Maurice Williamson’s ‘big gay rainbow’ speech
Watch MP Maurice Williamson’s witty speech supporting the Marriage Amendment Bill.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRQXQxadyps
SIGN-ON! Civil Society African Common Position Paper on The International Conference on Population Development
Dear Colleagues,
We have finally completed the Civil Society African Common Position on the International Conference on Population Development (ICPD)!
As many of you know in 2012, AIDS Accountability International (AAI) and The African Union Commission (AUC) recognised the need for greater African civil society organisation (CSO) representation in the International Conference on Population Development (ICPD) process.
It was decided to create the African Common Position (ACP) on ICPD to reflect and include the perspectives, recommendations and expertise of African stakeholders.
The Civil Society African Common Position on ICPD contains a set of recommendations which are aimed at national governments so as to address population and development issues. It will form part of the Regional Conference on Population and Development in September in Addis Ababa, where Ministers in charge of Population will adopt the continental report on ICPD @ 20 African Common Position once reviewed by the AUC and the African Union Ministers in charge of population.
Upon approval the final version of the ACP will be taken to the General Assembly in 2014 at the ICPD Review as the principal document that reflects the African position on ICPD as we go forward.
DOWNLOAD THE AFRICAN COMMON POSITION PAPER HERE: AAI AUC Ford Civil Society African Common Position Paper on ICPD 2013 April
We are deeply grateful to Ford Foundation South Africa for their support of this work.
SIGN-ON
To sign on and endorse the Civil Society African Common Position please send an email to phillipa[at]aidsaccountability.org
Endorsements from around the world will be included, however individuals and organisations from Africa will be placed on a separate list from those from non-African countries.
Name:
Position/Job title:
Organisation:
Nationality:
Country:
Email:
Website:
Telephone:
Many thanks to all of you who contributed to making this a true reflection of African voices!
Please note: Minor errors and omissions can still be included. Please send to phillipa@aidsaccountability.org
Warmest regards,
Phillipa Tucker
ED at AAI
TB testing in South Africa rolling out slowly.
CAPE TOWN, 26 mars 2013 (IRIN) – South Africa will expand its rollout of GeneXpert tuberculosis (TB) testing machines, which can diagnose TB and drug-resistant TB Within 90 minutes, but remaining concerns about the capacity to back up this Commitment with supplies and treatment.
The country is the largest buyer of GeneXpert technology in the world, but the machines have not yet become point-of-care tests and are deployed at district often rather than clinic level. Nonetheless, they have shaved weeks off waiting times for patients because samples not have to be transported longer to and from national referral hospitals for diagnosis kilometers away.
At the opening of the TB Vaccines Third Global Forum in Cape Town on 25 March, Precious Matsoso, director general of the South African Department of Health, announced that an additional 135 machines will be imported by the end of 2013. The GeneXpert was released in 2010 and South Africa already has 150.
Matsoso’s announcement was made a day after the health department handed over six machines to the Department of Correctional Services at Cape Town’s Pollsmoor Prison. A former inmate at Pollsmoor, Dudley Lee , took the correctional services department to court after he contracted TB during incarceration. Although Lee died of TB eventually, the courts found in his favour.
During the handover, South African Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe also announced that TB screening for inmates would be carried out every six months, and reiterated to at-risk commitment that would be miners annually screened for TB. Of the 735 inmates screened for TB Pollsmoor during Motlanthe’s visit, 12 percent had TB, according to Matsoso.
The World Health Organization (WHO) lists South Africa in the top 22 Countries with a high TB burden. An Estimated 500.000 are cases of active TB and the disease diagnosed annually remains the leading cause of natural death according to the National Statistical Service, StatSa.
