At a time when HIV is still spreading steadily across the globe, we are also witnessing progress in controlling this deadly disease. Responses to the AIDS epidemic have grown and improved considerably over the last few years. The objective of this E-bulletin is to circulate AIDS-related news, publications, literature and research to affiliated unions and others working in this field. It is a part of our new Global HIV/AIDS project, which is targeting ITF affiliates all over the globe. Get involved! For further information and queries please contact Dr. Syed Asif Altaf, Global HIV/AIDS Project Coordinator, Altaf_Asif@itf.org.uk or the Regional Education Coordinator in your ITF region, ITF Education Department: education@itf.org.uk .

This issue of the E-bulletin will look back at a report from Uganda where the ITF affiliate has incorporated TB awareness activities in their HIV prevention programme; a report from Thailand   where government has taken initiatives to help workers with HIV/AIDS and TB. The issue will also focus on a new report from Asian Development Bank (ADB) on the linkage between transport, infrastructure development and HIV/AIDS.  

HIV/AIDS fueling increase in TB cases in Uganda: ITF affiliates include TB awareness activities in workplace HIV/AIDS programme  

Uganda's HIV/AIDS epidemic is fuelling the spread of tuberculosis although Uganda is one of the first countries in sub-Saharan Africa to take action to control the HIV epidemic. While the rate of new infections continues to increase in most countries in sub-Saharan Africa, Uganda has succeeded in lowering its very high infection rates. Since 1993, HIV infection rates among pregnant women, a key indicator of the progress of the epidemic, have been more than halved in some areas and infection rates among men seeking treatment for sexually transmitted infections have dropped by over a third.  But recently, the Ministry of Health reported that the number of reported TB cases increased by almost 12% between 2001 and 2005. According to Joseph Imoko, the World Health Organization country officer for TB, the distance required to reach health centres is a main challenge in fighting TB in Uganda. In addition to that inadequate health infrastructure, a lack of education about TB and insufficient sanitation are contributing to the rise in TB cases as most of the TB cases have been recorded in slums and camps for internally displaced persons, where overcrowding is common.

Uganda recently launched the three-year, $3 million Tuberculosis Control Assistance Program, which is funded by the U.S. and supports the health ministry's efforts to fight HIV/TB co infection. The program is under way in 12 districts in the central, western, eastern and southwestern regions. The health ministry uses DOTS in an effort to ensure that people with TB adhere to treatment regimens.

The Amalgamated Transport and General Workers’ Union, the ITF affiliate in Uganda has been implementing HIV/AIDS prevention and care projects for many years. Recently they have included TB awareness activities in their ongoing HIV/AIDS prevention programmes both at workplaces and at the resource centres at the Uganda-Kenya border for truck drivers and surrounding communities.  
    

Thailand to bolster measures aimed at protecting employees with HIV/AIDS and TB

Several Thai government agencies are working to strengthen a project aimed at protecting workers living with tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS by encouraging the private sector to provide adequate care and support for employees. Thailand's Department of Labour Protection and Welfare, the Social Security Office, the Department of Communicable Disease and the AIDS-Response Standard Organization (ASO), recently signed an agreement pledging to continue the ASO-Thailand Project. Labour Minister Uraiwan Thienthong at the project signing ceremony said that providing care to employees would benefit businesses. She added that workers who have HIV/AIDS or TB should not be forced to resign because both diseases can be treated.

Asian Development Bank projects aimed at improving transportation, infrastructure fuelling spread of HIV in some areas, study finds  

Asian Development Bank (ADB) projects aimed at improving transportation and infrastructure in Asia could be fuelling the spread of HIV in some parts of the region, according to a recently released ADB resource book for the transport sector called,“ ADB, Roads and HIV/AIDS”.

According to this resource book, large construction and transportation projects draw men into rural areas, increasing the demand for sex. In addition, commercial sex work, as well as drug and human trafficking, follow major construction and transportation projects, increasing the spread of HIV in the areas surrounding the projects, the report found.

In Asia, an estimated 4.9 million people live with HIV, including the 440,000 people who became newly infected in 2006.In 2007, there were an estimated 33.2 million people living with HIV globally, 6.3 million lower than last year's estimate of 39.5 million people. HIV prevalence is highest in South-East Asia, with large variations: while the epidemic seemed to decline in Cambodia, Myanmar, and Thailand (lower prevalence), it is growing in Indonesia and in Vietnam. In India, data shows some 2.5 million people were living with HIV as of 2006.

An estimated 14,000 people acquired HIV in Pacific in 2007, bringing the total number of people living with HIV to 75,000. Some 1,200 people died of AIDS related illnesses in the Pacific in 2007.

According to the study, long-distance truck drivers in Bangladesh have the highest rates of HIV in the country. It also found that the incidence of sexually transmitted infections in China is four times higher among truck drivers than the general population. The study also found an HIV prevalence of 16% along a transport route in southern India, compared with an HIV prevalence of less than 1% nationwide. In addition, the study found that the 1997 construction of the Mandalay-Muse highway, which connects Myanmar and China, led to an increase in injection drug use, fuelling the spread of HIV among Intravenous drug users in three of Myanmar's provinces. ADB said that although improved transportation "bring many benefits, it also increases risks through greater mobility and connectivity." The bank added that mobile groups, especially "mobile men with money," are more likely to engage in risky sex and injection drug use. The bank added that it plans to integrate HIV prevention, education and treatment initiatives into its transportation and infrastructure programmes.