HIV/AIDS

Conference on HIV and migration in Lisbon, June 2007

In preparation of the Portuguese Presidency the European Aids Treatment Group (EATG)organised a conference on HIV and migration in Lisbon, June 2007. The focus of the conference was on access to prevention, care and treatment.
The Portuguese Presidency of the European Union (EU) which started in July 2007 will highlight discussions on health and migration issues. To start a series of discussions the EATG organised an event on HIV and migration.
Epidemiological data from different European (...)

Albanian Association for Prevention and Rehabilitation from AIDS and Drugs

The Albanian Association for Prevention and Rehabilitation from AIDS and Drugs (APRAD) has been very active in following harm reduction strategies in reducing risk of HIV or STD acquisition or transmission.
APRAD publish very informative monthly Newsletters, which offer an interesting insights into its work. The Newsletter follows the APRAD Centre which offer diverse services such as -
Training session for at-risk and vulnerable groups
Condom distribution and clean syringes
Psychosocial (...)

Action for Global health - a European NGO network

Officially launched on the 27th October 2006, this network gathers 15 European NGOs working on health and development issues. EPHA is one of the Brussels-based partners.
Background information about the project
Although not comprehensive, the Health Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) continue to offer the best catalyst to push for increased action to improve health in developing countries.
As commitments signed by donor countries, they are an effective advocacy tool. With half of the (...)

Seminar on HIV/AIDS treatment in Central and Eastern European Countries

The European Aids Treatment Group organises a seminar on HIV/AIDS Treatments in Central and Eastern European Countries. It takes place in Prague on the 2-5 November 2006.
The seminar aims to raise awareness and share best practices about treatment experiences to NGOs, care providers and patients organisations and activists.
EATG also wants to learn more about the situation, difficulties, issues and questions regarding treatment and HIV/AIDS in Central and Eastern European Countries, so that (...)

Supporting the International Drug Purchase Facility

AIDES is seeking for support on a declaration about new fundraising schemes to support access to medicines for AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
The governments of Brasil, Chile, France, and Norway among others have become strong supporters of both:
implementing innovative fundraising mechanisms to support worldwide development efforts (notably through a small tax on airfares)
setting up a new International Drug Purchase Facility - dedicated to improve long-term and cost-efficient access (...)

An example of effective HIV/AIDS prevention activities in Albania

APRAD - the Albanian Association for Prevention and Rehabilitation from AIDS and Drugs - organises every Friday trainings with migrants and the Roma community to address every day life problems they may face.
Every session seeks to find practical solutions to problems identified by the participants themselves. This contributes to developing community-centered strategies and will increase the effectiveness of projects.
A specific attention is paid to gender equality, which is still at stake (...)

**UPDATED** The role of local NGOs in combating HIV/AIDS - The AIDS Action and Integration project

Updated with activities in Latvia - The EU-funded AIDS Action & Integration project brings together Central and Eastern European (CEE) NGOs working on HIV/AIDS and European networks to support the developmennt of NGO-based prevention and advocacy programmes in Central and Eastern Europe.
Led by the French NGO AIDES, an EPHA member, the project is implemented through exchanges of best practices and experiences. Since 2001, CEE-based NGOs, as well as European Organisations (ie AIDS Action (...)

EATG position paper on HIV/AIDS clinical trials and drug users

The European AIDS Treatment Group (EATG), an EPHA member organisation, issued their position paper on clinical research and drug users in order to urge key stakeholders to include drug users in the clinical trials.
Despite the high prevalence of HIV/AIDS within the injecting drug user population, EATG points out that drug users are excluded from clinical trials which raise concerns regarding the relevance of future treatments for this high-risk population.
EATG notes that health care (...)

CPME Policy Paper on HIV/AIDS

The Board of the Standing Committee of European Doctors (CPME), an EPHA member, adopted a policy paper on HIV and AIDS at its meeting of 18 November 2005.
The CPME considers having an important role to play in the development of policies and strategies to fight HIV/AIDS as a representative of all European Doctors.
The CPME considers it crucial to prioritise sexual and reproductive health issues through the financing of programmes on family planning to obtain better control of HIV/AIDS in (...)

One World ’05 HIV/AIDS seminar

HIV/AIDS was one of the thematic sections of the One World International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival, which took place in Prague 27 April to 5 May 2005.
Considering the magnitude of the HIV/AIDS problem and seeing it as an international crisis of staggering proportions the festival decided to put emphasis on the issue through showing several films on the topic. It also held the two day seminar for HIV/AIDS campaigners from EU countries, South Africa and Eastern Europe. The (...)

