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News from the AIDS 2006 Conference in Toronto

In 2006 a team from Ensuring Positive Futures journeyed to the 16th International HIV/AIDS conference. These were their daily news reports from the conference.

18th August - Final Day

Toronto AIDS Conference

Ukranians win Red Ribbon award

The conference brought together from people all over the world, for many the challenges are very difficult, particularly as poverty is at the root of many of their issues.  We were pleased to see one of the groups we have been working with, The All Ukrainian Network of people living with HIV/AIDS were awarded a Red Ribbon Award for their work lobbying public institutions to combat discrimination, secure treatment and organise support for people living with HIV.

The conference covers all related topics, from scientific papers to activism; we concentrated on the sessions relating to the workplace or stigma.  The responses from around the world are many and varied, making it hard to pick out highlights but there were some common themes on how to move forward.

Healthcare Workers

Health Care workers are extremely stretched in many parts of the world, as one nurse put it:

 "If I had wanted to work with dead bodies I would have become an undertaker, not a nurse". 

The profession has been hit, not just by the scale of the epidemic but also by HIV affecting many of their own.  It is essential more health care workers, particularly nurses ae trained with good knowledge of caring for people living with HIV.  These health care workers are essential for the successful implementation of treatment programmes in developing countries, but also our own health services in developed countries need more specific training on caring for patients living with HIV.

Bill, Bill and Melinda

Leadership plays an important part.  Bill Gates and Bill Clinton supported the conference, Bill Gates has pledged large amounts of money through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, but there are other areas where leadership is lacking.  One of these is business, we need more business leaders from around the world who can step forward and pledge support, not just for the international issues, but also to send a message to their own employees they will not accept any form of discrimination and will support anyone affected in the workplace.

Image of Bill Clinton

Youth

Youth at the conference exhibited enthusiasm, commitment and a real passion for their work.  The energy they brought to the sessions was infectious and each country needs to work to ensure we meet the target to double their presence at the next conference.

Empowerment

One of the strongest themes throughout the conference was the empowerment of women around the world to work together to provide support.  Also to provide specific campaigns to marginalised groups that are often most at risk, such as sex workers, intravenous drug users, Men who have sex with Men (MSM), Transgender populations, indigenous people and ethnic minorities.

Well, finally, exhausted, but enthused by the scale of action taking place around the world and the desire amongst everyone we met to work together and share good practice. 

We will all soon be back in the UK to look at how we can bring this to the work of the Ensuring Positive Futures partnership

17th August - Day 4

Hairdressers fight HIV with help from L'Oreal

Many people have discussed the difficulty of disclosing in the work place. An anonymous Mexican delegate living with HIV said:

"It is a type of lie, if they don't ask, I don't tell". 

A more positive note was sounded by Juan, also from Mexico

"I live like any other person, HIV does not stop or limit me, but on the contrary, it motivates me."

The Global Business Coalition which works with over 220 companies around the world, highlighted L'Oreal's workplace initiative as a great example of how to raise HIV awareness:

L'Oreal have trained 52,000 hairdressers on HIV and AIDS - why?   Well many women would tell you how they share many intimate conversations with their hairdressers.  Thanks to this initiative women can now confide their worries about HIV in their hairdressers.

At least this makes a change from "where are you going on holiday" and "are you going anywhere special tonight"! 

A good example of how a simple initiative can have a great impact on many lives.

Another great initiative from Global Business Coalition is from the US National Basket Ball Associations (NBA) who have combined teaching youth about HIV and AIDS whilst teaching them tricks and skills to help them enjoy the sport.

Ukraine seaport wins award

Reports from the Ukraine suggest around 1% of the population affected by the virus.  It is estimated the workforce could be reduced by 14% by 2014.  The Odessa sea port won 2nd place in the Global Business Coalition awards for their prevention programmes in the workplace.

Discrimination by healthcare workers

Stigma and Discrimination is a recurring theme at the conference, even in countries where we have full access to treatments and free medical care, stigma does not seem to go away. 

Some of the stories we are hearing here at the conference are heart breaking, but as we are trying to concentrate on work place issues, I will look at some of the stories on health care workers.  50 % of people living with HIV in the UK and 36% in the US have experienced discrimination from health care workers.  Surveys from countries around the world have shown how much worse this is in other countries.  

