprised at how fast I was seen and how friendly the gynaecologist was. I was used to waiting for services, to get only a receipt or a referral. My opinions and needs were never taken into consideration. Here I had the chance to understand different methods of birth control, like condoms, pills or an intrauterine device. Best of all, I was given the opportunity to choose the method I wanted.
During subsequent visits I found out about other services relating to my sexual and reproductive health. The doctor told me that, if I wanted too, I could take a test for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) including HIV. Again there was a process of counselling before any tests were taken. Before the counselling, I didn’t know that HIV could also be transmitted from mother-to-child. I just thought it was only a sexually transmitted infection.
I was so happy with my visits to the Centre that I wanted everyone to know about it so I told all my friends. Since then I’ve heard that many have started going there too. The best thing about the Centre is that they offer is a wide range of services. You can go for help with things like medical insurance, advice on family planning, or have an HIV test, all under one roof.’
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
India: Marrying into HIV
Amita* is a 31 year old outreach worker for the Family Planning Association of India’s Comprehensive HIV and AIDS Management Project in Madurai, India. On the steps of the village’s community hall, her laughter and the vibrant colours she wears suggest little of the challenges Amita has overcome.
‘I was sixteen when I married. Sex with my husband was both physically and emotionally painful. He had sores all over his genitals and I soon got an itchy rash. He told me he only married me to have children and he would continue his relationships with other women. I am sure he knew he was HIV-positive before he married me. With no idea about sexual and reproductive health matters, I asked my neighbour what I should do about the pain and itching. She suggested cleaning myself with rice water and soap and said girls sometimes got this the first time they have sex.
After having our second child, my husband became very sick. He was bed-ridden with diarrhoea and couldn’t work. His mouth was ulcerated and his muscles had wasted away. His uncle took him to a private hospital to find out what was wrong. The doctor told my husband’s uncle that he was HIV-positive and then the entire village found out. My in-laws blamed me. People stood away from me, I wasn’t even allowed to touch the village tap. At school my child was made to sit and eat separately. Worst of all the village men said my husband would die soon and they would be able to have sex with me. The whole village thought they would get infected with HIV and eventually we were driven out. I wanted to die.
After some time, we returned to the village. Things had calmed down a little and people had a bit more understanding of HIV. I decided to help increase this understanding and to support people living with HIV by becoming an outreach worker for the Family Planning Association of India. I feel strong now. Due to treatment, my husband is fit and working again. I feel proud that I took care of him and saved his life. I don’t want other people to ever have to experience that I did – therefore I use my outreach work to provide the help that I was never got when I was a young married woman.’
*Name changed to protect confidentiality
‘I was sixteen when I married. Sex with my husband was both physically and emotionally painful. He had sores all over his genitals and I soon got an itchy rash. He told me he only married me to have children and he would continue his relationships with other women. I am sure he knew he was HIV-positive before he married me. With no idea about sexual and reproductive health matters, I asked my neighbour what I should do about the pain and itching. She suggested cleaning myself with rice water and soap and said girls sometimes got this the first time they have sex.
After having our second child, my husband became very sick. He was bed-ridden with diarrhoea and couldn’t work. His mouth was ulcerated and his muscles had wasted away. His uncle took him to a private hospital to find out what was wrong. The doctor told my husband’s uncle that he was HIV-positive and then the entire village found out. My in-laws blamed me. People stood away from me, I wasn’t even allowed to touch the village tap. At school my child was made to sit and eat separately. Worst of all the village men said my husband would die soon and they would be able to have sex with me. The whole village thought they would get infected with HIV and eventually we were driven out. I wanted to die.
After some time, we returned to the village. Things had calmed down a little and people had a bit more understanding of HIV. I decided to help increase this understanding and to support people living with HIV by becoming an outreach worker for the Family Planning Association of India. I feel strong now. Due to treatment, my husband is fit and working again. I feel proud that I took care of him and saved his life. I don’t want other people to ever have to experience that I did – therefore I use my outreach work to provide the help that I was never got when I was a young married woman.’
