CNS

Are we delivering new HIV prevention tools with speed, scale and equity?

[watch the video] Imagine failing 1.3 million times in a year: Failure to ensure that everyone has access to prevention options to protect oneself from HIV acquisition, has resulted in at least 1.3 million new HIV infections in 2023. The pace of progress towards ending AIDS is out of step if we are to end AIDS by 2030.

[video] New HIV prevention technologies must be accessible to people: Jim Pickett at #HIVR4P

Choices for women and girls for HIV prevention: So near and yet so far

Longstanding gender inequalities, discrimination and poverty deny many women and girls bodily and economic autonomy - which deprives them of control over their sexual health, and increase the risk of preventable infections like HIV. Women and girls are still disproportionately affected with HIV.

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Join us on 15th October 2024, in a special session of End TB Dialogues on the theme: At least a century of inequities and injustices plaguing the TB response.

Global meet comes to Asia Pacific – home to largest TB burden worldwide

(written by Rita Widiadana and published in Asia Sentinel)

Indonesia is gearing up to welcome thousands of delegates to the largest lung health gathering, the Union World Conference of Lung Health 2024, in Nusa Dua, Bali from Nov 12 through Nov 16 this year.

The reality is a mix of YES and NO. While the facts and figures shared in the latest report by UNAIDS reveal that as a world we are NOT already on the path, they do show that we CAN be there if world leaders take bold actions ensuring that the HIV response has the resources it needs and that the human rights of everyone are protected.

Alas! it is not for 45% of women who are not empowered to make choices over their healthcare and contraception needs and choices. Nearly half of the women in 57 developing countries are denied the right to decide whether to have sex with their partners, use contraception or seek healthcare, according to UNFPA’s State of World Population Report. This lack of bodily autonomy- the right to make free and informed decisions about one’s own body, without coercion or violence- has serious implications for the health and wellbeing of women and girls.

Sexual Health with Equity (SHE) and Rights initiative (or SHE & Rights initiative) is launched to increase media understanding and engagement around sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) particularly abortion care with the lens of equity and right to health.

Co-hosted by Asia Pacific Media Alliance for Health and Development (APCAT Media), Asian-Pacific Resource & Research Centre for Women (ARROW), International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), Women's Global Network for Reproductive Rights (WGNRR), and CNS, this initiative will engage media around SRHR during September 2024 to March 2025.

Recently, over 500 feminist leaders from 38 countries across Asia and the Pacific region gathered in Chiang Mai, Thailand at the 4th Asia Pacific Feminist Forum (APFF 2024) to deliberate upon their collective journeys for building a world that is free of patriarchy, corporate capitalism, imperialism and colonialism, militarism and religious fundamentalism.

Published in IDN Bangladesh: 18 September 2024

Bangladesh has taken strong positions to prevent antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in the past. We urge the new leadership in Bangladesh to take stronger positions at the upcoming UN meeting of world leaders on 26th September 2024 on AMR and advance more concrete actions on the ground against AMR – one of the top-10 global health threats today.

This podcast features Nurgul Dzhanaeva, President of the Forum of Women's NGOs of Kyrgyzstan, who has worked on SDG-related issues at the local, national, regional and global levels. From 2016-2019, she was instrumental in initiating the campaign “From Global to Local” which sought to integrate SDG Goal 5 – to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls – into Kyrgyzstan’s local sustainable development strategies and plans.

She is in conversation with Shobha Shukla, CNS Founder Executive Director and feminist development justice leader, at the Asia Pacific Feminist Forum (APFF 2024) in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Opening and closing instrumental piano music is played by young feminist Ms Tara Shukla Iyer from UK.

Listen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Spotify, YouTube Podcasts, TuneIn, Podtail, BluBrry, Himalaya, ListenNotes, American Podcasts, CastBox FM, Ivy FM, Player FM, iVoox, and other podcast streaming platforms.

[podcast] Reality check on gender justice in the Pacific: Nalini Singh of Fiji Women's Rights Movements speaks

This podcast features Nalini Singh, a noted Fiji's human rights activist and Executive Director of Fiji Women's Rights Movement (FWRM). She is in conversation with Shobha Shukla, a feminist development justice activist and CNS Founder Executive Director around the 4th Asia Pacific Feminist Forum on the theme of: Feminist world building - creative energies, collective journeys in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Opening and closing instrumental piano music is played by young feminists Ms Tara Shukla Iyer and Ms Reya Shukla Iyer from UK.

Listen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Spotify, YouTube Podcasts, TuneIn, Podtail, BluBrry, Himalaya, ListenNotes, American Podcasts, CastBox FM, Ivy FM, Player FM, iVoox, and other podcast streaming platforms.

[video] Global Media Briefing in lead up to 79th UNGA High-Level Meeting on Antimicrobial Resistance

Rocking chair syndrome gripping the TB response?

[watch the video] Akin to a rocking chair that moves forwards and backwards without any real progress, we cannot assume busy TB programmes which may appear to have a lot of movement, to be making any real progress - unless they are doing what is warranted as per science and evidence to end TB.

Let us share an old story you might have read it already. But guiding lights always guide. This is one of them for us: "Once upon a time, there was an old woman who used to go to the ocean to do her writing. She had a habit of walking on the beach every morning before she began her work. Early one morning, she was walking along the shore after a big storm had passed and found the vast beach littered with starfish as far as the eye could see. Off in the distance, she noticed a small girl approaching. As the girl walked, she paused ever so often and as she grew closer, the woman could see that the girl was occasionally bending down to pick up an object and throw it into the sea. The woman called out, "Good morning! May I ask what it is that you are doing?" The girl paused, looked up, and replied “Throwing starfish into the ocean. When the sun gets high, they will die, unless I throw them back into the water.” The woman replied, “But there must be tens of thousands of starfish on this beach. I am afraid you would not really be able to make much of a difference." The girl bent down, picked up yet another starfish and threw it as far as she could into the ocean. Then she turned, smiled and said, “It made a difference to that one!”