Belgian NGOs on HIV/AIDS and sexual health join forces

Since 2001 CGSO Trefpunt (associate member of IPPF working on sexual and reproductive health and rights, SRHR) and Sensoa an AIDS organisation have been exploring ways to cooperate more closely. This followed a call from the Belgian Ministry of Public Health to put forward an integrated approach to HIV and SRHR.
There were a number of obstacles to be overcome:
different target groups,
different stages of organisational development,
competition concerning grants,
and greater (...)

Raising prevention about HIV throughout the Albanian Roma Community

APRAD (Albanian Association for Prevention and Rehabilitation from Aids and Drugs) - a recent EPHA Member - has started in January 2005 a project about HIV prevention which targets internal migrants and the Roma Community in particular. The Dutch NGO CORDAID, financially supports this one-year activity.
The project main long-run objective is to create more awareness and raise widespread prevention practices throughout the Roma community in Albania, usually forgotten by public policies. (...)

World AIDS Day 2004: EPHA members in action

World AIDS Day 2004 focuses on women, girls, and HIV and AIDS. Figures show that globally females are becoming infected with HIV at a faster rate than males, a change from the early years of the pandemic.
On the occasion of World AIDS Day, UNAIDS and WHO launched the AIDS epidemic update 2004 on 23 November. With maps and regional summaries, the 2004 edition of the annual report provides the most recent estimates of the epidemic’s scope and human toll, explores new trends in the epidemic’s (...)

IAVI annual progress report 2003

The International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) has issued a report that provides a detailed summary of work for the period 1 January to 31 December 2003.
Some of the highlights of the European Programme are:
2003 saw a further increase in the involvement of European groups in IAVI’s work. In addition to the clinical trials underway in Kenya, Uganda, South Africa and the UK, trials began in Switzerland and Belgium in 2003, and applications were submitted for trials in Germany and The (...)

HERA approaches russian media and citizen’s on World AIDS Day

On the occasion of World AIDS Day (1st December), the International Centre of Health Protection - HERA the network of Russian health NGOs and the first Russian NGO to become EPHA member, will hold a press conference with Russian media on the topic: "When You Write about Sexual Health", as well as special events to be carried out by members of HERA all over the country.
HIV and AIDS are global problems. Every minute 6 people become infected with HIV and every 5 minutes one of those infected (...)

Human Rights Watch issues a report on HIV/AIDS patients in China

Human Rights Watch has issued a report titled "Locked doors: the Human Rights of People Living with HIV/AIDS in China".
Francesco Longu StopAids Alliance attended the Brussels launch of the report on 11th September to discuss the findings and recommendations of this report with Meg Davis, China researcher for Human Rights Watch.
Full report.

World AIDS Day 2005: EU commits to help combat the rising epidemic

Following World AIDS Day, the European Commission is to step-up the fight against HIV/AIDS. The various initiatives present themselves against a backdrop of the escalating number of reported new HIV cases over the last 4 years, with young people being the main victims.
A new European Commission Communication To help combat the rise of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Europe and neighbouring countries, the Commission has adopted a Communication detailing concrete steps for 2006-2009.
The latest (...)

Three new bodies to coordinate more efficiently the EU fight against HIV pandemic

Following the Dublin Ministerial Conference “Breaking the Barriers - Partnership to fight AIDS/HIV in Europe and Central Asia”, the European Commission set up 3 bodies dedicated to coordinating the fight against HIV/AIDS in Europe and neighbouring countries.
The situation in new EU Member States and their neighbours particularly raises concern. In EU’s eastern neighbours, the rates of new infections are among the highest in the world especially in the Russian Federation, Ukraine (...)

Health Council discusses AIDS, nutritional claims and zoonotic diseases

Health ministers met on 6 December in Brussels, under the chairmanship of Hans Hoogervorst, the Dutch Minister for Health, Welfare and Sport.
The agenda included the debate on European strategy against HIV/AIDS, initial exchange of views on paediatric medicines, a review of progress on the draft Regulation on nutrition and health claims made on foods, and the adoption of Council conclusions on zoonotic diseases.
Fight against HIV/AIDS
In line with the Commission working paper and the (...)

The EU and the World AIDS Day 2004

Commissioners Markos Kyprianou and Louis Michel spoke about the EU actions to tackle the HIV/AIDS epidemic on the occasion of World AIDS Day 2004, which was dedicated to “Women, girls and HIV and AIDS”.
Speaking at the European Parliament, Commissioner Kyprianou re-stated that “the Commission is addressing the HIV/AIDS issue both within and outside the EU. Together with the Member States [the EU is] the biggest contributor to the Global Fund, which is the main financial (...)

