HIV and AIDS: Access to ARV Treatment in Africa

With World AIDS Day coming up in December, the topic of this issue of The Soul Beat will be on HIV and AIDS. More specifically, it will focus on the issue of access to Antiretroviral (ARV) treatment and will include information on a range of campaigns, communication projects and materials that deal with facilitating access to ARV treatment for people living with HIV and AIDS in Africa.

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HIV & AIDS TREATMENT CAMPAIGNS

1. Free by Five - Africa

Free by five is a campaign that calls for free healthcare for HIV/AIDS and anti-retroviral drugs in Africa and other developing regions. The campaign maintains that paying for care is one of the main obstacles to treatment and good quality care that people living with HIV and AIDS face.

Contact Health Economics and HIV/AIDS Research Division (HEARD) heard@nu.ac.za

2. National Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) Communication Campaign - Kenya

National Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) Communication Campaign is an HIV/AIDS communication programme aimed at supporting ART service delivery in Kenya. The campaign aims to support the Kenyan government's efforts to meet targets for the provision of ART services to Kenyans.

Contact Kenyatta National Hospital Grounds headnascop@iconnect.co.ke OR Tahir Turk tturk@cpimail.net

3. Treat Your Workers Campaign - Global

In April 2002, the Health Global Access Project (GAP) and ACT UP launched a worldwide advocacy campaign to demand a comprehensive HIV/AIDS care and treatment programme for Coca Cola's employees and bottling plant workers in Africa and Southeast Asia. A website dedicated to the campaign encourages activism on the part of citizens in the form of letter writing initiatives, local protests and campaigns, and student activities on campuses worldwide. The purpose of the initiative is to urge change in the health care policies of multinational corporations, as well as to provoke government action in those developing countries hardest hit by HIV/AIDS.

Contact Sharonann Lynch salynch@healthgap.org

4. Right to Anti-Retroviral Treatment Campaign - Ghana

The Right to Anti-Retroviral Treatment Campaign aims to secure the rights of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) to anti-retroviral treatment in Ghana and the sub-region. The campaign aims to address financial, geographical and information challenges related to accessing anti-retroviral treatment and hopes to contribute to poverty reduction by focusing on rights to health and education.

Contact isodec@isodec.org.gh

5. Mutapola Campaign - South Africa

Mutapola Campaign is part of the Southern Africa Partnerships Programme (SAPP) initiative which is devoted to supporting women and children infected and affected by HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa. Implemented by Action Aid International and Open Society Initiatives for Southern Africa (OSISA), the campaign draws on research, advocacy, and partnership to defend the rights of girls and women living with HIV/AIDS in South Africa. The campaign focuses on treatment, literacy, nutrition, and positive-living programmes; increased access to medical care; research and advocacy on health systems; and community involvement in the roll-out of treatment programmes.

Contact Open Society Initiatives for Southern Africa (OSISA) osisainfo@osiafrica.org OR Action Aid International admin@actionaidafrica.org and mutapola@actionaid.org

PROGRAMME EXPERIENCES

6. Life Vanguards - Nigeria

Life Vanguards is a Nigerian non-governmental organisation that focuses on youth development, adolescent reproductive health and HIV/AIDS prevention and support. The organisation also supports people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWH) by offering counselling, workshops on coping mechanisms and survival strategies and facilitates access to anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs at a subsidised cost.

Contact Obatunde Oladapo planigeria@yahoo.com

7. Femmes Actives de Cote d'Ivoire Network - Cote d'Ivoire

Femmes Actives de Cote d'Ivoire (Active Women of Cote d'Ivoire) Network is a support group for pregnant women who are infected with HIV/AIDS. The group encourages women to speak freely about the virus and provides psychological support. The small, grassroots organisation has worked to obtain funding and antiretroviral (ARV) drugs from organisations like CARE and RETROCI, a USA-sponsored research project based in Abidjan focusing on mother-to-child transmission. In 2003, the network was able to obtain free ARV treatment for 87 women.

Contact Soura Besse Diakaridja souradiak@yahoo.fr

8. Community Mobilisation Model for Prevention of Mother to Child HIV Transmission (PMTCT) and Anti-retroviral Therapy - Uganda

Community Mobilisation Model for Prevention of Mother to Child HIV Transmission (PMTCT) and Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) of the Islamic Medical Association of Uganda (IMAU) is a project aimed at building the capacity to address anti-retroviral treatment-related issues in Uganda. The project was designed for faith based organisations to complement government efforts to increase awareness and utilisation of PMTCT and ART services.

