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.

Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, used his World AIDS Day message to champion the advances the UK has helped to deliver in the global effort to tackle HIV which mean we can now set our sights on bringing an end to AIDS. But the consequences of a cash crisis at the Global Fund are dominating activists’ thoughts on December 1st.

Following the announcement by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in November that an AIDS-free generation is now a US Government priority, the Deputy PM argued that recent developments – in May HIV treatment was proven to reduce the risk of transmission of the virus by 96% – mean we have, “never before been in this position where we have the potential to turn the tide of the epidemic.”

He urged reflection on the successes in the response and ambition for the future saying, “let’s set our sights on a world free finally of HIV.”

This optimism is borne of the latest science and a new UNAIDS paper which plots a course to a fading epidemic and steadily reducing costs by 2020 if we scale up our investment in effective interventions in the short term.

However, the jarring reality of developments at the Global Fund mean that fear is growing of a stalled AIDS response as lack of donor funds has forced the Fund to cancel all new programmes to tackle AIDS, TB and Malaria until 2014. The Global Fund is responsible for around half of all HIV interventions across the developing world and the decision will put thousands of lives at risk.

AIDS activists from around the world united on World AIDS Day behind a call to action demanding donors step up and provide the cash needed to allow the Fund to continue scaling up HIV prevention, treatment and care services around the world.

Setting the clock ticking on the 1^st of January, they are giving world leaders 200 days to save the Global Fund and the Millennium Development Goals on Health in time for the International AIDS Conference in Washington DC in July.

Stop AIDS Campaign coordinator Diarmaid McDonald urged the UK to show leadership,

“The government may not be the most culpable in this crisis, but now more than ever we need their strong global leadership to help resolve it. The UK needs a thriving Global Fund to deliver on its promises to tackle HIV, Malaria, TB and maternal and child health.

“Donors’ failure to deliver on their promises means that the Fund is having to slam on the breaks for two years, just when we should be accelerating towards the targets due in 2015. The UK led the world in securing a fantastic increase in funds for life-saving vaccines. We need that leadership again.”

Last week the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria was forced to take the unprecedented and potentially devastating decision to cancel all new programming until 2014 due to a severe lack of funds.

The move, caused by a disappointing total raised in a replenishment conference

Stop AIDS campaigners call on Minister O'Brien to increase the UK contribution to the pledge

last year combined with a failure by donors to pay what they promised, means it will fund no expansion in AIDS, TB or Malaria services for at least two and a half years placing millions of lives at risk. The global effort to achieve the Millennium Development Goals on health looks set to be severely undermined as a consequence.

Stop AIDS Campaign Chair, Mike Podmore said,

“The failure of donors to deliver on their promises means that rather than grasping the opportunity we now have to begin to bring an end to the AIDS epidemic, we’ll be seeing the response grind to a halt. Instead of accessing life-saving HIV treatment people will be added to waiting lists. Many of them will die before the new funding becomes available in 2014.”

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria – known as the Global Fund – was established in 2002 to address the growing crisis the three diseases were causing across the developing world and is now responsible for around half of the global response to HIV and AIDS, three-quarters of the efforts to tackle Malaria and over 80% of the response to TB. Its programmes have saved nearly 8 million lives.

This is the first time the Global Fund has been forced to cancel a funding round – which is the opportunity for developing countries to apply for resources to scale up their programming. An emergency reserve is being made available to ensure countries can maintain their current programmatic work, but there will be no expansion until donors replenish the Fund – currently scheduled for 2014.

The crisis is the result of insufficient commitments by donor countries – last year’s replenishment conference raised just over half [$11.7b] of what is needed [$20b] to scale up to reach all in need, and less than the minimum needed to maintain the Fund’s existing programming [$13b].

The poor total raised at the replenishment has been hugely exacerbated by donors failing to deliver on their pledges in due time. During 2001-2008 donors delivered more than 100% of the cash they promised the Fund. The conversion rate from pledges to payments dropped to 25% for the first nine months of 2011. The revelation that some of the Fund’s resources had been lost to corruption – less than 1% of the entire portfolio – led to some governments delaying their payments earlier this year.

In response, the Fund initiated a detailed review of risk management, the recommendations of which were fully accepted by the Fund’s board. A series of reforms in structure and operational procedures are now underway – known as the Consolidated Transformation Plan. In response, Germany, one donor that had withheld part of its contribution, has now released the full amount.

The UK government is one of the few donors to have paid up what they committed to deliver at the replenishment conference in October last year. However, a decision on a ‘significant increase’ in the UK contribution, as promised following the ‘very good value for money’ rating the institution received in the Multi-lateral Aid Review has not yet been announced. The government have said any increase is dependent on reforms at the Fund. Podmore continued,

“The UK government has committed to increase its contribution to the Fund once key reforms have been put in train. Following the approval of the Consolidated Transformation Plan we call on the government to do all it can to resolve the crisis at the Fund by leading renewed investment in this vital institution and putting sustained political effort into ensuring the countries who are not shouldering their share of the burden do so.

“The consequences of this crisis can barely be overstated. We need strong leadership now to save the lives that are at risk.”

In the UK in particular, there can be an attitude towards the pandemic as something that has been dealt with. Although amazing progress has been made in tackling the virus, 33.4 million people are currently living with the virus, 9,000 of who live in the UK. World AIDS Day is an opportunity to remind everybody that HIV/AIDS response is of utmost importance and put pressure on governments and pharmaceutical companies to commit to confront the pandemic.

On World AIDS Day many show their support by wearing the red ribbon, the first ever ribbon symbol. The red ribbon is a global sign of HIV/AIDS awareness and has been sported by many high profile celebrities such as George Michael. There is no official supplier of the red ribbon as it began as a grassroots movement but see below to find out how you can get yours.

Since the first World AIDS Day in 1988 every year has had a theme decided by the World AIDS Campaign, ‘Women and AIDS’ in 1990 for example. This year the theme is the UNAIDS vision of ‘Getting to Zero. Zero Discrimination, Zero New HIV Infections and Zero AIDS Related Deaths’.

The ‘Getting to Zero’ concept comes hand in hand with a new Investment Framework that UNAIDS have published which explains how, with direct strategic investment and a small rise in global funding, the HIV/AIDS pandemic can be wiped out from humanity.

This World AIDS Day, to support the Investment Framework the Stop AIDS Campaign is launching ‘A Call to Action’ that asks David Cameron to invest in the HIV/AIDS response and commit wholeheartedly to bringing the pandemic to an end.

Hilarious but sometimes heart-breaking, Lea, from Bedford, took us through the life she has led, as a woman, as a mother and as a person living with HIV. It was refreshing to have a speaker who was evidently naturally witty and was able to cast a positive light on HIV/AIDS and the incredible treatment that is available for the virus. When asked “How have you found approaching relationships since you received your HIV positive status?” she replied “To be honest, the men come to me.” Viktor, from Nigeria, explained how stigma and discrimination surrounding HIV/AIDS, especially for men who have sex with men and other vulnerable groups, can be devastating.

The event at SOAS was the last of the tour and after 4 and a half weeks of touring and events at 26 universities, it was impressive that Viktor and Lea managed to maintain such a high level of enthusiasm. The inspiration that they fed to many of us was channelled through an awesome campaign the next day. Student Stop AIDSers from across London met outside The Baby Show at Earls Court and collected an amazing 287 signed patent pool action cards from empathetic mothers and mothers to be.  These helped to make a grand total of 8034 collected throughout the National Speaker Tour which will put a lot of pressure on Johnson & Johnson to enter negotiations with the Patent Pool.