WHO South Africa Could Become observatory
Matsoso also announced that the health department, the National Department of Science and Technology , and the US-based non-profit TB vaccine developer, Aeras, would continue to fund the recently created South Africa Consortium on TB Vaccines. “We are at the center of the TB epidemic, so we have our own response … in terms of vaccines being developed. Hopefully, South Africa will become a global player, ” Willem Hanekom, director of the South African TB Vaccine Initiative, Told IRIN. Matsoso, who has worked with WHO on issues of intellectual property, through the consortium said that South Africa would be well-placed to become one of the research observatories envisioned in WHO resolutions aimed at promoting research and development. These Initiatives noted that she would have to be accompanied by changes to regulations, for instance to facilitate fast-track review to allow the country earlier access potential new vaccines.
Stand and deliver
South African AIDS lobby the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) and International Medical humanitarian organization Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) H\have questioned the government’s ability to deliver on these promises as stockouts and slow decentralization persist. In a joint letter delivered to South African Minister of Health Dr Aaron Motsoaledi on 22 March, the Organizations stressed that the success of the GeneXpert rollout hinged on a steady supply of testing cartridges for the machines, the decentralization of drug-resistant TB (DR-TB) care and treatment, and improved supply-chain management to avoid recurring drug stockouts.
Questioned, the organizations also the continued delay in implementing the Health Department’s 2011 policy decision to move DR-TB care out of Designated TB hospitals with a shortage of beds to primary healthcare clinics closer to patients’ homes. “Provincial operational plans for decentralization of multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) care have not been drafted, nor have readiness assessments been conducted of all proposed decentralized MDR-TB (sites), “the letter pointed out. The organizations urged us the health department to implement the 2011 policy, which would allow all of South Africa’s nine provinces initiating and managing to begin adult and pediatric stable MDR-TB at local clinics before the end of 2013.
ByIrinNews
28 March 2013
http://www.irinnews.org/fr/Report/97730/TB-testing-in-South-Africa-rolling-out-slowly
After AAI’s MPOA Workshops, Participants Use the Media to Demand Accountability From Their Leaders
Malawi: Time to act on Diabetes and related Non-Communicable Diseases
Introduction
Malawi is one of the countries in Southern Africa facing a challenge in addressing non-communicable diseases and Diabetes in particular, for instance at the Queens Elizabeth Hospital in the Southern region of the country, it is estimated that 20 patients with Diabetic complications are visiting the health facility every week translating to 1040 patients per year.
In December 2006, at its 83rd plenary session, the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 61/225 designating 14 November as World Diabetes Day. This landmark resolution recognizes diabetes as a chronic, debilitating and costly disease with major complications that pose severe risks to families, communities, countries and the world.
According to a 2009 survey on Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs) conducted by the World Health Organization (WHO) in Malawi, it shows that 17% of deaths in males and 14% of females were attributed to NCDs, this list consists of diseases such as Diabetes, high blood pressure in people with increased levels on Cholesterol.
Globally WHO estimates that 70% of all deaths are due to NCDs with cardiovascular (heart diseases) complications leading the list and only 2% for Diabetes in 2009.
WHO expert on NCDs, Dr. Kelias Msyamboza says that there is a strong need for Malawi to carry out other studies to determine the magnitude of non communicable diseases, in which heart diseases based on raised cholesterol levels and diabetes must be clearly known for urgent redress.
The survey which targeted people in the age group of 25 to 64 years between July and September in 2009 attracted the participation of 5,451 people, with only 245 refusing to participate due to busy schedules showed that 37.2% of men had hypertension as compared to only 29% in females.
The prevalence of high blood pressure in both men and women increases with age in the age brackets of 25 to 34 and 55 to 64 years.
Other life threatening diseases such as Diabetes accounted to 6.5% in men and only 4.7% in women, while raised cholesterol levels represented 6.3% in males and 11% in females.
Diabetes which has been associated with wealthy urban class of people is not the case at present, as evidence shows increasing incidence of the disease in rural areas as compared to urban areas.
Journalists Association Against AIDS (JournAIDS) with financial and technical support from the Denmark based, World Diabetes Foundation, in collaboration with the Diabetes Association of Malawi and the College of Medicine is working towards raising awareness and advocating for action to address diabetes.
