BREAKING NEWS: Continuing the Search

Naina Dhingra is the Director of International Policy at Advocates for Youth and serves on the Developed Country NGO Board Delegation of the Global Fund.

After two days and nearly twenty-two hours of deliberations, the Board of the Global Fund Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria was unable to select a candidate for Executive Director and decided to reopen the search. The Board of the Global Fund is unlike any multilateral institution. There are twenty voting board seats divided equally between donors and recipients. There are also seats for foundations and the private sector (counted in the donor block) and for developed country NGOs, developing country NGOs, and people living with the three diseases (counted in the recipient block). In order for a candidate to be selected, a two-thirds majority in both the donor and recipient block was needed. Unfortunately, this consensus was not achieved.

The Impact of AIDS in Guatemala

Naina Dhingra is the Director of International Policy at Advocates for Youth and serves on the Developed Country NGO Board Delegation of the Global Fund.

I had thought that my visits to Global Fund projects would show me what AIDS looked like in a middle-income Latin American country. In fact, they showed me much more. In a mere one day of visiting projects, I saw not only how AIDS impacts Guatemala, but how sexual exploitation, drug abuse, violence, rape, early fertility, and lack of economic opportunity are inextricably linked to the root causes of the disease.

We started our day by visiting the Hospital Roosevelt, which is one of the largest recipients of Global Fund money in Guatemala. It is a public hospital that provides free treatment and services, with a reputation for treating patients with respect and dignity regardless of socioeconomic class. Approximately sixty percent of its resources come from the Global Fund.

There is a misconception that AIDS in Latin America is a disease of men who have sex with men. But as I stood in the waiting room of the AIDS clinic at the Hospital Roosevelt, the faces that looked up at me were young women.

Who Will Be the Next Leader of the Global Fund?

Naina Dhingra is the Director of International Policy at Advocates for Youth and serves on the Developed Country NGO Board Delegation of the Global Fund.

What do the President of MTV International, the former Norwegian Minister of International Development, and a senior Republican Congressman from Arizona have in common? They all are candidates for the top job at the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB, and Malaria. As I wrote in my last blog, it truly is election season this November.

The 14^th Board meeting of the Global Fund starts this week in Guatemala City and the most important decision Board members will make is the selection of who will take the reigns and lead this start-up development institution to maturity. The Global Fund was born just five years ago as an experiment in development and health financing. At the outset, the vision of the Global Fund was to serve as financing mechanism rather than an implementing agency by putting countries in the driver's seat to develop programs to combat HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria. History has proven that the experiment and the vision worked.

Election Mayhem

Naina Dhingra is the Director of International Policy at Advocates for Youth and serves on the Developed Country NGO Board Delegation of the Global Fund.

There is no doubt that the outcome of the upcoming U.S. Congressional elections will have a major impact on the sexual and reproductive health of women and youth worldwide. Consequently, policy advocates are closely watching each race.

But these are not the only elections that will determine the future of sexual and reproductive health. Two of the most important international public health jobs are currently in the midst of highly-political selection processes: the Director-General (DG) of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Executive Director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB, and malaria.

Abstinence or Abstinence-Only?

Naina Dhingra is the Director of International Policy at Advocates for Youth and serves on the Developed Country NGO Board Delegation of the Global Fund.

At Wednesday's government reform hearing convened by Congressman Chris Shays on the abstinence-until-marriage earmark, Ambassador Mark Dybul, U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator, testified that the U.S. government does not fund "abstinence-only" programs. Repeatedly, U.S. government officials have stated that PEPFAR prevention programs are not abstinence-only and follow an evidence-based ABC approach.

Sorry, Ambassador Dybul, but we're not buying it.

Desperately Seeking Condoms in Toronto

Naina Dhingra is the Director of International Policy at Advocates for Youth and serves on the Developed Country NGO Board Delegation of the Global Fund.

