The Alliance calls for better access to HIV services for marginalised groups at UN high-level meeting.
30 June 2008
Representatives from the International HIV/AIDS Alliance in the UK, India and Ukraine, along with Alliance members from Mexico and Brazil met to voice collective concern about poor access to HIV services for marginalised groups at the United Nations High Level meeting on HIV in New York (10-11 June 2008).
As decision-makers reviewed the progress on the UN 2010 targets set for universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support, the Alliance highlighted that government legislation obstructing effective HIV prevention work results in greater vulnerability to HIV infection for marginalised populations and must be changed.
An event organised by the Alliance, “Marginalised Communities: Meeting 2010 Targets for Sex Workers and Drug Users” was co-chaired by Jacqueline Rocha Cortes, Brazil’s national AIDS and sexual health programme and Alliance trustee, and Malcolm McNeil from the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID).
Speakers included Elena Reynaga from RedTraSex, the Latin American sex worker network; Raminta Stuikyte from the European Harm Reduction Network; Paola Pavlenko from Alliance Ukraine and Sonal Mehta from Alliance India. Presentations were given on the major barriers to achieving Universal Access and recommendations made to address these.
The event highlighted that the stigma and discrimination that produces legal and policy barriers to prevention also result in great difficulty for HIV positive members of these communities accessing treatment, care and support services. Stigma and discrimination, especially in healthcare settings, remain significant political and programming challenges to achieving 2010 Universal Access targets.
The Alliance meeting, which attracted nearly 140 representatives from country delegations and civil society, showed that despite the commitment to Universal Access enshrined in the 2006 UN political declaration in many places there is little or no priority given to challenging conditions which prevent services reaching key populations, especially where stigma and discrimination play a major role.
“In many countries access to HIV and health services for gay men and other men who have sex with men, transgender populations’, sex workers, and drug users remains alarmingly low. Governments and health services in many parts of the world have systematically ignored these groups in their national HIV responses often because of stigma and discrimination. This is a violation of human rights – especially the right to health,” commented Mandeep Dhaliwal, head of policy at the Alliance secretariat.
The Alliance distributed its position paper which sets out recommendations for member states, the UN and civil society on how to significantly improve access for marginalised communities.
Read an article written by Mandeep Dhaliwal, head of policy at the Alliance secretariat, published in 180news on the issues facing marginalised groups.
