Thursday, May 31, 2007

More anti-HIV Efforts Urged for Migrant Workers


The spread of AIDS is threatening millions of migrant workers in Asia who lack sufficient access to health services, regional health workers and advocates for migrant laborers said.

"For a comprehensive approach to contain HIV/AIDS, the health of not only local populations but also migrant communities needs to be addressed," Caram Asia, a Malaysian-based coalition of groups from 15 countries that focus on migrant health issues, said in an open letter to Asian governments that was released late Monday.

There are now 53 million migrant workers in Asia who are vulnerable to HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, because of their relative lack of access to HIV-prevention programs, health counseling and medical tests, Caram Asia said.

In many cases, migrants found to be HIV-positive are deported without any help or immediate treatment, it added. It did not estimate how many migrant workers in Asia were HIV-positive.

Many migrant workers come from poor parts of Indonesia, the Philippines, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. They often find employment in more affluent Asian countries as maids and laborers.

According to recent UN statistics, about 8.6 million people in Asia are infected with HIV. About 500,000 people in the region die each year from AIDS, and financial losses from the disease are estimated at $10 billion annually.

However, investment in HIV prevention and care in Asia remains extremely low, officials have said. The number of people in Asia infected with HIV could more than double to 20 million in the next five years without a better government response and more funding, they said.

The Associated PressPublished: May 22, 2007\
http://www.iht. com/articles/ 2007/05/22/ africa/migrants. php

Photo courtesy of Z.Mosende, shot during the celebration of the International AIDS Candlelight Memorial in Manila on May 25, 2007.

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Women's Rights NGO calls on Candidates to Uphold Women's Rights

"Congressional and local electoral candidates when elected into government posts must uphold women's rights as protected by the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (Women's Convention)," says Atty. Clara Rita A. Padilla, Executive Director of EnGendeRights. She adds, "They must take their stand to protect women's access to the full range of contraceptive methods including emergency contraception, access to safe and legal abortion, sexuality education for adolescents, skills and education for women in prostitution, legalization of divorce, repeal of discriminatory Muslim Code provisions and lesbian rights."

These concerns except for lesbian rights were included in the United Nations Committee on Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) Concluding Comments during its 36th Session in August 2006. CEDAW monitors the implementation of the Women's Convention by the Philippine government.

"When elected into office they must provide access to the full range of contraceptive methods in an effort to prevent unintended pregnancy, abortion and maternal mortality and morbidity. They must take a stand in opposing bills restricting access to medically safe methods of contraception such as emergency contraceptive pills, Depo Provera, and IUDs," Atty. Padilla added.

"Congressional representatives should file bills that uphold women's rights including bills on Reproductive Health Care, Anti-Discrimination against Sexual Orientation; repeal of the penalty imposed on women who induce abortion and those assisting them as means to decrease maternal mortality and morbidity related to
complications from unsafe abortion; improvement of the implementation of the Policy on Prevention and Management of Abortion Complications; implementation of sexuality education in schools for adolescents; and legalization of divorce," says Atty.
Padilla.

In the House of Representatives, staunch supporters of reproductive health and rights in the past were Nereus Acosta (whose sister Malou Acosta is now running), Benjamin Agarao, Jr., Mayong Aguja (Akbayan), Darlene Antonino-Custodio, Agapito Aquino, Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel (Akbayan), Liza Largoza-Maza (Gabriela Women's Party), Renato Magtubo (Partido ng Manggagawa), Satur Ocampo (Bayan Muna), Gilbert Remulla, Loretta Ann Rosales (Akbayan), Rolex T. Suplico, Lorenzo R. Tañada III, and Ronaldo B. Zamora.

Atty. Padilla said, "Government officials should follow the lead of local government officials such as Governor Bellaflor Angara-Castillo of Aurora and Governor Glenn Prudenciano of Ifugao who have spearheaded the enactment of ordinances such as "The Aurora Reproductive Health Care Code of 2005" (Provincial Ordinance No. 125 (2005)) supporting increased reproductive health care services, including mandatory sexuality education, responsible parenthood counseling and "Reproductive Health and Responsible Parenthood Ordinance of Ifugao" (Ordinance 2006-33), respectively."

"We cannot have government officials who use their religious beliefs in governance. Clearly, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has wielded her influence in the Department of Health and the Population Commission in vigorously campaigning for the so-called "natural family planning" (NFP) method as a means of courting the religious right," said Atty. Padilla.

Atty. Padilla cautioned against several local officials who used their administrative powers to completely prohibit the delivery of modern methods of contraceptives and to promote natural family planning. She says, "In recent years, policies banning all "artificial" birth control methods, including condoms, pills, intra-uterine devices and sterilization, were introduced in Laguna, Manila City, and Puerto Princesa in 1995, 2000 and 2001 respectively. The policies introduced in Laguna and Puerto Princesa have since been overturned by subsequent local administrations, but the Manila City Policy still prevails."

In Makati, pregnant adolescents are denied access to free medical services through an erroneous assumption of Mayor Jejomar Binay that such policy will "discourage the incidence of teenage pregnancies." Atty. Padilla says, "This policy clearly discriminates against adolescents' right to access reproductive services and unnecessarily puts them at risk."

