These exciting roles will be central to driving forward our efforts to ensure our leaders grab the chance we now have to begin the end of AIDS. Read on for more information, or follow this link for the full job descriptions and application form on the Consortium website.

Campaign and Advocacy Manager: We need a Campaign and Advocacy Manager to lead our coordinated efforts to begin the end of AIDS, replacing Diarmaid McDonald while he is on sabbatical for eight months. This is an ideal opportunity for someone to inject new energy and direction in our evolving campaign and advocacy work and demands someone ready to hit the ground running. This may be a chance for someone looking to take a secondment from their own organisation and get involved in sector-wide advocacy. This role blends high level advocacy and strategy with dynamic grassroots campaigning and will be a demanding but highly rewarding challenge.

Activism and Campaign Officer: At the same time, thanks to funding from the Open Society Foundation, we are delighted to be recruiting for a new position: Activism and Campaign Officer. This fixed-term contract will play a critical role in supporting the delivery of our campaign priorities, working under the direction of the Campaign and Advocacy Manager and closely with the Student Stop AIDS Campaign Coordinator. The Activism and Campaign Officer will be responsible for building up our campaign and network strength and depth – reaching new campaigners in new ways – and will lead on the delivery of aspects of our campaign work, helping to shape the future of the Stop AIDS Campaign.

Please consider applying or spreading the word to smart people you know!

Whilst confirmation of support for the Fund and an intention to increase the UK commitment was cautiously welcomed, campaigners criticised the UK position. DFID raised the prospect that the world may have to wait until 2013 before getting the long promised increase.

Stop AIDS Campaign Coordinator Diarmaid McDonald said:

“Since November, when a lack of donor funds caused the Global Fund to cancel all new programming until 2014, evidence of the impact the crisis will have on the lives of millions has been mounting. But the Secretary of State seemed to deny that this crisis posed a serious threat to life. A promised increase from the UK is good – but the time to make the increased pledge is now. This increase has been on the table for well over a year. The longer they delay the more people will die before they can be reached with life-saving services.”

Witnesses from NGOs working across the three diseases, including UK AIDS Consortium Chair Mike Podmore, outlined how the funding crisis at the Fund is putting lives at risk in places like Burma, Congo and Southern Sudan. They called on the UK to lead donors in topping up the Fund to allow it to recommence new programming scale up across AIDS, TB and Malaria as soon as possible.

Mike Podmore said:

“Perhaps the most graphic example is stopping any treatment scale-up for two years until 2014.  In the context of 1.8 million people dying of AIDS-related illness in 2010 and only 50% of people with access to ARVs, it is not a huge leap of understanding to see that this will have a huge impact.  For example, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where 1 million people are living with HIV, only 14% of those in need of treatment are being reached.  The DRC was going to apply for grants to scale up their treatment massively; they will now no longer be able to do that.”

Donors failed to deliver even the lowest of three funding targets at The Global Fund’s replenishment conference in 2010. Since then it has been hit by sensationalist press reports on corruption it uncovered in a small selection of its portfolio and knee-jerk reactions from donors to the problems. With new leadership in place the UK is chairing the board and overseeing reforms at the Fund.

The UK has brought forward payments to help the Global Fund deal with cash flow issues over the last year and a half, but their overall contribution has not been increased by the move. McDonald continued:

“The UK has brought money forward, but will presumably claw that back by reducing its future contributions. The Secretary of State has said that the UK will consider a doubling from 2013 onwards – but that will mean the UK is only going to be giving a third of the increase needed to take it to its fair share of the cost – the world needed a doubling in 2011 and 2012 too. The UK must give a doubling this year and lead others to do likewise. There can be no justification for delay when lives are at stake.”

JOHANNESBURG, 22 March – Today over 1,000 southern African activists from a coalition of organisations took to the streets of Johannesburg in a march to demand key international donors lead an urgent response to plug a US$2 billion treatment funding gap, so that countries across Africa can scale up their HIV, tuberculosis (TB) and malaria programmes and avert countless unnecessary deaths.

