Further letter to the Chairman of the
Committee from Mr Gareth Thomas MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary
of State, Department for International Development
At the International Development Committee Hearing
on HIV and AIDS on 16 November, I said I would let the Committee
know what representations have been made to President Museveni.
I can confirm that senior DFID officers, including
Sir Suma Chakrabarti in January 2005, have met the President and
Ugandan Ministers to stress the importance of continuing strong
and consistent political leadership around a comprehensive strategy
for HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment. Specifically, we have helped
the Director General of the Ugandan AIDS Commission in briefing
the President. As a result of this, President Museveni cautioned
the Ugandan people not to become complacent to the continuing
threat that HIV poses.
At the National Health Assembly in 2005, health
development partners implored President Museveni and his Government
to do much more to reverse the spread of the disease and mitigate
against its impact. At the national launch to "Re-intensify
HIV Prevention" on 8 August, presided over by the Vice-President,
DFID made a statement (attached[5]*)
on behalf of AIDS Development Partners. The Vice-President reaffirmed
the Government's commitment to a comprehensive prevention strategy
that includes promotion of condoms.
I also said I would provide some statistics
on the success of specific DFID programmes. I am attaching these
with this letter.
December 2006
SPECIFIC
DFID COUNTRY PROGRAMMES
Whenever possible DFID works with national governments
and other donors to support country leadership to tackle HIV and
AIDS through the "three ones" (one national authority,
one strategy and one monitoring framework). A consequence of this
is that DFID is often one of a number of donors that jointly fund
developing countries' national HIV and AIDS programmes, and it
is therefore difficult to attribute a programme's success to DFID
alone. However, in the following examples, DFID has had a central
role in developing and implementing programmes that have made
important contributions to the AIDS response:
Malawi
DFID has committed £100 million to support
Malawi's health sector over a period of six years (2005-06 to
2010-11). Out of this, £45 million is allocated for an Essential
Health Package which includes the prevention and management of
HIV and AIDS, including HIV Testing and Counselling, access to
Anti-Retroviral Therapy and other related services.
DFID is the largest donor to Malawi's health
sector and has provided significant financial and technical support
to the Government of Malawi's response to the HIV and AIDS epidemic.
As a result:
— HIV infection levels have stabilised
at 12% and in some areas there has been a shallow decline;
— The number of people tested for HIV
more than doubled last year alone to 440,000;
— The number of people living with
HIV and AIDS started on ART increased from 4,000 (2003) to 70,000
in September 2006;
— Over 1,000 organisations have received
funds to implement the HIV and AIDS response, most at the community
level;
— Over 350,000 orphans received material
support in the form of food, clothes and uniforms. The National
AIDS Commission itself funded support to over 285,000. Over 200,000
Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVCs) received nutritional care,
36,000 received financial support and 64,000 received other forms
of care and support;
— By December 2005 there were 239 approved
HIV Testing and Counselling sites (compared to 11 in 2004);
— By May 2006 119 sites were offering
Prevention from Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT) out of a
potential 617 sites, which is still low but an improvement on
last year.
China
DFID China has supported the Government of China's
AIDS efforts since 2000. Initially DFID committed £20 million
to a Ministry of Health project in Yunan and Sichuan provinces
to pilot new prevention work with injecting drug users, sex workers
and men who have sex with men. This was the first project in China
to routinely and extensively develop locally appropriate interventions
for injecting drug users, sex workers, and men who have sex with
men. It introduced condom promotion, needle exchange and methadone
substitution, using participatory peer education processes. Achievements
included:
— 129,000 people were reached by interventions
in 83 counties by 2005;
— 4.2 million condoms distributed in
2003-05;
— 1.28 million disposable syringes
distributed and 1.14 million needles and syringes reclaimed;
— 57 community groups were established
to provide support to people living with HIV and AIDS.
Burma
DFID has committed £20 million over five
years to the multi-donor "Three Diseases Fund"; a major
proportion of this fund will be used to implement AIDS activities,
with particular attention paid to ensuring that resources are
directed to those marginalised and excluded groups most in need
of services.
