GNP+ news and statements

APN+ strongly condemns the EU’s deadly trade policies

10 February 2012, Bangkok – At the Annual General Meeting of the Asia Pacific Network of People Living with HIV (APN+), the APN+ Board strongly condemned the European Union’s continuing attacks on generic medicines through the EU-India FTA negotiations. At the EU-India Summit being held in New Delhi today, the EU is pressuring the Indian government to announce political “trade-offs” for the FTA negotiations.

“On the 3^rd of February we took empty ARV bottles to the European Commission’s office to show them what the result of the EU-India FTA would be,” said Mr Sudin Sherchan of the National Association of People Living with HIV in Nepal. Since 2007, the EU-India FTA negotiations have become increasingly controversial as leaked texts of the negotiations show that the EU is pushing India to adopt intellectual property protection standards far in excess of what is required under the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS).

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The Global Network of People living with HIV received news of the resignation of Prof. Michel Kazatchkine as Executive Director to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria with regret, but are keen to express our gratitude and respect for his leadership and commitment to the principles of the Global Fund over the past ten years.

Prof. Kazatchkine has played a pivotal role in the establishment and development of the Global Fund, having served on the Fund’s Transitional Working Group, Technical Review Panel and its Board before becoming Executive Director in 2007.

Under Prof. Kazatchkine’s leadership the Global Fund has lived up to its commitment of being a responsible and transparent multi-stakeholder funding agency based on a country ownership model, and a governance structure which promotes the active and meaningful participation of governments, the private sector, civil society, and most notably communities living with HIV, TB and Malaria.

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The Global Network of People living with HIV (GNP+) and the LIVING 2012 partnership are pleased to announce the launch of www.LIVING2012.org, the official website of LIVING 2012: The Positive Leadership Summit. LIVING 2012, the 13^th International conference of people living with HIV, will be held in Washington DC, USA on 19 and 20 July, 2012. LIVING 2012 is an official preconference to AIDS 2012, the 19^th International AIDS Conference that will take place from 22 to 26 July 2012.

The website at www.LIVING2012.org provides information about the preconference and its objectives. At LIVING2012.org you will be able to read more about the programme and background of the conference. In addition, LIVING2012.org is the place to start your participation in the e-consultations that will begin in early 2012. These consultations will provide basis to programmatic developments and agenda of the conference.

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On World AIDS Day 2011 the Global Network of People living with HIV (GNP+) calls for countries to resolve the funding challenge of the global HIV response to take full advantage of the unparalleled opportunities offered by newly available treatment and prevention options.

People living with HIV worldwide are shocked by the decision of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB and Malaria to postpone Funding Round 11 due to a shortfall in financial contributions of donor countries. This is especially disheartening because in the past year, countries and agencies have shown an increased commitment towards the scale up of HIV treatment, as well as prevention of vertical transmission.

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The Global Network of People living with HIV (GNP+) supports the United States Government’s call for a scale up of HIV prevention efforts, particularly the scale up of HIV treatment access, and the prevention of vertical transmission. GNP+ is encouraged that the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has made the objective of an ‘AIDS-Free generation’ a US policy priority and will help make this objective a reality.

“Having combination prevention as a policy priority is an important step,” says Dr. Kevin Moody, International Coordinator and CEO of GNP+. “However, this policy must be transformed into action. Every day we delay scaling-up prevention and treatment services, people in dire need are affected unnecessarily.”

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