Global Secretariat

From September 23-24, ITPC Secretariat staff attended a strategic planning work session in New York. It was the first time secretariat staff had come together to develop a vision, mission and strategic focus areas for the organisation.

Staff agreed on the vision “A longer, healthier and more productive life for all PLHIV” and a mission “to enable communities in need to access HIV treatment”. The current work of ITPC is divided into four: Advocacy; movement building, knowledge/skills building and partnership with treatment literacy; influencing policy and programs; and evidence collection.

The ITPC Secretariat will continue to consult with Angie Riley on roles and responsibilities and authority with regard to regional networks and regional coordinators and complete the strategic planning process. Regional coordinators will be invited to take part in the consulting diligence process soon.

TMAP: TMAP worked with ITPCru to release a statement during the MDG Summit echoing the voices of Russian activists on issues of ARV stock-outs. Aditi has relocated from Delhi to Pune. MTT9 is underway with team selection and research tool development. It will again focus on prevention of vertical transmission and MTT7 countries have been invited to update their situations since the first publication. TMAP is also recruiting a communication and publications officer.

WorldCAB: Nikos is now working for ITPC full time. WorldCAB is in the process of developing its strategic directions for next year. A proposal is being drafted and going through some revisions. WorldCAB will also revisit its membership criteria and set up a pool of community experts on treatment.

Latin America - Alma de Leon

The CIAT coordinator joined training with key international and regional journalists on media and HIV where she emphasized the role of the media in amplifying the voices of at-risk populations on issues of human rights violations, universal access, stigma and discrimination. The training was held in Atlanta by IMLAS. Alma acknowledged the importance of building relationships with key media for advocacy purposes.

A pre-implementation workshop for fifth-cycle grantees and associates was organised to look at M&E for grants and the issues of pharmacovigilance, drug registration and patents in Latin America, and problems of ARV supply-chain management. CIAT and the key regional activists attending the workshop issued a statement with more than 100 signatories concerned about access to treatment to be presented to international communities and Comité Tecnico de Cooperación Horizontal.

The CIAT coordinador was also a key speaker at the AIDS Symphosium 2010 in Buenos Aires in September, speaking about the role of civil society in scaling up treatment access and education for PLHIV.

In response to the issues of ARV stock-outs in Latin America, CIAT and REDCA organised a press conference in Guatemala to address the problem of ARV procurement with the Pan-American Health Organization. CIAT mobilised support from human rights groups to help monitor the situation regarding access to ARVs.

Eastern Europe and Central Asia - Anastasia Agafonova

ITPCru provided tools to several civil-society groups and networks in Russia to carry out campaigns against ARV drug stock-outs in Kaliningrad, Orenburg, Brjansk and St Petersburg. Rallies, press conferences, flashmobs, street theatres and sign-ons were organised by the local positive groups in respective cities during September and October after the mass demonstration on Red Square and in front of the MoH September 15-16. A statement given by the MoH and Ministry of Social Welfare reads, “In a majority of regions in Russia, no such problem with providing ART to PLHIV exists”. The demands formulated in response to that statement were to preserve contingency funding to cover the drugs supply disruptions, creation of protocols for HIV drugs and their appliance pre-procurement planning, and improve monitoring of the supply-chain management system.

ITPCru conducted a study on procurement of ARV drugs in Russia and found that for 2010, several auctions were conducted in less-than-transparent manners. Out of 39 auctions with pharmaceutical companies for ARVs, 24 were cancelled as there was only one distributor, and therefore drugs were purchased at non-competitively high prices. Several distributors won bids by just 1 kopeek or 1 ruble. The concept note is a useful analytical tool for advocacy. It also lists all the drugs, market prices and distributors.

ITPCru is now convening awards for key activists acknowledging individual/organisational contributions in the AIDS movement. The awardees will be granted a financial contribution from a portion of the Red Ribbon Award premium received by ITPCru in Vienna. Open calls for participating in the voluntary review process are now closed and the panel is ready to look at nominations. Results will be announced prior to World AIDS day.

Meanwhile, ITPCru has been working with Society Association HIV.LV in Latvia to express solidarity to India on FTA negotiations.

Civil-society groups and ITPCru will also publish a regional report on treatment access and organize a Regional Community Advisory Board.

North Africa - Othoman Mellouk

Association de Lutte Contre le sida (ALCS), AMDH, CSAT-MENA and ITPC joined the day of action to voice the concerns to world leaders about the $20-billion support of the Global Fund. The press conference and rally received extensive media coverage. Al Jazeera published the story and interviewed people living with HIV in Morocco, where fear of stigma prevents people from speaking out about HIV status.

