Tag: HIV&AIDS

UNAIDS calls for greater urgency as global gains slow and countries show mixed results towards 2020 HIV targets

Posted on by Milutin

Taken from a UNAIDS press release

The pace of progress in reducing new HIV infections, increasing access to treatment and ending AIDS-related deaths is slowing down according to a new report released on 16 July 2018 by UNAIDS. UNAIDS’ Global AIDS Update, Communities at the centre, shows a mixed picture, with some countries making impressive gains while others are experiencing rises in new HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths

“We urgently need increased political leadership to end AIDS,” said Gunilla Carlsson, UNAIDS Executive Director, a.i., “This starts with investing adequately and smartly and by looking at what’s making some countries so successful. Ending AIDS is possible if we focus on people, not diseases, create road maps for the people and locations being left behind, and take a human rights-based approach to reach people most affected by HIV.”

The report shows that key populations and their sexual partners now account for more than half (54%) of new HIV infections globally. In 2018, key populations – including people who inject drugs, gay men and other men who have sex with men, transgender people, sex workers and prisoners – accounted for around 95% of new HIV infections in eastern Europe and central Asia and in the Middle East and North Africa.

However, the report also shows that less than 50% of key populations were reached with combination HIV prevention services in more than half of the countries that reported. This highlights that key populations are still being marginalized and being left behind in the response to HIV.

Globally, around 1.7 million people became newly infected with HIV in 2018, a 16% decline since 2010, driven mostly by steady progress across most of eastern and southern Africa. South Africa, for example, has made huge advances and has successfully reduced new HIV infections by more than 40% and AIDS-related deaths by around 40% since 2010.

However, there is still a long way to go in eastern and southern Africa, the region most affected by HIV, and there have been worrying increases in new HIV infections in Eastern Europe and Central Asia (29%), in the Middle East and North Africa (10%) and in Latin America (7%).

Disconcertingly, the report shows that the gap between resource needs and resource availability is widening. For the first time, the global resources available for the AIDS response declined significantly, by nearly US$ 1 billion, as donors disbursed less and domestic investments did not grow fast enough to compensate for inflation. In 2018, US$ 19 billion (in constant 2016 dollars) was available for the AIDS response, US$ 7.2 billion short of the estimated US$ 26.2 billion needed by 2020.

To continue progress towards ending AIDS, UNAIDS urges all partners to step up action and invest in the response, including by fully funding the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria with at least US$ 14 billion at its replenishment in October and through increasing bilateral and domestic funding for HIV.

Progress is continuing towards the 90–90–90 targets. Some 79% of people living with HIV knew their HIV status in 2018, 78% who knew their HIV status were accessing treatment and 86% of people living with HIV who were accessing treatment were virally suppressed, keeping them alive and well and preventing transmission of the virus.

Communities at the centre shows however that progress towards the 90–90–90 targets varies greatly by region and by country. In Eastern Europe and Central Asia for example, 72% of people living with HIV knew their HIV status in 2018, but just 53% of the people who knew their HIV status had access to treatment.

AIDS-related deaths continue to decline as access to treatment continues to expand and more progress is made in improving the delivery of HIV/tuberculosis services. Since 2010, AIDS-related deaths have fallen by 33%, to 770 000 in 2018.

Progress varies across regions. Global declines in AIDS-related deaths have largely been driven by progress in eastern and southern Africa. In Eastern Europe and Central Asia however, AIDS-related deaths have risen by 5% and in the Middle East and North Africa by 9% since 2010.

Communities at the centre shows that the full range of options available to prevent new HIV infections are not being used for optimal impact. For example, pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), medicine to prevent HIV, was only being used by an estimated 300 000 people in 2018, 130 000 of whom were in the United States of America. In Kenya, one of the first countries in sub-Saharan Africa to roll out PrEP as a national programme in the public sector, around 30 000 people accessed the preventative medicines in 2018.

The report shows that although harm reduction is a clear solution for people who inject drugs, change has been slow. People who inject drugs accounted for 41% of new HIV infections in Eastern Europe and Central Asia and 27% of new HIV infections in the Middle East and North Africa, both regions that are lacking adequate harm reduction programmes.