EU ministers address HIV/AIDS threat in Europe

EU health ministers and AIDS experts from across the EU met in Vilnius, Lithuania on 16-17 September 2004 for a conference entitled Europe and HIV/AIDS: New Challenges, New Opportunities. It was organised jointly by the Lithuanian government and the European Commission and followed up on the Ministerial Conference on HIV/AIDS of 23-24 February this year during the Irish Presidency of the EU (see related EPHA’s article).
The main outcome of the conference was the adoption of a (...)

EU-African clinical trials partnership programme

On 1 September 2003, Science & Research Commissioner Philippe Busquin presented the Europe-Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP) to 46 African Health ministers at the WHO conference in Johannesburg.
This 600 million euro programme was launched in 2002, bringing together the EU Member States (plus Norway), developing countries, the private sector and international foundations.
It aims to combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis by facilitating and accelerating clinical (...)

New Report on EC Funding for Health and Development

The Action for Global Health - of which EPHA is part - have launched a report on EC Development funding for health: "An Unhealthy Prognosis?" at an event in the European Parliament on the 15th May 2007.
The report notes the large gap that exists between the political commitments the EC has and its financial commitments. This gap is exacerbated by a further large gap between financial commitments and actual disbursments. The money promised for health in developing countries has not been (...)

The ILGA produce report on Lesbian and Bisexual women’s health

The International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA) have produced a report on Lesbian and Bisexual Women’s health: common concerns, local issues, in order to share information and to describe what is being done for the mental and physical wellbeing of Lesbian and bisexual women.
The report, which was compiled from material and individuals worldwide, contains a range of information addressing both health specific topics including HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases, and social (...)

The world health report 2004 - changing history

The World Health Organisation (WHO) published on 11 May 2004 The world health report 2004 - changing history, which describes the global propagation of HIV/AIDS and the need for linking and strengthening prevention, treatment, care and support for people living with the virus.
The report says that "it is treatment that can most effectively boost prevention efforts and in turn drive the strengthening of health systems and enable poor countries to protect people from a wide range of health (...)

World AIDS Day: how institutions and advocates approached the event

World AIDS Day was celebrated on 1 December 2007 to remember the victims of the most terrific virus epidemics ever recorded. To date, 25 million people are died throughout the world and 33.2 million are living with HIV/AIDS. After exploring the activities undertaken by Health Commissioner Marcos Kyprianou at the European level, this article will highlight the campaigns undertaken by the European AIDS Treatment Group (EATG), an EPHA member, in relation to the event.
Health Commissioner (...)

World AIDS Vaccine Day: IAVI calls for additional financial and technical assistance

On May 18, the global community marked World AIDS Vaccine Day (WAVD) - a unique opportunity to focus the public debate on a long-term strategy to improve HIV prevention. This article was written by IAVI, Heather Clarke and Hester Kuipers.
Considerable progress on vaccines have ben made
A safe, effective, globally-accessible vaccine remains the best tool to drastically control the spread of HIV, now toppling 12,000 new infections daily.
Since the first World AIDS Vaccine Day a decade ago, (...)

*UPDATED* Launch of 2006 annual report on the state of the drugs problem in Europe

*UPDATED* The EU drugs agency, the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA), has adopted a new mission statement.
2006 annual report on the state of the drugs problem in Europe
The EMCDDA has launched its 2006 Annual Report on the state of the drugs problem in Europe.
The report offers an overview of the European drugs phenomenon in 29 countries. Drug facts, figures and analyses from across Europe and by country. The report also covers latest trends and social, (...)

Prisons: breeding grounds for disease

The World Health Organisation Europe Region (WHO EURO) launched a Prison Health Database in order to increase the awareness of the problems relating to health in Prisons, to monitor patterns in prison health and to ensure the promotion of public health in prisons.
The database forms part of the WHO’s Health in Prisons project (HIPP). The HIPP was started in 1995 to encourage member states to address health and health care in prisons and to enable better collaboration between prison health (...)

Eurobarometer indicates high misconceptions about HIV/AIDS

Findings from the Commission’s latest Eurobarometer on HIV/AIDS has identified an alarming lack of understanding about HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs), especially in new member states.
The survey, which looks at attitudes towards HIV across the 25 member states of the European Union (EU), asked 25,000 people for their views. Attitudes towards how HIV can be transmitted have declined since a similar survey in 2002. The Eurobarometer on HIV/AIDS found that most (...)