According to recent estimates, there are 22,300 HIV-positive people in Morocco with about 3,500 newly diagnosed yearly. HIV is concentrated among sex workers in the region of Souss-Massa Draa and injecting drug users in the northern part of Morocco. Grants from GFATM account for 31% of expenditure on HIV prevention, treatment and care in Morocco.

South Asia - Loon Gangte

Understanding that Europe's attack on generics is not limited to FTA negotiations with India and that the impact could affect access to life-saving medicine globally, 240 organisations across the world showed their solidarity by writing to the Indian prime minister about concerns over European FTA negotiations. On October 6th, DNP+ held a mass “die in” in front of Ministry of Commerce to protest against the inclusion of IP provisions in the EU-India FTA. The rally of about 100 people ran with slogans like “EU India FTA murdabad”. Delhi police charged HIV+ people and detained five protesters, a few of whom were beaten. Detainees were released thanks to the support and intervention of the Lawyers Collective and parliamentarians.

The EU is pursuing FTAs with similar provisions on IP with Brazil, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines and South Africa. Europe is participating in negotiations for the conclusion of the proposed Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) between developed country governments.

West Africa - Sylvere Bukiki

WATAG hosted the third meeting of the West Africa Regional Advisor Committee in October in Ghana in which the Regional Advisory Committee decided the regional funding priorities for the sixth grant cycle and set up a 2010-2011 workplan. Advocacy is considered a priority with defined areas such as for access to treatment, for better funding by the Global Fund and Government Commitment, and for scaling up of prevention of vertical transmission in rural areas. RACs were tasked to prepare updates on HIV infection trends in each of the coverage countries, challenges in term of access to treatment, funding scenarios and where each of the countries is achieving the Millennium Development Goals.

RACs also decided not to renew a contract with RIP+, to find a new fiscal agency in Cote d’Ivoire and to rotate 2/3 RAC membership and recruit all new two-year-term CRP membership.

Southeast Asia - Rico Gustav

Asia Pacific Network of PLHIV (APN+), Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and Thai AIDS activists marched against the EU-India Free trade agreement at the opening of the European film festival in Bangkok in mid-October. Activists handed over a petition to representatives of the European Trade Commission demanding the removal of all TRIPS-Plus provisions from the current and all future trade agreements with developing countries. Already the impact of these policies has been felt by patients: under EC customs regulations, legitimate generic medicines destined for developing countries have been detained in European ports, putting the lives of patients at risk. APN+ works closely with MSF’s Access to Essential Medicines Campaign in Southeast Asia to add our voices to a growing global campaign to stop Europe’s attempts to restrict access to these medicines for patients in the developing world. Go to http://action.msf.org to sign the petition.

APN+ is also in the process of developing a treatment database that compiles information regarding treatment (diagnostics, costing, programs and policy) in order to provide a snapshot of treatment access in the region in a user-friendly database. Expected to launch in Q1 2011, the data will incorporate indicators and epidemiological stats from the UNAIDS M&E database, AIDS Data hub and World Bank database.

The Caribbean - Patricia Figuaroa

RACs of the Caribbean region in September agreed in the last meeting in Caracao to the defined mission of Caribbean Treatment Action Group (CTAG): To promote and support community-based organisations that focus on literacy-based education and evidence-building advocacy. The RACs reviewed performance for 2009 and emphasized the need to set strategic directions for CTAG work and set funding priorities for the next round of the grant cycle. In addition to treatment preparedness and harm reduction, the RACs include positive prevention, prevention strategies and regional/national advocacy for access to treatment in the context of sexual diversity as the foremost priorities.

It also suggests CRP membership be comprised of independent technical reviewers who are outsourced and selected by an application process and the RAC-sub committee on CRP. The coordinator also ran a session providing basic fundraising tips to the RACs.

East Africa - Rose Kaberia

East Africa Treatment Action Movement (EATAM), Aids and Rights Alliance of Southern Africa (ARASA) and Kenya Legal and Ethical Issues in HIV (KELIN) held a press conference and demonstration demanding the government of Kenya allocate more funds for health. Commitments were announced to push for expediting the creation of the National Health Insurance fund along with special attention to health spending for the next parliamentarian session on budget allocation. In support of the Third Voluntary Global Fund Replenishment Meeting held on the October 4 and 5 in New York City, at which governments and donors signaled their financial commitment towards the Global Fund for the next three years, there were several public demonstrations, press conferences and other actions organized in more than 10 countries across Africa on September 28.

