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UU GLOBAL AIDS COALITION NEWSLETTER 3RD EDITION, SEPTEMBER, 2004
Welcome to readers from all over the United States and a few in other countries! Although the bulk of our readers are in the Portland Metro area, it is exciting to know that the UU Global AIDS Coalition (UUGAC) is beginning to reach out to other areas.
UUGAC is an action group based at the First Unitarian Church in Portland, Oregon. Our goal is to make a difference in the tragedy of the Global AIDS epidemic by education and outreach, political advocacy and direct service especially in Africa. This includes taking a leading role in reaching out to other UU congregations in the hope that they will also speak out as a liberal religious voice on global AIDS issues.
The intent of this newsletter is to connect with at least three groups:
· Our own church members who support our work but do not have time to attend meetings, giving them an easily accessible overview of what is happening in the world of global AIDS and information on where to look for additional information;
· Unitarians in other congregations to let them know what we are doing; and to support them in speaking out as a liberal religious voice on global AIDS issues, in outreach and education in their own community and in developing opportunities for hands on support of those impacted by the global AIDS pandemic.
· Others, including already committed AIDS activists, to let them know what we are doing and to offer our support in what they are doing.
We are particularly concerned that this newsletter be a useful tool and communication channel, so we have included lots of contact information, including the Contacts and Links section on the last page. But most importantly, the success of this newsletter depends on you, the reader. Please share what you are doing, your ideas and opinions. A letters to the editor section would be a most welcome addition, so please share !
In addition, please use the "Contacts and Links" section on the last page.
CONTENTS
· Meet the Portland Area Global AIDS Coalition
· World AIDS Day
· Updates from Portland
· Global AIDS: Bad News/Good News
· Debt Cancellation: a reality?
· Contacts and Links
PORTLAND AREA GLOBAL AIDS COALITION
One of the most exciting developments this Fall is the formation of the Portland Area Global AIDS Coalition ( PAGAC), a loose coalition of Portland area groups working on global AIDS issues. Note that "Portland Area" includes Vancouver Washington, home to one of our founding groups. At the UUGAC planning retreat we realized that the eight groups represented in the room had strong common interests and that by combining we could multiply our political advocacy impact, pool efforts to get the word out and most importantly support each others efforts. Thus PAGAC was born.
Current members are : UU Global AIDS Coalition, Africa AIDS Response, Watoto Wa Dunia, Ecumenical Ministries, Jubilee Oregon, Zimbabwe Artists Project, Portland chapter of RESULTS, Africa Bridge, Sabaki Village Sister School Project, For Global Progress, and EJAG ( Economic Justice Action Group of First Unitarian), but we hope and expect to add other groups. Our first project is to ensure that we take full advantage of the presence of Bono, the world famous rock star/AIDS activist in Portland. Bono will spearhead the Portland World Affairs Council International speaker series on October 20th. We hope that he will publicize local efforts in his address. We will also participate in tabling at the associated global Action Fair. Tickets are available from www.rosegarden.com, or you can call 503-224-4400.
PLAN NOW FOR WORLD AIDS DAY, DECEMBER 1ST!
World AIDS Day, December 1st, has emerged as the one day in the year when the media focuses on AIDS, both domestic and national. Here in Portland our partner Africa AIDS Response will celebrate World AIDS Day by presenting "Hope is Vital- Rhythms of Life" a benefit for AIDS prevention and care efforts in Mutare, Portland's Sister City in Zimbabwe. It will be an opportunity for all of us to meet and contribute to a great cause. If you live within traveling distance of Portland, join us for an evening of music by Maya Soleil and MarchFourth. (If you can't attend in person, consider donating tickets to allow low income HIV patients to attend. )
Purchase tickets online at http://www.ticketmaster.com/artist/937429
To donate tickets, contact Maria Kosmetatos at kosmetat@att.net or Mary Schutten at mschutten@nologos.org.
And if you live elsewhere, consider putting on your own event. Amelia Rose of the UUA Advocacy Office, Jenny Eaton, Faith Outreach Coordinator for the ONE Campaign and Teresita Heizer of the Seattle office of the ONE Campaign all offer ideas and resources for worship services, community educational events and fund raisers. Try it! Little beginnings lead to great results. Let us know how it goes and we will share your success!
Contact information:
Amelia Rose: arose@uua.org
Jenny Eaton: jenny@data.org or 615-243-6879
Teresita Heizer: toteresita@data.org
REPORTS FROM ZIMBABWE AND KENYA
Each summer activists from Portland travel to Africa to meet the people we are trying to help on their home ground. Here are two reports:
DICK ADAMS of Zimbabwe Artists Project has been working in Zimbabwe for 10 years. ZAP provides a market for wonderful art work produced by artists in the rural area of Weya. But besides the economic benefit, Dick is interested in the social connection between the people of Portland and the people of Weya.