Summary
Non-communicable diseases (NCDs), including cancers, diabetes, injury/violence, mental disorders, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, account for 35 million deaths each year, corresponding to 60% of all deaths worldwide.
The surprising fact is that 80% of these deaths occur in low and middle-income countries (LMICs), which are traditionally thought of as primarily affected by communicable diseases, including malaria, tuberculosis and HIV and AIDS.
The World Bank indicates that NCDs are now among the most significant causes of illness and death in working-age populations in developing countries. Yet, financing the prevention and treatment of NCDs accounts for less than 1% of official development assistance (ODA) for health.
Contrary to popular belief NCDs do not only impact the elderly in high-income countries: In the developing world, NCDs such as diabetes and hypertension often affect individuals in their mid-forties and early fifties-during the most productive part of their lives-contributing to loss of productivity and higher rates of premature morbidity and mortality.
The explosive rise of NCDs attributed to aging populations, epidemiological transition, obesity and harmful lifestyles and environments against a background of rapid, unplanned urbanization and globalization requires multi-sectoral intervention.
Recommendations
- The private sector, non governmental organizations and Government in Malawi must all join hands and urgently meet in a high level meeting to address diabetes and NCDs as a matter of urgency and also to show commitment in line with UN resolution 61/225.
- There is need for the donor community in Malawi to consider creating a special basket fund to specifically address diabetes and NCDs, while also ensuring that the Sector Wide Approach (SWAp) gives a special attention to financing prevention and treatment interventions.
- The Ministry of Health must also ensure that the NCD action plan is quickly formulated and widely disseminated with all key relevant stakeholders such as Government Ministries of education and information, print and electronic media, civil society organizations especially those under the Malawi Health Equity Network (MHEN) and the private sector.
- We urge the private sector in Malawi to start mobilizing its own resources and demonstrate its corporate social responsibility by putting in place interventions to address NCDs and diabetes and not only relying on Government or the World Health Organization alone.
- We call upon NGOs working in the health sector to strongly advocate for increased awareness and prioritization of NCDs at all levels and in all sectors.
Conclusion
We therefore call upon all relevant institutions, Government, media and the private sector in Malawi to address diabetes and related non-communicable diseases by ensuring that advocacy and awareness-raising is put on high priority by increasing financing and dispel the myths associated with NCDs and diabetes in general.
By JournAIDS
Bringing HIV/AIDS out into the open in Liberia.
MONROVIA, 22 January 2013 (PlusNews) – Stigma, discrimination and difficulty in reaching health clinics has led over half of new HIV cases in Liberia to go untreated, says the National AIDS Control Programme of Liberia, which calls the situation “alarming”.
From 2006 to 2013 some 26,000 HIV cases were reported, but of that number just 10,911 patients are enrolled in treatment centres, according to the Aids Control Programme manager Sonpon Blamo Sieh.
“They are doing this because of stigma, denial, discrimination and distances they have to travel to access treatment,” he told IRIN.
A health worker in the Kru town neighbourhood of the capital, Monrovia, told IRIN that when patients contract HIV “the community will still isolate you. Your family may isolate you. You could be denied a job,” though he noted attitudes have improved over the past five years.
According to Liberia’s demographic health survey, 1.5 percent of Liberia’s 3.5 million people are HIV-positive, with 60 percent of those being women or girls.
Awareness-raising programmes have not always taken root in rural areas, where many Liberians still continue to deny the disease’s existence, said Sieh. The AIDS Control Programme is currently carrying out an in-depth study to find out why people are dropping out so that it can target its improvements.
Martha Porka, a nurse at the Moonplay Clinic in Bong County, central Liberia, said HIV-positive people in rural areas have to walk up to three hours to reach their nearest clinic. And when they get there, they often have to wait the rest of the day to see a health worker. “For these reasons, they don’t come back,” she said, despite treatment being free.
