Paragon Posted July 7, 2003 Nomads I thought i should share this article with you all. It may interest those of us who do development studies in SS-Africa. (Those of you who're in the states may find it relevant) ---- AFRICA ACTION Africa Policy E-Journal July 7, 2003 (030707) Africa: Talk or Action on AIDS? (Reposted from sources cited below) As President Bush departs for Africa today, key questions about his AIDS policy remain unanswered, including the level of funding that will actually be appropriated. While $3 billion a year has been authorized by Congress, the president has requested no additional funds for this fiscal year and less than $2 billion for fiscal year 2004, including only $200 million instead of $1 billion for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS. News reports say Republicans in the House of Representatives are planning to approve even less than the president's low request. This postings contains (1) an action alert from the Washington Office of Africa, focusing on the expected vote this week on funding levels for AIDS, (2) a notice of today's send-off demonstration for President Bush by the Student Global AIDS Campaign and ACT UP, and (3) an update from South Africa's Treatment Action Campaign on continued South African government delays on AIDS treatment. Another posting today focuses on the role of the pharmaceutical industy and the U.S. stance on the use of generic medicines. For additional documents on issues related to President Bush's trip to Africa, see http://www.africaaction.org/desk and http://www.africaaction.org/docs03/chr03.htm +++++++++++++++++end summary/introduction+++++++++++++++++++++++ The Washington Office on Africa: An Urgent Action Alert http://www.woaafrica.org July 3, 2003 HIV/AIDS Funding to be Decided July 10 in the House Foreign Operations Subcommittee On July 10 the House Appropriations Foreign Operations Subcommittee will decide the amount of money that the U.S. will give to bilateral and multilateral HIV/AIDS programs for the fiscal year 2004. The U.S. Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Act of 2003, passed recently, authorized $3 billion for these efforts, including "up to" $1 billion for the multilateral Global Fund. What "Foreign Ops" sets is important in this next stage of the appropriations process. Discerning our actions: What we at WOA think We believe that the House Foreign Operations Subcommittee should appropriate $3.5 billion to fight global AIDS, TB, and malaria, at least $1.75 billion of which should go to The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria. According to conservative estimates from the WHO and UNAIDS, $14.2 billion is needed globally to combat and treat AIDS, TB, and Malaria in fiscal year 2004. While the U.S. should be contributing 34.8 percent (its share of the global economy), we are requesting that the U.S. contribute at least 25 percent of the total, or $3.5 billion. AIDS spending must be both bilateral and multilateral. Some U.S. agencies have high administrative overhead, and more than twelve months may pass before benefits from their programs are realized. We believe that a high percentage of this funding should go to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, which is already functioning well, despite being starved for funds. Countries can turn to the Global Fund with written proposals that are a collaborative efforts between governments, NGOs, and the private sector. Unfortunately, President Bush has only proposed providing $200 million for the Global Fund in 2004, which will cause many of the grant requests to be turned away. The international community is looking to the U.S. as a leader in the Global Fund - our funding is necessary because it will help to encourage other donors. In. addition, Congress should agree to appropriate only NEW money, meaning that funds should not be taken from other accounts, including health-related programs and the core HIV/AIDS accounts. We believe that the House needs to appropriate more funding without removing precious resources from other development and humanitarian aid programs. Action We ask that you contact your member of Congress, urging that the Foreign Operations Subcommittee ensure that fiscal year 2004 appropriations include adequate funds to fight global AIDS, with $3.5 billion for all HIV/AIDS programs, of which $1.75 billion should go into the Global Fund. As a minimum, the Subcommittee should meet the call of the U.S. Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Act of 2003, of $3 billion, including $1 billion for the Global Fund. If your member of Congress sits on the Foreign Operations Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee, please contact the district office during the July 4th recess, or in Washington, as soon as possible with the message above. Remember that the Subcommittee will "mark up" (revise and decide) on AIDS appropriations on July 10! Membership includes: Jim Kolbe, Arizona (chair) Joe Knollenberg, Michigan Jerry Lewis, California Roger F. Wicker, Mississippi Henry Bonilla, Texas David Vitter, Louisiana Mark Steven Kirk, Illinois Ander Crenshaw, Florida Nita M. Lowey, New York (ranking) Jesse L. Jackson, Jr., Illinois Carolyn C. Kilpatrick, Michigan Steven R. Rothman, New Jersey Marcy Kaptur, Ohio If your member of Congress does not sit