This July appointment to the UN in Vienna, coupled with that of Daniel LeBlanc at the UN in New York and the growing network of VIVAT Congregations with members in different countries, increases the opportunities for the “voices of the poor to be heard where decisions are taken affecting their lives” (CC.RR 9a) on the above issues as well as on the Millennium Development Goals. VIVAT has an International Executive Team working in New York and a regional office in Geneva.

The 18th international Aids conference in Vienna ended Friday with one strong message: Despite the financial crisis the fight against HIV/AIDS must not decrease.

The International AIDS Conference is the premier gathering for those working in the field of HIV, including policy makers, persons living with HIV and other individuals committed to ending the pandemic. It is an opportunity to assess the process, evaluate recent scientific developments and lessons learnt, and collectively chart a course forward against the global HIV/AIDS pandemic. Given the 2010 deadline for Universal Access set by world leaders, AIDS 2010 coincided with a major push for expanded access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support. With a global economic crisis threatening to undermine public investments, the conference helped keep HIV on the front burner by demonstrating the importance of continued HIV investments to broaden health and development goals.

AIDS 2010 also gave an opportunity to highlight the critical connection between human rights and HIV; a dialogue begun in earnest in Mexico City in 2008.The selection of the AIDS 2010 host city was a reflection of the central role Vienna has played in bridging Eastern and Western Europe, and allowed for an examination of the epidemic’s impact in Eastern Europe.

New data, presented in Vienna shows that HIV therapy significantly reduces more than just the consequences or effects of the disease and mortality. For a well treated person, it is practically impossible for the virus to be passed on, as heterosexual infections are reduced by more than 90 percent. At the same time TB infection is reduced dramatically due to therapy.

Read our earlier post on this issue…

The Missionary Oblates JPIC offices will be represented by Fr Tomáš Vyhnálek OMI, the current JPIC coordinator for Europe who is based in Vienna. Fr. Tomáš interned with the JPIC office in Washington D.C. and VIVAT in New York.

Catholic Organizations have scheduled a pre-conference event which is being organized by the Catholic HIV/AIDS Network and Caritas International, with local hosting by Caritas Austria. The Catholic event will encourage networking on good practices in the field, shared prayer and reflection on the values and Catholic teaching that motivate the Catholic Church’s response to the HIV pandemic, and joint learning through workshops on topics of urgent concern. The importance of sharing best practices lies in the fact that while the Catholic Church and religious communities provide a significant part of the AIDS services offered, especially in developing countries, this contribution is often unrecognized at international conferences.

For more information see: http://www.aids2010.org/

The Board approved the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between UNITAID and the Medicines Patent Pool Foundation (MPPF) on June 8. The MPPF will be established as an independent organization under Swiss Law. The 3 founders are Paulo Teixeira (Brazil), Charles Clift (UK) and Benard Pecoul (France).

Interested in learning more? Go to other posts on this website and the UNITAID website.

The report, No time to quit: HIV/AIDS Treatment Gap Widening in Africa looks at eight sub-Saharan countries. It shows how major international funding institutions such as the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), World Bank Treatment Acceleration Project , UNITAID, and donors to the Global Fund, decided to cap, reduce or withdraw their spending on HIV treatment over the past year and a half.

Donors are disengaging from the fight against HIV/AIDS leaving behind millions who are still in dire need of treatment in hard-hit Sub-Saharan African countries, warned Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). Sub-Saharan Africa is home to two-thirds of all HIV positive people worldwide. In 2008, nearly three-quarters of all HIV/AIDS deaths worldwide occurred in this region and HIV prevalence rates in southern Africa countries have exceeded 20 percent.

The report says one of the largest HIV treatment funders, the U.S President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) has effectively been flat-lined for 2009 and 2010 with similar proposals for the following years. MSF said PEPFAR aims to pass on the responsibility of direct funding treatment for patients to countries whenever possible. The MSF report also says that that other donors like UNITAID and the World Bank have also announced reductions in the coming years in funding for AIDS drugs in Malawi, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The Missionary Oblates JPIC office will continue to advocate by asking international donors not to walk away from their funding commitment and continue to call on the U.S. government to do its share. The backtracking comes despite international donors’ initial promises to fund all AIDS treatment programs. This situation will force many community health practitioners in Africa to have to tell patients receiving treatment that they would not continue their lifesaving treatment and may refuse to enroll new patients. This is a moral betrayal to millions of individuals and families affected by AIDS. Cutting funding will also affect achieving universal access to HIV and AIDS treatment by the end of 2010. Therefore it is important that international donors, especially those who will participate in the upcoming 2010 G8/20 Summit in Canada on June 25-27, make a new commitment and prioritize funding AIDS treatments in Sub Saharan Africa.