“We have more drugs, but no one seems to be coming for them,” she added.
Treatment needs to be taken closer to people’s villages to improve continuity of care, she said.
Healthcare workers also need to change their attitude to people living with HIV, she stressed. “Some of the health workers are in the constant habit of demonizing HIV-positive people… Patients daily complain the way some health workers talk to them. I think we need to change our attitudes to these people and create love and care for them.”
Surveys undertaken by the AIDS Control Programme in the past have revealed that HIV-positive people are hesitant to access treatment due to the stigma involved in going public about their condition. Many seek care from traditional or spiritual healers, who are popularly consulted for all varieties of illness in Liberia.
Women speak out
Given that women disproportionately suffer from the disease more than men, they have to take a lead role in changing attitudes, say health workers.
To date, women have been relatively quiet about raising awareness of the dangers of HIV. But recently this has shifted, as women’s groups all over the country have launched an assertive campaign to raise awareness of the disease, refute common myths about HIV, and break down persistent stigma.
One group runs the “Jehovah’s Witness Campaign” whereby women go door to door like Jehovah’s Witnesses to spread the word on how to avoid infection.
Teneh Smith, 25, lives in the Monrovia suburb of Paynesville and heads a local campaign group called Women Against AIDS Movement, which includes nurses, journalists, stall-holders and students. This group also goes from community to community to discuss what the HIV virus is and why it is killing women. This group and others are using poster campaigns, word of mouth, text messages and radio programmemes to raise awareness of the disease.
People’s behaviour is starting to change as a result, she said.
“We cannot sit and see our young women keep coming down with this virus,” said Smith who lost her sister to the HIV virus in 2011. “When she died I did not lose hope. I began working with Liberian women. We have spread the news like wildfire across Liberian communities. Our women are on the move.”
Stigma and discrimination persist but people discuss the illness much more openly now than they used to, said health workers.
Radio
Several popular radio talk shows, such as HIV and You on community radio station Gedeh FM, are also discussing the issue. Presenter Marie Brown runs a weekly 20-minute slot targeting girls aged 15-25.
“I tell them about the danger of AIDS and how it is killing more young women in Liberia. I open the telephone lines for them to call and ask questions.” She often gets at least 50 calls a show. “I think it’s opening up people’s minds.”
Temah Kollie, 16, who attends the Donplay Community School in Kakata, in central Liberia, told IRIN: “From the first day I listened to the show, I changed my sexual behaviour. I learned that HIV is real and that we girls must stay away from sex, especially we teenagers… I have begun telling my school mates how AIDS is killing schoolgirls in Liberia.”
For Sieh this is just the beginning. “The current statistics are alarming,” he told IRIN. “We are making progress [on fighting AIDS]… Now we know that the bigger challenge is to reach [and treat] the rest of the positive cases.”
Press Release: Thousands of Cervical Cancer Deaths in Southern Africa could be Prevented with Minimal Government Action, says New Research Southern Africa Litigation Centre
Johannesburg, 31 October – Governments in southern Africa must implement comprehensive policies on cervical cancer in order to substantially reduce the number of deaths from cervical cancer, which is now the primary cause of cancer death among women in southern Africa, according to research published today by the Southern Africa Litigation Centre (SALC).
The report – entitled Tackling Cervical Cancer: Improving Access to Cervical Cancer Services for Women in Southern Africa – found that very few countries in the region have comprehensive policies on cervical cancer; essential prevention services, such as screening and vaccination, are not widely available in the public health sector in most countries; and treatment for both pre-cancerous lesions and invasive cancer remains a challenge.
“Cervical cancer is the leading cause of cancer death among women in southern Africa and yet it is completely preventable and treatable even in low resource countries,” said Priti Patel, Deputy Director of SALC. “Southern African governments need to make ending cervical cancer a priority to prevent the unnecessary loss of thousands of lives.”
