Special Focus on HIV/AIDS AIDS 2010 Holds in Vienna the Voiceless Victims of HIV New Advances Spur Vaccine Research

Special focus on HIV/AIDS AIDS 2010 holds in Vienna The voiceless victims of HIV New advances spur vaccine research MDG Summit assesses progress Modern energy for all by 2030 OPEC exhibition marks golden jubilee OFID Quarterly is published four times a year by the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID). OFID is the development finance agency established in January 1976 by the Member States of OPEC (the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) to promote South-South cooperation by extending development assistance to other, non-OPEC developing countries. OFID Quarterly is available free-of-charge. If you wish to be included on the distribution list, please send your full mailing details to the address below. Back issues of the magazine can be found on our website in PDF format. OFID Quarterly welcomes articles and photos on development-related topics, but cannot guarantee publication. Manuscripts, together with a brief biographical note on the author, may be submitted to the Editor for consideration. PUBLISHERS THE OPEC FUND FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT (OFID) Parkring 8, P.O. Box 995, A-1010 Vienna, Austria Tel: (+43-1) 515 64-0; Fax: (+43-1) 513 92-38 Email: [email protected] www.ofid.org EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Mauro Hoyer Romero EDITORIAL COORDINATOR Audrey Haylins CONTRIBUTORS Mariela Hoyer Guerrero, Anna Ilaria-Mayrhofer, Syahrul Luddin, Silvia Mateyka Violet Onyemenam, Verena Ringler, Mojgan Sanandaji, Fatimah Zwanikken PHOTOGRAPHS Rana Wintersteiner (unless otherwise credited) PRODUCTION Susanne Dillinger DESIGN etage.cc/krystian.bieniek PRINTED IN AUSTRIA Stiepan & Partner Druck GmbH COMMENT OCTOBER 2010 HIV/AIDS: getting priorities right 2 SPECIAL FEATURE Containing the HIV/AIDS pandemic 4 4 AIDS 2010 comes to Vienna 9 OFID at AIDS 2010 12 OFID sponsors participants at AIDS 2010 14 At risk of being forgotten The voiceless victims of HIV 16 Overcoming stigma and discrimination The other battle against HIV/AIDS 19 New advances spur AIDS vaccine research 22 Text H for health Are mobile phones the key to fighting AIDS? 25 46 Tuberculosis and HIV: a lethal combination 28 Washington calling: looking ahead to AIDS 2012 31 OUTREACH Building a new future for Haiti’s children 34 Boosting cancer care in Zambia 36 OFID Diary 40 Meetings attended by OFID 41 Loan and Grant signature photo gallery 42 132nd Governing Board photo gallery 44 DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION Millennium Development Goals still within reach New York Summit inspires fresh hope 46 Modern energy for all by 2030 New drive to launch soon 48 54 Four decades of Arab AID: a proud tradition 50 COVER PHOTO: JOCICALEK/SHUTTERSTOCK MEMBER STATES FOCUS Gabon and Nigeria celebrate 50 years of independence 52 Maps are for illustration purposes only and are not to be taken as accurate representations of OPEC borders. For reasons of scale, countries/territories with small areas are not shown. OPEC Anniversary Exhibition showcases Member Countries 54 COMMENT HIV/AIDS: getting priorities right en years ago it was rare to pick up a news- one-half of the 8.8 million people in developing paper or turn on the television without countries who need treatment for HIV. The rea- T being confronted with headlines about son? A lack of funding and political will, for the AIDS – the “killer pandemic” sweeping the globe. most part. Back then, AIDS was big news, sending shock Indeed, access to treatment is still one of the waves around the world. Today, the pandemic biggest stumbling blocks in the fight to contain causes barely a ripple – at least in the mass media. the spread of AIDS. Stigma and discrimination is To all intents and purposes, HIV/AIDS has another. As long as HIV and AIDS remain “dirty” dropped off the public radar. words, people at risk will be reluctant to come How ironic, considering that in 2008 alone forward for testing or treatment for fear of losing two million people lost their lives to this disease. their jobs or being ostracized within their com- Fewer, maybe, than the record 2.2 million in munities. 