Assessing the health of prisoners in Europe

the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) and the World Health Organisation - Europe Region have joined forces to build a database assessing the health of prisoners in Europe.
Among other issues, the database particularly intends to draw the attention on the prevalence of drug abuse within the target group.
Although the full database will only be available online as of July 2006, the first step of the project focuses on drug prevalence and entails a database on (...)

What role for the EU in the global fight against the HIV/AIDS pandemic?

Ahead of the June 2006 review of the United Nations Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS, health NGOs call the EU to act as a global leader in the fight against the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
In June 2001, the United Nations held a United Nations General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) on HIV/AID where all UN Member States agreed to respond to HIV/AIDS with specific commitments and deadlines in a ’Declaration of Commitment’. Despite the fact that the Declaration is not legally binding, more than (...)

World TB Day 2006: a mixed picture

The Global Alliance for TB drug development, an EPHA member, has just received 14 million dollars from the Dutch, British and Irish governments to accelerate the research for new Tuberculosis cure, while progress in Central and Eastern European countries is particularly weak.
The funding will support the overall operations of the TB Alliance, more particularly drug discovery programmes, pre-clinical development and on-going and new clinical trials. It will also help the TB Alliance develop (...)

Opportunity for NGOs to participate in a UN General Assembly on HIV/AIDS

In order to review the implementation of the United Nations (UN) 2001 Declaration on Commitment on HIV/AIDS, the United Nations will organise a follow-up meeting due to take place in New York from 31 May - 2 June 2006. They plan to involve all stakeholders, including civil society organisations.
It is meant to review progress achieved in realising the commitments set out in the 2001 Declaration and to renew political commitment.
It will involve all sectors of the international community, (...)

New joint guidelines on health services and HIV/AIDS

Experts brought together by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) have agreed to joint guidelines on health services and HIV/AIDS. The new guidelines are a move to help protect the safety and health of workers that deal with HIV/AIDS and they are designed to ’ensure a functioning and healthy medical work force’.
The background for the guidlines is that while access to healthcare is a basic human right, provision of healthcare remains (...)

EU Health Ministers plan responses to health threats

The Health Ministers of the 25 European Union member states met in Paris on the 13-14 April 2005 to discuss “Health in Europe”. The main decisions aimed at reinforcing a common response to health threats.
Philippe Douste-Blazy, the French health minister, concluded the meeting by calling his colleagues to strenghten European health policies, stating that “a 25-nation Europe will be stronger to build a Europe that discovers novel therapies, a Europe that shares best (...)

Governments respond to call for a coordinated HIV vaccine effort

The G-8 group of industrialised nations have responded to a call by leading scientists from around the world for a coordinated approach to an HIV vaccine along the lines of the Human Genome project.
In June 2004, the Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise was launched as a virtual consortium to enhance coordination, information sharing and global collaboration amongst the world’s HIV vaccine researchers in industrialized and developing countries in both private and public sectors.
The Enterprise (...)

AIDS epidemic poses serious threat to Europe, according to WHO and UNAIDS

A joint press release by WHO and UNAIDS, ahead of a major conference in Vilnius, Lithuania, highlights the problems with HIV/AIDS in European and Central Asian countries.
With more than 1.8 million people living with HIV in the region, the epidemic poses a serious threat to the region’s social and economic stability.
In Western Europe, deaths from AIDS have declined due to the availability of HIV treatment. Alarmingly, AIDS infection rates have continued to rise because of waning government (...)

Mixed progress made globally on women’s health

In 1994, at the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo, 179 governments pledged to improve women’s health and status. A decade later, 23 countries have made significant progress toward the health and reproductive rights goals but 17 countries have achieved little or nothing, or actually lost ground, according to a new report by NGOs.
ICPD at Ten: Where Are We Now?, is published by Population Action International (PAI), Family Care International (FCI) and the (...)

World Health Report 2004 focuses on HIV/AIDS

The 2004 World Health Report, entitled Changing History published by the WHO calls for a comprehensive HIV/AIDS strategy that links prevention, treatment, care and long-term support.
At a crucial moment in the pandemic’s history, the international community has an unprecedented opportunity to alter its course and simultaneously fortify health systems for the enduring benefit of all.
The WHO says that effectively tackling HIV/AIDS is the world’s most urgent public health challenge. (...)