*Name changed to protect confidentiality
Monday, July 12, 2010
Cameroon: What love is all about
Emmanuel is 22 years old and is living with HIV. He has a bright spark of enthusiasm when talking about his life. He works as a cook in Yaounde, Cameroon. Accepting both his homosexuality and his HIV positive status in a hostile environment has given him cause for reflection.
‘Cameroon is quite an unforgiving country for homosexuals. There are laws to suppress homosexuality and this is supported by many people in Cameroon. Discrimination runs deep within families. People living with HIV also face a lot of stigma and discrimination – therefore it is terrible if you are a homosexual living with HIV.
When I was a kid I was never into the kind of games ‘real’ boys liked. This really frustrated my parents. As I grew up, I felt more and more attracted to men but realized that I would never be able to freely love a man in Cameroon.
In my teens I met Julio. He was much older than me, and he helped me discover what love is about –what my body and heart were longing for. It was at this time that I think I contracted HIV. I met him secretly so that no one knew, but my family began to suspect. They accused me of ‘not being virile’ or as macho as my friends. I was scared by their questions and harassment. My family seemed to be looking for evidence by searching through my things.
Finally I cracked, and I told them I was gay and HIV positive. This was the beginning of hell. I was brutally rejected by everybody I knew. I was assigned a specific space in our home. I couldn’t mix with others and I was given separate dishes to eat from, a place to cook my food and when I became seriously ill, nobody helped me. Eventually, a neighbour took me to hospital. It was then a gay friend told about the MESDINE project run by Cameroon National Association for Family Welfare (CAMNAFAW) where I could go to safely meet with others and also receive non-judgemental counselling, support and sexual health information. This was the most important moment of my life! It was like being born again. I’ve met people like me and people totally different from me but who accept me. Nobody judges one another. I have made so many friends and have been given information about how to take care of myself.
The hatred in me has gone. I’m happy with myself, I’ve reconciled my conscience and I’ve even tried to start a dialogue with my parents.’
In a Life
Sex, love and intimacy play an important part in what it means to be human. Whether for pleasure and/or procreation; whether straight, gay or bisexual; and irrespective of gender or HIV status making informed choices about our sexual and reproductive lives helps shape our dreams and desires. Linking sexual and reproductive health and HIV recognizes the vital role that sexuality plays in people’s lives.
The real-life stories reflect IPPF’s core values in linking sexual and reproductive health and HIV: evidence-informed programming, a recognition of vulnerability and the full protection of rights. 'In a Life' highlights how our work – shaped and pioneered by the efforts of thousands of committed staff, volunteers and partners – is having a real impact in the lives of people the world over.
Each day, one story from 'In a Life' will be featured on this blog. The first story is from Cameroon.
The real-life stories reflect IPPF’s core values in linking sexual and reproductive health and HIV: evidence-informed programming, a recognition of vulnerability and the full protection of rights. 'In a Life' highlights how our work – shaped and pioneered by the efforts of thousands of committed staff, volunteers and partners – is having a real impact in the lives of people the world over.
Each day, one story from 'In a Life' will be featured on this blog. The first story is from Cameroon.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Welcome to the 'IPPF at AIDS 2010' blog
I’m Daniel McCartney, HIV Officer at IPPF. I’ll be blogging at the International AIDS Conference in Vienna. Come and visit us at our exhibition booth E-437. You can find out more about our activities during the conference on our website.
At the conference we will be launching our new publication 'In a Life'. This collection of 24 real-life stories reflect IPPF’s core values in linking sexual and reproductive health and HIV. I will be posting individual stories in the lead up and during the conference.
At the conference we will be launching our new publication 'In a Life'. This collection of 24 real-life stories reflect IPPF’s core values in linking sexual and reproductive health and HIV. I will be posting individual stories in the lead up and during the conference.
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