Flux AIDES Actualités

The Quilt for an Aids-free generation by 2015

Myriam — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 14:49:42 +0000

Coinciding with World Aids Day, the NGOs ONE, AIDES and (RED) are now launching the French version of the Quilt(2015), an innovative on-line tool created to bring the whole world together in a joint purpose: the advent of an Aids-free generation by 2015, which is, for the first time in the thirty years since the discovery of this virus, within reach.

Celebrities from the world of music, cinema and sport including Gisele Bündchen, Christy Turlington Burns, Coldplay, Perez Hilton, Jessie J, Annie Lennox, Maroon 5, Sienna Miller, The Black Eyed Peas and U2 have already given their support to the Quilt(2015) by creating their own panels.

The Quilt(2015) is inspired by the “Aids Memorial Quilt” started in 1987 with just one square and one name which has grown today to 94,000 names and weighs 54 tonnes. It is the largest community art project in the world and is exhibited in Washington. The aim of the project is to fight against prejudice, raise awareness and turn indifference into solidarity.

Created in partnership with @radical.media, the Quilt(2015) enables everyone to express their support in the fight against Aids and to make a specific promise which would contribute to ending this epidemic. Anyone can create their own panel on the website: http://www.2015quilt.com/ and share it on Facebook, Twitter or Google+. Before they download their panel, participants are invited to make one of the following pledges :

•    Join ONE and invite your friends to do likewise
•    Buy a (RED) product as a Christmas gift
•    Make a personal promise in favor of an Aids-free generation by 2015
•    Make a donation to AIDES

Icasa 2011: UNAIDS calls for solidarity

Myriam — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 11:41:33 +0000

“Appropriation, strengthening, sustainability”. This was the theme of the 16th international Aids Conference in Africa (ICASA 2011) which opened on Sunday the 4th December 2011, and is surely the best recipe to put an end to the Aids epidemic in low-income countries. Mobilization, funding, minorities’ rights, health programmes were some of the main issues open for discussion. Over seven days, almost 10,000 activists were gathered in Addis Abeba (Ethiopia) to think about the best prevention strategies and bring into the open the withdrawal and disengagement of some governments.

The Global Fund is tightening its belt in 2012. This organization which gives funding for treatment and care for 500 000 HIV positive people in developing countries will be deprived of the 22 billion dollars it was granted annually thus far. The Global Fund has sufficient funds to fill this gap but… for how long? Michel Sidibé, guest of honour at the opening ceremony of the conference and executive director of UNAIDS, pointed out that 25 countries are now able to control the number of new infections. This and other accomplishments prove that prevention programmes are effective but the present context calls for vigilance and “global solidarity”.

Sida : Des associations manifestent pendant... par AIDES-association

Africa: homophobia escalates; Aids worsens

Myriam — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 13:02:24 +0000

Stigma, beliefs, Aids: these three issues are closely linked in Africa. Under the influence of powerful religious leaders, 39 countries out of the 53 that make up the African continent, still criminalize homosexuality despite WHO recommendations aiming to protect and support those who are vulnerable to HIV. More and more people are testifying about arrests, some even testifying at the 16th international Aids Conference in Africa, (Icasa 2011) but repression is still ongoing.

Religious demonstrations obliged the organizers to postpone a pre-conference session on the criminalization of homosexuality and a symposium was interrupted by an African delegate who likened homosexuality to pedophilia. Another demonstration was organized by religious leaders themselves in order to express their opposition to scientific speeches; it seems that Ethiopia which is hosting the 16th edition of the Icasa Conference is in fact torn between these two sides.

Miss Promises is going to steal the limelight at the Cannes G20

Myriam — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 13:15:28 +0000

Universal access to AIDS treatments was promised for 2010. One year later, the missed promises has resulted in millions dying. ‘Miss Promises’ invites herself to the G20 to denounce the impact of these unfulfilled commitments.

She made quite a sensation last June in Deauville (1). Elected as Miss Promises of the G8 in front of hundreds of journalists she stated: “broken promises are promises that kill”. While the richest nations in the world are gathering in Cannes for another good intentions summit, on the 3rd of November, Miss Promises strikes back.

