European Parliament Votes for HIV

posted: 09/07/2010

In the run up to the largest and most prestigious International AIDS Conference in Vienna (which begins later this month), HIV campaigners across Europe have won a big a vote in the European Parliament for a human rights based approach to HIV. There is now a list of 25 things that should happen next according to the European Parliament’s resolution.
The vote was 400 for and 166 against.
 

After a list of reasons, on page four the 25 actions that the European Parliament and its institutions should now take begins.  It's a shopping list of actions to do the best that is possible to deal with the HIV epidemic for people within Europe and the rest of the world. 

What they voted for

It calls for a human rights approach to dealing with HIV and lists a whole range of things to make this happen - such as decriminalising HIV transmission, and providing healthcare to all, because this is now part of the universal declaration of human rights.

Here is the full Resolution which has just been voted through
You can find the whole debate here – video and printed versions
 

Gay Euro-break Risks

posted: 23/12/2009

A study of HIV rates among gay men in some European cities shows much higher rates of HIV than in England. HIV transmission is a bigger risk for men taking popular foreign city-breaks, because men often let down their guard when on holiday, and it is often difficult to discuss sexual risks, unless you are fluent in other European languages.
 

The study used anonymous oral HIV tests and a simple questionnaire on the gay scene in Barcelona, Spain; Bratislava, Slovakia; Bucharest, Romania; Ljubljana, Slovenia; Prague, Czech Republic; and Verona, Italy – similar to a study on the gay scenes of Manchester, London and Brighton, a few years ago.

Manchester and Barcelona

In Manchester and the other English cities study we found 1 in 10 gay men had HIV (and around 3 out of 10 men with HIV did not yet know this). In this new European study Barcelona had a far higher rate of HIV – 17%, not far off twice the rate in the English cities. In Verona, Italy, the rate was 12%. However in Prague the rate was 3%. HIV rates were much higher in Southern Europe than in Eastern Europe.
 

Men reported different amounts of HIV risk taking in the European cities. 67% of men in Barcelona and by 36% of men in Prague reported using condoms with a casual partner. Men in Barcelona and Verona had the highest number of reported casual partners (a mean of 16 and 12 respectively), with lower numbers reported by men in Eastern Europe (a mean of 6 and 8 respectively).
 

NW gay men importing HIV

Looking at NW England’s HIV statistics, we know that Spain was where at least 52 people got HIV, followed by Portugal (20), France (13) and Germany (13), and Italy (12) and the Canaries (8).
 

Gay men in England need to take good care to neither export nor import HIV while enjoying themselves abroad.
 

Source

HIV bio-behavioural survey among men who have sex with men in Barcelona, Bratislava, Bucharest, Ljubljana, Prague and Verona, 2008-09. Eurosurveillance 48: 41, 2009.
 

EU Warns UK on Equality

posted: 14/12/2009

The government faces legal action by the European Commission for not doing enough to protect people from discrimination at work. This threatens the Equalities Bill now going through Parliament.
 

The European commission says parts of UK law, including provisions on sexual orientation and disability, are inadequate. They fail to properly implement several Equalities Directions signed unanimously by European countries way back in 2002. The EU could take the UK government to the European court of justice.
 

Sexuality : fail
The EU sent the government two official opinions last month, and these include a warning that the law that applies to faith-based organisations, schools and adoption agencies allows far too much discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation.
"This could be difficult for the government," said Robin Allen QC, head of Cloisters chambers. "The extent to which religious organisations are exempt from the rules of sexual orientation discrimination is a particularly difficult issue. The government will certainly resist any strengthening to the current law in an election year."
 

HIV Class Actions missed : fail
Other parts of UK law singled out by the EU's equal opportunities commissioner include the lack of a ban on "instructions to discriminate", where a person is discriminated against because of the actions of a third party, and the lack of clear provisions for class actions. Class actions are an important right, particularly for stigmatised groups like people with HIV, who are often very reluctant to make formal complaints. Organisations, like George House Trust, should be able to take class actions on behalf of a group of people to challenge illegal discrimination.
 

"The government has kept promising to address group claims and, as a matter of good practice, lawyers have been saying it should happen. But no one had picked up that failing to do so would breach the EC directive – this came as a total surprise," said Rachel Harfield, an employment law solicitor at Russell Jones & Walker.

UK only EU state to fail on equalities
Last month, the long-awaited equality bill was included in the Queen's speech for a second year and was presumed to be compliant with EU requirements. News of the warning from the commission means the UK is the only European country to have failed to implement two key EU directives on discrimination.
 

"This directive was agreed unanimously by all EU countries in 2002 but, to be effective, it needs to be fully and correctly transposed into national law," said Vladimir Spidla, EU commissioner for equal opportunities. "We call on the UK government to make the necessary changes to its gender equality legislation as soon as possible so as to fully comply with the EU rules."
 

Two months to answer
The government has two months to respond. The general election has to be held within the next six months and Parliament has to finish all business about a month before the election. A spokesman for the government's Equalities Office said: "We take our European legal obligations seriously. We will be studying the reasoned opinions carefully and will reply to the commission in the new year. The equality bill will be continuing its progress through parliament during the fifth session."
 

The criticism will embarrass the government. The bill, which replaces nine existing laws and more than 100 other measures, was intended to end this patchwork mess with a single law.
 

"One of the criticisms of the existing equality legislation is that there are too many pieces of legislation," said Harfield. "The equality bill is supposed to be a consolidation – the last thing the government would want is to introduce an equality bill as it stands, and then have to introduce new legislation further down the line. That would make a mockery of what the bill is supposed to do."
 

