Tradicionalmente, las sociedades occidentales solían ver el arte africano como algo meramente folclórico o artesanal, y no fue hasta finales del siglo XX que aquellos que se hacen llamar críticos de arte revaluaron la singularidad de estas creaciones. De esta forma, el arte africano contemporáneo se ganó por fin un merecido lugar en la conciencia cultural de los países occidentales.
En 1986, una exposición en París resultó ser un factor clave en la transición hacia una nueva concepción del arte contemporáneo no occidental. Se trataba de la muestra denominada Magiciens de la Terre, en la que se exhibieron obras de artistas de todos los continentes. A raíz de este evento, el coleccionista de arte Jean Pigozzi, uno de los mayores promotores del arte africano, creó la Colección de Arte Africano Contemporáneo (CAAC).

La colección de Pigozzi, una de las más importantes del mundo, incluye las obras de artistas que viven y trabajan en África subsahariana y que se expresan a través de diversos formatos: desde la pintura y la escultura hasta el vídeo y los medios audiovisuales. La trascendencia de la colección y de la mayor parte del arte africano contemporáneo radica en el hecho de que los artistas han logrado liberarse de la tutela estética impuesta por los modelos occidentales y además han sido capaces de expresar ideas de carácter local o universal con un lenguaje, íconos y formatos propios.

Los artistas africanos viven y trabajan en estrecho contacto con su público y son conscientes de lo que acontece tanto en el ámbito local como en el internacional. Asimismo, la representación de los problemas colectivos se ha convertido en un modelo recurrente que enfatiza la importancia de la comunidad en África.

Cheri Samba, uno de los pintores congoleños más famoso, declaró: "mi arte es una parte y una parcela de mi entorno; se inspira en las personas, se preocupa por ellas y está dirigido a ellas" (1).

El arte africano se interna en lo más profundo de su propia realidad, lo que convierte a los artistas en cronistas de su tiempo. La tradición, la naturaleza, los mitos y el día a día son las fuentes de inspiración que moldean las obras de los artistas africanos contemporáneos. Pero lo que es común a todos ellos es la inevitable influencia del sida, el alcance que tiene en sus sociedades y en la concepción de su arte.
El sida ha marcado las vidas de millones de personas, especialmente en África subsahariana, y su eco se hace sentir a través de la forma en que los artistas perciben sus comunidades. Sus obras reflejan de muchas maneras los efectos que la epidemia de sida tiene en las sociedades en las que viven. Sin embargo, el arte puede y debería desempeñar un papel significativo en la respuesta al sida.
La estrecha relación entre los artistas africanos y sus comunidades, sin contar el hecho de que emplean una lengua en común, los sitúa en una posición privilegiada para fomentar la concienciación sobre la epidemia además de estimular la reflexión y el diálogo en torno a varias cuestiones relacionadas con el sida, tales como el estigma y la discriminación, la pobreza, la igualdad entre sexos y los derechos humanos.

La colección del ONUSIDA Arte por el sida
A finales de 2006 el ONUSIDA lanzó la colección Arte por el sida en su nueva sede en Ginebra, un edificio que comparte con la Organización Mundial de la Salud.

“Somos muy afortunados de tener piezas de arte cedidas de la colección Jean Pigozzi, Ginebra," afirma Annemarie Hou, encargada de la colección del ONUSIDA. "Hay unas cuantas obras que son muy comentadas por los pasillos y que animan conversaciones fervientes; fue al oír a la gente hablar sobre arte cuando supimos que la colección marchaba perfectamente."

La colección del ONUSIDA Arte por el sida cuenta con piezas de museo de alta calidad que incitan a la reflexión y al diálogo. Con un énfasis inicial en el arte y en los artistas africanos, se han ido reuniendo las piezas con el generoso apoyo de artistas, coleccionistas  y donantes.

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Fotos: UNAIDS/O. O'Hanlon

(1) Cheri Samba, 100% Africa, TF Editores & FMGB Guggenheim Bilbao Museoa, Bilbao, 2006, p.142

 

Nota: El trabajo de 25 artistas de la colección de Jean Pigozzi se puede apreciar en el museo Guggenheim de Bilbao, España, hasta el 18 de febrero de 2007, en una muestra titulada 100% África.