A bitter promise. In 2005 the G8 committed itself to “access to treatment for all HIV positive people”, with the implicit hope of ending Aids in 30 years. We are at the end of 2011 and two out of three HIV positive people still do not have treatment. Every day, Aids takes 7,000 more lives; 7,000 deaths which could easily be avoided. Over the last year, broken promises will have cost the lives of more than two million people.

Africa : "If money for HIV was used better…"

Myriam — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 12:33:04 +0000

Decreased financial resources, dollars going missing, confused ministers and so on. The situation described by Tabin Tangila Mesu, adcocacy officer to political leaders in the Democratic Republic of Congo for the organization ACS/AMO in Congo, could be the same situation in any sub-Saharan African country. Tabin and NGOs remind us that the G20 in 2011 is the occasion to double the amounts allocated to the global Fund against Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria but it is also the opportunity to think about having tighter checks and more transparency for a better distribution of wealth.

“It is estimated that 1,300,000 people are HIV positive in the Congo” explains Tabin Tangila Mesu. “Only 12%, i.e. 34,000 people, benefit from antiretroviral treatment. It’s extremely low! Nearly 280,000 people need treatment but do not have access to it and every year, there are 130,000 new cases of HIV in the country. Antiretrovirals are free but some medical consultations and tests are not. Very few people can afford to be monitored properly.

Without treatment people are condemned to death. First it is a kind of social death, then a physical death. A HIV positive person who has survived for several years without treatment eventually shows signs of the disease. The family and friends discover his/her HIV status and the person becomes a victim of stigma. He or she must fight against all kinds of discrimination and becomes isolated. That is why a lot of people prefer to remain silent and do not get treated. When they arrive in hospital, their illness is already at an advanced stage. Many don’t make it.

Activists united before the Third Volountry Replenishment Pledging Conference on the Global Fund to fight aids - Kinshasa, October 4th 2010

"We need to safeguard the Global Fund"

Myriam — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 11:49:45 +0000

In Cameroon, as in many sub-Saharan African countries, antiretrovirals have been free since late 2010. It is a “spectacular but incomplete measure” say local activists. On the eve of the G20, as NGOs ask rich countries to double their contribution to the Global Fund, two of them* explain to us why access to health for African populations is still difficult.

With the G20 just around the corner and in a difficult financial setting, funding given by rich countries to the Global Fund to fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria might not increase and could even decline. Does this situation worry you?

Fogué Foguito: Countries in the south are afraid. We don’t know what tomorrow will bring. It is thanks to the Global Fund that we have free antiretrovirals in Cameroon. Today, the lives of millions of people are being put in jeopardy by tensions between international decision makers. If our neighbouring country Chad has a shortage in HIV medication, then the sick people will migrate here. If there is only one country supported by the Global Fund then that country will be like a lighthouse shining in the darkness and all the sick people will try to migrate there.

Since it was set up in 2002, the Global Fund has reached more objectives than multi-lateral aid has in the last 50 years. Once more we need to safeguard this mechanism. The G8 countries have to meet the commitments they made in Gleneagles** in 2005. They must take strong and real measures to fight against Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

Fogué Foguito interviewed by a British journalist during the G8 2011 - France

Robin Hood tax: 0.05% to stop Aids

Myriam — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 11:03:43 +0000

We need you! We need you because we now know that a micro tax on financial transactions can help fight against social and environmental emergencies worldwide. Governments in rich countries have pledged their support but are not yet seriously committed to implementing this tax even though it could mean the end of North/South inequalities. Let's sign and circulate the petition (http://robinhoodtax.org).

Establishing a micro tax on financial transactions (0.05% as suggested by the Plus Coalition in France) has been the cause of heated debates for many years now. The principle is simple and effective, does not affect the tax payer and some countries have already implemented it. In Great Britain, for thelast 30 years stamp duty tax has raised 5 billion Euros a year.

If we use the same model, the Robin Hood tax could generate hundreds of thousands of Euros every year with a view to funding international causes like climate change, tuberculosis, malaria and Aids. It would also contribute to reducing financial speculation and the instability this can engender like the financial crisis we’ve been experiencing since 2008.

Sexy Fingers : Let your fingers get busy. And play !