The ESTT Act requires gas, oil and mineral companies registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange to disclose payments to foreign governments for the commercial extraction of oil, natural gas and minerals.

The measure was introduced by Senators Dick Lugar (R-IN) and Benjamin Cardin (D-MD), along with co-sponsors Charles E. Schumer (D-NY), Roger Wicker (R-MS), Russ Feingold (D-WI), and Sheldon Whitehouse(D-RI). This bill is currently in the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs committee.

Why is the bill necessary for people in developing nations and investors in developed nations?

There is a culture of revenue corruption, embezzlement and mismanagement in the oil and gas and mining industries. Oil supplied by developing countries, especially Africa and Latin America, to the United States is characterized by a lack of transparency, corruption and control by military regimes and political elites which have contributed to internal conflicts and high poverty rates.

The Missionary Oblates JPIC office welcome the introduction of the Energy Security through Transparency Act of 2009 (S.1700) as a vital step toward bringing transparency to the extractive industries sector in developing countries where secrecy in natural resource revenues weakens the fight against poverty and HIV/AIDS. This bill would help investors in developed nations such the U.S.-based Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR), where Missionary Oblates are members to hold international oil and gas companies more accountable.

Which companies will be covered by the ESTT Act?

This ESTT Act would require country by country reporting of businesses engaged in extractive industries. The bill would cover both US and a majority of international extractive companies, including those based in Africa, Europe, China, Brazil, Australia and Asia that are listed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The ESTT Act is significant step towards transparency in extractives industries for developing nations because it will empower ordinary people and civil society organizations with access to basic information concerning extractive industry revenue. This is critical in order to hold governments and international companies accountable. The ESTT Act would also help identify companies that shift profits among their subsidiaries in order to avoid paying taxes in countries of operation, thereby denying developing countries needed revenue to combat poverty.

Congressional Hearings

A hearing, “Keeping Foreign Corruption out of the United States: Four Case Histories” was held in February by the U.S. Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee On Investigations (PSOI); which analyzed cases involving political officials and individuals from Equatorial Guinea, Angola, Nigeria, and Gabon. This hearing coincided with a 330-page report “Keeping Foreign Corruption out of the United States: Four Case Histories,” that detailed how officials in Angola, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and Nigeria funneled millions of dollars into the US with the help of facilitators. This enables corrupt officials to steal their countries’ wealth, denying their citizens vital resources that should be used for health care, education, and essential economic development.

Get Involved

The Energy Security through Transparency Act of 2009 (S.1700) has being reviewed by the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs. To make sure this bill (S.1700) remains a priority on the congressional agenda, you are invited to get involved by asking your Senator to co-sponsor the Energy Security through Transparency Act of 2009 (S.1700).

Bishop Duffy said the Western Province of Zambia still rates as the poorest in the whole country and that poor people are still waiting to see promises fulfilled. This was especially true regarding the Mongu-Kalabo road, which has been in a worsening state for several years. He went on to say that people keep hearing promises from government leaders, but are still waiting for action.

Government leaders in Zambia are angrily rebuking Bishop Duffy’s statements. A group affiliated with the ruling party is petitioning the Vatican’s representative. Western Province of Zambia ranks as the poorest province and suffers more from high poverty levels, low economic production and poor neglected infrastructure. In Western Province, the majority of children are unable to meet basic nutritional needs. Most women are highly disadvantaged and live in extreme poverty, vulnerable to HIV/AIDS as they are forced to engage in risky behaviors for economic survival. The Diocese of Mongu is involved in several development projects, runs HIV/AIDS programs and the only teacher’s training college in the region, supports the catholic radio station and operates hunger relief programs for the local people.

