AIDS ACTIVISTS TO PROTEST IN PORT-AU-PRINCE OVER ACCESS TO MEDICATIONS, LACK
OF RELIEF COORDINATION
Demo targets Global Fund, U.N. and U.S.
Source
What: Demonstration to gain access to AIDS medications and force the U.N. and
U.S. to adopt a relief plan for Haitians living with AIDS
Who: More than 70 activists from the Haitian grassroots AIDS coalition PHAP+
Where: The Global Fund’s Country Coordinating Mechanism Office, Delmas 83,
Port-Au-Prince
When: Wednesday, March 24, 2010 at 11 AM
More than 70 AIDS activists affiliated with the grassroots Haitian AIDS
coalition Plateforme Haitienne Des Associations de PVVIH (PHAP+) plan to hold a
noisy demonstration at a meeting of organizations in charge of coordinating
relief efforts that focus on Haitians living with HIV AIDS in Port-au-Prince on
Wednesday, March 24 at 11 AM.
The protest is targeting the major players at the weekly AIDS relief “cluster”
meetings: The United Nations, USAID and The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB, and
Malaria. Protestors plan to wave signs reading “Too Much Money is Being Wasted
On Beautiful Cars”; “Give Us the Medications!”; and “We Are Tired of Waiting!”
Protestors have two demands.
Demand One: UNAIDS, the Global Fund and PEPFAR/USAID must formulate and adopt a
disaster relief plan for Haitians living with HIV/AIDS. “The United Nations and
USAID have been promising a real plan to provide desperately needed medical care
to people with HIV since the relief efforts began. We can no longer tolerate
their inaction. We must tell the world what is going on,” said Esther Boucicault.
Boucicault is Haiti’s best-known AIDS activist, president of PHAP+, and founder
of the AIDS organization Fondation Esther Boucicault Stanislas.
Demand Two: Give grassroots groups access to antiretroviral medications. The
Global Fund maintains a large supply of antiretrovirals in a warehouse in
Port-au-Prince, but has severely restricted access to grassroots AIDS groups.
PHAP+ has established two HIV clinics since the earthquake, one in
Port-au-Prince and one in St.-Marc, but has been unable to obtain cooperation
from The Global Fund in order to provide antiretrovirals. PHAP+ is providing
support for a third clinic, the Centre Medico-social de Port-au-Prince, that
serves Haitian families and been unable to obtain antiretrovirals for that
clinic, as well.
There are 120,000 Haitians living with HIV/AIDS. The vast majority live in the
three departments hit hardest by the earthquake. According to a February 2010
report from UNAIDS:
The majority of AIDS treatment facilities and clinics in Port-au- Prince, Jacmel,
Leogane and Petit Goâve have been destroyed.
Fewer than 40% of Haitians who were receiving AIDS-related care before the quake
receive it now.
More than 1 million Haitians are living in tent cities. (Without immediate HIV
prevention efforts, sexual violence and exploitation in the camps will increase
HIV infections.)
Since 1995, Haiti has reduced its HIV prevalence rate from 6% to 2%. (The
country’s lack of stable housing and food—integral to AIDS treatment and
care—threatens to reverse that progress).
Since the January 12 earthquake, Housing Works has been collaborating with PHAP+,
along with other New York City-based organizations to support three clinics in
Haiti. For complete information on these clinics, go to www.housingworks.org/haiti.
ABOUT PHAP+
Plateforme Haitienne des Associations de PVVIH is a national association of
Haitian AIDS groups led by people living with HIV/AIDS. Members include SéroVie;
REHPIVIIH; Greater Involvement of People with AIDS—GIPA; and Fondation Esther
Boucicault Stanislas.
ABOUT HOUSING WORKS
Housing Works is the U.S.‘s largest community-based AIDS organization and the
nation’s largest minority-controlled AIDS organization. Since 1990, Housing
Works has provided a comprehensive array of lifesaving services, such as
housing, medical and dental care, meals, case management, counseling and job
training, to more than 20,000 homeless or low-income New Yorkers living with
HIV/AIDS. For more information, visit www.HousingWorks.org.
Categorized in: Press Releases
Posted by David Thorpe, March 23, 2010 at 3:32pm |
Housing
Works, March 25, 2010