Special Session of Conference of African Ministers of Health (CAMH)
Today AAI attends the Special Session of Conference of African Ministers of Health (CAMH).
On the agenda:
i. Annual status of MNCH in Africa;
ii. Business Plan for the implementation of the Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Plan for Africa (PMPA);
iii. Plan of Action of the 2nd Decade of African Traditional Medicine 2010 – 2020;
iv. Discussion of challenges of (international) resource mobilization for health in Africa.
Watch this space for our feedback!
Today the 17th May commemorates International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia.
It celebrates 22 years since homosexuality was removed from the International Classification of Diseases of the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1990.
But we still have a long way to go…
AIDS Accountability International calls for active steps to be taken to improve the response on HIV/AIDS and sexual and reproductive health and rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender men and women around the world. More accountability is necessary from governments, civil society, donors and all other stakeholders in the health response to include the needs of all people, with no reservations based on gender, sexual orientation, race, age, creed or nationality.
The AIDS Accountability Scorecard on LGBT found that the following issues remain problematic:
- Insufficient response to existing indicators on for LGBT: Although indicators exist only for MSM and MSW, and not for WSW and TG, too few countries are reporting on these indicators. Because these groups are most vulnerable it can clearly be said that most countries do not “know their epidemic”, nor do they “know their response.”
- Lack of capacity building around use of data: There is inadequate attention being placed on how the data can be used by advocates, its limitations and strengths. This indicates a lack of transparency as the real applicability of the data is inaccessible to most.
- WSW and TG indicators do not exist: This issue needs to be urgently addressed at both UNAIDS and country level. The ongoing and entrenched marginalization of these individuals must stop and leadership in government, multi-laterals, bi-laterals, funders and civil society must react and begin to monitor such basic empirical evidence such as the knowledge levels of WSW and TG.
- Some countries are making headway: Several countries are setting excellent examples in paving the way for equality for LGBT people. Notable are the countries that have reported continuously on MSM and MSW indicators, but that have also included TG and WSW in their policy, programming and implementation. This can be said to be truly accountable leadership.
Recommendations
- Civil society needs to start demanding that governments begin to collect data on the most marginalized populations, and the ones most at risk, LGBT. Countries must no longer be allowed to ignore the existing indicators for MSM and MSW and must show leadership by making resources available to “Know their epidemic”.
- There needs to be more funding made available to build capacity in advocates and activists in terms of using empirical evidence for their work. A greater understanding of the usefulness of data, the influence it can have and the limitations that exist, are powerful tools for advocates globally.
- Activists need to start demanding more indicators, better quality data, more reporting and the inclusion of WSW and TG indicators. There needs to be an urgent solution to the inclusion of applicable indicators for TG and WSW. The existing questions should be evaluated at country level for applicability.
- Accountable leadership should be acknowledged: Countries that have succeeded should be rewarded for their efforts and applauded for leading from the front. Their efforts should be used to set examples for other governments but also as a way for lessons learnt to be shared with others as they venture into this new territory.
Accountability is key to leaders fully responding to the needs of all their people. The time is now for all people to be included and for human rights for all to become a reality.
Rodrigo Garay,
Executive Director,
Secretariat Sweden,
rodrigo@aidsaccountability.org,
Tel no +46 706 31 93 07,
Fax no +46 8 700 46 10
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Main Decisions Made at Board Meeting.
Picture from Global Fund
This article provides a summary of the main decisions made by the Global Fund Board at its Geneva meeting.
On 10-11 May 2012, the Global Fund Board held its 26th meeting in Geneva, Switzerland. GFO was present, with observer status. The main decisions made at the meeting, in chronological order, were as follows. (For precise wording of what the Board agreed, see the decision points document posted at www.theglobalfund.org/en/board/meetings/twentysixth. Background documentation will also, in time, be posted by the Global Fund at the same location.)