With continued focus on country-level work for this month, EATAM called for justice for TB patients in Kenya who were sentenced to eight-month imprisonment for non-adherence to TB treatment. The discussion was brought up on ITPC listserv in August. Go to

http://itpcnewsletter.blogspot.com/2010/09/itpc-summary-listserv-august-september.html for full details of the case.

China - Thomas Cai

ITPC-China did a public opinion survey on the new government policy to transfer care of PLHIV to district level. 84% of 7,000 responses expressed their concern over confidentiality and treatment quality and care at the district level. The staff recently held a meeting to present analysed data and discuss how to take the study forward and submit to UNAIDS China and MoH. At this meeting, ITPC china members also discussed about the Pioneer Award that was proposed by Levis Strauss, collaboration with MSF on issues of ARV quality assurance system, HCV treatment and advocacy for women’s health care.

Latin America - Alma de Leon

Past activities – capacity building and advocacy

Several cases of stock-outs were reported across Latin America (Costa Rica – AZT and 3TC, Guayana – Efavirenz and Kaletra, Mexico – Raltegravir and darunavir, Guatemala/Dominican republic – Abacavir). ITPC Regional Secretariat with local activists tried to mobilize regional support and restore supply of these ARVs. CIAT is now preparing for the workshop on pharmacovigilnance and supply chain management analysis.

“Health is not commerce but human rights” is a campaign that originated in this region to promote and improve awareness among NGOs in Latin America on issues of Intellectual Property and Free-Trade Agreement. Having been involved in this campaign since 2009, CIAT will continue to provide training on the issue at the pre-Implementation workshop in Argentina (August 28-30).

CIAT is also in partnership with The PAHO and UNICEF on a regional initiative for elimination of mother-to-child transmission and congenital syphilis in Latin America and the Caribbean. CIAT will lead, promote and implement campaigns in chosen countries.Being part of the Guatemala National M&E Committee, Alma has been supporting the development of country proposals to the GFATM helping to collect data on key populations and develop key indicators. Alma is also involved with the development of regional proposals to GFATM round 10 on supporting capacity development and increasing literacy for PLHIV.

Current and future activities:

Alma is currently attending an intensive training workshop organised by the IMLAS and University of San Diego that aims to bring into direct contact key populations and cutting-edge scientific researchers and healthcare workers to discuss issues of migration and HIV. Alma will also be preparing for Pre-Implementation workshop and develop M&E plan for the funding fifth cycle.

Middle East and North Africa - Othoman Mellouk

Past activities

Othoman Mellouk started his position as the Regional Coordinator for MENA region as of June 2010. Since then, the priority area of focus has been the revision of the Global Fund eligibility criteria that excludes countries of MENA (especially North Africa). He and ITPCru were able to mobilize a broad range of alliances in the region and Eastern Europe and Central Asia. As part of the “I want to be eligible” campaign, Association de lutte contre le SIDA (ALCS), the host organisation, produced specific materials for the campaign and organised a protest at the IAC. In the GFATM session, Othoman raised critical questions regarding the criteria to Executive Director Michel Kazachkine. The campaign received huge media coverage.

Current and future activities

Main activities of the Regional Coordinator will be establishing an ITPC Regional Secretariat in sub-region North Africa (August), developing communication infrastructure such as websites, regional e-list HIV-North Africa (September-December) and workplans for 2011. From September the Secretariat will coordinate a study on access to treatment in six countries (Morocco, Algeria, Mauritania, Libya, Tunisia and Egypt) using the Missing the Target model of TMAP. It will also try to raise funds to constitute Regional Advisory Committee for the MENA region (expected to be completed by July 2011) and run treatment literacy/advocacy programmes.

Eastern Europe and Central Asia - Gregory Vergus

Past activities - capacity building and advocacy:



ITPCru received Red Ribbon Award 2010. The Selecting Committee has nominated ITPCru for its activism in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. The network mobilises and trains people living with HIV in Russia to advocate for their inclusion in local, regional and international decision-making mechanisms, and facilitates information exchange, distributing crucial information through its innovative web and media campaigns. ITPCru is one of 25 community-based organizations representing 17 countries across the globe who won the award for 2010.