"Another glaring example is the continued conduct of congressional hearings in the 13th Congress on bills filed by blatantly religious party-list groups such as Buhay party-list that aim to prohibit safe and effective methods of contraception including IUDS and emergency contraceptive pills and even increase the penalty for women who induce abortion all stemming from their religious beliefs," Atty. Padilla continued.

Atty. Padilla says, "We also have the problem of continued arrests by police of abortion service providers and sellers of the medical abortion pill Cytotec. Television crews, who do not understand the issues of women relating to abortion and who are mainly concerned with raising their viewership for purposes of sensationalism, instigated these arrests."

"Such religious stances have no place in governance. These stances disregard women's realities where half of all pregnancies of Filipino women are unintended and about 200 Filipino women die from maternal-related causes out of every 100,000 live births," says Atty. Padilla citing the UNFPA 2006 State of the World Population report. Nine in 10 women who induce abortion are married or in a consensual union, more than half have at least 3 children, roughly two-thirds are poor and nearly 90% are Catholic; about 800 women die every year (or two women die every day) due to complications resulting from unsafe abortion; approximately 473,000 women had abortions and an estimated 79,000 women were hospitalized for complications due to unsafe abortion in 2000 (Singh S et al., Unintended Pregnancy and Induced Abortion in the Philippines: Causes and Consequences, New York: Guttmacher Institute, 2006, at 4). Such stances endanger women's lives and health violating women's basic right to life and health.

The constitutional provision protecting the life of woman and the unborn from conception allows access to information and services to contraception and even abortion. Chile and Peru have the same constitutional protection of the life of the woman and the unborn from conception and they allow access to emergency contraceptive pills. In Argentina and Belgium, emergency contraceptive pills are
available without prescription. Spain, upon whose old Penal Code the Philippine Revised Penal Code penalty imposed on the woman who induced abortion was adopted, allows abortion on grounds of rape and fetal impairment leaving the Philippines to contend with its colonial laws. Belgium, France and Italy allow abortion on demand. Colombia allows abortion on grounds of danger to life and health, rape and fetal malformation incompatible with life outside the uterus. Last April 24, Mexico City legalized abortion in the first trimester without restriction.

All the above-mentioned predominantly Catholic countries belie the claim that restricting access to contraception and even safe and legal abortion in the Philippines is a matter of practice of the Catholic religion. It is simply ignorance of medicine, science and law and clinging to our colonial past.

Catholic women around the world--including more than 60 percent of Catholic women in Trinidad, Tobago and Botswana, and 28 percent in the Philippines--have used contraceptive methods, showing that Catholic women exercise freedom of conscience.

It is the obligation of the Philippine government as cited in the recent CEDAW Concluding Comments on the Philippines to "strengthen measures aimed at the prevention of unwanted pregnancies, including by making a comprehensive range of contraceptives more widely available and without any restriction"; "give priority attention to the situation of adolescents and that it provide sex education,
targeted at girls and boys, with special attention to the prevention of early pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases."

CEDAW urged the Philippines "to consider the problem of unsafe abortion as a matter of high priority. The Committee recommends that the State party consider reviewing the laws relating to abortion with a view to removing punitive provisions imposed on women who undergo abortion and provide them with access to quality services for the management of complications arising from unsafe abortions and to reduce women's maternal mortality rates."

"Elected officials must realize that our very own Constitution states that, `Sovereignty resides in the people and all government authority emanates from them.' Elected officials must be reminded that they are mere representatives of the Filipino people and that their obligation is to the Filipino people and not to themselves," said Atty. Padilla.

"Elected officials must respect plurality in our society. They should allow access to information and health care services and give primary importance to a person's right to reproductive self-determination. Fundamentalist public officials who restrict access to information and health care services do not deserve any place in
governance," Atty. Padilla added.

TRIPS and HIV/AIDS

The battle between profits and saving human lives is a central issue in the global campaign against HIV infection and AIDS. Millions of people living with HIV/AIDS still have no access to anti-retroviral drugs (ARV), but pharmaceutical companies still look at ARVs as one of their cash cows.

The only silver lining in the debate is the fact that more and more governments are taking advantage of the TRIPS’ provision on compulsary licensing. Malaysia, facing a growing case of HIV/AIDS, became the first Asian nation to utilize this small window of opportunity in 2002. The move has significantly dropped the prices of ARV in the market. The monthly cost of branded ARVs per patient (d4T, ddI and nevirapine) dropped from $261 in 2001 to $197 in 2004. The imported generic ARV, on the other hand, costs $45. For generic combivir and efavirenz, the cost of the generic drug is $115, compared to branded drugs that cost $136. Currently, Malaysia is studying the possibility of granting a compulsary license to a local producer to manufacture
generic three-in-one combination ARV.

Patient support groups and other health advocates are also speaking louder against any effort to block the production of generic ARVs. In India, a litmus test to its revised Patents Act is the pending application for tenofovir filed by the US company Gilead Sciences.

The Delhi Network of Positive People and the Indian Network for People Living with HIV/AIDS filed its opposition against the application. They are supported by other organizations such as the Medecins Sans Frontiers. Cipla, a leading Indian generic company, is also set to formally file its opposition.

Tenofovir costs $5,718 per patient per year. Cipla, on the other hand, manufactures and sells the generic tenvir for $700.

Source: Health Alert Asia Pacific (www.hain.org)
References: international herald tribune, twnside.org