Based on regional desktop research as well as field research in Namibia and Zambia, the report found that many women only access medical assistance when they have advanced cervical cancer, which is much more difficult to treat and can be incredibly painful. The report also notes that women living with HIV are more vulnerable to cervical cancer.
“Given the high rates of HIV among women in southern Africa and their greater vulnerability to cervical cancer, it is imperative that governments focus on ensuring that women living with HIV have better access to cervical cancer services,” said Patel.
The report points out that the failure by southern African governments to adequately provide medical and other cervical cancer-related services may result in violations of a number of constitutionally protected rights, including the rights to life, health, equality, dignity, bodily integrity, autonomy and information. Failure to provide services may also violate the rights to freedom from all forms of discrimination and from cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.
“The failure to adequately address cervical cancer not only leads to the deaths of women, but also violates a number of fundamental human rights enshrined in national constitutions as well as under international and regional law,” said Nyasha Chingore-Munazvo, a project lawyer with SALC and the author of the report. “This report shows that just by implementing a comprehensive policy on cervical cancer governments can transform cervical cancer treatment in the region. Hopefully, they will read the report and act upon its findings.”
Access an electronic copy of the report on the link below.
http://www.southernafricalitigationcentre.org/hiv_aids
To request a hard copy of the report send an email to: Enquiries@salc.org.za
For more information contact:
Priti Patel, SALC Deputy Director, +27 11 5875065 (o); +27 76 8080505 (m); pritip@salc.org.za
Nyasha Chingore, Author of SALC report, +27 11 587 5065 (o); nyashac@salc.org.za
More money for HIV/Aids programmes!
A reduction in United States donor funding will see National Treasury allocating more money to the fight against HIV/Aids
The Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS), tabled in Parliament on Thursday, shows the health budget adjusted slightly upwards for this financial year to R121.7 billion.
The increased spending on the prevention, care and treatment of HIV/Aids follows an agreement between Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton earlier this year.
The agreement outlines how South Africa would take over programmes funded by the US, seen by many as a sign of confidence in the South African government’s ability to manage the pandemic.
The increased amount to be allocated to the HIV/Aids programmes will only be announced by Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan next February.
The MTBPS shows spending on healthcare moderating over the next three years, reaching R30 bn by 2015/16, an average annual increase of 7.5 percent.
Previous years saw the health budget expand by close to 16 percent.
The MTBPS says the year-on-year expenditure increase is due to “the growth of the HIV and Aids conditional grant, the commencement of new conditional grants for NHI and nursing colleges, and transfer payments being made to public entities earlier in the year”.
National Treasury has also issued a warning to those in the public health sector, demanding more value for money.
“Given the constrained fiscal environment, the health sector has to seek greater efficiency and improve financial management, with particular emphasis on critical inputs such as medicines and medical supplies,” according to the statement.
BY SAPA
25 October 201
The Africa Common Position on ICPD+ Consultative Meetings
Convened by the United Nations, the International Conference on Population and Development was held in Cairo, Egypt in 1994, and “consider{ed} the broad issues of and interrelationships between population, sustained economic growth and sustainable development, and advances in the education, economic status and empowerment of women”, and was “explicitly given a broader mandate on development issues than previous population conferences, reflecting the growing awareness that population, poverty, patterns of production and consumption and the environment are so closely interconnected that none of them can be considered in isolation.
Population is linked to the full range of development concerns including poverty alleviation, women’s empowerment and environmental protection. The conference therefore focused on population, sustained economic growth and sustained development, with special emphasis on women’s health, education and status. Delegations from 179 States took part to finalize a Programme of Action (PoA) for the next 20 years which addresses a wide range of population and development themes until 2015 and beyond.
The ICPD PoA sets a framework for the development of more than a dozen key issues of which one was reproductive rights and reproductive health.