Myriam — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 12:37:51 +0000

It only takes a finger to get done, … and to administer a rapid AIDS test by sampling a drop of blood on top of your fingertip, with result in less than 30 mn. To bring this simple concept to life, AIDES and JWT Paris are launching SEXY FINGERS, a sexy and hot campaign that’ll groove for the summer. It is built around an android game app plus a website, all promoted by a music video.

Music video. “Electro-Balls, tits-keyboard, butt-drums ...“

In the music video produced in colorful funkypop animation, a bunch of fingers play on sexual “instruments”. Tap butts to play drums, press tits to launch electro loops, … the music video explores this erotic groove box made out of sex “instruments“. The SEXY FINGERS track has been produced by FLAIRS, a well known French deejay. The music video pays off with: “With just a finger, you can also test for AIDS.“ And invite viewers to either play on the sexy fingers website or download the sexy fingers android app.

Sexy Fingers Android app and website. “Let your fingers get busy. And play. “

Gay pride 2011: a revolution in prevention

Myriam — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 10:45:48 +0000

This summer, once again, the gay pride parade took to the streets in seventeen cities in France. Since the 21st May 2011, hundreds of activists and members of the LGBT community (lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, trans gender) have accompanied the AIDES float. This year’s themes were: the expansion of community-based testing and the recognition of the efficacy of treatment as prevention. It took place on Saturday the 25th of June in Paris.

“Condoms + testing+ treatment = prevention”. This was the first slogan the organization chose for this edition of the gay pride parade. We’ve been talking about combined prevention for a few years now. “In 2006, at the international conference on HIV/Aids in Toronto, many experts highlighted the issue by demonstrating once again that taking antiretroviral treatment reduces the risk of spreading HIV” recalls Jean Marie Le Gall who manages the Evaluation, Research and Innovation sector of AIDES. Other experts, including the Swiss professor, Bernard Hirschel, have asserted its efficacy but it was the astounding results of the international trial HPTN 052 that made the World Health Organization confirm and validate this spectacular discovery.

Miss Promises strikes again !

Myriam — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 12:59:34 +0000

After Deauville, Miss Promises arrived in Rome to demand that Merck, Johnson & Johnson and Abbott enter the UNITAID Patent Pool

AIDES in Vienna for the 18th International Aids Conference

benedicte — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 16:20:15 +0000

Our message at the 18th International Aids Conference in Vienna (Austria) will be: To remind world leaders that they have responsibilities and that universal access to treatment must become a reality. AIDES and our partners will be there to inform, share and progress in the fight.

You can see 79 videos on the theme of eradicating the virus by 2040
Robin Hoods will inaugurate the French-speaking, presentation area of our organisation on the 19th of July and the next day oral presentations will be organised to discuss major issues like criminalisation of homosexuality or the question of intellectual property in access to medicines. As well as the video competition, AIDES and its partners will be organising a series of events all week long. The Plus coalition (http://www.coalitionplus.org) will explain how a tax on international bank transactions can raise funds on an international level. Every day at lunch time,

Plus will organise mini conferences to explain the project called The Robin Hood Tax.

Other events: community-based rapid testing; the website dedicated to HIV positive people Seronet (www.seronet.info); the actions of the Africagay against Aids group; the significance of the female condom (Fémidon) and the provision of injection equipment for drug users.

Focus on community-based research

Because cooperation between NGOs and researchers is essential to define our priorities in the field, AIDES and its partners have become involved in community-based research.

Summary of AIDES at AIDS CONFERENCE

The G8, vital issues and high expectations

benedicte — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 18:44:51 +0000

Yesterday the president of France, Nicolas Sarkozy was supposed to meet representatives of several French NGOs involved in the domain of development. Unfortunately this eagerly awaited event was cancelled by the Elysée Palace in favour of a meeting between the president and the French football player Thierry Henri.

On the eve of the G8 summit in Canada, these NGOs would have liked to remind the president that he must live up to the expectations of such a summit, especially on the following three points:

1. The president must commit himself to achieving the goal of universal access to prevention, care and treatment for HIV/Aids by 2010. Year after year since the United Nations commitments on Millennium Development Goals, guaranteeing this universal access, the leaders of rich countries seem to be incapable of keeping their promises. If we assess the situation now that the due date has arrived, the result is disappointing: only a third of those who need antiretroviral treatment have access to it.