Delegation of authority to FOPC for operating budget. The Board decided that the Finance and Operational Performance Committee has the authority to approve operating expenditures that do not result in an increase in the amount of the Board-approved operating expenses budget for any financial year. The Board also authorised the FOPC to establish a framework to determine, within limits, when decisions on adjustments, reallocations or additions to the operating expenses budget may be taken by the Secretariat or the FOPC. [See Decision Point 4.]
Delegation of authority to Secretariat for grant management. The Board authorised the Secretariat to approve – in limited circumstances – extensions of up to three months to the time period for signing grants (currently 12 months from when the proposal is approved). This authority applies to all future proposals; the Board had previously granted the Secretariat this authority for Round 10 proposals. The Board also granted limited authority to the Secretariat to make other decisions concerning grant management – for example, determining the start date of a grant, and approving extensions to the implementation period of a grant. [See Decision Point 5.]
New funding opportunities. See Article 1 in this issue.
Modification of rules governing grant renewals. The Board noted that the 55% rule has had some negative impact on the achievement of targets in the Global Fund Strategy. (The 55% rule says that in each annual funding window, 55% of all funding must be directed to low income countries.) Consequently, the Board asked the Secretariat to conduct further analysis of this rule, in consultation with the Strategy, Investment and Impact Committee, and to present a recommendation to the Board before its meeting in November 2012. In the meantime, the Board decided to freeze the implementation of the 75% ceiling on grant renewal funding for countries classified as lower-middle-income and above. (This ceiling had been adopted as one way of trying to implement the 55% rule.) This decision applies retroactively to four renewals already approved that were affected by this ceiling. GFO will report on issues related to the 55% rule in a future issue. [See Decision Point 7.]
Executive Director selection. See Article 4 in this issue.
14 May 2012
By Global Fund Observer.
http://www.aidspan.org/index.php?issue=184&article=2&highlights=main~decisions~made~at~meeting
Girls and their leadership aspirations
What Happens To 3 Out Of 4 Girls After Leafing Through A Fashion Mag For 3 Minutes?
Thursday, May 17 Is the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia !
A day to put LGBT rights on the global agenda!
Picture from Jorg Litwinschuh
It is well-known that the LGBT community continues to face discrimination, stigma, and violence worldwide. No less than 76 countries around the world still consider homosexuality illegal and in 5 of them, homosexual acts are punishable by death. In almost all countries, transphobic laws limit the freedom not to act as socially determined by one person’s sex at birth.
May 17 th provides an opportunity to pay tribute to the progress that has been made towards achieving LGBT rights as well as to draw attention to the persisting and unacceptable inequities still affecting LGBT people around the world and how this impacts LGBT youth in particular.
Now, it’s your turn to raise your voice!
From May 16 to 18, Amplify will host the FIRST International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia Blogathon .
You can commemorate International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHO) by sharing your thoughts on Amplify! Here are some questions to help you think about what you might want to write.
• What is it like for LGBT youth in your country?
• Do they have education, sexual and reproductive health services, and economic opportunities? Why or why not?
• What do you see as priorities for advancing LGBT youth rights in your country?
• How can LGBT youth be sustainable agents of change? Tell others about your own or other young people’s efforts to improve the rights of LGBT youth.
Join Amplify and write a blog post for the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia !
You can also check out the office International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia website at www.DayAgainstHomophobia.org
Civil Society Accountability Toolkit for South Africa.
The Co-operative for Research and Education has been commissioned by the Commonwealth Foundation to develop a “Civil Society Accountability Toolkit for South Africa.”
In co-operation with local civil society organisations (CSOs), the Foundation has developed similar toolkits for Belize, India, Trinidad and Tobago, etc.
