|
HIV Policy and Advocacy Monitor:
What drove you to become involved in advocacy?
I
have advocated on behalf of a variety of health- and governance-related
causes for more than 20 years and view myself as a product of others'
advocacy work, especially that of the ACT UP movement in the United
States during the early years of the global HIV epidemic. When I
contracted HIV 15 years ago, there was no treatment available in
Ukraine. To be treated, you had to either travel abroad or
do what I did, along with several other activists: stay and fight for
the right to treatment. ACT UP fought for access to combination therapy
treatment and demanded that it be made available to everyone around the
world. Between their advocacy and our own,
Ukrainians like me are on therapy, alive, and thriving.
HIV Policy and Advocacy Monitor:
Can you provide examples of successful Patients of Ukraine advocacy campaigns?
In
2011, it was unclear whether the government would continue to provide
antiretroviral therapy (ART) to those already receiving the treatment.
In collaboration with the Ukrainian Network of People Living with HIV,
Patients of Ukraine collected 500 postcards signed by children living
with or affected by HIV and delivered them to the president at a press
conference. Each card included the campaign's
request to the president's administration: "Let us live." After the
conference, the prime minister signed an order to finance treatment for
PLHIV and, in January 2012, the minister of health announced that the
state would pay for treatment for an additional
42,000 Ukrainians living with HIV.
Now,
with the currency devaluation and the war, there are once again
concerns about whether the government will be able to continue financing
treatment. Patients of Ukraine has proposed a tax on alcohol and
tobacco to help fund the health sector. Advocacy helps us find solutions
to health problems and promote change in the broader health system. It
is the key to our success because, from an investment
perspective, it provides a significant return by impacting many
people's lives.
HIV Policy and Advocacy Monitor:
How have the ongoing conflict with Russia and Ukraine's internal strife
compromised health services in Crimea and in the east and southeast of
Ukraine?
Services
have been most compromised in areas not controlled by Ukraine.
Volunteer organizations have tried to deliver ART to conflict zones
but it is not possible to systematically control the delivery process.
This leaves people exposed to possible treatment discontinuation,
worsening health, and increased risk of transmission. After the war,
rebuilding the most conflict-affected regions and
ensuring access to HIV care and treatment for residents of these places
will be very difficult.
HIV Policy and Advocacy Monitor:
How has your organization's work changed or refocused since the 2014 change in government?
Patients
of Ukraine is currently engaged in a healthcare sector reform
initiative. We have presented ideas and proposals to the government
and will continue advocating for healthcare reform in 2015. We will
begin by targeting the pharmaceutical sector to make medicines on the
market less expensive by allowing, for example, direct procurement of
medical supplies. We are also working to liberalize
domestic markets by breaking down barriers to creating and developing
high-quality medicines in Ukraine. Reducing the money spent on medicines
will free resources for Ukrainian hospitals to more effectively meet
the needs of their patients. As a result of
direct procurement and a more liberal marketplace, the country would
recoup over a billion dollars from black market sales.
These
efforts will be followed by a service availability assessment to
monitor the health sector and produce valuable data for use in a range
of advocacy efforts. Saving lives has to be the state's top priority;
it is a crime for a government to withhold life-saving treatment from
its citizens. Patients of Ukraine works to remind the state of this
priority, particularly in the context of its 2015
budget.
HIV Policy and Advocacy Monitor:
How does Patients of Ukraine keep up-to-date and knowledgeable about
relevant issues to present decisionmakers with appropriate solutions?
We
never expect someone to solve anything for us; change is something you
have to achieve on your own. Our organization tries to build its
expertise around advocacy topics by seeking knowledge from various
stakeholders and experts, and collaborating with people who share our
views and beliefs. By collecting this knowledge and experience, we use
it to affect positive change.
|
It is my hope that the HIV POLICY and ADVOCACY Monitor reaches wider audiences in Africa as well.
ReplyDeleteReading a paper like this and subscribing to similar ones helps us understand: ABC/ABC+, elimination of perinatal transmission, PEP and PrEP., as well as newer prevention practices.
"Towards Zero," will need more effort and more people. Prevention in all its presentation targeting all population groups and the way they experience sexuality has to come in the picture. Prevention practices for all population groups must be encouraged and facilitated. As someone who worked on a Prevention Programme in Africa up to 2011, am so looking forward to reading another report.
Thanks for sharing,