Gains have been made against HIV-related stigma and discrimination in many countries but discriminatory attitudes towards people living with HIV remain extremely high. There is an urgency to tackle the underlying structural drivers of inequalities and barriers to HIV prevention and treatment, especially with regard to harmful social norms and laws, stigma and discrimination and gender-based violence.

Criminal laws, aggressive law enforcement, harassment and violence continue to push key populations to the margins of society and deny them access to basic health and social services. Discriminatory attitudes towards people living with HIV remain extremely high in far too many countries. Across 26 countries, more than half of respondents expressed discriminatory attitudes towards people living with HIV.

The report highlights how communities are central to ending AIDS. Across all sectors of the AIDS response, community empowerment and ownership has resulted in a greater uptake of HIV prevention and treatment services, a reduction in stigma and discrimination and the protection of human rights. However, insufficient funding for community-led responses and negative policy environments impede these successes reaching full scale and generating maximum impact.

UNAIDS urges countries to live up to the commitment made in the 2016 United Nations Political Declaration on Ending AIDS for community-led service delivery to be expanded to cover at least 30% of all service delivery by 2030. Adequate investments must be made in building the capacity of civil society organizations to deliver non-discriminatory, human rights-based, people-centred HIV prevention and treatment services in the communities most affected by HIV.

To read full report follow this link>>>

DPNSEE have made an excerpt with the country data for 10 countries of the region, which you can download following this link>>>

HIV/AIDS situation in Greece

Posted on by Milutin

The National Public Health Organisation (Εθνικό Οργανισμό Δημόσιας Υγείας) publishes annually the HIV/AIDS Surveillance Report in Greece. This annual edition includes data that have been reported by 31 December 2018. Data were reported by Infectious Disease Units, Outpatients clinics for HIV infected patients, HIV/AIDS Reference and Control Centres and Hospitals.

In 2018, 687 new HIV cases were diagnosed and reported. Totally, 90 cases (13.1%), who were diagnosed with HIV in 2018, had already developed AIDS or progressed to AIDS during that year. Sex between men accounted for 40.0% of HIV diagnoses in 2018 followed by heterosexual transmissions (22.4%) and infections attributed to injecting drug use (15.4%). The predominant age group in both males (34.0%) and females (44.4%) was that of 30-39 years old.

The cumulative number of HIV diagnoses since the outbreak of the epidemics (including AIDS cases) reported in Greece by 31/12/2018 was 17,389. Of these, 14,397 (82.79%) were males and 2,951 (16.97%) were females. Sex was not reported for 41 (0.24%) HIV diagnoses.

Unprotected male-to-male sexual contact is the most frequently reported mode of HIV transmission in Greece. In total, 48.2% of HIV diagnoses, that were reported in Greece were Men who have Sex with Men (MSM) (table 9). After excluding cases with undocumented mode of HIV transmission, the aforementioned percentage comes up to 57.6%.

An outbreak of HIV occurred among PWID; 319 infections were diagnosed in 2011 and 525 in 2012. However, HIV diagnoses attributed to injecting drug use have been decreasing since 2013 and increasing by 2018 [2013 (n=270), 2014 (n=120), 2015 (n=95), 2016 (n=100), 2017 (n=93) and 2018 (n=106)].

Of 3,754 cases infected through heterosexual contact, the majority (53.3%) were females (tables 10, 11). After 2010, however, the percentage of males among heterosexually-infected cases increased (2015; males 54.7%), whilst in 2016 we notice the inverse pattern emerging women in higher levels (58.9%). Similar was the trend for 2017 and 2018.

AIDS case reporting started in Greece in 1984 while HIV case reporting started in 1998. Both are anonymous, confidential and mandatory by Ministerial Decisions.

To read the full report, follow this link>>>

#SoS_project launched

Posted on by Milutin

Alliance for Public Health, leading a regional consortium uniting Network of People living with HIV/AIDS 100% Life, Central-Asian PLH Association and Eurasian Key Populations Health Network (EKHN), manages the multi-country project ‘Sustainability of services for key populations in Eastern Europe and Central Asia region’, funded by the Global Fund in amount up to USD 13 million. The project will be implemented throughout 2019-2021 and aims to reduce the HIV epidemic in the Eastern Europe and Central Asia and South East Europe regions through accelerating progress on Fast-Track by 2020 and to ensure the sustainability of HIV services for key populations in 14 countries of the regions: Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Tajikistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.