2004, but an awful lot of bereaved families Then there is the problem of mother-to- nonetheless. The vast majority of these deaths, child transmission, something that can easily be however, were in poor African countries. And prevented with antiretrovirals – if they are avail- there lies the rub. Thanks to the advent of highly able, that is. And in the poorer countries, they active antiretroviral treatment (HAART), the not always are. In 2008, for example, 430,000 pandemic is no longer the threat it once was – at babies in the developing world were infected least in the developed world, where HAART is with HIV while in utero, during delivery or readily available. Hence, apparently, the lack of through breast feeding. urgency in containing it elsewhere. Another major concern is the soaring num- This July, at the XVIII International AIDS ber of infections caused by injecting drug use, Conference in Vienna, the G8 nations were which in some regions accounts for as much as roundly chastised for this ambivalence, when 80 percent of all new cases. Dr. Julio Montaner, President of the Interna- Shocking as they are, these facts do not tell tional AIDS Society, condemned their failure to the whole story about the AIDS pandemic, live up to the “universal access” pledge they which has long evolved from being a simple pub- made in 2005. The pledge, part of the Millen- lic health issue. AIDS strikes at the very heart of nium Development Goals, had promised that society, at its productive backbone, at working HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and care men and women, mothers and fathers. It is a would be universally available by 2010. So far, viciously destructive disease that is no respecter though, HAART has been rolled out to barely of class, creed or culture. 2 OFID QUARTERLY OCTOBER 2010 COMMENT As early as the mid-1990s, OFID Universal access at least US$20 billion in new was expressing its concern about money to the Global Fund to Fight the enormous economic and so- to treatment AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. cial repercussions of AIDS. It The Global Fund’s replenish- started contributing to the global cannot be reached ment committee met on October 5 dialogue and offering financial without stronger in New York, where donors support to conferences and other pledged a total of US$11.7 billion forums. In 2001, OFID took steps political will towards the campaign for the pe- to consolidate its involvement by riod 2011-2013. While this is defi- creating a special grant account and a massive nitely a step in the right direction, with its own dedicated resources. injection of it falls well short of the amount Regular replenishments have fol- needed. Donors may have dug lowed, as the funds have been funding. deep, but not deep enough. quickly used up. Today, OFID is Such reluctance certainly proud to count itself a partner in wasn’t the case when it came to the broad coalition of stakeholders who are finding bailout cash at the height of the finan- working to stop the spread of the disease and cial crisis – a fact Julio Montaner pointed out win back some of the development gains lost during his opening address in Vienna. “Why over the past decade. are the coffers always empty when it comes to It is to the credit of those at the sharp end global health?” he asked, noting the €110 bil- of the fight against the pandemic that any lion that had “appeared from nowhere” to res- progress has been made in slowing its path. cue the Greek economy earlier this year. And we should not forget that there has indeed OFID shares Dr. Montaner’s frustration, been progress, albeit measured. The number of especially since his statement applies not just to people dying from AIDS has fallen steadily health, but to the wider issue of poverty in since 2006. The number of new infections has general. Strong, healthy populations are a pre- also stabilized, suggesting some degree of con- requisite of economic and social progress. What trol over its transmission. And HAART has better investment can there be in our common proved to be highly effective in eliminating ver- future? What mindset puts personal, institu- tical transmission of HIV. These achievements, tional or national wealth-building ahead of the however, are no reason for complacency. Uni- physical wellbeing of mankind? As Montaner versal access to prevention, treatment and care boldly put it: “It is a matter of priorities, and is still the goal. As is, ultimately, reversing the priorities have to change.” spread of HIV and paving the way for a new OFID could not agree more, which is why AIDS-free generation. we will continue to work with our partners to It is clear that none of these objectives can promote HIV prevention and testing and to be reached without stronger political will and a provide care, counseling, treatment and sup- massive injection of funding. Which is why, at port for those affected. This we shall do for as AIDS 2010, scientists, practitioners and activists long as it takes. Anything less is simply not issued a clarion call to world leaders to commit good enough. ࡯ OFID QUARTERLY OCTOBER 2010 3 SPECIAL FEATURE Containing the HIV/AIDS pandemic It is a disease that has infected some 33.4 million people worldwide and claimed 22 million lives. Around 7,400 new cases are reported every day, many of them in newborns. In its wake, it has left millions of children without parents and whole communities without an effective workforce. Here, the Quarterly tracks the impact of the HIV/AIDS pandemic and global efforts to contain it.

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