The Fund has supported outreach programmes for
Commercial Sex Workers and their clients and the 100% Condom Use
Programme. Prevalence rates amongst pregnant women in ante-natal
clinics have declined from 1.4% in 2003 to 1.3% in 2005. The following
table demonstrates the impact of the funds programmes which are
largely attributed to for the fall in HIV prevalence.
| Core indicator | Apr 2004-
Mar 2005
| Apr 2005
-Mar 2006 |
| Number of condoms distributed | 32,867,486
| 42,616,027 |
| Number of clients to STI services | 178,391
| 209,839 |
| Number of STI clients at health care facilities diagnosed, treated and counselled
| 136,177 | 154,979 |
| Numbers of needles and syringes distributed to IDUs
| 43,389 | 156,009 |
| Number of people with advanced HIV infection receiving ARV therapy
| 734 | 2,953 |
| Number of health education sessions on HIV and AIDS conducted
| 41,468 | 57,697 |
Serbia and Montenegro
DFID is providing £1.5 million between 2003 and 2007
to the HIV Prevention among Vulnerable Populations Initiative
in Serbia and Montenegro. The programme has initiated, funded
and guided the implementation of a cohesive programme of 12 innovative
evidence-based HIV prevention demonstration projects targeting
vulnerable groups—injecting drug users, sex workers, men
who have sex with men, people living with HIV and AIDS, prisoners,
sailors, Roma, and internally displaced people in Serbia.
In the two-year implementation process, demonstration projects
have:
— Assisted 4,850 clients in total (70,000 contacts),
including 960 injecting drug users, 350 sex workers, 830 prisoners,
600 sailors, 2,270 Roma, 50 people living with HIV and AIDS etc.
— Targeted 1,200 clients in the field (outreach),
including 550 home visits to people living with HIV and AIDS and
injecting drug users.
— Included 350 clients in the methadone substitution
treatment.
— Provided 5,300 individual and 700 group counselling
and therapy sessions, targeting 8,200 clients.
— Referred 2,800 clients to health and other institutions
for further services.
— Organized 180 training events for professionals,
outreach workers and volunteers in how to provide targeted AIDS
services for vulnerable groups (2,800 participants).
— Distributed 27,000 syringes and 34,000 needles.
— Distributed 55,000 condoms.
— Disseminated 60,000 pieces of promotional material
and participated in more then 280 media related activities.
Caribbean
DFID is providing £1.7 million over five years to the
Caribbean Epidemiology Centre to support a multi-donor programme
to address sexually transmitted infections. An evaluation of the
programme showed the following achievements in 21 Caribbean Epidemiology
Centre (CAREC) member countries from 2001 to 2005:
— 4,681 CD4 tests conducted for eight countries
in 2005, up from 10 tests for two countries in 2001.
— 10 labs with CD4 technology in 2005, up from 0
in 2001.
— nine countries with care and treatment plans in
2005, up from 0 in 2001.
— Seven countries using BCC manual in 2005, up from
0 in 2001.
— 72 research projects completed and 37 partnerships
created or improved.
Cambodia
Effective collaboration between Cambodia's government, civil
society and development partners has helped reverse the trend
of the HIV epidemic among adults from 3% in 1997 to 1.9% in 2003.
Since mid-1995 DFID has provided support to a condom social-marketing
programme which has been crucial to improving availability and
access to condoms in urban and rural areas. DFID's commitment
is £7.1 million from 2001 to 2007. Since 2003 DFID has provided
technical and financial support to the national HIV/AIDS programme
and a recent external review shows that the DFID-supported programmes
have been very successful in helping to reduce vulnerability to
HIV and improving care and support to people living with HIV and
AIDS. DFID's total commitment to this programme is £15.6
million from 2003 to 2007.
Under the guidance and co-ordination of the National Centre
for HIV/AIDS Dermatology and STDs (NCHADS) and the Ministry of
Health, and with support from DFID and other development partners,
the ARV treatment programme has rapidly expanded as shown in the
following table:
| 2000-01 | 2003
| 2004 | 2005 | Jan-Sep 2006
|
Sites for Voluntary
Counselling and Testing (VCT)
| 12 | 51 | 74 |
109 | 143 |
| People receiving VCT | 10,447
| 41,060 | 59,184 | 152,147
(54% female)
| 98,756
(55% female) |
| Adults and children on Anti-Retroviral Treatment (ART)
| 74 | 2,230 | 5,974
| 12,355
(48% female) | 16,379 (as of
30 June 2006)
(49% female)
|
| Children on ART | — |
— | 452 | 1,071
| 1,493 (as of
30 June 2006) |
December 2006
|
| | | |
|
5
*Not printed. Back
|