The cross-regional campaign “I want to be eligible - Keep it global”, targets GFATM Board members, donors and international/national organizations working on HIV to address the problem of access to GFATM resources for countries with concentrated epidemics. Launched in June, the campaign is spearheaded by the Regional Coordinators of ITPCru and MENA region. It addresses the existing criteria of distribution of GFATM funds that give priority to countries with high disease burdens and low or lower middle-income country status that left many more countries ineligible for GFATM resources. The campaign involved a rally at the IAC 2010, media campaigns, sign-on petitions, surveys and material development around GFATM eligibility criteria.

On-line action alert on drugs stock-out ITPCru facilitates discussions around stock-outs of ARVs through an online forum at www.pereboi.ru It coordinates requests on stock-outs, bridging dialogue between healthcare providers, MoH and PLHIV affected by the problems. It also seeks an immediate solution to problems by mobilizing support from communities and pharmaceutical companies to provide requested ARV drugs on a temporary basis.

Current and future activities

ITPCru is currently exploring an opportunity to find resources to continue its grant-making programme. It has been playing an instrumental role in coordinating the civil society UNGASS report. There are several meetings already planned to discuss long-term solutions to the drug-stock-outs. The Regional Community Advisory Board is also underway with discussions with civil society organisations in Eastern Europe and Central Asia and pharmaceutical companies and both of the parties have been very supportive of having a Regional CAB to monitor, advocate and participate in pricing policy and R&D.

South East Asia - Rico Gustav

Past activities- capacity building and advocacy

Led by the Regional Coordinator, APN+ coordinated the regional proposal to be submitted to the Global Fund. The proposal includes eight countries in Asia (Bangladesh, Fiji, Indonesia, Laos, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines and Vietnam) and aims to maximize resources to fill the gap of treatment education & needs at the country level as well as strengthen the national PLHIV network. A Country Coordinating Mechanism of seven countries endorsed in this proposal recognize the added value of the proposed activities to the implementation of plans at the country level. In preparation for such a multi-country, large-scale funding proposal, APN+ analysed data on availability, accessibility of treatment, country-level funding for treatment programs and organizational absorption capacity. The proposal was submitted on August 20 and the analysis will be released publicly for further use for programmatic planning and advocacy follow up.

Current and future activities

It was agreed by ITPC and APN+ that the Regional Advisory Committee and Community Review Panel will be merged into one entity, Treatment Working Group. Therefore, the coordinator will work on the TORs for this new group and recruit members to the group as well as seek funding so the group can function. The group will also take over some responsibilities of the current RAC in providing directions to the CF grant mechanism. The Coordinator hopes to roll out the fifth round of the grant-making programme in December.

APN+ will also build on the MSF study on availability of medicine in Southeast Asia and further analyse data on access to treatment services. The aim of producing such a document is to serve as a tool to help activists in the region better understand treatment landscapes. The discussions around developing the advocacy tool on treatment access are underway with partners in the region and no reliable timeline has been set at the moment.

South Asia - Loon Gangte

Past activities – capacity building and advocacy


The Coordinator was involved in numerous activities which can be divided into 4 categories

A) Access to treatment of Hepatitis C – This involves active participation at the first South and Southeast Asian Community Consultation on HCV (June 22-23) in Bangkok and a presentation at the International AIDS Conference in Vienna where the Coordinator gave an overview of the problem from Asian perspective. Loon was a driving force behind discussions between NACO, UNAIDS, WHO and ITPC-India to push for the inclusion of HVC in the sentinel survey. In addition, HIVCF, for the first time, will allocate resources to projects focussed on women and HIV and possibly HCV.

B) EU-India Free Trade Agreement negotiation – The Coordinator worked in partnership with Indian CSOs to advocate for the ceasing of bilateral discussions between the EU and the Indian government in regards to strengthening FTA TRIP+ provisions that would significantly undermine domestic production of affordable generic medicines. Sign-ons, press releases, press conferences, rallies and international media interviews were held in India and at the IAC in Vienna.

C) Technical discussions with key stakeholders: The Coordinator submitted a training module on Living Positively: The Role of the Network of Positive People as requested by NACO for the ART doctors training curriculum. There was a half-day meeting on TB with stakeholders in India, a meeting organised by UNAIDS-India on Universal Access and face-to-face meeting with NACO reps on eligibility criteria for enrolment on second line ART.

D) Organisational development – ITPC-India: The Coordinator worked closely with ITPC-India and encouraged NACO to include ITPC-India members on its Technical Review Group on ART. He also led the site-visit of Steven Solnick from Ford Foundation and prepared brief update on progress, challenges and achievement of ITPC-India to date.

