Equinet workshop report

Report of an Oxfam GB/EQUINET workshop on Equity and the Expansion of Access to Treatment and Care for HIV and AIDS in Southern Africa.

ICASA (International Conference on AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infections in Africa), Nairobi, 23 September 2003.

Download a pdf file of the full paper (249K)
(You will need a copy of Adobe's Acrobat software to read this file: download Adobe Acrobat)

PowerPoint presentation from the workshop (511K)

Background

HIV and AIDS have had deep impacts on health and health equity issues in Southern Africa. Health-care systems have been stressed by increased demand for care, while themselves suffering HIV and AIDS related losses in health personnel. Household and community caring have complemented and sometimes substituted health care inputs. Where these lack adequate support they increase burdens on already poor households.

As HIV and AIDS related mortality rates have fallen with new treatments available in high income countries, treatment access has become a central issue, with campaigns on this in South Africa recently widening through the Pan African HIV and AIDS Treatment Access Movement. The Global Health Fund (GHF) has raised attention about international obligations around resourcing responses to health risks such as HIV and AIDS, and the challenges to the TRIPS agreement has focused attention on the areas of conflict between trade agreements and access to treatment, including to ARVs. Funds available from the GHF and other sources make ARVs potentially more accessible to some people in southern Africa, but there are issues to be addressed of who, on what basis, and how?

The Regional Network for Equity in Health in Southern Africa (EQUINET) and Oxfam GB with government and civil society partners have since early 2003 initiated a programme of research and analysis in support of policy and advocacy focusing on HIV and AIDS and equity in health sector responses. The programme has held and reported on an expert review panel, has initiated country research in four southern African countries on equity in health sector responses (Zimbabwe, Malawi, Tanzania and South Africa), and with support from DfID regional analyses of specific health equity concerns related to HIV and AIDS, covering issues such as health personnel, nutritional interventions, and gender equity in health sector responses (see www.equinetafrica.org).

An EQUINET/Oxfam GB workshop was held at the ICASA conference with support from UNAIDS and DfID giving feedback on the work done in the programme. It presented evidence gathered from country case studies from Malawi, Zimbabwe and South Africa and from the SADC region from work on nutrition and HIV and AIDS. It used this evidence to explore options for safeguarding equity AND improving access to treatment and for strengthening equity in health sector responses to AIDS from global to national level. The workshop was facilitated by D McCoy for EQUINET/Oxfam GB.

This report summarises the proceedings of the workshop. It was prepared by D McCoy and edited by the EQUINET secretariat at TARSC.