 A Final Push to Rebuild Education in Swaziland
The 'Rebuilding Human Capital in Swaziland' project team presented their final report to the project steering committee on 19 March in Mbabane, Swaziland.
HEARD Film Addresses MDG Issues In April, HEARD's documentary Vukuzakhe - Arise and Build Yourself was screened at this year's Cineposible International Film Festival of Extremadura (Spain).
Young Researchers Writing Workshop a Success The Young Researchers Initiative - a HEARD project that aims to support young researchers from across southern and eastern Africa develop their research and publication skills - brought together 12 young researchers from across the region for a very successful workshop.
New HEARD Report on Legal Obligations Around Women's Reproductive Rights and HIV In 2010 the global community will review whether it has achieved Universal Access to Prevention, Treatment, Care and Support and its progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
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Newsletter Issue 4
June 2010 Message from HEARD's Director
On 9th March I attended an HIV and AIDS summit convened by the then British Minister Gareth Thomas of the Department for International Development. This was held in the House of Lords and attended by over 40 leaders in the field of HIV including UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibe; Executive Director of the Global Fund for HIV/AIDS/TB and Malaria Michel Kazatchkine; and the head of the PEPFAR Eric Goosby. It was interesting meeting, focused and well chaired by Robin Gorna (the ED of the International AIDS Society). What became clear is there will not be huge quantities of new money. We are going to have to do better with what we have, while continuing to press for more resources. It was also apparent from the meeting that global leaders on the topic are more united than ever before. There was a sense that we have made progress, but more needs to be done. The contrast with my frequent visits to Swaziland over the past four months was stark. Swaziland continues to lead the world with regard to the prevalence of HIV infections and it is not clear to us that we are making much progress although everything is in place for there to be significant steps made forward. In also became apparent that one of the major challenges these small countries of Southern Africa will face is around the Customs Union. The Southern African Customs Union is the oldest such organisation in the world. It is a major source of funding for the government budgets of Lesotho and Swaziland and it important but less so for Botswana and Namibia. In the next few years the amount of money being received through this mechanism will decrease dramatically. There are real questions as to how governments will respond to this but rather more concerning is the lack of appreciation as to what it might mean for these small nations. It is an area for research. Elsewhere in this newsletter we focus on the Vienna Conference where HEARD will have a significant presence. We need to tell people what we have achieved. This year has seen a significant increase in the number of peer reviewed publication and I am extremely proud of the achievements of our staff. In addition to the travel to Swaziland and to the United Kingdom I also attended the Policy Advisory Committee of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative which was held in New York. I felt slightly sorry for myself because my flight was delayed by six hours due to high winds, and when we took off for Amsterdam we did not have our luggage or meals on board. Compared to events in Europe over the middle part of May with volcanic eruptions in Iceland it seems a relative small inconvenience. The dark cloud of the delay had a silver lining since I was re-routed via Paris and got to fly to Johannesburg on the new massive Airbus. If you are having problems viewing this email, View it online |