Unfortunately in recent years he has had to watch the growing impact of AIDS and to absorb the pain of artists dying and leaving children parentless. But there is a positive side. Largely as a result of our advocacy and financial support , Dick has been instrumental in initiating a needs assessment in Weya, carried out by a well respected NGO. The villagers are now involved in making plans for those impacted by AIDS. Our role will be to support ZAP in funding workshops - one for village leaders to plan local coordination and one for youth to learn about AIDS prevention. In addition we are proud that we will be helping fund fees, clothing and supplies for 100 of the estimated 160 orphans in the area.
MARLENE ANDERSON,a counselor with Lake Oswego, Oregon, schools has developed a relation with the village of Subaki in Kenya. She visits each year and carries educational materials from Lake Oswego as well as teaching AIDS prevention classes for the villagers. At a coffee hour in the Fall UUGAC will be hosting her popular sale of African jewelry to help raise funds for supplies.
GLOBAL AIDS 2004: BAD NEWS/GOOD NEWS
Lets start with the bad news. It is almost impossible to imagine the spread of the pandemic. Although there were news reports in the summer that numbers had been overestimated in some African countries and would be lowered with development of more accurate estimation methods, the statistics are nonetheless grim:
· India is about to surpass South Africa as the country with the most HIV cases. According to Richard Feachem, the executive director of the Global Fund for AIDS, TB and Malaria, India has 5.1 million reported cases and South Africa has 5.6, however Feachem says that many in India are of their status or have not reported it.
· 15 million children worldwide have lost one or both parents to AIDS related causes, including 12 million in sub Saharan Africa. This includes 15% of all children in 5 African countries.
· Life expectancy in 7 African countries is below 40
· 5 million new infections were reported worldwide last year; 38 million people are now living with HIV; last year there were 3 million deaths.· Women and girls tend to be disproportionately infected. An extreme example is the " mind boggling" study from Botswana quoted by Stephen Lewis, UN Special Envoy for AIDS in Africa, at a recent address. The study compared HIV prevalence between male and female by age group. For 15 - 19, 15.4 % of women and girls are infected , 1.2% of boys and men. For 20-24 the percentages are 29.7% and 8.4% and for 25-29 percentages are 54.1% and 29.7%.
Besides the statistics, are we seeing impact from international efforts to bring help? Again according to Lewis, " On the ground, very little is changing. Everything takes so excruciatingly long. ..We must find a way to bring this nightmare to an end."
Here in the United States there are concerns that government policies get in the way of effective action. We continue to channel funds to US pharmaceutical companies, we refuse to approve cheap generic drugs which could treat and save lives, instead requiring US funded projects to use the much more expensive US brand name drugs. We set up parallel funding organizations rather than channel funds through the UN initiated Global Fund for AIDS, TB and Malaria. We refuse to fund agencies that provide birth control and abortion services as any part of their programs, even although these services are the only way to reach infected women.
And a host of cultural factors inhibit affected populations from being tested and treated. Denial and stigma are huge issues in many countries. For example, in Nigeria an activist claims that 90% of Nigerians have heard of AIDS,
but 80% refuse to believe it exists.
AND NOW THE GOOD NEWS!
REDUCING THE TOLL OF THE EPIDEMIC. Some countries have had remarkable success in reducing the infection rate and especially transmission to newborns. UGANDA was the first country to reduce the rate of infection. Using the now well know "A-B-C" message ( Abstinence first, then Be Faithful, third use Condoms) they achieved a dramatic reduction in their infection rate while other countries saw big increases. But most experts say that the success was only possible because the message was pushed by Ugandan leaders at all levels from the prime minister down to local teachers and religious leaders.
BRAZIL has taken the lead in successful intervention. They have formed a strong partnership between government and civil society, and have a successful program to manufacture and distribute generic versions of antiretroviral drugs.
THAILAND has taken aggressive steps and is the model for fighting the disease in Asia. They promote condom use, including 100% per cent condom use in brothels, and offer pregnant women access to drugs.
CUBA has virtually eliminated HIV transmission from mothers to infants, they provide guaranteed access to free medical care and have sent trained medical staff all over the world.