The campaigners lined up at the gates of their Horsham research facility and, faces painted a deathly white, dropped to the ground in a stunt designed to represent the potential loss of life across Africa and Asia if Novartis win the case.

Stop AIDS Campaign Coordinator, Diarmaid McDonald said,

“This case is about a cancer drug, but the result will have a much wider impact on health of poor people all around the world. India is the pharmacy of the developing world and this case attacks the laws which make this affordable generic drug production possible. They are trying to stop the supply of affordable life-saving medicines to the world’s poor – it’s tantamount to trying to legalise murder.”

Novartis sought a new patent for an old cancer drug, Glivec, by re-applying with a new ‘salt form’ formulation. This application was rejected because India’s ‘3d’ patent law protects against such efforts to extend patent life – known as ‘evergreening’ – unless there is clear evidence that the innovation will deliver improved health outcomes for patients. Novartis have appealed to the Indian Supreme Court in an effort to weaken this law.

If they win the change in the interpretation of the law that will result will make it easier for drug companies to get unjustifiable extensions to their monopolies, and make it more difficult for generic companies to produce and sell the affordable generic medicines health care providers across Africa and Asia rely on. Over 80% of people receiving HIV treatment in the developing world are receiving Indian produced drugs.

The protest was part of a wave of angry opposition to the Novartis court case across the world. Campaigners in India, USA, Switzerland have taken to the streets in recent days in advance of a potential hearing on the 28^th February. US activists occupied Novartis HQ on Thursday whilst the Novartis AGM was also targeted in Basel, Switzerland at the end of last week. Over 45,000 people have signed an Avaaz petition against the company’s actions and a huge Twitter push by Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) and others is adding to the pressure on the company to back down.

To a background of chants of ‘shame on you’ directed at those behind the gates at the plant, student campaigner, Fiona Robertson, from Brighton said:

“This is a blatant case of corporate greed. Novartis are putting the lives of millions at risk so they can boost their bottom line. It is a disgusting profit-driven attack on the health of the developing world. We demand Novartis drop the case now.”

The production of generic medicines is under attack on a number of fronts at the moment. The Novartis case follows closely from a global mobilisation against the EU-India Free Trade Agreement and the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) which also threaten global generic drug supplies.

Europe and India have been locked in negotiations on a new Free Trade Agreement (FTA) since 2007 and with talks reaching a climax, campaigners say the EC is stepping up its attempts to get India to accept restrictions on its right to produce affordable, generic versions of life-saving medicines which go way beyond what is required of India in international law and put millions of lives at risk.

Dressed as greedy EU bureaucrats, the demonstrators shut a ‘pharmacy for the developing world’, as people in HIV Positive t-shirts queued in vain for medicines. Others carried gravestones saying “Killed by EU Greed”. Stop AIDS Campaign Coordinator, Diarmaid McDonald said:

“Over 80% of people receiving HIV medicine in the developing world are taking Indian drugs. The EC is heeding the call of big pharma and using its wealth to force India into accepting terms in this agreement that would strangle the vital Indian supply of affordable medicines. This is an attack, driven by greed, on the health of the world’s most vulnerable people and it must stop.”

India’s generic medicines industry has become vital to the health of the world’s poor, with millions across Africa, Asia and South America relying on high quality, affordable Indian-produced medicines to survive – earning it the nickname ‘the pharmacy of the world’.

India has been able to do this by utilising legal flexibilities in international law on trade and intellectual property, but European negotiators are pushing for terms that would fatally undermine this. The EC are demanding a raft of conditions which would drive up the cost of generic production and stack the odds heavily against the generic drug companies.

An anticipated announcement of significant progress in the talks at a summit in New Delhion the 10^th February has sparked a wave of protest across Asia, Europe and Africa – the continent which could stand to lose most from an agreement.