on the Subcommittee, ask that he or she weigh in with the Chairperson or the Ranking Minority Member, depending on party. A sample message appears below, which we encourage you to adapt and make your own. Given security delays with regular mail, we suggest contacting your Member of the House of Representatives by e-mail or fax. You can access e-mail links, get district office and other contact information by going to http://www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW_by_State.htm or you can call 202/225-3121. Write to Members of Congress at the U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, DC 20515. Sample Message Dear Representative (name): The House Appropriations Foreign Operations Subcommittee will soon be deciding the amount of HIV/AIDS bilateral and multilateral aid given by the U.S. in fiscal year 2004. The U.S. Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Act of 2003, passed recently, authorizes $3 billion for these efforts. A minimum of $3 billion should be given to these efforts, but I urge that we go beyond this figure to provide $3.5 billion. This is the U.S. fair share. From this $3.5 billion, $1.75 billion should be given to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, a multilateral initiative designed by the UN. As a minimum the U.S. should fully fund the $1 billion authorized by the U.S. Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Act of 2003. Our government's example of giving will influence other countries to do the same. I also request that the funding not be removed from other key accounts that work on health and development issues. The core HIV/AIDS accounts and other programs that promote global health are necessary components to the fight against AIDS. According to conservative estimates from the WHO and UNAIDS, $14.2 billion is needed globally to combat and treat AIDS, TB, and Malaria in fiscal year 2004, and we should be giving as much funding as possible. Global HIV/AIDS is an issue that we must prioritize to ensure global health, safety, and security, and I request that my tax money be used to support the prevention and treatment efforts. Thank you very much for your consideration. For further information call us at WOA at 202/547-7503, or write to us at 212 East Capitol Street, Washington, DC 20003. Our e-mail address is woa@igc.org., and you might also consult our website, http://www.woaafrica.org. *********************************************************** The Student Global AIDS Campaign and ACT UP July 3, 2003 For Immediate Release Contact Micah Sucherman: (303) 641-2123 Sean Barry: (202) 361-8293 Alexander Post: (617) 230-7832 Grim Reapers Gather at White House Bush Travels to Africa As Overworked Grim Reapers Protest AIDS Policy 8500 Deaths per Day "Grim" Even by Their Standards 11:30 am meet at Office of National AIDS Policy (734 Jackson Place) Followed by procession to White House Gate, arriving at 12:00 pm On July 7th, dozens of Black-clad Grim Reapers wielding tall scythes will gather at the White House gates to condemn President Bush and his administration for an AIDS policy which has left them harried and overworked. "Sure we're pro-death, but 8500 AIDS deaths a day is ridiculous," complained a Reaper. "With over 14000 new infections daily, this situation is grim even by our standards," he added. In January Bush took a significant step forward, pledging $15 billion dollars over the next five years to fight the global AIDS pandemic. But after five months the President's promise has begun to ring hollow. Despite signing and publicly endorsing the $3 billion AIDS authorization bill in May, it now appears that the President will settle for the appropriation of only half that amount - $1.52 billion - to pay for on-the-ground AIDS services. In addition, the Bush Administration intends to gut funding for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, which experts identify as the world's most potent institutional weapon against the AIDS pandemic. The President's paltry $200 million request for the Global AIDS Fund will leave the Global Fund unable to fully fund worthy grants during its next round in October. AIDS will not go away by itself - the virus will spread and sick will die in overwhelming numbers until the United States begins taking real steps to combat the disease. "Less rhetoric and more action," the Reapers demand, "the AIDS pandemic is working us to death!" Photo Ops: AIDS activists and people living with AIDS dressed as Grim Reapers carrying scythes, signs ("Too much AIDS - Too much Work!") in front of White House. AIDS Activists Demand that President Bush: (1) DONATE THE DOLLARS: Request and ensure that Congress appropriates the full $3 billion to fight global AIDS in 2004 that was promised in the global AIDS bill President Bush signed. The U.S. should provide at least $1 billion of this amount for the super-efficient and effective Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria. (2) DROP THE DEBT: Implement the provision contained in his AIDS Bill to deepen debt relief for poor countries, as well as countries outside of HIPC - like Nigeria - thereby freeing up $1 billion in debt service payments that could be re-directed to combat AIDS and poverty. (3) TREAT THE PEOPLE: Stop negotiating intellectual property regimes in new free trade agreements which