Current and future activities

HIVCF round 5 is being discussed with the programme manager and programme director and the Regional Secretariat aims to have a preparation meeting in Early October.

The Caribbean - Patricia Figuaroa

Past activities - Capacity building and advocacy:

Coordinated by PR Concra, the Pre-implementation workshop for 12 new grantees of the fifth funding cycle was intended to provide basic knowledge on M&E and introduce new grantees to the reporting format. Some basic theory of treatment literacy, network and advocacy and harm reduction at the workshop was also incorporated into the workshop which participants found very useful.

The Coordinator spent considerable time to update Caribbean Treatment Action Group (CTAG) membership through open applications and voting systems. The Regional Secretariat convened a meeting for membership selection and rotation and recruited three new members from Jamaica, Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic to serve on their governing Board.

In collaboration with Caribbean Vulnerable Community, CTAG was instrumental in planning the regional campaign “My Body = By Business”, which aims to support sex worker’s movement in Dominican Republic, Guyana and Jamaica, where the regional sex trade is driven by both local and tourist demands. The campaigns also target increase recourse of sex workers to law for protection, child sex work and substance use among this key population. Campaigns involve raising awareness of sex workers & HIV issues through the use of media and press conferences were held in Guyana, Trinidad and Jamaica.

Current and future activities

The Regional Secretariat is planning the upcoming Regional Advisory Committee meeting in Curacao in which members will discuss a new fundraising strategy, technical assistance and M&E workplan, and develop regional advocacy agenda. Patricia will also conduct site-visits to Suriname, Dominican Republic, Curacao and Guyana.

Women and Family - Lilian Mworeko

Women and Family in Africa

Past activities- capacity building and advocacy

The Regional Coordinator and her assistant were actively involved in the CSO Pre- AU Summit 2010 Advocacy Committee Meeting spearheaded by several civil society organizations in Africa. In order to share information on emerging issues of financing for health, the group used mock debate and a concert, to “edutain” various community sectors and mobilize support from communities and the heads of states to remain committed, take ownership and fulfil the commitments. The mock debate session sought to present an emulated session of the African States Parliamentary Sessions debating realities, ideas, thoughts, perceptions and positions towards the two motions that were a call to African Governments to meet and exceed the 15% Abuja target for local budget allocation for health including HIV and AIDS and calling upon the global donor community to increase and honour their pledges to the Global Fund for Malaria, TB and HIV & AIDS.

The regional Secretariat organised the first Interim Advisory Committee meeting in Kampala (August 9-13) to develop TOR for its members and set funding priorities for the fifth grant cycle. Bernard Gift, Assistant to the Coordinator, also participated in a development of Ugandan CSOs Advocacy Strategy planning for 2010-2014.

Current and future activities

Lilian and Bernard are now preparing for the launch of fifth cycle of grantmaking programme and the organisation of the Interim Advisory Committee/ CRP meeting (October 28-30), a series of site visits for technical assistance provision.

Central Africa - James Kayo

Past activities- Capacity building and advocacy:

Regional civil society advocacy forum (3-5 May) in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania brought together more than 40 NGO representatives from ten African countries to discuss global and regional advocacy strategies to address the urgent need for resource mobilization for universal access to HIV prevention, treatment and care, and for replenishment of the Global Fund in October 2010. The main output of this event was a memorandum entitled “Health is Wealth”. The Regional Coordinator was among the group of nine AIDS activists detained by Tanzanian authorities as they attempted to handover the memorandum to two prominent speakers (Yvonne Chaka Chaka, the popular South African musician and UN Goodwill Ambassador for Africa, and Christoph Benn, the Director of External Relations for the GF) at the World Economic Forum on Africa on May 5-7. The group was escorted under heavy security back to their hotel, where they were instructed to gather their luggage and proceed to the airport to wait through the night, under police supervision, until their flights departed from the country the following day.

Organised by GNP+ and WAC, Young People Living with HIV consultation (June 7-9) in Amsterdam was convened for approximately 30 to 35 young people living with HIV (aged between 16 and 30) to provide the space for YPLHIV from all over the world to explore their own needs, shape a strategy for addressing these needs themselves and develop consensus on how to move forward. A statement was made during the consultation and a peer-elected YPLHIV Advisory Group has been established. The Group was formed to support the development and implementation of the GNP+ YPLHIV programme and ensure that the priorities highlighted by the community of YPLHIV remain the priorities of the programme. The Executive Assistant attended the consultation on behalf of ITPC- CATAG.