The overall focus and scope of the South African project are to:
- Identify principles of accountability for CSOs in South Africa;
- Examine and review CSO accountability practices, and enable sharing from across the country;
- Use online discussion forums to debate and determine current and future practices to foster sharing, collaboration and networking;
- Interview key stakeholders in CSOs, business, donors and government agencies;
- Present the findings in a two day workshop which will consider a draft accountability toolkit;
- Revise, print and disseminate a toolkit to at least 1 000 key influential CSOs and or leaders.
CSOs are often attacked by governments and politicians as being unaccountable and unresponsive. In response, this project will therefore make an important contribution towards building the credibility and transparency of the sector in South Africa.
We invite you to provide your input to the toolkit by participating in our online forum.
Each week, we will be asking a different question relating to accountability in practice.
The question for week one (10 – 17 May) is “How and to whom are you accountable to?”
Click here to share your views.
If you have any suggestions you would like to share, please contact us at corejhb@mail.ngo.za.
http://www.ngopulse.org/blogs/civil-society-accountability-toolkit-south-africa
Zimbabwe’s latest way to stop HIV: Force women to have fewer baths and shave off their hair to make them less attractive
Picture from Suzanna Blahna
A Zimbabwean politician has said women should be forced to bathe less and shave off their hair to make them less attractive to men and help curb the spread of HIV.
Senator Morgan Femai reportedly told a conference he believed the killer disease had spread because men found it difficult to resist attractive and well-dressed women.
The politician added that new laws should be drawn up compelling women to make themselves less attractive to save men from themselves, according to a report on the New Zimbabwe website.
Shocking: A Zimbabwean politician has said women should be forced to bathe less and shave off their hair to help curb the spread of HIV. Senator Morgan Femai is in the country’s main opposition party to President Robert Mugabe addressing a parliamentary workshop on HIV awareness, Senator Femai compared his plan to certain Christian sects whose women he said also sometimes had clean-shaven heads.
He said: ‘What I propose is that the government should come up with a law that compels women to have their heads clean-shaven like what the Apostolic sects do.
‘They should also not bath because that is what has caused all these problems.’
Senator Femai, who is a member of Zimbabwe’s main opposition party the Movement for Democratic Change, laid out his plan before other politicians last week in the country’s parliament.
Zimbabwe has suffered from a major HIV crisis in recent decades, with around 14 per cent of the population believed to be living with the sexually-transmitted disease.
Recent studies have suggested a decrease in the rate of infection.
However hundreds of thousands of Zimbabweans are still believed to be HIV positive or suffering from Aids.
Senator Femai reportedly gave his bizarre opinions on the issue as he attended a parliamentary conference on future health policy.
The politician compounded his comments by explaining his belief that moisture inside women’s bodies made them more vulnerable to the HIV virus.
He said: ‘Women have got more moisture in their organs as compared to men, so there is need to research how to deal with that moisture because it is conducive for bacteria breeding.
‘There should be a way to suck out that moisture.’
The senator’s scientifically unproven remarks today sparked outrage and disbelief in Zimbabwe.
Hundreds of concerned readers posted comments on local media websites in which they criticised his comments.
One reader, SekuruGora, wrote: ‘My heart bleeds. We are being led by blind men and women indeed.’
Another, Masimba Musodza, who described himself as a Zimbabwean expatriate living in Britain, wrote: ‘I am so ashamed to come from Zimbabwe right now.
‘In my exile, I have met thousands of British people who would fit the description of “idiot”, but this chap would match all of them put together.’
Another reader, Chiranda Mukuru, added: ‘More than 30 years since independence, and with probably the most educated population on the African continent, would we seriously have such representatives? We are in real trouble.’
Senator Femai’s reported comments make him the latest Zimbabwean politician to spark a furore by suggesting outlandish solutions to the HIV crisis.
Last year fellow MDC senator Sithembile Mlotshwa was criticised after she said scientists should invent a drug to stop married men wanting to have sex with prostitutes.
The politician later caused fresh consternation when she told parliament she believed prisoners should be given sex toys in jail to stop them engaging in homosexual sex which could increase the spread of the virus.