go beyond those established by the World Trade Organization (WTO) meetings at Doha, and thereby deny poor peoples access to essential life-saving medications. Additionally, the President must ensure that his emergency plan for AIDS relief allows countries the freedom to procure generically manufactured drugs. ************************************************************* Treatment Action Campaign http://www.tac.org.za TAC Electronic Newsletter 1 July 2003 [excerpts; for full newsletter see TAC website] To subscribe send a blank email to news-subscribe@tac.org.za To de-subscribe, send a blank email to news-unsubscribe@tac.org.za 1 July 2003 A Treatment and Prevention Plan: Where do we stand with Government? Where to from here for TAC? In late April, TAC suspended its civil disobedience campaign following our meeting with Deputy-President Zuma. However, presently there is growing concern among TAC members and volunteers that we have received very little in return from government. A commitment to a treatment and prevention plan that includes antiretroviral therapy is still far from certain. As one activist explained in a meeting discussing civil disobedience in Johannesburg, we can suspend the civil disobedience campaign, but we cannot suspend the pain of people with HIV/AIDS and their friends and families. We are at a critical turning point in South Africa's response to the HIV epidemic. TAC suspended its civil disobedience campaign to give government the space and opportunity to commit, on its own terms, to a treatment and prevention plan that includes antiretroviral therapy. There were some positive signs that the Cabinet would soon make such a commitment. We are aware that the costing study conducted by the task team composed of members of the treasury and health departments was completed and awaited approval by Cabinet since April. Furthermore, the Treasury put aside contingency money for treatment in the 2003/04 budget clearing the way for a change in policy. The NEDLAC negotiations were also to have resumed. TAC's meetings with the Deputy-President on 25 April and with a number of Cabinet ministers at the SANAC meeting on 14 June gave hope that there were some leaders in government who recognised the urgency and the moral and legal imperatives to extend access to antiretrovirals to South Africa's poor as part of the national response. In addition, the Western Cape MEC for Health recently made it clear that it is a matter of time before government begins rolling out an antiretroviral treatment programme. In private discussions, this sentiment has been echoed by a number of senior civil servants. These were tangible reasons to be hopeful and to give government the benefit of the doubt by suspending civil disobedience. It is in all our interests for a treatment and prevention plan to be attained via a voluntary change in government policy, rather than via civil disobedience and litigation at the Constitutional Court. If we have to resume the latter route, the treatment programmes that will ultimately be implemented are unlikely to be as successful as a plan implemented by a government that is politically committed to treatment. Despite protest by government that it has a "five year strategic plan", we still believe that the existing plan is inadequate and that policy to treat has to be much more rigorously monitored in its implementation if it is to be successful. But the TAC leadership is being continually reminded that there is a limit to the patience of people confronting their own mortality. Government cannot dither any longer. The timeframe for decisions to be taken is now days, at most weeks, not months. Every delay is measured not in inconvenience, but in death and suffering. If TAC is being mislead and if government promises have been in bad faith, the subsequent return to civil disobedience will be more intense than before, involve much larger numbers of people and will not be suspended or stopped without the implementation of a treatment plan. A report that appeared in the Star (27 June) is reprinted in this newsletter. It points out serious government delays such as the failure to date to sign the Global Fund agreements, the failure to release the costing study on antiretroviral treatment which merely needs the go-ahead from Cabinet and the failure to release the latest antenatal clinic study. To this we can add the failure to officially release the report that was produced at the HST scientists conference last year. We hope that there are no longer senior people in government who intend to scupper moves towards treatment. However, if there are, we cannot appeal to your conscience. We cannot ask you to consider the lives and suffering of hundreds of thousands of your fellow citizens. Instead we must appeal to your self-interest and ask: are you willing to risk the sustained pressure of civil disobedience, international embarrassment and litigation through to the April 2004 general elections and beyond? In the meanwhile, irrespective of which route government chooses and as TAC prepares for its provincial and national congresses over the next month, activists must prepare for a new phase in TAC in which we consolidate our branches so that they are better equipped to assist with the implementation of the government's current programmes and any new ones