Global AIDS Program E-Mail Broadcast - August 6, 1999
-----------------------------------------------------
Contents:
* AIDS Program's Small Grant Fund Assists Community Groups
* XIII Int'l AIDS Conference Seeks 'Bambanani' Contacts
* Congress Increases AIDS Funding
* Gore Announces $100 Million AIDS Initiative
* One-Third of AIDS Patients Succumb to Tb
* 'Global AIDS Directory 2000' Available
--
AIDS PROGRAM'S SMALL GRANT FUND ASSISTS COMMUNITY GROUPS
When community-based NGOs working with HIV/AIDS participate in interna-
tional forums, it helps to broaden their knowledge of prevention, care,
and treatment, while enhancing the global perspectives of other confer-
ence attendees. With funding from the U.S. Agency for International De-
velopment (USAID), the Global Health Council's Global AIDS Program is
now in its second year of administering a Small Grant Fund to support
crucial networking activities.
This Fund allows non-traditional USAID partners to receive support to
organize workshops and panels on issues relevant to the global AIDS
pandemic, to receive scholarships to attend existing conferences and
meetings, and to secure funding for key materials that focus on educa-
tional awareness of HIV/AIDS prevention and care.
Grants have recently been awarded to support the networking activities
of two organizations: Visions Worldwide, Inc. and the Homa Bay Rural
Development Project. VISIONS Worldwide is a youth-run organization
dedicated to fighting HIV/AIDS in India and in the United States. The
program recruits and trains motivated youth in the United States to be
HIV/AIDS educators in India. They serve as delegates and conduct
HIV/AIDS prevention workshops at local high schools and colleges. For
the past four years, VISIONS Worldwide has conducted successful educa-
tion and empowerment programs for over 30,000 youth in Bangalore, Kath-
mandu (Nepal), Mumbai and New Delhi.
Homa Bay Rural Development Project is a community-based organization
building on the capacities of people and social institutions to prac-
tice and cherish good health in society. The group is located in the
Homa Bay district of Nyanza Province in Kenya. Its focus is educating
teachers to disseminate knowledge about HIV/AIDS; population; environ-
mental education and sustainable resource use; and food security. All
efforts are directed toward ultimately stopping the spread of HIV/AIDS,
thereby increasing life expectancy, enabling all citizens to actively
participate in the development of Kenya.
Both projects' initiatives will strengthen networking and establish
linkages to encourage the dissemination of accurate AIDS information to
their communities. To receive information about the Global AIDS Pro-
gram's Small Grant Fund, please e-mail or fax your request and full
contact information to:
Kim Parvez
malto:kparvez@globalhealth.org or
Tel: +1-202-833-0075
--
XIII INT'L AIDS CONFERENCE SEEKS 'BAMBANANI' CONTACTS
The Community Program of the XIII International AIDS Conference works
to integrate and involve the perspectives and voices of people and com-
munities infected and affected by HIV & AIDS in all aspects of confer-
ence planning, program development and evaluation, with an emphasis on
creating opportunities for input to and benefit from the conference to
people who cannot attend in person.
These objectives of the Community Program will be supported by the
'BambaNaNi', a network including national and regional conference con-
tacts, a community newsletter, electronic discussion forums, and pro-
gramme advisory committees in South and Southern Africa. 'Bambanani' is
the Xhosa word for togetherness. The BambaNaNi (BNN) aims to provide
the South African, African and global AIDS communities the opportunity
to provide input into the conference experience. The Community Depart-
ment is inviting nominations for the 30 BambaNaNi Conference Contacts.
There will be five in each of the following sub-regions: Southern Af-
rica, Africa, Asia/Pacific, Europe, Latin America and North America.
Contacts will begin work in Oct. 1999 on electronic networking, confer-
ences outreach, information sharing and discussions leading to the In-
ternational AIDS Conference in July 2000. Nominees should have most of
following qualifications: good networks within their own country / re-
gion; a good understanding of HIV/AIDS-related issues; good writing
skills; ability to translate or organise translation of conference in-
formation into local/regional languages; willingness and ability to
spend 10 hours per month on conference-related activities; and access
to a computer with e-mail facilities. BNN Conference Contacts are not
paid positions, although a limited communications reimbursement is
available.
If you are interested in nominating yourself or somebody else to be a
BNN Conference Contact, please contact:
Shaun Mellors
CPC Co-ordinator (International)
XIII International AIDS Conference
Tel: +27-31-301-0400
Fax: +27-31-301-0191
mailto:shaunm@aids2000.com
The deadline for nominations is Aug. 27, 1999. Please write a few sen-
tences on why you or your nominee would be a good BNN Conference Con-
tact, and a brief description of your/their background. For self-
nominations, it would help if you could also send an accompanying let-
ter from an HIV/AIDS-related organisation or network supporting your
nomination
--
CONGRESS INCREASES AIDS FUNDING
The U.S. Senate's Foreign Operations Appropriations bill for FY 2000,
voted in on June 30, exceeds last year's funding level and the caps to
the account adopted by the Congress in the 1997 Balanced Budget Act.
