[e-med] Déclaration de Pan african Treatment Access Movement

["ALCS Marrakech" <alcsmarrakech@menara.ma>]

[La déclaration de PATAM est en fin de message, MD]

Chers Tous, 

Alors que nous nous battons tous pour un accès équitable aux traitements dans les pays en développement, le gouvernement des Etats-Unis sape tous les progrès réalisés au cours des dernières années en terme de prévention de l'infection à VIH.

PATAM (Pan african treatment access movement) a préparé une déclaration sur la prévention contre la politique des Etats-Unis qui font la promotion des seuls programmes d'abstinence comme moyen de lutte contre l'épidémie de VIH.

Nous invitons toutes les organisations à nous rejoindre et a ajouter leur signature à la déclaration.

Veuillez envoyer votre signature à : alcsmarrakech@menara.ma

Pour plus d'information, contacter :
Othman: o.mellouk@menara.ma 
Ou
Rolake: rolakenwagwu@yahoo.co.uk


ALCS Marrakech
alcsmarrakech@menara.ma


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Dear all, 
while we are all fighting for a fair access to treatment in developping countries, the US governement is undermining all the progress we made during the last decade in term of prevention. 
PATAM (Pan african treatment access movement) drafted a declaration on prevention against the US policy promoting abstinence-only programs. 
We invite all organizations to join us and add their signature to the declaration. 
Please send your signature to: alcsmarrakech@menara.ma 
For more information, please contact: 
Othman: o.mellouk@menara.ma 
or 
Rolake: rolakenwagwu@yahoo.co.uk 

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Under pressure from the American program 'PEPFAR' (President's Emergency
Plan For HIV/AIDS Relief), certain African countries have begun, little by
little, to adopt a strategy through which the message 'abstinence and
faithfulness' is advocated as the only way of preventing the HIV/AIDS
epidemic, to the detriment of the universal promotion of the condom which
remains to this day the most efficient means of protection against HIV
transmission.

This is the case, for example, in Uganda, considered up until now as a model
country in the fight against AIDS, where public AIDS programs now no longer
systematically promote and distribute condoms as part of their mass
prevention campaigns.

The responsibility of the American government and certain religious
organisations must be called into question, the Bush Administration having
over these past five years more than doubled the funds going to campaigns
presenting abstinence and faithfulness as the best protection against AIDS.
The American government will have already given 8 million dollars for this
type of campaign in Uganda, yet with an estimated need of between 120-150
million condoms, less than 30 million will have been made available this
year .

More recently, a call for proposals for USAID funding, launched October 5th
2005 in Mozambique, which aims to promote "abstinence, faithfulness, healthy
behaviour and new community standards", stipulates clearly that "projects
which include the distribution and/or the promotion of condoms, or ABC
programs cannot be considered" for funding.

Faced with this situation, we denounce the ideology which governs the
Washington program against AIDS (PEPFAR) and which is being imposed in our
countries.

Instead of contributing positively to the fight against AIDS in our
countries, this program will breed serious prejudices and will cause without
doubt a large number of infections which would otherwise have not taken
place. Infected people - considered as guilty of unhealthy behaviour - will
more than ever be discriminated against, and the use of the condom will
become a sign of immorality.

We reaffirm our commitment to promoting sex education, and to the use of
male and female condoms, being the only efficient way up to now of
preventing the transmission of the HIV virus.

We commit ourselves, in our respective countries, not to collaborate with
programs advocating abstinence and faithfulness as the only means of
prevention, whatever the aim or context of our interventions, and to
continue with our efforts to see the systematic promotion of the condom
within our communities.

Finally, we call upon donor countries and international agencies to
coordinate their support and to encourage our efforts, and demand that
partners in development not impose their ideology or their politics as a
condition of their partnership. National governments must be free to apply
the best strategies available to them in order to respond to the needs of
their populations.