HELP FOR ORPHANS. Increasing international concern about the humanitarian issues resulting from numbers of children left without parents and particularly without access to education has led to a variety of attempts at intervention. Here in Oregon we are proud that S2611, the senate version of the Orphans bill passed by the US House, was co- sponsored by Republican Senator Gordon Smith. ( See below for local efforts to help orphans in Zimbabwe.)
REDUCING TREATMENT COSTS. In spite of the difficulty of connecting individual patients with treatment (only 2% of those infected actually receive ARV therapy) by one measure ARV costs have dropped by 98% over the past several years.
THE ROLE OF INDIVIDUAL ADVOCACY.
To mention only some of the best known, BILL and MELINDA GATES have funded a host of programs to bring prevention and treatment to countries all over the world; BILL CLINTON has brokered deals to make low cost drugs available; rock star/AIDS activist BONO has continued his key role in persuading political leaders of the need for the West to act; OPRAH WINFREY has publicized the plight of orphans and provided direct aid. ZACKIE ACHMAT of Treatment Action in South Africa has had an essential role in persuading the South African Government to provide ARV therapy to those infected.
But perhaps more important is the effect of individual activists all over the world. Their efforts led to the Bush initiative, to the Orphan Bill, to debt reduction and many other advances. And here in Portland we have people and groups bringing direct support to the people of Zimbabwe, Kenya, Tanzania and South Africa. The women of Mutare, our Sister City in Zimbabwe, first decided that HIV stands for " Hope is Vital" We are the ones who have the ability to bring hope where there is now despair.
DEBT REDUCTION/CANCELATION
Most global AIDS advocates also participate in debt reduction efforts.Reducing, or better eliminating, debt has a huge potential impact on the ability of impoverished countries to address the needs of those devastated by the AIDS epidemic. According to one advocate, 240,000 lives could be saved EACH MONTH if debt service payments were applied to health services This is so important that the publication of this newsletter has been delayed into October so that we could report decisions made by the financial ministers of the world's wealthiest nations when the G7 group met in Washington on October 1st.
Unfortunately the G7 meeting ended without a plan for debt cancellation. However according to official reports, the financial ministers "insist" that they are "moving closer to a deal." And according to the Washington Post " There is a growing consensus that the next step is to (give poorer countries) up to 100% debt relief." Secretary of the Treasury John Snow has said " We're prepared to go to debt forgiveness of up to100%." Advocate groups think that 100% debt relief is now inevitable.
For more details on the political issues involved and how we can help, go to the websites listed below for advocacy groups such as Jubilee, Global AIDS Alliance and RESULTS that have contributed so much in this area.
CONTACTS AND LINKS
HELP US GROW!
Check out our website at www.uuglobalaidscoalition.org
We encourage both individuals and congregations to join our coalition. Any individual can sign up to receive the newsletter, but we are especially looking for people who will agree to be the UUGAC contact for their congregation. Besides letting us know that you are out there, we hope that contacts will
· Distribute the newsletter and brochures and perhaps maintain a list of local sign ups.
· Share news of what is happening in their congregation and community.
To receive the newsletter:
Answer this e-mail newsletter, or send an e-mail to apickar@cs.com, with UUGAC newsletter in the title line, and if you are willing to be a contact for your congregation also send your address and size and we will send you a T-shirt with our logo and motto. ( Also let us know the name and address of your congregation and a few details about size and interests.)
Please note: this is not a membership organization and no costs or solicitations are involved, we simply want to spread the word!
USE THE RESOURCES OF THE UUA ADVOCACY OFFICE
The UUA Advocacy Office in Washington does a wonderful job of tracking global AIDS issues and developing resources for congregations. You can sign up for advocacy alerts, find help on their web site, or get personal support from Amelia Rose.
To sign up for UUA Advocacy alerts: http://www.uua.org/uuawo/new/
To contact Amelia: write to arose@uua.org
TO SEND A CONTRIBUTION FOR THE NEWSLETTER
This newsletter comes out 3 times a year, in January, April and September. The deadline for contributions for the January issue is approximately January 10th.
E-mail Ann Pickar at apickar@cs.com with NL contribution in the title line with contributions or suggestions.
OTHER LINKS
Global AIDS Alliance: www.stopglobalaids.org and www.globalaidsalliance.org
Kaiser network daily reports: www.kaisernetwork.org
Physicians for Human Rights: www.phrusa.org
DATA and the ONE Campaign: www.DATA.org
Jubilee: www.jubileeusa.org
Africa AIDS Response: www.aarpdx.org
Zimbabwe Artists Project: contact Dick Adams at dick_adams30@hotmail.com
RESULTS: www.results.org
UNAIDS: www.unaids.org
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