Student Stop AIDS Campaign Coordinator, Lotti Rutter said:

“Europe must be stopped. We’ve seen these kinds of conditions imposed on other countries and the outcome has been higher prices, fewer drugs and poorer health. But withIndiait will not just be Indians who will suffer, but the people who rely on Indian medicines across Africa andAsia. We’re here today to demand that the EC back off; and we call on the UK government to make sure they do.

“We’ve been given assurances in the past that nothing in the agreement will harm public health, butEuropekeeps pushing for terms which have harmed public health in other countries. We simply don’t believe their past promises and demand that they categorically drop all demands that threaten public health including data exclusivity, the investment chapter and enforcement measures.”

Global Fund Villains – A Decade of Undermining a Global Cause from Auntie Retroviral on Vimeo.

After ten years of success now is not the time to stop investing its future – we have 200 days to save the lives of millions counting on the Fund.

The numbers commonly heard in global health often overwhelm and bamboozle. Pills and patients, dollars and deadlines, doctors and nurses, live and deaths are all counted in the thousands, millions and billions. But this week a more comprehendible milestone was reached when the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB & Malaria celebrated its tenth birthday.

In ten short years this overachieving youngster has transformed the health of whole countries and communities. It has moved with unparalleled energy and impact to bring essential AIDS, TB and Malaria services to people in desperate need right across the African, Asian and South American continents. And the reward for the effort expended by all involved in the Fund could hardly be greater – an extra 7.7 million people alive to celebrate this moment. Here’s the Fund’s take on the first ten years:

The impact on the global AIDS pandemic has been incredible. When the Fund opened its doors there were only a few hundred thousand accessing the essential ARV treatment needed to prevent people with HIV dying from AIDS. Over the last decade the Global Fund, along with the USA’s PEPFAR programme, has helped get more than 7 million onto treatment. These numbers are mind boggling, but the simple and stunning effect of giving life to a mother, father or child is easy to comprehend.

In the last year we have seen glorious new horizons come into view. The evidence that HIV treatment also virtually eliminates the risk of a person living with HIV transmitting the virus to their partner gives us a prevention weapon more powerful than most could have hoped for. Combined with new, smart thinking on how we best use our resources to support the right kind of interventions, we can now seriously aim for an end to AIDS. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have already set the US on that course.

But just as we’ve witnessed the most exciting breakthrough since the development of the first HIV medication, donors have slammed on the breaks. Following a replenishment in New York in 2010 which aimed for $20bn, needed a minimum of $13bn, but secured only $11.7bn, the Fund has been undermined by delayed payments from donors following media reports which misrepresented the scale of low level corruption the Fund itself had uncovered with its own systems.

Corruption – which takes funds away from lifesaving programmes – can never be tolerated and the reforms the Fund is undertaking to punish those involved and further strengthen its systems are vital. But the weak pledges made by donors and delayed payments have led to the cancellation of the Fund’s latest funding round for the first time in its history, freezing new programmes until 2014.

Campaign members, the International AIDS Alliance, have compiled a report which details how millions of lives are at risk as a result of this decision in just five of the countries looking to the Fund for support. No excuses are acceptable. This cannot be allowed to stand. The Stop AIDS Campaign has joined a global call for an emergency replenishment within the first 200 days of 2012 to allow countries to restart efforts to reach all of their people with lifesaving HIV prevention, treatment and care as soon as possible.

The UK government must lead the international effort to make this replenishment happen and make it a success. They must now deliver on their long held commitment to give more to the Fund by doubling their contribution and helping to ensure we can keep growing the response over the next ten years until our efforts match the scale of the challenge we face.

Energy, colour and a strong sense of joyful celebration were injected into the opening ceremony of ICASA 2011 thanks to the dramatic and musical dancing displays of our Ethiopian hosts.  Civil society, current and former heads of state, people living with HIV, NGOs, UN agencies and renowned scientists joined together in Millennium Hall to enjoy the energetic Ethiopian dancing and its unique focus on the seductive and frenzied gyration of the shoulders.  Yet, in the views of many conference participants, the vigor and urgency of this opening performance was sadly not reflected in the plenaries, sessions and satellites over the ensuing days.