The project launch meeting was held on 26 March 2019 in Kyiv, Ukraine. It gathered all implementing partners, regional and global stakeholders, donors active in the region to discuss the program approaches and plans, get strategies advise and coordinate with other regional initiatives to maximize impact of investment.

At the project coordination meeting on 27 March all regional consortium members, project sub-recipients, implementing and technical partners in the region to discuss and coordinate the concrete plans and timelines for project activities among the implementers.

To achieve the expected savings, the project will develop strategies for optimizing the cost of ART regimens, which will lead to a decrease in the average cost of first-line ART. Advocacy activities will also be carried out aimed at reducing prices for ARVs and using savings to finance the needs of prevention and care services for the Key Groups and PLHIV. In addition, work to optimize clinical guidelines for ART, a list of drugs in accordance with WHO guidelines is planned, as well as advocacy to include countries in voluntary licensing and registration of generic manufacturers.

Andriy Klepikov, the Executive Director of the Alliance for Public Health, said that almost half of these funds ($ 5.6 million) will go to the advocacy of the reduction of prices for ARV drugs and optimization of procurement mechanisms.  Another quarter of the project budget ($ 3.2 million) is planned for budget advocacy. $ 1.6 million is provided for the removal of legal barriers, the same amount for project management. Another $ 1 million will go to operational research.

“The idea is not only to throw in some initiatives, but simultaneously with such interventions to launch operational research, which will help identify and prove their effectiveness,” explained Klepikov. – “It worked, in particular, in Ukraine. But we would not want other countries to take it on faith. In each country for advocacy, before the Ministry of Health will start funding, it is important to get a serious evidence base, which is collected through operational research”.

DPNSEE member organisations Cazas and Timok Youth Centre will be sub-recipients of the project in Montenegro and Serbia, while HOPS is involved in project implementation in North Macedonia.

New publication from Eurasian Harm Reduction Association

Posted on by Milutin

EHRAThe Eurasian Harm Reduction Association (EHRA) presented its new publication “Getting to know the Civil Society and Eastern Europe and Central Asia Delegations to the Board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. An Information note for Eastern Europe and Central Asia”. The publication is developed within the project of the EECA Regional Platform for Communication and Coordination.

This Information Note is an easy-to-use document which allows for greater understanding of the work and role of the Communities, Developed Country NGO, Developing Country NGOs and the Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA) Delegations to the Board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. The EECA Delegation is dedicated to the causes and concerns of the region, both from a public sector and civil society perspective. The other three Delegations have specific mandates to bring to the Board the issues of civil society and all the communities of persons living with, and affected by, the three diseases in those countries eligible for Global Fund support.

Getting to know the Civil Society and Eastern Europe and Central Asia Delegations to the Board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria

Whilst there are four distinct Delegations, these Global Fund Board representatives have similar practices for their internal functioning and in consulting with civil society and communities as well as established opportunities to engage with them. This document provides information concerning these key practices and opportunities. The communities and civil society organizations (CSO’s) in the EECA region will be able to use this document to better plan and coordinate their advocacy efforts and engage with their representatives to the Fund at the most opportune times and in strategic ways.

The Global Fund is the world’s largest financing organization for HIV and AIDS, TB and malaria prevention, treatment, care and support programs. The Fund’s purpose is to attract, leverage and invest additional resources to end the epidemics of HIV, tuberculosis and malaria to support attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s) established by the United Nations. Since its founding in 2002, the Global Fund’s investments in the EECA region have contributed to considerable progress in combating three diseases as well as in developing enabling environments and the strengthening of health and community systems, making the Global Fund the major donor to support the HIV and TB response in the EECA region.

To read or download this publication follow this link>>>>

Global Fund eligibility list 2019

Posted on by Milutin

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has recently published its updated country eligibility list for 2019. The list reflects the eligibility determinations for the year 2019 (a non-allocation year) and is for information purposes only. Allocations are made once every three years following the outcomes of the Global Fund’s replenishment The 2020 Eligibility List will determine which country components are eligible for an allocation for the 2020-2022 allocation period.

