ICAAP Civil Society Statement
5 July 2005
The following statement presents the outcome of several meetings involving civil society organisations that took place during the 7th International Conference on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific, held in Kobe, Japan, 1-5 July, 2005.
Members of civil society represented here welcome previous statements and commitments on HIV/AIDS by our governments. In particular we are grateful for the detailed commitments made in the following:
- The UNGASS Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS- The Ministerial Statement from the Second Asia-Pacific Ministerial Meeting on HIV/AIDS held in Bangkok, Thailand on 11 July 2004
Together, these commitments present the essence of what we have been discussing all this week.
Every hour more than 148 Asians contract HIV, representing an abysmal failure to adequately address the prevention needs, particularly among vulnerable groups, including men who have sex with men, injecting drug users, sex workers, women and young girls, youth and mobile populations.
In the region, the number of people receiving ARVs has increased three-fold from 55,000 to 155,000 in the past 12 months. Despite this significant progress, the overall proportion of people in the region with advanced HIV infection receiving ARVs remains pitifully low, mirroring the global average of around 15%.
Further, the individual care needs of the 8.2 million men, women and children already living with HIV in the region presents a major future challenge that we are not adequately acknowledging or even openly discussing. Our national health systems are simply not ready to absorb this scale of even basic care needs.
The current gap in all kinds of HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and care provision in the region represents a common failure to meet the key government commitments we have highlighted.
We therefore demand that urgent action be taken by each of our governments and other leaders, to keep previous promises to provide comprehensive AIDS prevention, treatment and care services to our people, as those detailed in the UNGASS Declaration, We also demand that national health budgets adequately reflect the requirements of the national AIDS control programs.
We also insist that our leaders take immediate action to provide affordable, readily available care and treatment options to keep people alive while we are waiting for governments, international donors and other institutions to deliver on their ARV promises, including:
- Voluntary counselling and testing;
- Prevention and treatment of tuberculosis;
- Drugs to prevent/treat other opportunistic infections;
- Home- and community-based care services;
- Reduced HIV-related stigma, esp in health care;
- Pharmacotherapy therapy for injecting drug uses;
- Traditional healing and care approaches;
- Assured food security and micronutrient provision.
Finally, we welcome and wholeheartedly support one of the four major recommendations that UNAIDS proposed during this ICAAP Conference: Countries should increase support to civil society organizations’ involvement in national responses
- We therefore demand that our governments work in equal and meaningful partnership with civil society including people living with HIV and vulnerable populations in addressing the control of the epidemic.
In mid-2006 a comprehensive review of national performance against the specific targets laid out in the UNGASS Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS will be presented by each country, finally placing each of our leaders under an international HIV/AIDS spotlight of accountability.
In support of the UNGASS goals, the UNAIDS recommendation above, and in light of the national UNGASS review process taking place this year, we demand our governments to:
Immediately establish a formal mechanism for the receipt of written and/or orally presented information and reports from civil society organizations and PWHA organizations on declaration of commitment implementation in their countries as input for the national 2006 Progress Report.
Statement By:
Asia Pacific Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS
Asia Pacific Council of AIDS Service Organization
Asia Pacific Network of Sex Workers
Asian Harm Reduction NetworkAP-Rainbow
Asia-Pacific Network of Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals and Transgenders
AIDS Society of Asia Pacific Coordination of Action Research on AIDS and Mobility
AIDS Society of Asia Pacific
And the:
World AIDS Campaign, Massive Effort Campaign, Positive Women’s Network, and the other 250 partners of the AIDS-Care-Watch Campaign
Stop-AIDS in Asia…Keep the PROMISE. Thank you very much.
[Spoken by: Periasamy Kousalya from Positive Women’s Network, India - 5th July 2005]
The following statement presents the outcome of several meetings involving civil society organisations that took place during the 7th International Conference on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific, held in Kobe, Japan, 1-5 July, 2005.
Members of civil society represented here welcome previous statements and commitments on HIV/AIDS by our governments. In particular we are grateful for the detailed commitments made in the following:
- The UNGASS Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS- The Ministerial Statement from the Second Asia-Pacific Ministerial Meeting on HIV/AIDS held in Bangkok, Thailand on 11 July 2004
Together, these commitments present the essence of what we have been discussing all this week.
Every hour more than 148 Asians contract HIV, representing an abysmal failure to adequately address the prevention needs, particularly among vulnerable groups, including men who have sex with men, injecting drug users, sex workers, women and young girls, youth and mobile populations.
In the region, the number of people receiving ARVs has increased three-fold from 55,000 to 155,000 in the past 12 months. Despite this significant progress, the overall proportion of people in the region with advanced HIV infection receiving ARVs remains pitifully low, mirroring the global average of around 15%.
Further, the individual care needs of the 8.2 million men, women and children already living with HIV in the region presents a major future challenge that we are not adequately acknowledging or even openly discussing. Our national health systems are simply not ready to absorb this scale of even basic care needs.
The current gap in all kinds of HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and care provision in the region represents a common failure to meet the key government commitments we have highlighted.
We therefore demand that urgent action be taken by each of our governments and other leaders, to keep previous promises to provide comprehensive AIDS prevention, treatment and care services to our people, as those detailed in the UNGASS Declaration, We also demand that national health budgets adequately reflect the requirements of the national AIDS control programs.
We also insist that our leaders take immediate action to provide affordable, readily available care and treatment options to keep people alive while we are waiting for governments, international donors and other institutions to deliver on their ARV promises, including:
- Voluntary counselling and testing;
- Prevention and treatment of tuberculosis;
- Drugs to prevent/treat other opportunistic infections;
- Home- and community-based care services;
- Reduced HIV-related stigma, esp in health care;
- Pharmacotherapy therapy for injecting drug uses;
- Traditional healing and care approaches;
- Assured food security and micronutrient provision.
Finally, we welcome and wholeheartedly support one of the four major recommendations that UNAIDS proposed during this ICAAP Conference: Countries should increase support to civil society organizations’ involvement in national responses
- We therefore demand that our governments work in equal and meaningful partnership with civil society including people living with HIV and vulnerable populations in addressing the control of the epidemic.
In mid-2006 a comprehensive review of national performance against the specific targets laid out in the UNGASS Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS will be presented by each country, finally placing each of our leaders under an international HIV/AIDS spotlight of accountability.
In support of the UNGASS goals, the UNAIDS recommendation above, and in light of the national UNGASS review process taking place this year, we demand our governments to:
Immediately establish a formal mechanism for the receipt of written and/or orally presented information and reports from civil society organizations and PWHA organizations on declaration of commitment implementation in their countries as input for the national 2006 Progress Report.
Statement By:
Asia Pacific Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS
Asia Pacific Council of AIDS Service Organization
Asia Pacific Network of Sex Workers
Asian Harm Reduction NetworkAP-Rainbow
Asia-Pacific Network of Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals and Transgenders
AIDS Society of Asia Pacific Coordination of Action Research on AIDS and Mobility
AIDS Society of Asia Pacific
And the:
World AIDS Campaign, Massive Effort Campaign, Positive Women’s Network, and the other 250 partners of the AIDS-Care-Watch Campaign
Stop-AIDS in Asia…Keep the PROMISE. Thank you very much.
[Spoken by: Periasamy Kousalya from Positive Women’s Network, India - 5th July 2005]
posted by AIDS-Care-Watch at 1:24 pm
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