that might become policy, such as antiretroviral treatment. It would be wrong of TAC to expect government to take sole responsibility for the health interventions for which we have advocated. Our duty to ensure their successful implementation is critical. Therefore, in this issue of the electronic newsletter, we have included two important discussion documents that are being circulated at TAC branches. One, written by Zackie Achmat, examines the role and responsibilities of TAC branches. The other, written by Sipho Mthathi, gives concrete suggestions for how TAC branches can ensure that people become educated about HIV issues. Let us work together to implement a successful treatment and prevention plan that will build a better health care system. ... It's all talk, no action as people succumb to AIDS By Lynne Altenroxel, The Star, 27 June 2003 Just a few days ago, time finally ran out for Jenny*, an HIV-positive nurse who worked at a government hospital in Southern Gauteng. Ever since she started working at the hospital thee years ago, she had seen deaths of countless Aids patients in her care. By this year, five to 10 Aids patients were dying each week in the medical wards where she worked. Witnessing their painful demise made her fearful of her own fate. She knew, she said a few weeks ago, that it was the same way she would go too. Jenny died at her parents' home on June 12 without ever accessing the antiretrovirals which could have spared her from an early death at the age of 29. A short six months after passing her staff nurse exams with distinction in November, she had become one of the 600 South Africans dying daily as a result of HIV. She died frustrated and angered by government delays in implementing a programme to provide antiretroviral treatment to people who needed it. "She was very, very angry. Up to the last day she was very angry," a colleague recalled, describing how she knew that Jenny was distraught by witnessing the deaths of the people she nursed. "I would see that she was really affected. She wouldn't want to talk when she came out of there She wouldn't even want to eat when she came out of dealing with a very sick patient." Now, several days after Jenny's death, there is still no answer to the question of whether the government will ever provide anti-Aids drugs to people who cannot afford them. On Wednesday the cabinet met again without discussing a report on the cost of providing antiretroviral therapy - even though more than two months have passed since the report was finalized. For people living with HIV, it seems as if there is no sense of urgency about dealing with an issue which, for them, is a matter of life and death. Lifeline counselor Isaac Skosana, who is HIV-positive, will tomorrow bury one friend who succumbed to the virus. On Wednesday, as the cabinet met without discussing anti-Aids drugs, he buried another. "What I hear is only promises. Bt commitment and things that are practical, I see nothing," said Skosana, who is healthy but dreads the day when his immune system needs antiretrovirals to prop it up. ... ... For health professionals such as Sister Sue Roberts, head of Helen Joseph Hospital's HIV clinic, the list of people in desperate need of antiretrovirals is growing. The clinic diagnoses 80 to 90 new HIV infections in patients each week. More than half of the HIV patients on its database are in desperate need of treatment, with less than 5% able to afford to buy the drugs themselves. "We've had a lot of patients who could have done extremely well on drugs. And a lot of them are no longer with us," Roberts said. So many people are dying without treatment that nurses who suspect they are HIV infected are reluctant to acknowledge that they, too, have the virus. "One of the biggest problems with healthcare workers is that they see that nothing is done for HIV, so they don't come forward," Roberts explained. "They're petrified of being identified as positive... because they're seeing sick patients dying in front of them all the time." * Names have been changed to protect identity. +++++++++++++++++++++Document Profile+++++++++++++++++++++ Date distributed (ymd): 030707 Region: Continent-Wide Issue Areas: +health+ +US policy focus+ ************************************************************ The Africa Action E-Journal is a free information service provided by Africa Action, including both original commentary and reposted documents. Africa Action provides this information and analysis in order to promote U.S. and international policies toward Africa that advance economic, political and social justice and the full spectrum of human rights. Documents previously distributed in the e-journal are available on the Africa Action website: http://www.africaaction.org For additional background on this e-journal go to: http://www.africaaction.org/e-journal.htm To support Africa Action with your contribution go to: http://www.africaaction.org/join.htm To be added to or dropped from the e-journal subscription list, write to e-journal@africaaction.org. For more information about reposted material, please contact directly the source mentioned in the posting. Africa Action 1634 Eye St. NW, #810, Washington, DC 20006. Phone: 202-546-7961. Fax: 202-546-1545. E-mail: africaaction@igc.org. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