Feminist world-building: Creative energies, collective journeys

watch the video | listen to podcast | हिन्दी

... So goes the theme of the 4th Asia Pacific Feminist Forum (APFF) which will be held in Chiang Mai in northern Thailand next month. This theme is a pointer towards channelising the energies of people of all genders who work to defend human rights and promote gender equality to collectively resist the patriarchal, militarised and greed-driven world we are living in, and envisioning a feminist world order.

This special Podcast features Dr Po-Lin Chan, Regional Advisor (HIV, Hepatitis and Sexually Transmitted Infections - STIs) at World Health Organization (WHO) South-East Asia Regional Office, and Dr Ishwar Gilada, who is a part of Organising Committee of 25th International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2024) and Governing Council of International AIDS Society (IAS). They were in conversation with CNS Founder Executive Director and Managing Editor Shobha Shukla in Munich Germany. CNS is among the official media partners of AIDS 2024.

Opening and closing instrumental piano music is played by Ms Reya Shukla Iyer from UK.

Listen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Spotify, YouTube Podcasts, TuneIn, Podtail, BluBrry, ListenNotes, American Podcasts, CastBox FM, Ivy FM, Player FM, iVoox, and other podcast streaming platforms.

This special Podcast features leaders from 2024 Asia Pacific Feminist Forum #APFF4 (Chiang Mai, Thailand: 12-14 September 2024). The theme of APFF4 is "Feminist world-building: Creative energies, collective journeys." Panelists include: Abia Akram, a disability rights activist and the founder and CEO of the National Forum of Women with Disabilities in Pakistan; Eni Lestari, a migrant rights activist and the Chairperson of International Migrants Alliance; Ivy Josiah, a women's rights activist who has led Malaysia’s Women’s Aid Organisation for 20 years as its Past President and Executive Director. They are in conversation with CNS founder Executive Director and feminist leader Shobha Shukla.

For more information on APFF4, click here.
Opening and closing instrumental piano music is played by a 7 years old feminist Ms Tara Shukla Iyer from UK.

Listen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Spotify, YouTube Podcasts, TuneIn, Podtail, BluBrry, ListenNotes, American Podcasts, CastBox FM, Ivy FM, Player FM, iVoox, and other podcast streaming platforms.

Transformative empowerment is mostly not given by ‘experts from the outside,’ but happens when the most affected people themselves rise to take back power to transform their lives and wellbeing. “When we put people first, then we cannot just address one or two issues they face,” rightly says Amrita Sarkar of India HIV/AIDS Alliance who has worked on a range of issues related to transgender people since last 23 years.

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The United Nations General Assembly will convene a High-Level Meeting on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) for the second time during its 79th session in New York on 26th September 2024. The theme of the meeting is “Investing in the present and securing our future together: Accelerating multi-sectoral global, regional and national actions to address Antimicrobial Resistance.”

Reaching the unreached migrants in unorganised workforce with health services

According to the Ministry of Labour and Employment of Government of India, the workers in the unorganised sector constitute about 93% of the total workforce in the country. A lot of them are informal migrant workers who live in difficult conditions and are most likely to be left behind when it comes to accessing healthcare and social protection services.

AIDS-related deaths have declined worldwide except in Eastern Europe and Central Asia region. The latest data from joint United Nations programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) released last month shows that as compared to 2010, AIDS-related deaths have declined globally by more than half (51%) by 2023 but increased by 34.4% in Eastern Europe and Central Asia region.

"No one is safe until everyone is safe," said Dr Umesh Dahal, Director General, Department of Livestock Services, Government of Nepal. He was referring to antimicrobial resistance or drug resistance when microbes (such as bacteria, virus, fungi or parasites) stop responding to medicines – which makes diseases difficult (or impossible) to treat.

When countries are unable to repay debts, domestic financing for health, education or social protection gets slashed which disproportionately affects the already impoverished and marginalised communities in the Global South. Richer nations and financial institutions of the Global North have relentlessly imposed neoliberal policies that force Global South countries to prioritise debt repayment over human rights (or risk debt default) through a mix of regressive anti-people taxation, privatisation of public services, deregulation and cuts on public spending that undermine essential services guaranteed under international and national laws.

"Even the healthiest amongst us could face a life-threatening situation through a minor injury, routine surgery, or common lung infection, if antimicrobials fail,” said Dr Rajesh Sambhajirao Pandav, World Health Organization (WHO) Representative to Nepal. “For those with pre-existing conditions like cancers, HIV, or diabetes, an untreatable infection can become an unexpected and deadly adversary.”

While community-led organisations are playing a critical role in the people-centred delivery of HIV prevention, care and treatment services, financial sustainability often becomes a major roadblock for them. Social entrepreneurship could be an innovative business model to generate revenue and keep them afloat, despite shrinking donor funding. Apart from creating financial stability, social enterprises also impact innovative HIV prevention, treatment and care models, new partnerships with the private sector, and increased inclusion for gender diverse people.

South Asia regional media workshop to combat AMR to take place in Kathmandu

Health TV Online, Nepal

Health TV Online, Kathmandu- Nepal is gearing up to host the first South Asia Regional Media Workshop to Prevent Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) on August 7th in Kathmandu. Recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO) as one of the foremost global public health and development threats, AMR poses significant risks to the South Asia region.