Zero New Infections, Zero Discrimination, Zero AIDS Related Deaths:

How these Slogans and Communiqués Reflect the World of the Elites in the HIV Industrial Complex

Nesha Z. Haniff PhD MPHUniversity of Michigan, Jamaica Aids Support for Life

“It is not our role to speak to the people about our own view of the world, nor to attempt to impose that

view on them but rather to dialogue with the people

about their view and ours”

(Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed).

(Rosie & Tonya discussing Microbicides in Jamaica)

The word zero is understandable in Jamaican communities but is not a word we use in everyday parlance.

“Getting real about getting to the end of AIDS”

The Robert Carr Lecture given by Stephen Lewis “Getting to ZERO BULLSHIT: Calling HIV Stigma what it is: Racism Classism, Misogyny, Homophobia, Elitism”.

ZERO

Dr. Robert Carr

“Let us all be proud. A year ago, skeptics said that getting to zero was just a slogan. But countries, partners and people around the world have embraced the vision and are now working to translate it into reality. Our vision of zero has truly come to life and grown legs”.

So when Big people ah come and say Zero, dem MUS a mek joke .You cannot be real in the community with “zero” bullshit.

“It is not our role to speak to the people about our own view of the world, nor to attempt to impose that view on them but rather to dialogue with the people about their view and ours” (Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed).

(Joan Didier, St. Lucia)Getting to zero: Time to shape our destiny: Speech by UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé on the occasion of the 29th Meeting of the Programme Coordinating Board, 13 December 2011

Women & HIV Women 15–24 years old comprise 26% of all

the people acquiring HIV infection The national prevalence of forced first sex

among adolescent girls younger than 15 years ranges between 11% and 45% globally

http://www.unaids.org/en/media/unaids/contentassets/documents/document/2011/06/20110601_HLM_Pannel4.pdf

Girls and women still make up six out of ten of the world’s poorest people, while two thirds of people who cannot read or write are women. Only 40 per cent of people in paid employment are women and they are typically paid less and have less secure employment than men.

http://www.dfid.gov.uk/news/press-releases/2011/mitchell-investing-in-girls-can-stop-poverty/ /

Global Fund

The Global Fund itself is a driver of the neglect of women. The funding policies of the global Fund have prioritized attention to the most marginalized groups.

These priorities shape the research, therefore the data provided justifies the funding for the most marginalized groups.

In Jamaica for example. Funding priorities are given to three groups, msm, sex workers and unattached youth.

Shape of the EvidenceJamaica

90% of HIV infection in Jamaica is through heterosexual intercourse.

In 2008, the ministry of health reported the infection rates for girls 15-19 to be almost four times that of the number of infections in boys

The only youth that is prioritized is the unattached youth.

http://jamaica-nap.org/pdf/epi-update-tables-jan-to-jun-08.pdf

Shape of the Evidence GuyanaThe Biologic Behavioral Surveillance Survey (BBSS) 2009 showed a sharp decrease (38%) in the HIV prevalence among female sex workers (FSWs), from 26.6 percent (BBSS, 2005) to 16.6 percent (BBSS, 2009).

In contrast only a slight decrease was observed among MSM, from 21.2 percent (BBSS, 2005) to 19.4 percent (BBSS, 2009).

HIV prevalence among pregnant women was 0.88 percent in 2010 and 1.08 percent in 2011 (PMTCT programme data). In 2010, 5.8 percent of babies born to HIV-positive mothers were infected with HIV and 1.9 percent in 2011

http://www.traveladventures.org/continents/southamerica/guyanese-people02.shtmlhttp://www.unaids.org/en/dataanalysis/monitoringcountryprogress/progressreports/2012countries/ce_GY_Narrative_Report[1].pdf

The Demise of Women’s Organizations

Joyce Gordon

WE SUFFER ON THE FRONTLINES FROM A PAUCITY OF INTELLECTUAL CAPITAL

On the ground in the communities in the Caribbean, the demise of women’s organizations.

We suffer on the front line from a paucity of intellectual capital. Women’s issues today are largely the purvey of academics and professional women who set up centers and do research and write about women. We have to be vigilant about pseudo activism.

Photo Karen Sudu http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20100809/lead/lead4.html

Putting Women’s Bodies at the

Center of Science

At the heart of reducing the HIV epidemic in women is the development of technologies of prevention for women that are user friendly and empowering that promote choice.

We need a policy that puts women at the center of science. The most effective method to prevent HIV is a condom which women must negotiate, a female condom must also be negotiated.

It is unfeminist to accept a female condom without understanding and acknowledging that it is a flipped out male condom, and unfriendly to women’s bodies.

The great work being done by South African Scientists, Quarraisha and Salim Abdool Karim must be supported.

The progress made in vaginal Microbicides must be supported.

(Dr. Salim & Dr. Quarraisha Abdool Karim CAPRISA South Africa) http://www.aidstruth.org/features/2009/south-africa-needs-hivaids-truth-commission

RecommendationsThe problems we face in curbing the HIV epidemic in women at the community level requires the following:

More intellectual capital in supporting the building and sustainability of women’s organizations

More funds earmarked for such work

The agendas of grass roots organizations should not be just teaching women skills and crafts but advocacy that is politicized and informed by a feminist consciousness

All women must advocate for new technologies, advocacy should not be just where trials are conducted. Women across the world intuitively understand this need. We live with imperfect technologies in and on our bodies everyday

http://www.jamaicaart.com/Original%20images/Haitia/Market-Abstract.jpg

We Should Not Be Treated As Objects To Be Rescued From A Burning Building

The power of the paradigm of science and scientific research cannot be changed by the gender of the scientist but by a revolutionary shift in putting women’s bodies at the center of scientific discovery. We privileged women cannot have women’s movement by ourselves. We cannot have a women’s movement without the women.

The global fund cannot arrive at approximating zero infections in women without sustained funding for women.

We will not have sustained funding unless we make our governments and representatives stand up for us.

We should not be treated as objects to be rescued from a burning building

This will not happen unless we build strong women’s movements on the ground.

(Annesha, Jamaica)

ReferencesGetting to zero: Time to shape our destiny: Speech by UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé on the occasion of the 29th Meeting of the Programme Coordinating Board, 13 December 2011

Getting to zero: Time to shape our destiny: Speech by UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé on the occasion of the 29th Meeting of the Programme Coordinating Board, 13 December 2011

http://www.unaids.org/en/media/unaids/contentassets/documents/document/2011/06/20110601_HLM_Pannel4.pdf

http://www.dfid.gov.uk/news/press-releases/2011/mitchell-investing-in-girls-can-stop-poverty/

http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2010/gaab3974.doc.htmhttp://jamaica-nap.org/pdf/epi-update-tables-jan-to-jun-08.pdf

http://www.unaids.org/en/dataanalysis/monitoringcountryprogress/progressreports/2012countries/ce_GY_Narrative_Report[1].pdf

http://www.avert.org/global-fund.htm#contentTable

http://www.unaids.org/en/media/unaids/contentassets/documents/unaidspublication/2010/20100226_jc1794_agenda_for_accelerated_country_action_en.pdf

http://www.kaieteurnewsonline.com/2010/05/26/st-joseph-high-hosts-cultural-day/