Location: Orel, Russia
Dates: September 1-4
Organizers: Fenix Plus, ITPC in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, SIMON+, AGORA
What: A four-day training “dealing with stock-outs” included an introduction to the Code of Health Consumers’ Rights (the European and Russian Federation law on human rights and consumer protection), the structure of legal authorities, and an overview of documented cases of stock-outs in Russia. Participants were provided with skill-building sessions on writing appeals, filing complains to prosecutors, writing press releases, advocacy and addressing individual experience on stock-outs through the media.
Why it was important: For the past four years, Russia has faced a shortage of ARV and MDR-TB drugs. AIDS centres across the country regularly run out of life-saving medicine. Patients do not negotiate with healthcare providers and doctors because of the belief that doctors are always right.
Voices: Many participants had faced at least one shortage of ARV medicine, but few had taken their cases to court. Facilitators translated judical jargon into simple language for activists.
Contact: Evgeny Pisemsky, executive director of Phoenix Plus
Email: orelaids@gmail.com
Location: Dominican Republic
Dates: July-August
Organizers: Clinica Esperanza y Caridad
What: Support for nutrition supplements in clinics for HIV-infected/affected families, HIV orphans and primary caregivers.
Why it was important: A lack of adequate nutrition among PLHIV is an obstacle to full compliance with, and benefit from, HAART. Local communities of PLHIV in the Dominican Republic identified the problem as crucial to their wellbeing.
Voices: The “compras” of staple food items delivered in reusable bags was greeted with a mixture of relief, disbelief, thankfulness and tears. Eight families received nutrition support. Five had more than 20 children among them, children who live with HIV. Clinic staff and support groups sent a letter to thank CTAG and ITPC for addressing this deficiency.
Contact: Patricia Figueroa Fernandez, Caribbean regional coordinator
Email: figueroapaty@yahoo.com
Location: Lalitpur, Nepal
What: Positive Voice received the Red Ribbon Award for recognition of pioneering care and support of people who use drugs and live with HIV. Positive Voice made a significant breakthrough in lobbying for access to, and scaling-up of, harm-reduction services, including methadone programs as an oral substitution therapy for IDUs together with antiretroviral treatment and services for management of opportunistic infections.
Acknowledgement: ITPC through the HIV Collaborative Fund provided technical and financial support ($5,000 USD in 2007 and 2009) for the programme “Advocacy and Lobbying for Integration of ART and OST in Nepal”. The grant served as a seed grant for Positive Voice to sponsor people who use drugs and are living with HIV. These people are enrolled in oral substitution therapy and anti-retroviral treatment to ensure sustainability of medication supply, which is a part of their overall advocacy strategy.
Contact: Tul Prasad Pun, executive director of Positive Voice
Email: positive_voice@mail.org
Location: St Petersburg, Russia
Geographical coverage: Eastern Europe and Central Asia
What: UNAIDS and UNDP proposed the Red Ribbon Award for the International Treatment Preparedness Coalition in Eastern Europe and Central Asia (ITPCru) for its activism. The network mobilizes and trains people living with HIV in Russia to advocate for their inclusion in local, regional and international decision-making mechanisms, and facilitates information exchange, distributing crucial information through its innovative web and media campaigns.
Acknowledgement: ITPCru is one of the first regions where ITPC/HIV Collaborative Fund is piloted. Since the first round of the grant-making programme in November 2003, $1.4 million has been distributed to 89 community-based organisations in 67 countries across the region.
Contact: Gregory Vergus, regional coordinator of ITPCru
Email: gregory.vergus@gmail.com
No comments:
Post a Comment