Several Consortium members were represented at the 11^th International Conference on AIDS and STIs in Africa and had the opportunity to share good practice and knowledge with colleagues from all over Africa. Yet, when I enquired as to their overall impressions of the conference, many felt that key aspects of the current HIV/AIDS context were lacking. “Where is harm reduction?”, “where is palliative care?”, conference delegates asked. One woman with a disability said of the conference; “our non-inclusion in the whole process is reflected at a higher level as programmes are not adapted to suit the specific needs of people with disabilities.”  My personal rhetorical question was “where are the key populations?” Upon arriving in Addis, I picked up an English-language Ethiopian newspaper to read whilst experiencing my first taste of the famed local coffee. The front-page story focused on the ICASA conference, which it described as “about men who have sex with men”, and went on to state that 97% of Ethiopians believe that homosexuals should be “rejected by society”. This, coupled with derogatory comments about MSM made by fellow conference delegates, once again highlighted for me the need for an urgent focus on tackling discrimination against, and stigmatization of, key populations. Therefore, the lack of visibility of these groups at ICASA was highly regrettable and of strong concern.

A possible exception to the lack of inclusiveness and energy characterized by the conference was, in my view, the Community Village. This was a platform for NGOs and community-based projects to showcase their programmes, services and best practices, and was by far the most dynamic space within ICASA.  Every day, visitors to the village were treated to a packed schedule of dance and music performance highlighting arts and traditions from across Africa, as well as traditional coffee ceremonies, henna tattoos, chats with life-sized condoms, fashion shows of clothing designed and made by women living with HIV, the chance to participate in “graffiti walls” hosted by networks of young people affected by HIV and endless interactive workshops led by the various booths. People with disabilities were literally centre-stage giving artistic performances and dance and music interpretations, sexual minorities had the space to challenge discrimination and women living with HIV promoted dialogue for African action on their rights, dignity, leadership and safety. It truly was a space for sharing, learning, thinking and action.

The Community Village was my “home” for the week, as the Caregivers Action Network (CAN) had a booth within it. It was a pleasure to host this space along with our Care and Support Working Group Chairs and a network of African caregivers. We held workshops with caregivers, hospices, UNICEF, the World Bank, the World Food Programme and several other organisations working on care and support. The resounding message of the CAN booth was reflected in the question that one visitor asked: “Could someone tell me where the HIV response would be without communities and community caregivers? The funding may go, the policies may change, NGOs may leave but the communities will remain!”

The Community Village was also the location for a larger event on the Code of Good Practice for NGOs responding to HIV/AIDS, which I hosted in partnership with UNAIDS and the International AIDS Society. There was a consensus that the Code of Good Practice, in these times of reduced commitments from donors and engagement from governments, is more relevant than ever, and there was much enthusiasm from participants in supporting it to move forward. Yet there is much to do to reinvigorate the Code. Self-assessment checklists require updating, a global advisory group must be formed and we strongly need a robust communications strategy. We hope that our members will galvanise around these tasks and take this opportunity to showcase their expertise on an international level!

Finally, the last day of the conference arrived. In stark contrast to its opening, ICASA closed with a somber, silent march, reflecting the mood of disenchantment created by recent news of the Global Fund crisis. One hundred activists marched through the plenary during the Global Fund’s Deputy Director Debrework Zewdie’s speech carrying signs demanding that African governments and donors take ownership of the AIDS epidemic, and asking international donors, “where is the money?”. Like many other questions asked during the onslaught of this conference, this question as yet remains unanswered. Perhaps global leaders, governments and donors need a few shots of Ethiopian espresso.