This SRHR section focused attention on 5 key issues:
A: Reproductive rights and reproductive health
B: Family planning
C: Sexually transmitted diseases and HIV prevention
D: Human sexuality and gender relations
E: Adolescents
The ICPD PoA includes goals to significantly reduce infant, child and maternal mortality and to expand access to education, specifically for girls.
The Africa Common Position on ICPD+ Consultative Meetings
In response to the ICPD PoA, the African Union Commission (AUC), AIDS Accountability International (AAI) and the African Population Commission (APC) are working together to develop the African Common Position Paper on ICPD+ by means of Consultative Meetings in Johannesburg and Dakar in 2012.
The meeting will include presentations from key experts on SRHR and ICPD in Africa, discussions and debates on what is required from the ICPD Beyond 2014, and in so doing all content will contribute to the development of an African Common Position Paper on ICPD+. This position paper will highlight the status of the African population, as well as identify challenges and successes. Recommendations will also be developed that pave the way for achieving the goals related to ICPD PoA and ultimately the MDGs related to SHRH.
See the programme here: AAI African Common Position on ICPD+ Invitation.22.10.12
Dates
The Africa Common Position on ICPD consultative meetings are expected to take place on
- 23rd-24th October in Johannesburg, South Africa and
- 30th-31st October, 2012 in Dakar, Senegal.
Participants
The workshops will bringing a number of stakeholders from the APC, AUC, Regional Economic Communities (RECs); Bi-lateral and Multi-lateral partners; Civil Society including women, youth and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people (LGBT).
Working Documents
• Africa’s Common Position Paper
• The State of Africa Population: Demographic Dividends
Languages
Translations of the final documents will be in the four AUC working languages (English, French, Portuguese and Arabic). Interpretation and translation for the African Common Position on ICPD meeting will be based on demand by participants.
Contact Information
Bob Mwiinga Munyati
Researcher
AIDS Accountability International
Email: bob [@] aidsaccountability.org
Element 6: Access to safe motherhood and child survival services increased
Introduction
The MPOA Scorecard provides data and an analysis of statistics provided by African governments to the African Union Commission in the Maputo Plan of Action (MPOA) reporting. This report first briefly introduces the various concepts that inform sexual and reproductive health and rights on the continent, how the Maputo Plan of Action commitment evolved as a government solution, and how accountability and data can be used to improve Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR). In the second section of the report the data is presented and analysed in an easy-to-read manner and a way forward provides recommendations in the final closing section. Read the full report here
Element 6: Access to safe motherhood and child survival services increased
In 2011 at the UN High Level Meeting on AIDS, globally leaders committed to the Global Plan Towards the Elimination of New HIV Infections Among Children by 2015 and Keeping Their Mothers Alive. This plan demonstrates that no technical barriers stand in the way of giving babies and mothers a chance at surviving. PMTCT or Prevention of mother to child transmission stands at between 15-45 per cent without interventions, but can be reduced to less than 5 per cent with timely management and access to ARVs. The very possibility of a Born HIV generation is around the corner and by 2015 the target is achievable with enormous financial support being offered by funding partners, accountable leadership from governments, and support and advocacy from civil society.
However, for all the facts and science showing the possibilities of the elimination of PMTCT, real access to PMTCT remains elusive in many countries, most obviously of which in the MPOA Scorecard is the Democratic Republic of Congo. In a country which reports 68 million people, 1,2 million of which are estimated to be living with HIV, the percentage of HIV positive mothers who have delivered and are receiving ARVs sits at a shocking 2 per cent. Other countries too report low numbers but none as low as the DRC. Since reporting on the first round of the MPOA a few of these countries have reported improved figures, such as South Africa which now claims fewer than 4 per cent.