The Bishop’s statement has received support from all civil society groups in Zambia, development organizations like Caritas Mongu and from a local member of parliament who said that he totally agrees with Bishop Paul Duffy’s statement because the President of Zambia is the one who gave these promises to the people of Lukulu and that people voted for him on the basis that he was going to implement all those development programs.

In a show of solidarity, Zambia Oblate treasurer general Fr Godfrey Mpundu OMI described Bishop Duffy as a voice of the voiceless in Western Province. Fr. Mpundu suggested the ruling government leadership review its own record in Western Province over the last 25 years which coincides with the time that Bishop Duffy has been doing missionary work in the region.

UNTAID is an international procurement agency responsible for the purchase of drugs against HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis. It provides funding to international partners working in global health and health commodities procurement, such as the William J. Clinton HIV/AIDS Initiative (CHAI) and UNICEF. UNITAID was established in 2006 when Brazil, Chile, France, Norway and the United Kingdom decided to create an international drug purchase facility financed with sustainable and predictable resources. A tax on airline tickets was chosen as the most appropriate means of providing sustainable funding.

The patent pool initiative, if successful in drawing in pharmaceutical companies, would create a means for the creation of new fixed-dose combinations of HIV-AIDS drugs and the inexpensive production of these FDCs by generic companies. The originator pharmaceutical company would receive, in return, a royalty payment.

For millions of poor people living with HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America, prices for life-saving HIV drugs sold by pharmaceutical companies are too expensive – particularly needed second-line treatments still under patent protection. The growing need for affordable life-saving HIV treatment has become more pressing as more people in developing countries living with HIV/AIDS fail their long-term treatment first line therapy and need second line HIV treatments.

UNITAID has already identified 19 products from nine companies for the initial process in the patent pool initiative which would ideally come into effect in mid-2010. The organization will now focus on negotiating with pharmaceutical companies about how best to implement the initiative. The proposal of a patent pool has been under discussion for a number of years and was first proposed to UNTAID in 2006 by Knowledge Ecology International and Doctors without Borders.

Learn more – See MSF PowerPoint presentation on the Patent Pool…

On December 1st, faith communities, national governments and advocacy groups from around the world will come together to remember that lives everywhere are touched by AIDS, but especially those actually living with HIV and AIDS. 33 million people globally are estimated to be HIV positive.  Of these, 2.7 million people are newly infected. Sub-Saharan Africa remains the most seriously affected region. Asia has the fastest growing AIDS epidemics which is threatening the region’s economic development boom.

The theme of World AIDS Day 2009-2010 is “Universal Access and Human Rights”. This theme strikes at the heart of what is perhaps the single largest challenge faced by people living with HIV/AIDS. The Universal Access and Human Rights theme encourages us to deepen our understanding, develop partnerships and challenge discriminatory laws, policies and practices that stand in the way of access for all to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support.

The focus on Universal Access is important because 2010 is a milestone by which time world leaders had committed through the Millennium Development Goals to ensuring universal access to HIV treatment, treatment care and support. The focus on Human Rights is important because people living with HIV are vulnerable to stigma and discrimination, illness, economic insecurity and reduced access to treatment and care.

The 2009 theme encourages us to reflect and work to promote human dignity and respect, as well as to protect the human rights of people living with or affected by HIV and those vulnerable to infection. You can work to empower others at home, in schools, places of worship and workplaces to act to ensure that human rights are protected and that global targets for HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and care are met.

Get Involved

Liturgical materials for World AIDS Day (1 December 2009) by the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance are available as a PDF. It reflects that belief that all people are made in God’s image while focusing on the theme of HIV and human rights.

Help Protect the World’s Poorest Countries by supporting the Stop Vulture Funds Act. Vulture funds seize money from poor countries that could have been used to buy life saving medicines for those with HIV/AIDS.

Watch a Catholic Relief Service video on the Catholic Church and Global AIDS: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mE93x9_LJzY

This retreat on funding support for AIDS comes despite western governments’ promises to increase funding for treatment. Cutting funding for HIV/AIDS treatment would condemn millions of poor people to death. Four million HIV-positive people are currently on anti-retroviral therapy (ARVs) worldwide and more than 6 million more people are in need of the treatment. The board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the main financer of AIDS programs in 140 poor countries, will vote next week in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia whether or not to suspend all new funding proposals in 2010.