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The International Organisation of Employers participated in the UN’s Fifteenth International AIDS Conference, July 11-16 in Bangkok. IOE Secretary General Antonio Peñalosa spoke at a session on the importance of leadership in the fight against HIV/AIDS, aimed at bringing global attention to the role and contribution of leaders from all sectors.
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AIDS education in Vietnam
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Mr. Peñalosa said no one group could win the war against AIDS and that collaborative efforts, both nationally and internationally, are critical to an effective response. He cited the IOE’s joint program with the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions to fight against HIV/AIDS in the workplace. This effort has spurred employers in many developing countries to take up the fight against the pandemic, which represents a threat to their companies and national economies.
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However, efforts at the national level must be fully integrated within the national strategy on HIV/AIDS, Mr. Peñalosa cautioned. Companies cannot be expected to replace government efforts.
Attended by some 20,000 delegates, the conference was aimed at setting the global agenda in the war against HIV/AIDS for the next two years. It helped draw much-needed attention to the continued spread of the disease, especially in Asia. Many participants said that, if nothing is done to stop the spread of the pandemic, its scale in the continent could surpass what has been seen in Africa. Although infection rates are still small in comparison, Asia has the two most populous lands – China and India – so even a small increase in infections could spread rapidly.
Access to drugs was a major theme as well. While the prices of anti-retroviral drugs have been significantly reduced (up to 90 percent in some countries) major pharmaceutical companies continue to be portrayed by many as villains. This is due in part to the fact that the conference has evolved over the years from a gathering of HIV/AIDS researchers and scientists to one driven by community groups and activists.
The sixteenth HIV/AIDS conference will take place in Toronto in 2006.
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UN Global Fund Partnership Forum – As part of the Bangkok conference, the UN’s Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria held its first biennial partnership forum, at which IOE participated. The main objective was to review progress, discuss and debate current issues and make recommendations for action to the Global Fund’s board.
The Global Fund was created in 2002 as a public-private partnership to attract and disburse resources to combat AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. IOE has been seeking to ensure that its members in recipient countries are able to get financial backing for their HIV/AIDS activities.
During June’s International Labor Conference, Richard Feachem, the fund’s executive director, spoke to employers on the need to work closely with its country coordinating mechanisms, which produce grant proposals and oversee implementation of programs.
The key recommendations of the Partnership Forum were to ensure that there is a new call for grant proposals to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria in early 2005, and to increase participation by stakeholders – including employers – in recipient countries in program design and implementation.
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