The EMTCT Plan was developed by representatives of more than 30 countries and the 22 countries with the highest burden of HIV have all signed onto implementing the plan as well as been part of its development. Corporate, bi-lateral as well as multi-lateral funding has been dedicated to EMTCT and the 2015 targets, yet issues of timely access to pre-natal care and HIV testing, stock-outs of HIV testing kits, as well as follow up of both mother and baby post-partum remain barriers, especially in those countries with vast geographical areas and low population numbers such as Namibia. If HCWs are able to spend sufficient time with mothers that present at clinics and compete full health checks, including HIV testing, as well as diagnose high blood pressure problems many of the factors increasing maternal mortality could be cheaply addressed. Of course, remaining barriers include patient adherence, whether it be to ARV treatment, or blood pressure medication. However, community based programmes such as Community Antiretroviral-Therapy Groups, or CAGs, (groups of patients who meet to talk about their health issues and other aspects of their lives, offering moral and mental support as well as taking turns to collect medicine for the group) are becoming useful tools which improve adherence and can be applied to other issues facing mothers and their babies.
What is interesting however is the number of countries that do not report any data on the proportion of Emergency Obstetric and New-born Care (EmONC) sites with access to adequate supply of safe blood. With sepsis and haemorrhaging (blood loss) featuring as direct yet avoidable causes of maternal mortality, yet reasonably cheap and simple to diagnose and treat, governments need to urgently address hygiene, correct diagnosis and management, as well as access to cheap effective medications.
ICPD+
ABOUT THE PROJECT
Introduction
Convened by the United Nations, the International Conference on Population and Development was held in Cairo, Egypt in 1994, and “consider{ed} the broad issues of and interrelationships between population, sustained economic growth and sustainable development, and advances in the education, economic status and empowerment of women”, and was “explicitly given a broader mandate on development issues than previous population conferences, reflecting the growing awareness that population, poverty, patterns of production and consumption and the environment are so closely interconnected that none of them can be considered in isolation.
Population is linked to the full range of development concerns including poverty alleviation, women’s empowerment and environmental protection. The conference therefore focused on population, sustained economic growth and sustained development, with special emphasis on women’s health, education and status. Delegations from 179 States took part took part to finalize a Programme of Action (PoA) for the next 20 years which addresses a wide range of population and development themes until 2015 and beyond.
The ICPD PoA sets a framework for the development of more than a dozen key issues of which one was reproductive rights and reproductive health. This SRHR section focused attention on 5 key issues
A: Reproductive rights and reproductive health
B: Family planning
C: Sexually transmitted diseases and HIV prevention
D: Human sexuality and gender relations
E: Adolescents
The ICPD PoA includes goals to significantly reduce infant, child and maternal mortality and to expand access to education, specifically for girls.
Long term objective
The overall long term objective of this initiative is to improve sexual and reproductive health and rights in the 4 RECS and thus across Africa.
Medium term objective
The medium term objective is to improve regional civil society advocacy around SRHR.
Short term objectives
The short term objectives are to:
Transparency:
Increase transparency around what governments have done to date to respond to their promise to deliver on ICPD PoA.
Dialogue
Include all stakeholders in identifying gaps and what is necessary to improve SRHR using the ICPD PoA and ICPD beyond 2014 opportunities.
Action
Increasing capacity of civil society organizations (CSOs), especially those focused on women, girls, LGBT and youth, through training workshops, and sharing best practices and lessons learnt, and to develop and coordinate a regional strategies and prioritization of issues on SRHR for the region and the CSO response for ICPD beyond 2014, and create stronger connections between regional and national SRHR work around ICPD+
It is envisaged that this project will contribute to the attainment of the ICPD goals and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals: MDG 3 – Empowerment of Women, MDG 5 – Improve Maternal Health and MDG 6 – Combat Malaria, HIV and other diseases.
The project strongly aims to create more obvious and effective connections between national responses to ICPD+ and SRHR needs, and those at regional and continental levels.
This project also speaks to AIDS Accountability’s own goals of improving the inclusion and prioritization of accountability in the discourse in health advocacy and research debates, that accountability-based advocacy becomes a core skill and capacity among AAI’s key partners in civil society and other stakeholder groups in the AIDS response.