SEE countries affected by changes are Bulgaria, Kosovo*, North Macedonia and Romania. Montenegro and Serbia remain eligible for HIV disease component due to high disease burden.

Bulgaria and Romania may be eligible for an allocation for HIV/AIDS for non-governmental or civil society organizations if there are demonstrated barriers to providing funding for interventions for key populations, as supported by the country’s epidemiology for the 2020-2022 allocation period.

Kosovo is newly classified as an Upper-Middle Income country based on the latest three-year average of GNI per capita data. As Kosovo’s HIV/AIDS and TB burden are ‘Not High’, both the HIV/AIDS and TB components are now eligible for Transition Funding for the 20202022 allocation period.

North Macedonia‘s HIV/AIDS disease burden classification changed to ‘Low’ in 2018 to ‘High’ in the 2019 Eligibility List, resulting in one determination of eligibility. Country components must be eligible for two consecutive eligibility determinations to be classified as eligible on the Eligibility List.

According to the GF Eligibility Policy “Upper-middle income countries meeting the disease burden criteria, but some may be eligible for an allocation for HIV/AIDS to directly finance non-governmental and civil society organizations, if there are demonstrated barriers to providing funding for interventions for key populations, as supported by the country’s epidemiology. Eligibility for funding under this provision will be assessed by the Secretariat as part of the decision-making process for allocations. As part of its assessment, the Secretariat, in consultation with UN and other partners as appropriate, will look at the overall human rights environment of the context with respect to key populations and specifically whether there are laws or policies which influence practices and seriously limit and/or restrict the provision of evidence-informed interventions for such populations”.

To read full document with the eligibility list follow this link>>>>

EU Civil Society Forum on HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and viral hepatitis criticizes European Commission’s reflection paper

Posted on by Milutin

The EU Civil Society Forum on HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and viral hepatitis issued a statement in response to European Commission’s reflection paper Towards a Sustainable Europe by 2030.

The Forum states that the paper is arguably far too little, too late to live up to the expectations on Sustainable Development Goal 3 to ensure healthy lives and promote the wellbeing for all at all ages. This is even more so when it comes to stigmatized and marginalized communities who continue to be disproportionally affected by HIV/AIDS, TB and viral hepatitis epidemics. By now we have the knowledge, the tools and the experience to make these epidemics history and to ensure that no-one is left behind. However, political leadership is lacking or waning.

To be a trailblazer and reap the significant medium to long-term human and financial gains that elimination of these epidemics entails, the EU Civil Society Forum on HIV/AIDS thinks that the EU needs to:

  • Increase its focus on social dimensions of sustainable development to ensure a reduction in social inequalities, sustainable and fairer health systems and improving health outcomes for all.
  • Adopt an ambitious agenda, implement a strong and budgeted action plan that is aligned with SDGs commitment and targets.
  • Develop a plan that is coordinated with member states and monitored via a sound indicator set aligned with the goal of elimination. This would allow a more accurate interpretation of the desired direction for EU action.
  • The EC could consider data collected by The European Union agency aimed at strengthening Europe’s defences against infectious diseases (ECDC) to provide a proper assessment of performance (e.g. infection rates, treatment coverage, prevention budget, regulatory frameworks). It could integrate ECDC and WHO reporting.
  • Improve coherence between EU policies and actions.
  • Collaborate with third countries to catch up.

To read full statement follow this link>>>>

Joint Briefing on Global Fund Catalytic Investments for Harm Reduction

Posted on by Milutin

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is the largest donor for harm reduction in low and middle countries (LMICs), providing two-thirds of all international donor support. In May 2019, the Global Fund Board will approve the 2020 – 2022 allocation methodology and catalytic investment priorities, ahead of replenishment for the Global Fund in October 2019. These will have significant implications for harm reduction in LMICs and as such, the ability of the Global Fund to step up the fight and get back on track to end AIDS by 2030.