Student Stop AIDS campaigners staged a snowy protest today outside Johnson & Johnson, maker of the famous ‘no more tears’ baby products, demanding to know whether their Christmas present to the world would include entering negotiations to join the Patent Pool, an initiative which will provide life-saving HIV medicines to the nine million people still waiting for treatment around the world.

Johnson & Johnson, who are likely to be making their decision on the Patent Pool soon, are one of the few pharmaceutical giants not yet in negotiations over joining. They make a number of vital HIV drugs most of which currently cost thousands of pounds a year in many developing countries, pricing them out of the reach of the poor people who need them.

Their decision is being eagerly anticipated by Student Stop AIDS Campaigners across theUKwho last week delivered a petition with 24,414 signatures from members of the public wanting them to join.  Campaigners say that a positive decision would be widely celebrated, but a refusal to negotiate would be met with increased pressure and new tactics.

Student Stop AIDS Campaign coordinator Lotti Rutter said, “Johnson & Johnson’s decision is being watched carefully by campaigners across the world. A negative decision would fly in the face of their public image as a family-friendly company. We hope they make the right choice, but a refusal to join talks to enter the Patent Pool would mean they are closing the door on an initiative which could help countless parents and babies access life-saving HIV drugs. If they say no, we definitely won’t be going away.”

The Patent Pool, which is supported by theUKand US governments, is an innovative approach to tackling the barriers to affordable HIV medicines, creating a one-stop-shop which would make it easier for generic manufacturers to produce affordable, effective drugs. Established by UNITAID in September 2010, it has already agreed licences with pharmaceutical giant,Gilead, and is currently in negotiations with five other pharmaceutical companies including GlaxoSmithKline to reach agreement on their participation.

Johnson & Johnson’s refusal so far to enter talks has particularly angered campaigners as the National Institutes of Health, theUSgovernment’s medical research arm, has already reached agreement with the Patent Pool for the rights they own on Darunavir – a promising new HIV drug that could be particularly useful for people living with HIV whose current medication is failing. Johnson & Johnson own the rest of the patent rights, so by turning their backs on the Patent Pool they are effectively blocking access to Darunavir for those who may die without it.

Rachel Edwards, a member of the Student Stop AIDS Campaign said, “One of the problems in the past has been companies making small, tokenistic efforts to ease access to treatment. The Medicines Patent Pool is a solution which aims to be industry-wide, matching the scale of the challenge. If J&J’s decision is negative we won’t stop campaigning – with so many millions waiting for HIV treatment we will keep pressuring J&J to join until they change their mind.”

Johnson and Johnson produces several HIV drugs and partly owns the rights to Darunavir, an expensive medicine which is not widely available. Generic access to the drug could help thousands of people living with HIV whose current medication is failing them. Student Stop AIDS Campaigners, have for the past year, been urging them to join the Medicine Patent pool, where companies hand over their patent rights and allow generic companies to make and sell their drugs at affordable prices.

Student Stop AIDS Campaign coordinator,Lotti Ruttersaid: “Johnson and Johnson refusing the join the patent pool conflicts with their public image and their child friendly “No More Tears” slogan. They are turning their backs on an initiative which could help millions of children and adults gain access to vital HIV treatment.”

Since launching the patent pool campaign in January the Student Stop AIDS Campaigners have already successfully encouraged several major pharmaceutical companies to join, including Viiv andGilead. Campaigners stepped up their pressure on Johnson and Johnson in March, with more than 100 people staging a “pool party” protest outside Johnson and Johnson offices and aroundLondon.

They also used social media to challenge the company to take action, using Facebook and Twitter to get the message across and urge the company to take action. As well as signing the action cards thousands of people went online to put their name to a petition to get Johnson and Johnson to join the patent pool.

Lotti said: “There has been so much support for the campaign; we just hope that this time Johnson and Johnson listen and join the Medicine Patent Pool.”

Johnson and Johnson are due to announce their decision on 19 December at a Medicine Patent Pool meeting.