We are working in key areas through political dialogue and public consciousness, training, and strengthening the lobbying capacity of PLWHA organizations and/ or groups in Latin America and the Caribbean with decision makers in order to get suitable health policies put in place that improve the quality of life for people living with HIV and AIDS.

Access to Treatment, Civil Vigilance, Lobbying, and Training are the different programs AIDS FOR AIDS International and its seven satellite offices have been working on within the Advocacy Department. We are also carrying out actions for promoting that all people in Latin America and the Caribbean, regardless of their serological condition, fully exercise their rights by which they will achieve significant changes and participate in processes where an organized civil society is the protagonist and sentinel. ASDASDASDASDASDFSDFSDFSDFSDFSDFSDFSDFSDSDFSDFSDFSDASDASDASDASDASDASDASDASD

In the past five years, the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria has invested more than $400 million in programs for Latin American and Caribbean countries.

Do we know if these programs are really benefitting our communities?

The Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria is an innovative funding mechanism the UN created in 2001, and it uses a performance based approach to disburse funds to programs that complement the national response to the three diseases.

The philosophy behind creating the Global Fund states that money raised should benefit people affected by AIDS through programs and mechanisms that respond to their comprehensive health care and treatment and prevention needs as well as by incorporating these communities into the implementation of those programs as main stakeholders.

However, after nine rounds of funding, we find the role of civil society and of the communities living with these diseases is not yet clear with respect to local implementers and principal recipients (PR’s). Moreover, there are no mechanisms in place for assisting social oversight that will guarantee transparent access to the resources.

AID FOR AIDS led a series of discussions during the 2005 Central American Conference on AIDS in San Salvador in which members of the Latin American civil society identified the need to develop a monitoring system, or social observatory, for watching over and improving the efficiency of the following areas of locally implemented, Global Fund financed programs:

• Development of the  Country Coordinating Mechanism (CCMs) and Civil Society Involvement.
• The role and performance of Principal Recipients and Sub Recipients.
• Mechanisms of procurement and supply chain of medication,including princing and quality of medication and equity in access.
• Monitoring access to treatment.
• Communication between Civil Society and the Global Fund. SDFSDFSDFSDFSDFFFFFFFFFFFDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

The Observatorio Latino is an AID FOR AIDS program that functions as a tool so CCM’s and people living with HIV, tuberculosis and malaria can:

• Share experiences and lessons learned to improve implementation of national, Global Fund financed programs
• To issue “Early Warnings” on difficulties implementers and government have implementing programs and managing resources
• To establish permanent communication mechanisms with the Global Fund
• To spread information on progress or bottlenecks in terms of HIV, TB and malaria treatment access, coverage, comprehensive care, and prevention.
• To advocate to government and other national decision makers to find solutions to identified problems through forging alliances with national networks, affected populations’ delegations to the GF, and the civil society – GF liaison office in order to make regional problems visible.

Overall program objective is to contribute to improving efficiency of Global Fund financed programs and participation of communities living with the three diseases in process that directly affect them through posting timely information and social vigilance.

The Observatorio Latino receives no donations or any other type of financial assistance from the Global Fund as a means of maintaining itself objective and of being able to carry out its monitoring duties effectively. FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF

The Observatorio Latino is directed to:

• PLWHA’s and TB affected people who are beneficiaries of Global Fund programs
• Country Coordinating Mechanism (CCM’s) members
• Principal recipients and implementers
• Technical cooperation agencies
• HIV, AIDS, and TB community activists FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF