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Live the Promise: HIV and AIDS campaign bulletin no. 1 / 2010

26. January 2010

Religious Leadership in the Response to HIV   Over 60 high level religious leaders, people living with HIV, and global leaders
will gather in The Netherlands, 22-23 March, for a summit that aims to
strengthen religious leadership in the response to HIV.
Invitations were made based on nominations from religious and partner organizations,
with careful attention to criteria set by the steering committee
and ensuring religious diversity, geographical balance and gender representation.
Among the participants are His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Art of
Living Foundation; His Holiness Tep Vong, the Great Supreme Patriarch of
Cambodia; His Holiness Abune Paulos, Patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox
Church; Archbishop John Onaiyekan, Archbishop of Abuja, Nigeria; The
Most Reverend Thabo Makgoba, Archbishop of Cape Town; Rabbi David
Rosen, American Jewish Committee; Sheik Mohammed Gemea, Al Azhar
University; Rev. Dr. Olav Fyske Tveit, General Secretary, World Counci of
Churches; Ms Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda, General Secretary, World YWCA;
and Mr. Michel Sidibé, Executive Director, UNAIDS.
The Summit aims to promote understanding among high level religious
leaders on the need for visible and affirmative engagement on HIV and AIDS
and to mobilize their support for advocacy and action.
The Summit is being planned by an Interfaith Steering Committee convened
by the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance who is helping to coordinate the project
along with Cordaid in The Netherlands. The Dutch Ministry of Foreign
Affairs is an important contributor and supporter of the Summit. UNAIDS,
INERELA+ and the World AIDS Campaign are collaborating partners represented
on the steering committee.Financial Support is being provided by the Dutch and Swedish governments, European
Council of Religious Leaders (WCRP), Cordaid, ICCO and Kerk in Actie,
Prisma, AIDS Fonds, UNAIDS, World Vision International, American Jewish World
Service, Marion and Stanley Bergman, and the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance.
For more information on the Summit, www.e-alliance.ch/en/s/hivaids/
summit-of-high-level-religious-leaders/

Multi-Faith Pre-Conference to the International AIDS Conference

A one-day multi-faith pre-conference will be held on 17 July 2010 at Technical
University in Vienna. The pre-conference is designed to engage faithbased
participants of the IAC in networking, skills building, and exploration
of challenges posed by the HIV pandemic.
A Global Multi-Faith Working Group is planning the event. Registration for
the Multi-Faith Pre-Conference is 75.00 Euros, and includes lunch and coffee/
tea breaks. More information about the pre-conference and a link to registration
will soon be available at:
www.e-alliance.ch/en/s/hivaids/iac2010/multi-faith-pre-conference/
As in past International AIDS Conferences, blocks of hotel rooms have been reserved
for faith-based participants in a range of prices, and will be available soon
on a first come, first served basis. For more information, or to reserve a room,
visit: www.e-alliance.ch/en/s/hivaids/iac2010/local-arrangements/
Important Deadlines for AIDS 2010
As a reminder, the deadline for abstract submissions, skills building workshops,
and scholarship applications is 10 February. Additionally, a late registration
surcharge will be added after 24 February, so be sure to register early
if you are planning to attend the International AIDS Conference.
For more information about registering, submitting an abstract or scholarship
application, discount flight bookings, and visa requirements for Austria
visit: www.aids2010.org

Update on Resource Mobilization for the Global Fund

Replenishment for the Global Fund will be sought again in 2010. The first
meeting in this replenishment round will be held in The Netherlands, 24-26
March. The pledging meeting is scheduled for October 4-5, 2010 at the United
Nations Headquarters in New York, where donors will announce their
contributions for 2011-2013. It is important that the Global Fund remains
on the agenda of all donors.
Currently there is no money available to fund new programs in 2010, which is
unique in the Global Fund history since it has always been able to fund at least
one round of proposals per year. 2010 will be a pivotal year to finance the final stretch of the effort to reach the Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs) and it is the Universal Access target year.
What you can do: Advocates in northern countries can put
pressure on their governments to participate in the replenishment
process and increase their support of the Global
Fund. Tell them that resources made available through the
Global Fund have achieved impressive results and dramatic
improvements in global health. Southern advocacy partners
can provide a voice highlighting the benefits of the Global
Fund on supporting progress towards the MDGs in their
country and the need to continue this funding.
More information on targeted advocacy campaigning for 2010
leading up to the replenishment meeting will be available in
future bulletins and action alerts. If you haven’t done so already,
you can also sign on to the Declaration of the Global
Campaign for Currency Transaction Levy for Health. More information
is available at:
www.e-alliance.ch/en/s/news/single/article/2009/09/21/
support-a-currency-transaction-levy-for-health/

Focus on: Solidarité Protestante

Highlighting our strength as an alliance of members all
over the world, each bulletin will feature campaign actions
from a different member of the EAA.
Solidarité Protestante is a small non-profit Belgian development
and assistance organization based in Brussels. Seven staff
implement medical, social and emergency response programs
in Sub-Saharan Africa – Burundi, Rwanda, Democratic Republic
of Congo, Burkina Faso and Guinea – through partnerships
with church-related and other organizations. They also are very
active in raising awareness among church and youth groups in
Belgium about the realities facing people living in Africa. Their
medical programmes focus on HIV and AIDS, leprosy and TB.
Johan Maertens spoke to the EAA about one of their recent successful
campaigns focusing on AIDS medicines.
What recent actions have you engaged in related
to the Live the Promise campaign?
During the run up to World AIDS Day in 2009, we organized
Protestant churches and groups to support the ‘Make it Happen
Campaign’ of Médecins Sans Frontières. The goal was
to help realize the creation of the UNITAID Patent Pool for
AIDS medicines. We designed a petition calling upon nine
major pharmaceutical companies to support the creation of
the Patent Pool in order to offer greater access to ARVs and
affordable treatments.
We were greatly inspired by the Children’s Letter Writing
Campaign of the EAA. So we included in our petition a demand
for new antiretroviral drugs adapted for the needs of
children and newborn infants. The petition was distributed
in local churches while church youth undertook a ‘Street
Action’ on World AIDS Day in Brussels. There people were
invited to sign a petition card submit it to designated red
postal box. Over 1000 signatures were collected through
both actions, which is a great response for us.
Along with the petition, we also developed an ‘ARVs Game’
with the aim to raise awareness of the problem of access to
ARVs. One hundred seventy games were distributed in the
churches. The games continue to be played today. They are
an excellent way to engage and to make youth sensitive to
the struggle against HIV and AIDS.
What impact did this campaign have?
On 14 December 2009, the UNITAID Board announced the
creation of the Patent Pool for AIDS medicines. Through
the MSF ‘Make it Happen Campaign’, 300,000 e-mails and
letters were sent to CEOs and leaders in the pharmaceutical
industry. The mass mobilization and support certainly
played an important role in the decision to create the Patent
Pool. In addition, the campaign offered the opportunity
for people to feel more engaged in the fight against AIDS.
Through the petition, they could do something.
If other organizations wanted to have a similar action,
what advice would you give?
Develop easy-access tools such as postcards or games. We find it
difficult to motivate people to write letters and therefore we preferred
promoting a petition. Activities should be short, a 5 minute
message or a 15 minute activity is sufficient and effective.
For more information see:
Solidarité Protestante : www.solidariteprotestante.be/
The ARV Game (in French): www.e-alliance.ch/fr/s/hivaids/accessmeds/

Patent Pools

For some years now groups working to address the situation
of persons living with HIV and AIDS, shareholders
and health care staff have been calling for affordable, accessible
and child-friendly pharmaceuticals for persons living
with HIV to be available in resource poor countries.
The response has ranged from charitable donations to the
registration of drugs and the availability of generic formulations.
Recently the Executive Board of UNITAID, a group
committed to scaling up access to HIV and AIDS medicines
in developing countries, has endorsed a voluntary “patent
pool” for medicines which will focus on increasing access to
newer antiretroviral (ARV) drugs and encouraging the development
of adapted formulations.
This concept is a new business model which would allow
companies to voluntarily place those patents on drugs used
in the US and European countries into a pool for generic
manufacturers to produce the newer ARVs. Much still needs
to be worked out for the pool to be a success. Some of these
issues include:

Governance - who will control and monitor the
pool and what will the term of this license to produce
the drug be?
Quality control - who will assure quality of the
formulations produced?
Geographic scope - will the less poor developing
countries be included?
Breadth - should the pool accept all patents or
only those relevant to the mission of the pool.

There is also discussion about incentives for pharmaceutical
companies to participate in the pool. Will there be a reward
for innovators who place their patents into a pool?
The EAA’s HIV and AIDS Strategy Group and Pharma working
group will continue to monitor developments related to
this proposal.

Boehringer Ingelheim responds to children’s letters

In early November, as part of the EAA’s Prescription for Life
campaign, copies of letters from children around the world
were sent to GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer, Abbott, Bristol Meyers
Squibb, and Boehringer Ingelheim. On 24 November, the
EAA received a reply from Boehringer Ingelheim.
“We were impressed by the attached letters from Africans and
Europeans alike expressing their compassion in an emotional
manner, but also indicating interest and understanding in
the pandemic…Let me assure you, that our company shares
this concern and since years is reacting to the crisis in various
ways,” the letter stated. “So far, more than 1.85 million
mother/child pairs have benefited from the [VIRAMUNE Donation]
programme in 170 projects in 60 countries in Africa,
Asia, Latin America and Central/Eastern Europe.” Boehringer Ingelheim encourages people to visit their
websites www.boehringer-ingelheim.com/wecare and
www.boehringer-ingelheim.com/hiv for more information. The
EAA’s Pharma Working Group is planning a follow-up meeting with
BI during the 2010 International AIDS Conference in Vienna. Exhibit available on Children and HIVFor the past year, children around the world have been writingletters to governments and pharmaceutical companies encouragingthem to develop and make accessible appropriatetesting and treatment for infants and children living with HIV.An exhibit of nine panels features the letters of children, expresseswhat needs to be done, and encourages each of us tomake a difference. The panels have been displayed in the USat the United Nations Headquarters, Catholic Relief Services,and Union Theological Seminary.The exhibit is available for display at other organizations andevents. To view the panels, see: http://www.e-alliance.ch/en/s/hivaids/accountability/prescription-for-life-help-children-living-with-hiv/.
Contact Sara Speicher at sspeicher@e-alliance      

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