Multiple discriminations : Fail

Experts have welcomed many of the bill's provisions, but some see it as a "missed opportunity" for failing to develop the law on equal pay or to allow claims with more than two grounds. This is another issue that affects people with HIV. Many people with HIV tick several equality boxes and discrimination may be because of HIV (disability), sexuality, ethnicity, and gender. Often discrimination may be for more than one of these reasons, but to make a claim at present you can only pick one. That choice is a gamble and Europe says there is no need for this.
 

Allen said: "One of the biggest issues with the equality bill is the attempt to redraw the lines between gay people and evangelicals – there will be concerns that any further demands for changes could interfere with the legislative process."
 

Source

Prevention Priority in Europe

posted: 13/11/2009

Prevention looks set to be the major theme of the 12th European AIDS Conference, which officially opened in Cologne, Germany, on November 11th.

Launching the conference to the media, Prof. Francoise Barre-Sinoussi said that preventing HIV from establishing itself in individuals was now one of the priorities of basic research into the virus. And Prof. Jurgen Rockstroh of Bonn University highlighted that 50% of HIV infections are undiagnosed in Europe.

Reducing the amount of undiagnosed HIV and providing HIV treatment and care would improve health outcomes and help prevent new infections, he told the media.

Basic research: better drugs, better prevention

Over 4000 people are in Cologne to learn about recent developments in Europe’s HIV epidemic.

Current HIV treatment is highly effective and doctors are increasingly hopeful that patients in Europe have the chance to live a near-normal lifespan. Prof. Barre-Sinoussi said that one of the main objectives of basic research into HIV now was to find new targets for antiretroviral drugs, and even ways of eradicating HIV infection.

She suggested that research into so-called “elite controllers” – rare HIV-positive people who don’t get HIV symptoms of the infection and have a very low viral load – could improve both HIV treatment and help with prevention.

Undiagnosed HIV in Europe

The importance of testing and being diagnosed soon enough was clear during Prof. Rockstroh’s summary of the conference.

Approximately half of all HIV infections in Europe are undiagnosed, this figure increasing to 79% in some Eastern European countries.

More HIV testing is essential if we are to control the European HIV epidemic, said Prof. Rockstroh. However, laws criminalising HIV transmission and exposure, and the high levels of HIV stigma in some countries are serious obstacles discouraging people from testing.

Other key themes of the conference include:
HIV and aging
HIV worsens diseases of aging, such as heart, kidney and liver disease. HIV treatment can help reduce the risks, but only if you know your status.

Access to treatment
Around 80% of people in richer European countries are taking anti-HIV drugs, but only 5% in Eastern European countries where the epidemic is far worse. This Cologne conference is setting the scene for the International AIDS Conference in Vienna in 2010 which will focus on Eastern Europe.

Co-infections
A third of people with HIV in western Europe are co-infected with hepatitis C virus, but this rises to a frightening 70% in Eastern Europe where injecting drug use is fuelling HIV and hepatitis epidemics. There is an urgent need for new anti-hepatitis C therapies, but there has been little research into new drugs for people with co-infection. A special conference session will consider possible ways forward.

Providing the best possible care
New European HIV treatment guidelines will be launched at the conference. These will cover antiretroviral treatment, medical monitoring and the treatment of hepatitis co-infections.

EU - Cut New Infections

posted: 06/11/2009

The EU has just launched a Europe-wide strategy to cut the number of new HIV infections within the next 5 years, improve access to testing, prevention, treatment, care and support services, and to improve the quality of life of people living with HIV.
 

It concentrates on 3 key areas: HIV prevention and HIV testing, priority groups most at risk of HIV, and priority regions. The strategy is accompanied by an action plan that gives the actions, target groups and evaluation tools that can be used to measure progress.
 

EU Health Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou said
"We need to continue the political momentum in the fight against HIV/AIDS. We need to encourage people to take responsibility for themselves and their partners by talking about and practicing safe sex and going for HIV testing. However, this needs to go hand in hand with the respect for the human rights and non-discrimination of people living with HIV/AIDS.”

The job we face
The strategy calls on all key actors including national authorities and NGOs to work on:

• improving information for all, especially targeting young people
• informing migrants from countries with a high prevalence of HIV about preventing transmission, HIV testing and treatment options
• improving policies targeting, in particular, the populations most at risk, emphasising human rights, and addressing discrimination and stigma associated to HIV/AIDS

Priority Regions

HIV infections are particularly high in the neighbouring countries of the European Union. Sharing good practice on prevention, testing, treatment and care between countries is important. Working together will reduce new infections and improve the life of people living with HIV.
 

Most at Risk
The strategy makes the point that the biggest impact on the numbers of new infections happens when the needs of those most at risk are well met. The major at risk populations in Europe are men having sex with men (accounting for about 40% of all new infections in the EU), migrants from high prevalence areas, and injecting drug users, which together make up 70% of all new infections in EU neighbouring countries. Tailor-made approaches to reach these groups are essential towards containing the epidemic in Europe.
 

Early Testing and Treatment Saves Lives
Of particular concern is the high number of persons who are not aware of their infection. About 30% of people in the EU and up to 70% of people in several neighbouring countries do not know their HIV status. This presents a serious concern for policy makers. Late diagnosis usually leads to late treatment and hence to a reduced life expectancy, a lower quality of life and to an increased danger of transmitting the virus to partners.
 

Background
The European Commission is involved in the fight against HIV at European and Global levels. The first strategy on combating HIV in the EU, adopted in 2005, was the foundations for today’s updated strategy. There have already been some useful EU achievements

• a stronger political commitment,
• involvement of civil society at European level,
• the operational centralisation of HIV/AIDS surveillance by the European Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (ECDC),
• efforts to facilitate access to affordable antiretroviral medicines,
• funding of prevention projects and programmes,
• investments in research, and a
• close cooperation between partners.

More Information

EU Public Health and HIV gateway
EU HIV page

Press release