La medicina tradicional africana es la principal opción de asistencia sanitaria, y casi siempre la única, de muchas personas que viven en África subsahariana. 

A comienzos de los años 90, la Organización Mundial de la Salud realizó los primeros intentos de acercar la asistencia biomédica a la medicina tradicional para tratar a las personas que viven con el VIH al recomendar que se incluyera la medicina tradicional en las respuestas nacionales al VIH.

“En todo el mundo las personas siempre acuden a doctores biomédicos y a curanderos tradicionales para todo tipo de problemas físicos, psicológicos y espirituales. El VIH no es una excepción”, afirmó Purnima Mane, Directora de Política, Documentación de Pruebas y Asociaciones del ONUSIDA. “Es nuestra responsabilidad asegurar que las personas puedan acceder a la mejor asistencia posible” añadió.

Los primeros intentos de combinar lo mejor de los dos sistemas fueron una serie de proyectos sobre la utilidad de los remedios herbarios tradicionales para el tratamiento de las enfermedades relacionadas con el VIH. La opinión de los curanderos sobre las infecciones de transmisión sexual y la infección por el VIH sirvió de base para crear diferentes proyectos de colaboración. Los curanderos recibieron unos cursos sobre educación y asesoramiento con el objetivo de que pudieran ofrecer después información sobre el VIH y otras infecciones de transmisión sexual a sus comunidades y a otros curanderos.

Uno de estos proyectos contó con la participación de los curanderos inanda del Valle de las Mil Colinas, en Kwa-Zulu Natal(Sudáfrica). En el año 2000, los líderes de las comunidades solicitaron ayuda para fortalecer su respuesta a la pandemia de sida y afirmaron que los curanderos tradicionales podrían desempeñar un papel muy importante. Como respuesta a su petición, un equipo de médicos y científicos sociales comenzó a trabajar en colaboración con los curanderos locales en proyectos de prevención del VIH.

Un grupo de unos 16 a 20 curanderos asistió a unos talleres mensuales donde recibieron información sobre la transmisión, la prevención, el tratamiento y la asistencia del VIH. Debatieron sobre las prácticas sexuales tradicionales y culturales que podrían prevenir la transmisión del VIH y sobre diferentes prácticas sexuales más seguras que iban más allá de la utilización del preservativo. También se trató el tema de los tratamientos a base de hierbas, como la Sutherlandia frutescens, también conocida como el “arbusto para el cáncer”, que se distribuye en forma de píldora y mejora el apetito y la inmunidad, y sobre otras medicinas tradicionales utilizadas por los curanderos.

Algunos oradores acudieron a los talleres para informar sobre el uso de las plantas medicinales y posteriormente, los curanderos, tras asistir a un curso en un vivero de plantas medicinales, cultivaron un jardín.

La coordinación de las necesidades del paciente dentro del contexto familiar y comunitario fue una parte esencial de las charlas. Tradicionalmente, los curanderos aplican en sus consultas procedimientos curativos holísticos a los problemas y enfermedades y, aunque el paciente sigue siendo el protagonista, se pretende dar una importancia similar al ambiente sociocultural donde la interacción de la red de apoyo y la familia son esenciales.

“Debemos encontrar diferentes maneras de facilitar y apoyar la importantísima contribución de los curanderos en la respuesta al sida”, afirmó Andy Seale, Director de Asociaciones con la Sociedad Civil del ONUSIDA.

A través de las reuniones regulares, los curanderos han establecido una red de apoyo informal y dependen unos de otros para la remisión de pacientes y los recursos. Cada vez se están encontrando más formas de estimular la red de remisión entre el sector sanitario y los curanderos.

El alcance del trabajo de los curanderos inanda cada vez es más amplio y el número de personas que acude a ellos para solicitar pruebas del VIH, asesoramiento y apoyo aumenta continuamente. Todavía hay esperanza en el Valle de las Mil Colinas, y el compromiso puede marcar la diferencia.