An Indian survey showed 45% of Doctors would avoid going near a patient with HIV and 10% had refused to care for someone living with HIV.  66% of healthcare workers in India have observed another member of staff refusing care or treatment.  This raises the question of whether providing free Anti-retroviral medications are enough if the healthcare professionals are not full trained in these areas.

This survey underlines the prejudice that caused a 15 year old boy, with an AIDS related illness to be tied to his bed and left to die in a hospital in India to prevent him having contact with other patients or healthcare workers.

HIV and workers in the Health Service

News from Toronto today is that new research has shown that far more Canadian health workers than previously thought have been infected by HIV. Hundreds of health care workers have lost time from work after contracting HIV on the job  - i.e. while working - according to a new study in Ontario.

"The main importance of this study is basically that there is a large underestimate of occupationally acquired HIV infection," said Dr. Gillian McCarthy, an professor of epidemiology at Western's School of Dentistry who spearheaded the research.

She speculated that workers are not reporting exposure to the virus because they fear how their licensing bodies will react if they later test positive themselves. But much of the exposure to HIV-containing blood that resulted in infection in the first place could have been prevented with good infection control, said  Dr. McCarthy.

Andy Harvey, EPF Trade Union Liaison Officer, commented,

"This study has huge implications for our own NHS and the tens of thousands of professionals who work in it. A British study should be undertaken as a matter of urgency to find out whether there is a similar situation here in the UK."

16th August - Day 3

Today the EPF team have been attending Conference sessions. Andy Harvey, EPF Trade Union Liaison Officer, participated in a Skills Building Workshop on Strategic Planning for projects and organisations learning how to be methodical and thorough in detailing work and setting outcomes and measurable indicators of success. Hopefully this workshop can be replicated for project managers back in the UK.

EPF team at Toronto AIDS conference

Also today, the EPF team is working with the ILO on their Workplace Advice Centre, giving out information and talking to delegates about all aspects of HIV in the Workplace. The team has worked closely with the ILO throughout the week, contributing to Skills Building workshops on tackling HIV at work as well as helping out on the ILO and UNAIDS stands.

15th August - Day 2

Tuesday saw former US President, Bill Clinton, address the main floor of the Conference. Not shying away from controversy, he waded into areas like male circumcision to combat the spread of HIV saying:

"If this saves lives, we have to get after it, regardless of how uncomfortable the issue might make men, or how it might offend religious sensibilities.”

 Clinton, as charismatic and engaging as ever, was star quality and his presence at the Conference, alongside the richest man in the world, Bill Gates, has give the week the sort of profile it needs. He is mindful that more money is necessary, but even more importantly it is essential that resources are put to best use:

 "Every single dollar wasted puts a life at risk", he commented.

HIV and International Transport

On the EPF front, the UKC hosted a meeting on HIV in the transport sector, with representatives of the ILO, ITF and TUC in attendance. Chaired by EPF Director, Andrew Little, the meeting gave participants the opportunity to share news and experiences of HIV in a key sector. Issues raised included medical questionnaires for airline staff and for seafarers on HIV and the likelihood of being sacked or refused employment if workers don’t agree to answer the questions.

It was agreed to work together more closely in the future.

Asif Altaf, the ITF HIV Co-ordinator said, "Whatever we do, let's do it together"

14th August - Day 1

The EPF team (Andrew Little, Christina Earl and Andy Harvey) have been meeting with other projects around the world who are doing great work in mobilising business to understand that HIV IS their Business.

HIV Awareness in Mexico:

A Mexican project CONAES has brought together over 30 corporations to update their policies to reflect the situation in Mexico.  CONAES provides technical assistance, including a software package that allows companies to follow a template to create their own tailored workplace policies.  This is available in English and Spanish and a trainer will go into the companies to train their staff on how to use it, and to raise HIV awareness.  Many of the larger organisations have international policies but had not considered created one for their Mexican staff.  The results have been very promising.

Organisations who have made this commitment include, JP Morgan, PepsiCo, Pfizer, Kraft, Xerox and IBM who also benefit from the opportunity to share good practice amongst HR departments.

Young People in the battle against HIV

It was great to attend a session on the importance of youth in the fight against HIV and AIDS. This year there are 1000 subsidised places, a 50% increase on previous years. 

The president of Mexico has pledged that at the next conference is to be held in Mexico in 2008. Subsidised places will increase to 2,000 to emphasise the importance of young people in preventing HIV, and challenging stigma.  Stories from youth around the world, including an 11 year old girl from Nigeria illustrated the difficulties encountered.