Following the recommendations of the PIW workshop held on April 20-22 in Yaoundé,Cameroon, the Regional Coordinator carried out a field visit in DRC and Central Africa Republic during the period of July 6-16 for proposal redrafting and technical assistance to PRERA, NAC-RDC (DRC) and E So Benda (CAR). It was also an opportunity for a field visit to CPPSG (DRC) and presentations on the AIDS financial crisis in the four cities visited (Lubumbashi, Mbuji Mayi, Kinshasa and Bangui).

Current and future activities

James and his crew are now preparing for the RAC meeting In Douala, Cameroon (October 12-14) and a joint donor meeting for Central and West Africa (October 18-22). Regional fund raising strategy will be the priority area of discussions.

He will also participate and be part of the organisation of a national training workshop on Universal Access to be spearheaded by World Aids Campaign in Cameroon in September.

West Africa- Sylvere Bukiki

Past activities- Capacity building and advocacy:

Workshop on Treatment Literacy and Advocacy for Universal Access (7-10 June 2010) – The Training of trainers workshop was the outcome of a newly emerging partnership between WATAG-ITPC, UNAIDS, WHO, WAC and Alliance/IPC intended to develop capacity of HIVCF grantees in 15 countries in advocating for Universal Access. In a session on treatment literacy, the participants criticized the fact that the new WHO guidelines (early treatment when the CD4 count < 350 cells/mm3 regardless of the symptoms of OIs) are not well communicated to communities of PLHIV, while in the advocacy session, poor leadership, human right violations, weak health system and lack of understanding of universal access were identified as major obstacles to achieving goals. The testimony evening on Universal Access in West Africa saw participants, local activists and UN representatives listen to how the issues of drug stock-outs, reduction of international funding,and unaffordable prices of essential medicines affect individuals and communities .

Past activity- Communication:
WATAG recently launched a new bilingual (French-English) website (http://www.watag.org/) to provide information related to WATAC activities. Three discussion groups were created to facilitate the communication and information sharing among key community actors on issues of universal access to treatment.

Current and future activities
Thanks to the overwhelmingly positive response to Treatment Literacy & Advocacy workshop organised by WATAG-ITPC, Sylvere is now in consultation with WHO regional office about conducting a similar kind of workshop at the national level. The discussions are underway to bring the workshop to Gambia and Ghana (October-November 2010).

Sylvere will co-organise with James Kayo (RCs for Central Africa) the donor meeting (October 18-20) and facilitate regional and national advocacy planning at the next Regional Advisory Board meeting (October 5-8).

Sylvere also has started coordinating data collection on drug stock-outs at the regional level and looking for possibilities of co-hosting a regional workshop on AIDS criminalization law early next year.

Treatment Monitoring & Advocacy Project (TMAP)

TMAP: Launched in June, the campaign Four 4 women was built on the success of Missing the Target 7 country teams who undertook advocacy at national and global levels. The website www.four4women.org administered by TMAP staff aims to be a resource for advocates working on this issue, bringing together current policy and scientific documents, serving as a tool for E-campaigning, and providing a forum to coordinate actions across countries and partner organizations. It seeks action from ITPC members, particularly Regional Coordinators, to participate in its first campaign action called “If I was in charge…” to share ideas of how to improve PMTCT programmes. Please go to the website and share your message with the world.

The Global Secretariat

The Global Secretariat has prepared the first internal newsletter that informs all of us what each of us doing, and we hope it will result in not only information exchange but also meaningful collaboration. We thank all of you for taking the time to share your news.

Congratulations to ITPCru on receiving the Red Ribbon Award, which honors and celerates community based organizations for their outstanding initiatives that show leadership in reducing the spread and impact of AIDS. PAZDRAVLYAEM to Gregory and his team!! In Vienna, ITPC also witnessed a very successful reception of TMAP’s findings for MTT8. The one page information sheet was requested and printed several hundred times.

The Secretariat is planning the next governance meeting the transitional steering group at the end of September in New York, and this board will be discussing the selection of new members for 2011. The Secretariat is also serving as member of the working group for the WHO five-year strategic plan. In addition, we have been in discussion with NAM (www.aidsmap.org) on the use and adaptation of their treatment materials for greater community uptake. Nikos Dedes, coordinator for the World CAB, will be starting on 1st September, and launching some very exciting initiatives for the end of the year.

We hope that you will enjoy learning about how busy each of you are, and that you will continue to provide us with information that we can share with each other.