Nicolas Srakozy must not renege on his commitments and he must do everything in his power to resolve the financial difficulties faced by the Global Fund to fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria, caused by repeated failures on the part of donor countries to respect their commitments. The lives of hundreds of thousands of people depend on this Fund every year. Besides it is vital that France find the means of having a bilateral, renewed, complementary and additional policy on its commitments to the Global Fund in order to reinforce the fight against these three pandemics.

EU and G 20 summits: French and German civil societies welcome the call by Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel to tax bank transactions

benedicte — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 21:25:18 +0000

74 civil society organisations in France and Germany praise the statements of the French president and the German chancellor who will jointly defend, during the G20 summit from 26^th to 27^th June, the implementation of an international tax on bank transactions.

They call on French and German leaders to also take the opportunity of the European Summit on June 17th to promote the implementation of the tax on bank transactions throughout Europe.

By supporting the tax on bank transactions at the G20, Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel align themselves with civil society; over 150,000 citizens of the world have signed the petition demanding that the G20 implement this tax. The petition will be given to the leaders of the G20 on the 25^th of June in Toronto. In the past, this alignment of European leaders and civil society brought about great international advances despite opposition from China and the United States. This was the case for instance for the international treaty which prohibited the trade of land mines in 1997.

More than ever, in this period of financial crisis, the fight against hunger, poverty, pandemics and climate change demand urgent action from world leaders. At the same time, in Europe and developing countries, the financial crisis has forced governments to drastically reduce their budget deficits. A tax on bank transaction would generate hundreds of millions of euros a year and would allow the international community to not renege on their commitments regarding development and climate change.

Funding proposals submitted to the Global Fund are reviewed by a 43-member Technical Review Panel

benedicte — Wed, 19 May 2010 18:20:04 +0000

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is an international financing institution that invests the world’s money to save lives. To date, it has committed US$ 19.3 billion in 144 countries to support large-scale prevention, treatment and care programs against the three diseases.

Funding proposals submitted to the Global Fund are reviewed by a 43-member Technical Review Panel (TRP). The review takes place about once a year for two weeks, which current members have described as ‘a unique and memorable experience’.

Because proposals focus on the fight against the three diseases and related health systems strengthening, members of the TRP need to have a wide range of expertise. In addition to having sound technical knowledge and extensive program experience in HIV/AIDS, TB or malaria, it is also important that TRP members understand broader health systems and development ‘cross-cutting’ issues. These include capacity-building, governance and macroeconomics, as well as topics such as budgeting and financial management (value for money), gender, sexual orientation and gender identities, human resources, procurement and service delivery – to name but a few. For this reason, we do not recruit people with very narrow expertise.

For this important task, experts must be able to review large volumes of documentation under considerable time pressure and work effectively in small groups and large plenary sessions to reach consensus on funding recommendations. They must also be able to present their findings in a clear and concise way, in English, to the full panel, as well as in written form to be communicated to the Board and applicants.

The president Sarkozy has turned his back on HIV/Aids patients, activists turn their back on him

benedicte — Wed, 19 May 2010 18:16:27 +0000

5^th Francophone HIV/Aids conference – Casablanca, 28th-31st March 2010

The president of France, Nicolas Sarkozy has turned his back on HIV/Aids patients, activists turn their back on him at the conference.

Activists from Act Up-Paris, AIDES and Sidaction called on those working in the fight against Aids to turn their backs on Patrice Debré, Aids ambassador for France, during his closing speech at the conference.

We are still far from universal access to treatment which was promised for 2010, despite the repeated pledges made by the French president since he was elected in 2007.

Today we know how to stop this epidemic, it’s only a question of political choice.

Therefore we ask Nicolas Sarkozy not to renege on his commitments: France must support a Global fund of 20 billion and increase its contributions accordingly.

The Robin tax : not doing it now would be criminal.

benedicte — Wed, 19 May 2010 18:11:18 +0000

“As a HIV positive French man and being fortunate enough to have free medication, I support HIV positive people the world over, and I support the Robin tax. I also support life! This tax on foreign exchange transactions would allow us to raise enough money to pay for treatment for every HIV positive person in the world”. With the appropriate hat, at the 5^th Francophone conference on HIV here in Casablanca, Vincent Pelletier, director of PLUS and managing director of AIDES, has just launched the campaign to support the Robin tax.