Throughout the International AIDS Conference, I've repeatedly heard about how the U.S. government is the largest buyer of condoms. Yet, at the same time, youth and people from PEPFAR countries kept telling me that, back home, access to condoms is a major issue. So where exactly are the condoms? Well, after a week at the conference in Toronto, I've decided that all the condoms are clearly right here. Over the week, I've amassed a sizable collection of at least 75 different types of condoms in all different colors and packaging. My favorites have been the goodies from UNFPA and MTV. UNFPA packaged a male and female condom together in brightly colored pouches usually used to carry jewelry. The MTV Staying Alive initiative packaged them in pocket containers, like the kind that carry mints, and gave them out at last night's premier party of their 48fest films - their project where young people were given cameras to develop films about AIDS in 48 hours.

So what seems to be the issue? If hundreds of thousand of condoms can get to Toronto, why aren't they getting to young people in PEPFAR countries? Is the U.S. government so stuck on the myth that condoms will actually cause young people to have sex?

Morals or Politics?

Naina Dhingra is the Director of International Policy at Advocates for Youth and serves on the Developed Country NGO Board Delegation of the Global Fund.

Last night, the government of Sweden hosted a satellite session investigating the question of morals and politics in HIV prevention. The session should have been renamed "Speaking Out Against the U.S. Government's Moralistic Approach to HIV Prevention." The Swedish Ambassador for HIV/AIDS, Lennarth Hjelmaker, introduced the session by discussing Sweden's approach to HIV. Sweden has prioritized sexual and reproductive health as a key component to successful HIV prevention and is stepping up its involvement in the global community. This is good news for the sexual and reproductive health and rights community as Sweden is the new chair of the UNAIDS governing board known as the Programme Coordinating Board (PCB).

PEPFAR Abstinence-Only Policies Come Under Fire

Naina Dhingra is the Director of International Policy at Advocates for Youth and serves on the Developed Country NGO Board Delegation of the Global Fund.

PEFPAR's prevention policies are under the microscope this week at the International AIDS Conference. There is a sense of outrage from the global community about the U.S. abstinence-until-marriage approach.

"It is illegitimate to dictate terms to governments that have their own policies and priorities and own ways to deal with the response," exclaimed Ambassador Stephen Lewis on the topic of U.S. global HIV prevention policy at a press conference convened this morning by the Center for Health and Gender Equity (CHANGE), the International Council of AIDS Service Organizations (ICASO), and Advocates for Youth. "No government in the western world has the right to dictate policy to African governments in how they structure their response. That's called conditionality. That's totally unacceptable in today's world," Ambassador Lewis said.

BREAKING NEWS: The 9th Member of the G8?

Naina Dhingra is the Director of International Policy at Advocates for Youth and serves on the Developed Country NGO Board Delegation of the Global Fund.

Bill and Melinda Gates showed their generosity again today by announcing a new $500 million contribution to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB, and Malaria. The five year contribution makes $200 million available immediately for the upcoming sixth funding round for which countries are currently applying.

The Global Fund was created by the international community as an innovative public/private partnership. In just four and a half years, the Global Fund has committed over $5.5 billion to over 132 countries. Instead of being driven by donor interests and policies, countries determine for themselves their needs and submit proposals to the Global Fund for financing. The proposals are evaluated by an independent body of world renowned technical experts and then are sent for approval to the Global Fund's governing board. The Board includes representatives of donor and recipient governments, civil society, the private sector, and affected communities. A Secretariat in Geneva is responsible for signing the grants and working with countries to ensure results-based progress.

The Global Fund is crucial to women's and young people's sexual and reproductive health as it is a donor agency that is not bound by ideological donor restrictions. The Global Fund is committed to funding science-based approaches and respecting the rights of countries in determining programs that match their needs.

New Bill Introduced to Repeal Failing Abstinence-Until-Marriage Earmark

Congress is finally responding to research showing that in a number of African countries, married women are at a higher risk for HIV than their unmarried counterparts. In light of this and other research, the time has come to repeal the abstinence-until-marriage earmark from the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). Ground-breaking legislation to accomplish this goal was introduced yesterday by Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-CA), Congressman Jim Leach (R-IA), Congressman Chris Shays (R-CT), and 54 Democratic Members of the House of Representatives.

The “Protection Against Transmission of HIV for Women and Youth Act of 2006” (H.R.5674) repeals the congressional earmark that requires PEPFAR to allocate 33% of HIV prevention funding for abstinence-until-marriage programs.