By Stewart Maclean
13 May 2012
Nigeria should invest in family planning supplies, programmes – SHEFFIELD
Picture from MDG Apps
WITH a 20 percent unmet need for family planning in Nigeria, the need to invest in country-specific family planning supplies and programmes has been stressed. President of the Women Deliver, Jill Sheffield who disclosed this in an interview, said: “Nigeria should invest in family planning supplies and programmes, which would drastically reduce the number of unintended pregnancies, maternal deaths, newborn deaths, and unsafe abortions.”
Sheffield, who spoke to Vanguard in a follow-up interview to the Regional Consultative conference that took place in Kampala Uganda, about specific areas in which Nigeria and other African countries required more capacity building, skills empowerment, and technical support for improved maternal health, observed that latest data released by Countdown to 2015, showed that 1 in 23 women in Nigeria will die of complications during pregnancy and childbirth.
“The good news is that the vast majority of maternal deaths are entirely preventable. By strengthening health systems, training more community health workers and ensuring the availability of necessary medicines and equipment, governments across Africa can prevent or manage life-threatening pregnancy-related complications and save countless women’s lives.
But none of this is possible without strong political and financial commitments at the local, national and international scenes.”
Commenting on the response of African governments to the challenge of maternal health, Sheffield observed there has been progress on maternal health in many parts of Africa, as evidenced by the 26 percent decline in maternal mortality over the past two decades.
“Strong leadership from African policymakers has been key to this progress. More than 30 countries launched the Campaign for Accelerated Reduction of Maternal Mortality in Africa (CARMMA), which sets clear, country-specific priorities and goals for reducing maternal mortality.
“And even more recently, delegates at the Inter-Parliamentary Union in Kampala passed a resolution calling on members to take all possible measures to achieve MDGs 4 and 5 by 2015.
However, with nearly 600 women in sub-Saharan Africa still dying every day of pregnancy-related causes, there is more work to be done.
“The progress Africa has made on maternal health to date shows us that success is possible. If African leaders continue prioritising and investing in the health and well-being of girls and women, I believe we can bring about a sea change across the continent,” she stressed.
In her brief, Sheffied said: “African countries and governments already have national and regional frameworks they can use to address maternal health challenges. In 2006, African Heads of State adopted the Maputo Plan of Action, which sets out a framework of clear goals, outcomes, outputs, indicators, timelines, and costing for countries to improve reproductive health.
Renewed focus on MDG5, and the African Union’s Campaign on Accelerated Reduction of Maternal Mortality (CARMMA), also offer a crucial opportunity to help countries fulfill the Maputo Plan of Action.
May 15, 2012 ·
By SOLA OGUNDIPE
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2012/05/nigeria-should-invest-in-family-planning-supplies-programmes-sheffield/
Biden’s backing of gay marriage pressures Obama
Picture from Kurt Strazdins
Was it a signal by President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign, designed to attract gay and lesbian supporters? A trial balloon to test voters’ feelings about same-sex marriage? Or just a case of the vice president wandering from the campaign’s message?
Whatever it was, Vice President Joe Biden’s endorsement on Sunday of the right of gay couples to marry revved up the activist community – and created a bit of a headache for Obama’s re-election campaign, which wanted to spend Monday talking about the economy and other issues.
Biden declared on NBC’s “Meet the Press” program that he was “absolutely comfortable” allowing same-gender couples to wed.
That, and a subsequent comment on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” from Education Secretary Arne Duncan that gay marriage should be legal, led White House and campaign officials to spend the day fending off questions about the president’s views.
Obama, who enjoyed broad support from the gay and lesbian community in the 2008 election, opposes same-sex marriage but has said gay couples should have the same rights as married straight couples. He has characterized his stance as evolving.
David Axelrod, the president’s senior campaign strategist, told reporters Biden’s comments were “entirely consistent with the president’s position, which is that couples who are married, whether they’re gay or heterosexual couples, are entitled to the very same rights and the very same liberties.”