This briefing, developed by the Harm Reduction International  in collaboration with the International HIV/AIDS Alliance, compiles evidence of the crucial nature of catalytic investment funds for harm reduction. In the briefing, we urge the Global Fund Board to safeguard catalytic investment funds – including multi-country grants, matching funds and strategic initiatives – regardless of the replenishment outcome, in order to sustain life-saving services for people who inject drugs and to incentivise domestic investment in harm reduction.

You may access the briefing following this link>>>>

We are all POSITIVE!

Posted on by Milutin

On the occasion of World AIDS Day 2018, the Greek Association of People Living with HIV Positive Voice and the Onassis Foundation organized a series of interpersonal activities “I am Positive” promoting human stories related to HIV/AIDS on 21 and 22 November 2018 at The Onassis Stegi Cultural Centre in Athens.

Children and adolescents had the opportunity to chat with representatives of the seropositive community on sexual health, but also about the challenges and prejudices they face and the stigma that accompanies these groups through their stories, hopes and fears, the reality that HIV-positive people in Greece face and the medical and social dimension of the disease. A serodifferent couple, a mother whose son lives with HIV and a gay claiming his right to prophylactic treatment PrEP shared with the public their thoughts and experiences.

The debate was co-ordinated by journalist Elena Akrita.

To view the original article, including video recordings of personal testimonies, follow this link>>>>

Sustainable Services for PLHIV and HIV Prevention Conference

Posted on by Milutin

The Union of Organizations of Persons Living with HIV/AIDS in Serbia (USOP) hosted the international conference on Sustainable Services for PLHIV and HIV Prevention in Belgrade on November 28, 2018. This one-day conference supported by UNDP Programme in Serbia gathered 110 relevant stakeholders from Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and Montenegro in an attempt to move the PLHIV service agenda forward through co-thinking and cross-sectorial experience exchange.

The Conference Sustainable Services for PLHIV and HIV Prevention contributed an important piece to the puzzle of PLHIV’s health, social, economic, and overall well-being in Serbia and the region by opening up a dialogue on the cost of services for PLHIV. Through active interactions between practitioners in key sectors, public officials, service providers and service users, the conference shed a new light on prevention of HIV infection and, specifically the role of PLHIV organizations in community resilience building.

Participants agreed that investments in development of standards and services, training of service providers, piloting and testing should be respected, recognized and more readily considered by the welfare systems through urgent development of formal standards that will lead to effective service mainstreaming and access to regular service funding. In the meantime, project funding remains an interim solution but one that clearly threatens sustainability and quality of services.

Several DPNSEE member organisations representatives participated in the Conference

Global Fund Results Report

Posted on by Milutin

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria released a report today demonstrating that 27 million lives have been saved by the Global Fund partnership through the efforts of the Global Fund and its partners. This is proof of the effectiveness of the global commitment to tackle the world’s deadliest infectious diseases.

The Results Report 2018 includes key annual results achieved in countries where the Global Fund invests:

  • 17.5 million people received antiretroviral therapy for HIV.
  • 5 million people tested and treated for TB.
  • 197 million mosquito nets distributed to prevent malaria.

The progress comes against the backdrop of new threats to global health. Having reduced sharply since the peak of the epidemic, global HIV infection rates are now declining more slowly, and remain extremely high among key populations in some countries. Tuberculosis is now the leading cause of death from infectious diseases, with 1.7 million deaths per year, and the world is missing 4.1 million cases of TB every year – cases that go undiagnosed, untreated and unreported. In addition, progress against malaria has stalled. In 2016, there were 5 million more cases of malaria than 2015. With growing resistance in drugs to treat malaria and in insecticides for mosquito nets, efforts to control malaria are at stake.

Independent opinions state that if the world only maintains current levels of investments and programming against the three epidemics, internationally agreed targets for 2025 and 2030 will be unattainable.

The world risks losing control of all three epidemics. A resurgence will cost countless lives, undermine economic and human development, and threaten the health security for all people on the planet.

As the leading multilateral organization that invests in ending the 3 epidemics, funding for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria in its Sixth Replenishment needs to increase by more than 20% to ensure a fund of between $16.8 and $18 billion for 2020 to 2022.

The Results Report 2018 is available from the Global Fund webpage following this link>>>