Although the $12.7 billion bill fell $1.9 billion below President Clin-
ton's overall budget request for the account, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-
VT), ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Operations Appropriations
Subcommittee, was successful in adding additional global health funding
for bilateral assistance through the U.S. Agency for International De-
velopment (USAID). Reflecting priorities strongly advocated by the
Global Health Council, the Senate-passed increases include programs
that fall within the Child Survival & Infectious Diseases Account,
which received an additional $50 million over last year. Increases were
targeted at infectious diseases and HIV/AIDS, each receiving an addi-
tional $25 million, bringing funding for these issues to its highest
level to date: $75 million for infectious diseases and $150 million
specifically for HIV/AIDS. The House Appropriations Committee completed
action on its version of the bill on July 20 with total funding of
$12.6 billion. With bipartisan leadership in the House, Chairman Sonny
Callahan (R-AL) and ranking Democrat Rep. Pelosi (D-CA) increased fund-
ing for the Child Survival & Infectious Diseases Account by $30 mil-
lion, to a total of $680 million. This account also included an in-
crease of $20 million for HIV/AIDS, bringing HIV/AIDS funding to a to-
tal of $145 million, plus an increase of $10 million for children af-
fected by the HIV/AIDS epidemic and $30 million for infectious dis-
eases, for a total of $80 million. Committee action was followed by the
July 29 House floor debate, which saw a series of anti-family planning
amendments defeated. The Administration has said it will veto any bill
with an "unacceptable" funding level. It is likely that Congress will
repeat last year's process of providing additional funding in the way
of an emergency supplemental at the end of the fiscal year.
--
GORE ANNOUNCES $100 MILLION AIDS INITIATIVE
On July 19, Vice President Al Gore announced the Administration's in-
tent to seek an increase of $100 million for U.S.-funded global AIDS
prevention and care programs. This initiative marks the first time that
the Administration has backed a significant increase in the U.S. in-
vestment in fighting the international AIDS pandemic. Archbishop Des-
mond Tutu, Director of the Office of National AIDS Policy Sandra Thur-
man and several members of Congress were on hand to support the initia-
tive and the unveiling of a new report from the Office of National AIDS
Policy, and to encourage increased partnerships between governments,
industry and others in leveraging more funds for the global response to
AIDS. "The crisis is growing, and so must our commitment,'' said Vice
President Gore. "AIDS in Africa is the worst infectious disease catas-
trophe in the history of modern medicine. More than twenty million peo-
ple are now infected, and nearly 500 more become infected each hour."
Olivia Nantong, a young woman from Uganda whose parents died from AIDS,
also spoke at the event. She thanked the US government for supporting
TASO, a grass-roots organization in Uganda that cares for families af-
fected by HIV/AIDS. The $100 million will go to strengthening care and
prevention programs, health infrastructure, disease surveillance, pro-
grams for children affected by HIV/AIDS, and health care planning in
Africa, Russia and India. Funding for this initiative will be channeled
through the U.S. Agency for International Development ($55 million),
the Department for Health and Human Services ($35 million) and the De-
partment of Defense ($10 million). The Administration has also planned
several events in the coming year to mobilize broad-based commitment
from religious, multilateral, donor, industry and labor groups, includ-
ing a donor meeting on September 7, 1999, facilitated by First Lady
Hillary Clinton.
--
ONE-THIRD OF AIDS PATIENTS SUCCUMB TO TB
The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) "Progress of Nations 1999"
report says that tuberculosis (TB) takes the lives of almost a third of
AIDS patients. Worldwide, there are an estimated 2 million TB-related
deaths each year. Directly observed treatment, short course (DOTS),
which is recommended by the World Health Organization, can cure up to
95 percent of TB cases and help prevent drug-resistant strains of the
disease. The report noted, however, that DOTS reaches less than 50 per-
cent of TB patients in 12 out of 22 countries. (Africa News Service,
08/05/99)
--
GLOBAL AIDS DIRECTORY 2000 NOW AVAILABLE
Global AIDS Directory 2000, a comprehensive listing of "Who's Who"
among groups working in the global response to HIV/AIDS, is now avail-
able. Published by the Global Health Council with funding from USAID,
Global AIDS Directory 2000 offers crucial information that can lead to
new partnerships and information sharing with colleagues around the
globe. Mission statements, service profiles, contact information and
other facts about more than 250 agencies -- including foundations, pri-
vate voluntary organizations, professional associations, consulting
firms, NGO networks, U.S. government and international agencies, and
civic groups - make Global AIDS Directory 2000 an essential resource.
The up-to-the-minute data was compiled by survey, with every effort
made to help each organization present itself in its own words. Indexes
help Directory users look up organizations by country or by topic of
concentration. Global AIDS Directory 2000 is available for $50, $25 to
Council members. To pay by credit card, check or money order (in U.S.
dollars), send payment (c.c. orders please also include account number,
expiration date and name on card) to:
Global Health Council,
Global AIDS Directory,
P.O. Box 9671,
Manchester, NH 03108-9671, USA.
For further information, contact:
Tel: +1-202-833-5900 or
mailto:AIDS@globalhealth.org
--
Global Health Council
Global AIDS Program
1701 K Street, NW Suite 600
Washington, DC 20006, USA
mailto:wcraig@vt.globalhealth.org
--
Send mail for the `AFRO-NETS' conference to `afro-nets@usa.healthnet.org'.
Mail administrative requests to `majordomo@usa.healthnet.org'.
For additional assistance, send mail to: `owner-afro-nets@usa.healthnet.org'.