UNDP warns CEE/NIS countries face a general HIV/AIDS epidemic

A new UNDP report shows that Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States have some of the fastest growing rates of HIV/AIDS infection in the world.
The impact is compounded by still insufficient public awareness, frequent stigmatization and lack of adequate policy instruments. Nonetheless, the region also has success stories, from which valuable lessons should be taken.
Reversing the Epidemic: Facts and Policy Options offers HIV/AIDS profiles for the countries of the region, (...)

World Bank warns of AIDS epidemics in the Balkans

The World Bank warns that urgent action is needed to halt the explosion of HIV/AIDS in South-East Europe and the Balkans. The Europe and Central Asia (ECA) region continues to experience the fastest-growing HIV/AIDS epidemic in the world. Russia and Ukraine remain at the forefront of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in ECA, but many other countries are now experiencing rapidly emerging epidemics.
Bulgaria, Croatia, and Romania share several social conditions that have led to a rapid increase in HIV (...)

More money for health Aid better spent

Action for Global Health launched their report "Healthy Aid" in six countries on 18 June 2008. The report examines how health aid effectiveness could be improved, and includes six country case studies exploring how the "Paris Principles" on aid effectiveness have been applied in the health sector.

*UPDATED* Access to medicines: generic medicines threatened in India

*UPDATED with latest developments in the Novartis case and mobilisation at EU level.*
The international humanitarian NGO Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) urges the European Union institutions to support the Indian government in a legal fight against a pharmaceutical company over patented medicines. MSF calls for support for its petition to help protect access to affordable medicines, and urges the Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis to drop its case against the Indian Government.
The (...)

**UPDATED** Research and Development in global health

UPDATED with the results of the World Health Assembly. In May 2006, the World Health Assembly adopted a resolution on "Global Framework on Essential Health Research and Development", which aims to address the priority health needs of people living with HIV/AIDS and other diseases, especially those in poor countries, and to develop improved safe and affordable health products such as HIV vaccines.
NGO campaigning activities
In order to support the upcoming 2006 World Health Assembly (...)

UPDATED - Call for support: WHO draft resolution on health Research & Development

**Updated: the resolution will be discussed at the World Health Assembly in May 2006** On November 16 2005, the Republic of Kenya asked the World Health Organisation (WHO) to discuss a proposed resolution on a "Global Framework on Essential Health Research and Development" at the 23-28 January meeting of the WHO’s Executive Board.
The resolution is a really strategic and important opportunity to get support for a new global framework for health Research & Development which addresses the (...)

**Updated**Empowering women on the prevention of HIV and STIs

Microbicides are a range of different products that share one common characteristic: the ability to prevent the sexual transmission of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) when applied either in the vagina or the rectum.
A microbicide could be produced in many forms, including gels, creams, suppositories, films, or as a sponge or ring that releases the active ingredient over time. But microbicides are not yet available.
Scientists are currently testing many substances to see (...)

World Economic Forum debates HIV/AIDS epidemic

The 2005 annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) took place on 26-30 January in Davos (Switzerland). One of the central themes of this year’s meeting was the fight against the AIDS epidemic.
Today, about 40 million people are living with AIDS. About half live in Africa, where there are over 8,000 new infections each day.
In his opening address, UK Prime Minister Tony Blair appealed for more aid for Africa and committed the UK to provide nearly one sixth of a World Health (...)

Pharmaceuticals review - Parliamentary vote - November 2003

MEPS vote against advertising but ask for clarity on the provision of information
In early November 2003 the Parliament’s Environment Committee began to discuss its response to the review of the Pharmaceutical’s legislation.
There are three proposals under consideration:
Regulation 2309/3 concerns the provision of a legislative framework for medicinal products.
2 Directives: 2001/83 on human medicine, and 2001/82 concerning vetinary medicines
The Committee retabled amendments rejected (...)

Updates from Cancun: 10 September

Daily update from Jo Leadbeater, European Health NGOs representative in Cancun.
Negotiations got underway today (10 September) at the WTO ministerial in Cancun, with agriculture continuing to dominate the official discussions and the buzz in the hallways.
The proposal by four West African countries (Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali and Chad) to eliminate US cotton subsidies continues to receive a lot of attention.
Cotton was discussed in the plenary with many developing countries expressing (...)

Joint NGO statement on TRIPS and public health

A joint NGO statement on TRIPS and public health, titled "A ’gift’ bound in red tape" (see attachment) has been issued by 14 NGOs.
The statement says that "as a measure of trade policy, [the WTO deal on medicines] contradicts the basic principles of the WTO and free trade."
It also includes an explanatory list of the main problems with the rules, and finally, two clear demands:
"We call upon the WTO member countries to draft an amendment to the TRIPS that simplifies and clarifies the (...)