Some gay rights activists saw Biden’s remarks as more significant.
Biden’s candid response, they said, could be seen as a sign that Obama had arrived at the same conclusion on the divisive issue – even if he is waiting until after the November 6 election to make that clear.
“Any reasonable person watching that broadcast of ‘Meet the Press’ yesterday walked away with the impression that Vice President Biden supported marriage equality,” said Fred Zaines of the Human Rights Campaign, a group that lobbies for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people’s rights.
“If, as Axelrod says, the vice president’s position is equal to that of the president, well then the president just came out for marriage equality.”
White House spokesman Jay Carney said there was no change in the president’s position.
“I have no update on the president’s personal views,” he said. “What the vice president said yesterday was to make the same point that the president has made previously: that committed and loving same-sex couples deserve the same rights and protections enjoyed by all Americans, and that we oppose any effort to roll back those rights.”
Since becoming president in January 2009, Obama has signed a repeal of the policy that prevented gays from openly serving in the military. The White House also has declined to defend the constitutionality of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, a federal law that defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman.
‘YOU CAN’T GO BACK NOW’
An increasing number of Americans now favor gay marriage.
In a survey released last month, the Pew Research Center found 47 percent of people favored same-sex marriage while 43 percent opposed legal marriages by gay and lesbian couples. In 2008, 39 percent favored gay marriage and 51 percent opposed it.
Biden belongs to the Catholic Church, which opposes gay marriage. However, his views seem to be in line with most Catholics in the United States: Pew recently found that 52 percent of church members favor gay marriage, up from 46 percent in 2010.
Gay rights activists said Biden’s comments could help Obama with the gay community if his advisers did not overshadow them.
By Jeff Mason and Samuel P. Jacobs
Mon May 7, 2012
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/07/us-usa-campaign-obama-gayhasmarriage-idUSBRE84618C20120507
Arizona bans funding to Planned Parenthood in abortion fight
Picture cortesy of Lucy Panza
Arizona Governor Jan Brewer on Friday signed into law a bill banning abortion providers like Planned Parenthood from receiving money through the state, her office said in a statement. The Republican-backed Whole Woman’s Health Funding Priority Act cuts off funding for family planning and health services delivered by Planned Parenthood clinics and other organizations offering abortions. “By signing this measure into law I stand with the majority of Americans who oppose the use of taxpayer funds for abortion,” Brewer said in a statement. Arizona joins six other states with similar laws, officials said. But three of those states — Indiana, Kansas and North Carolina — are facing legal challenges. Arizona does not provide tax dollars for abortion, but backers said the law is needed to make sure that no indirect monies are funneled to organizations like Planned Parenthood that provide abortion and other health services. There were no estimates of how much money is involved. But officials at Planned Parenthood Arizona, the state’s largest abortion provider, said the law means that thousands of women in the state may now go without life-saving cancer screenings, birth control and basic health care. “We are most concerned about the women and men who could be forced to go without health care as a result of this bill,” Bryan Howard, Planned Parenthood Arizona’s president and CEO, said in a prepared statement. “We remain committed to providing Arizona communities with the professional, nonjudgmental and confidential health care they have relied on for 78 years,” Howard said. The anti-abortion group Susan B. Anthony List called the bill a “major victory” in its fight to bar funding of abortion providers. “Abortion-centered businesses like Planned Parenthood do not need or deserve taxpayer dollars,” Marilyn Musgrave, vice president of government affairs for the organization, said in a written statement. While Planned Parenthood suffered a setback in Arizona, it won a temporary battle in court on Friday with Texas. A federal appeals court ruled that the organization could participate in a health program for low-income women in Texas, despite a new state rule there that bans affiliates of abortion providers.
By David Schwartz
Sat May 5, 2012
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/05/us-usa-abortion-arizona-idUSBRE84402Y20120505
