New HIV Collaborative Fund Grant Programme for advocacy on TB/HIV

NGOs (preferably young NGOs, which have been working for a year or less) and non-registered initiative groups from 15 countries of the former USSR only (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Estonia) are eligible to apply for grants up to 8,000 USD.

An Open Letter from People Living with HIV to UNITAID, UNAIDS, Medicines Patent Pool

Gilead has granted the Medicines Patent Pool similar licensing terms as its Indian partners. The Pool, established in July 2010 with the support of UNITAID, is working to collaborate with a number of pharmaceutical companies to expand global access to quality, low-cost antiretroviral therapy through the licensing of patents. Companies interested in producing generic versions of Gilead medicines for developing countries will be able to approach the Patent Pool to negotiate licensing terms. Gilead's original licensing agreements provided Indian manufacturers with non-exclusive rights to produce active pharmaceutical ingredient and finished product and sell generic versions of Gilead's HIV medicines in 95 developing countries.

The Freddie For A Day Global Charity Network

The Freddie For A Day Global Charity Network aims to use the life and legacy of Freddie Mercury to bring together as many AIDS related charities as possible from around the globe and join them together, as Official Affiliated Charities, each year in Freddie's memory to celebrate his birthday on September 5th. We believe in fighting AIDS worldwide and to do this to the best of our ability we know that we have to operate at both a global and local level to reach as many people as we possibly can. For this reason the Mercury Phoenix Trust is launching a unique and exciting new initiative called the Freddie For A Day Global Charity Network.

AIDS Groups outraged as EU and US continue “immoral blackmail” on generic AIDS medicines through Free Trade Agreement Negotiations (4) 

AIDS groups at the International AIDS Society conference in Rome expressed outrage at ongoing free trade agreement negotiations by the United States and the European Union with multiple developing countries that threaten access to medicines for HIV, TB, hepatitis-C as well as other diseases in these countries.

History of Tuberculosis Foundation of Latvia

The Foundation has extensive experience in organizing various training courses, scientific conferences at national and international levels, as well as rendering technical assistance to countries in the region facing a high burden of MDR-TB/XDR-TB.

Open letter to the Global Fund

Society "Association HIV.LV" supported the open letter to the Golal Fund. The leaders and activists representing affected communities and non-governmental organisations working in the field of HIV/AIDS prevention, care and treatment around the world, ask to consider the development and introduction of a formal strategy and its implementation plan aimed to address the vulnerabilities and the needs of injection drug users. Of the estimated 15.9 million people who inject drugs globally, around 3 million are living with HIV.

Open Letter to European Commission: The UN High Level Meeting on HIV & AIDS and Universal Access to HIV Treatment

The upcoming UN General Assembly High-Level Meeting (HLM) on HIV and AIDS, taking place from June 8-10, 2011 in New York, is likely to result in a declaration by member states. The draft text (known as zero draft) based on the objectives of “Zero New Infections – Zero Discrimination – Zero AIDS Related Deaths” is currently being negotiated. On behalf of people living with HIV, we are writing to express our deep concern and disappointment with the position being taken by the EU which is actively resisting or weakening all proposals in the draft declaration that relate to intellectual property and access to medicines.

AIDS at 30: an interview with activist Gregg Gonsalves

Long-time AIDS activist Gregg Gonsalves is often outspoken, and known for saying things like “I’m holding my nose as I say this, but I miss George W. Bush,” as he was quoted in a New York Times article in 2009 criticizing Obama for his lackluster global AIDS plan that aimed to scale back the push to put more people on antiretroviral medication. He has spent more than two decades working on AIDS to address the U.S. and global epidemics, starting out at ACT UP/Boston in the late 80s. One of many accomplishments, Gonsalves is a founding member of the International Treatment Preparedness Coalition, a network of more than 1,000 people from 125 countries advocating for universal access to HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis (TB) treatment. He was also the first-ever recipient of the $100,000 John M. Lloyd AIDS Leadership Award.

Groundbreaking trial results confirm HIV treatment prevents transmission of HIV

WHO and UNAIDS hail results from the HPTN 052 trial that show antiretroviral therapy to be 96% effective in reducing HIV transmission in couples where one partner has HIV.

AAE member AGIHAS

AGIHAS, a people living with HIV and AIDS (PLWHA) support group founded in 1993, is the first AIDS NGO in Latvia. Along the years we have achieved varying successes.

Question on World Hepatitis Day

Following the World Health Assembly in May 2010, it was agreed that World Hepatitis Day would be recognised annually on 28 July.

Minutes of Hepatitis C Networking Meeting, Beirut

Hepatitis C Networking Meeting, April 5, 2011 – Beirut. Contents: 1. Advocacy work; 2. Common themes and OSF support; 3. Moving forward.

Civil society says to United Nations: Eastern Europe and Central Asia message to the HIV Declaration

United Nations Member States must act urgently to fulfill their commitments to save lives by averting further growth of the HIV epidemic and ensuring universal access to HIV/AIDS prevention, care, support and treatment for all in need, irrespective of their lifestyles.

Final conference of UNODC project on HIV prevention in the Baltic States

The main achievements of UNODC project "HIV prevention and care among injecting drug users and in prison settings in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania" were presented during the final conference that took place on 24 and 25 March 2011 in Riga, Latvia. The event was attended by two hundred participants representing policy makers, public health experts, HIV prevention service providers and civil society organizations from the Baltic States and other European countries.

Statement

Statement resulting of the Regional Consultation on universal access to prevention, treatment, care and support for HIV in Europe and Central Asia by Eurasian Harm Reduction Network, East Europe and Central Asia Union of PLWH, International Treatment Preparedness Coalition in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, European AIDS Treatment Group.

Speech on Access to pharmaceuticals in Eastern Europe

Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Estonia – all new member states - have the lowest healthcare budgets per capita and highest death rates within the EU. We citizens in those countries may be paying less for staff and hospital expenditures, however our smaller budgets have to accommodate costs for pharmaceutical products and lab equipment which are as high as elsewhere in the EU. Latvia has the highest mortality rate among people living with AIDS among the new EU member states.

WHO and UNODC Mission

Mid-term evaluation of the Latvian national programme “Programme for limiting the spread of HIV infection 2009-2013”. Evaluation mission in country 15-18 February 2011.

HIV in European Region – Unity and Diversity

May 25-27 Estonia, Tallinn, will host European Conference on HIV and AIDS “HIV in European Region – Unity and Diversity”. The conference will welcome attendees from the EU and across the WHO European Region. Registration is opened. Scholarship application will be opened since February 1-st. The aim of the Conference is to provide a forum in which good practice, lessons learned and gaps in knowledge and successes, challenges, and innovations in HIV prevention are addressed.

EATG Policy Working Group Meeting in Riga

EATG Policy Working Group Meeting will take place in Riga at 19 – 21 February 2011 (with preparatory meeting 18 Feb afternoon). In the past, the Policy Working Group had in-depth discussions on the Latvian and Lithuanian situation as to HIV/AIDS. This regular Policy Working Group meeting will take place in Riga, Latvia, with a public part devoted to the situation in the Baltic States and in particular the Latvian situation, and is organised in close cooperation with local partners.

Don't swallow this pill

Are the European Union and its multinational pharmaceutical companies now pressuring the Indian prime minister's office? In recent months, as negotiators from India and Europe have been thrashing out the details of a free trade agreement to be signed within months, people living with HIV have been hitting the streets.