Proposed Activities
As the lead on the ICPD Beyond 2014 process it is vital for this project to synchronise with the key activities being held by UNFPA and other key partners such as the AUC. This includes providing feedback into Global Survey in time, attending key meetings and having deliverables ready in time for inclusion at relevant meetings. This is most important at regional level, thus the project conducing REC level meetings, as that is where the response to date has required support, and more accountability.
Major activities to achieve these objectives include:
- Conducting 2 workshops (one for East and Southern Africa (Johannesburg, South Africa), and one for West and Central Africa (Dakar, Senegal)
- Each workshop will take place over 2 days.
- Each workshop will expect 30 participants (8 from out of country or that need to be budgeted for flights and accommodation).
- Each workshop will be run by the AUC and AAI.
Goal of the Workshops;
Transparency:
- Identify governments’ achievements to date around the ICPD Plan of Action.
- Review what government institutions have been created to address ICPD, and examine whether population development sits under health, economic planning etc.
- Create an AAI Scorecard and research report which creates transparency about how governments have responded and performed to date.
Dialogue:
- Identify the gaps and conduct a needs analysis in order to accelerate and strengthen the implementation of ICPD programmes.
Action:
- Conduct capacity building of CSOs to advocate around ICPD issues as they pertain to SRHR and based on feedback in dialogue section above.
- Sharing best practices at workshops to allow for wider implementation.
- Sharing of lessons learnt to prevent duplication of ineffective strategies.
- Develop a regional strategy and prioritisation of issues on SRHR for the regions.
- Develop an African Common Position around ICPD and prepare this for the next UNGASS meeting in 2014.
- Coordinate CSO response for ICPD beyond 2014.
- Conduct an APC workshop in Addis Ababa.
- The APC workshop will take place over 2 days.
- The APC workshop will expect 15 participants (5 from out of country or that need to be budgeted for flights and accommodation).
- Each workshop will be run by the AUC, AAI, and the APC.
Timeframe
The project begins 01 May 2012 and ends 31 December 2012.
Our Partners
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The Project Partners
An Overview of AUC
The Heads of State and Government of the Organisation of African Unity called for the establishment of an African Union (AU) in the Sirte Declaration of 9 September, 1999. The Commission is the Secretariat of the Union entrusted with executive functions. The Commission is the key organ playing a central role in the day-to-day management of the African Union. Among others, it represents the Union and defends its interests; elaborates draft common positions of the Union; prepares strategic plans and studies for the consideration of the Executive Council; elaborates, promotes, coordinates and harmonizes the programmes and policies of the Union with those of the RECs; ensures the mainstreaming of gender in all programmes and activities of the Union.
An Overview of AAI
AIDS Accountability International (AAI) was established in 2005 with the mission to follow up on commitments to the AIDS epidemic made by governments, businesses and civil society. Still today, there is a widespread lack of advocacy tools for key actors to hold leaders accountable for the rollout of policy, implementation and impact. AAI believes that leaders should be informed and by means of our research holds ineffective leadership accountable whilst applauding those who live up to their promises. AAI creates needs driven research to empower advocacy efforts by developing tools that enables organizations, parliamentarians and media representatives to hold governments and leaders accountable, helps identify best practice and assists governments with monitoring and evaluation of their programs. Through these means, AAI attempts to encourage those who are delivering on their commitments, put pressure on those who are under-performing, and stimulate constructive debate about what can be learned from different approaches.
Project Contacts
Africa Union Commission
Ademola Olajide
Head of Division-Health Population & Nutrition
African Union Commission
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Tel: +251 115 51 77 00/ Ext 307
Email: OlajideA [at] africa-union.org
AIDS Accountability International
Bob Mwiinga Munyati
Researcher
Cape Town Rating Centre
Cape Town, South Africa
Tel: +27 (0)73 611 8123
Email: bob [at] aidsaccountability.org
This project was made possible by partnership with