Contact Magid Kagimu imau@utlonline.co.ug

9. Cell-Life - South Africa

Cell-Life is a Cape Town, Western Cape-based effort to develop software and data management systems that enable HIV/AIDS centres' health workers to monitor patients who are on HIV/AIDS medications and to help identify problems before they become life-threatening. Cell phones are used to support drug therapy and to communicate to patients about their treatment and details of counselling. It aims to solve the management problem of HIV/AIDS by merging cell phone technology with the Internet and database systems.

Contact Cell-life info@cell-life.org

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December 1 is World AIDS day and the theme for this year is "Stop AIDS. Keep the promise."

For more information on World AIDS Day campaigns go to:

AfroAids website OR World Aids Campaign website

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GUIDES, TOOLKITS, AND PUBLICATIONS

10. HIV/AIDS Care and Treatment: Facilitator's Guide

This guide presents new knowledge and skills for delivering and organising clinical care and treatment services for people living with HIV/AIDS. The publication focuses on clinical content for those who prescribe drugs and treat patients, with complementary sessions on programmatic issues. Sessions present treatment in the context of comprehensive care and support.

11. Adherence to Antiretroviral Therapy in Adults: A Guide for Trainers

This training manual was developed for the Antiretroviral Therapy Program in Mombasa, Kenya. The manual has been developed by the Horizons Program of the Population Council, the International Centre for Reproductive Health and the Coast Province General Hospital, Mombasa.

12. Treating HIV & AIDS: A Training Toolkit

The training toolkit is designed to provide basic training on HIV treatment and care for health care workers in resource-limited settings and to support the safe and effective introduction of antiretroviral therapy. This toolkit is the result of an initiative of Dr Chris Ouma, a Kenyan doctor who began training health care workers in Kenya using an edition of NAM's UK HIV & AIDS Treatments Training Manual in 2002.

13. Long Life: Positive Stories
by Jonathan Morgan and the Bambanani Women's Group

This book shares the writing, illustrations (body maps), photographs, artwork and storyboards of a group of 13 HIV-positive women from Khayelitsha,a Western Cape township in South Africa. The women were part of a counselling and support group which formed part of their anti-retroviral treatment at Médécins Sans Frontières, Khayelitsha. The women describe in their own voices how their lives have been transformed by antiretroviral treatment, giving them improved health, hope, voices and sometimes employment.

14. The Treatment Era: ART in Africa

This publication looks at issues around access to antiretroviral (ARV) therapy in Africa focusing on lessons learned and highlighting the main challenges facing the delivery of ARVs. In addition the document touches on some of the advocacy campaigns around ARVs and includes an interview with South African treatment campaigner Zackie Achmat.

LINKS ON AIDS AND ARV Access IN AFRICA

15. The Treatment Era: ART in Africa

This is an e-mail and Internet-based HIV/AIDS information service for sub-Saharan Africa, run by the Integrated Regional Information Network (IRIN). The website looks at the key issues of antiretroviral therapy (ART) access, delivery and resources.

16. Pan-African Treatment Access Movement (PATAM)

PATAM is a social movement comprised of individuals and organisations dedicated to mobilising communities, political leaders, and all sectors of society to ensure access to antiretroviral (ARV) treatment, as a fundamental part of comprehensive care for all people with HIV/AIDS in Africa.

17. Treatment Action Campaign (TAC)

TAC aims to campaign for greater access to HIV treatment for all South Africans, by raising public awareness and understanding about issues surrounding the availability, affordability and use of HIV treatments.

18. AfroAIDSinfo

This is an HIV/AIDS information portal for Southern Africa. This project aims to disseminate important information on HIV/AIDS to researchers, the health profession, the public, infected individuals, educators and policy-makers.

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UPCOMING CONFERENCES ON HIV AND AIDS

Global Summit on HIV/AIDS, Traditional Medicine and Indigenous Knowledge (Mar 14-18 2006)

Practical Strategies for Dealing with the Stigma of HIV/AIDS in Your Organisation (Jan 24-26 2006)

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The Soul Beat seeks to cover the full range of communication for development activities. Inclusion of an item does not imply endorsement or support by The Partners.

Please send material for The Soul Beat to the Editor - Anja Venth aventh@comminit.com