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Como parte de la Colección de Prácticas Óptimas, el ONUSIDA ha publicado directrices prácticas para ayudar a las autoridades a establecer colaboraciones productivas entre los curanderos tradicionales y los profesionales de la biomedicina moderna para fortalecer su respuesta al sida. Descargue el documento (en inglés)

Otros enlaces:

ONUSIDA "Colección Prácticas Óptimas" -  Aprender de la experiencia

"Towards Universal Access to Prevention, Treatment, Care and Support in the West and Central African Region”

The renewed commitment to universal access to prevention, treatment, care and support undertaken by countries across the world, has paved the way in West and Central Africa to more inclusive dialogue among partners, galvanizing consensus around the core challenges currently obstructing the national response, and strengthening joint determination to scale up national programmes. 

The process of scaling up towards universal access in West and Central Africa has demonstrated the positive impact that broad and collaborative partnerships can provide, bringing together actors from government, civil society, (including people living with HIV, faith-based organizations, women’s groups, networks of health NGOs, youth associations, community based organizations), the media, the private sector, and bilateral and multilateral partners. This broad partnership set the backdrop for informed and open discussion on central themes of the national consultations, for example, raising issues around the importance of prevention as a means to ensure the sustainability of treatment provision.  

The UNAIDS Regional Support Team in Dakar has extensively supported the meaningful involvement of civil society which has been of varying but increasing frequency/intensity, In several countries such as Burkina Faso, Mali, Nigeria and Senegal, civil society has been actively involved in both the target setting and review processes of national strategic planning, ensuring the critical input of West African civil society into regional and global fora. This participation was ensured at the Brazzaville regional consultation and the Abuja Heads of State Summit, but more significantly, enabled African civil society to contribute to “ Africa’s Common Position to the UN General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS” June 2006.  

Significant momentum has built up on target setting and its follow up, facilitated by technical and financial support provided by the UNAIDS country and regional offices, the UN Country Team and UN Theme Group . Seventeen of the twenty countries who have held national consultations to date have set targets towards scaling up, with countries raising the bar of aspiration by setting far more ambitious goals for 2010, in line with the 2001 Abuja Declaration and the UN High Level Meeting of June 2006.  

Progress made in West and Central Africa testifies to the central importance and utility of a strong strategic plan as the vehicle for reaching ambitious targets. Thirteen countries in all have developed nationally agreed roadmaps for scale-up over the next five years (2006-2010). Evidence suggests that those countries able to harmonize target setting with the strategic planning cycle, encountered far less difficulties in establishing targets than those who undertook a separate process. A harmonized strategic planning approach ensures that partners operate in accordance with national priorities, supporting the principles enshrined in the Three Ones and Global Task Team recommendations. In addition, it has been widely recognised that countries will only succeed in scaling up towards universal access if the critical obstacles identified during the country consultations are addressed through the national HIV strategic plans, and are complemented by regional and global level policy action.

Countries in the region have nevertheless encountered several challenges in the target setting and planning processes. In some cases, target setting has been hindered by a lack of available and reliable data, and further support is needed to establish one national M&E system, including a common database accepted and accessible by all partners. In addition, countries have struggled to cost their revised annual workplans, a process completed by six countries to date. Particular attention is needed to scale up technical capacity in this area to elaborate detailed costed annual work plans. Continued and sustained technical and financial support will be needed, for national governments and country-based civil society, to accelerate the national response .

The Regional Support Team in Dakar and the Country and Regional Support Department of UNAIDS Geneva will continue to provide technical and financial support to countries towards scaling up including the finalization of target setting and planning processes. In addition, the RST will also continue to work with the regional civil society networks in West and Central Africa to empower their respective member organization networks to play their role in the national AIDS response and to help them identify more effective means of communication and representation at key regional and global fora and institutions.

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Operational guidelines for setting targets  

Global Health Initiative of the World Economic Forum and the World Bank are calling for continued support for Business Coalitions in sub-Saharan Africa to back companies in tackling pandemic.

1st November 2006, Geneva, Switzerland: In the first ever study of its kind, “The State of Business Coalitions in Sub-Saharan Africa”, which is released today, shows how 27 countries are supporting businesses in addressing HIV/AIDS. At least 20 coalitions exist in Sub- Saharan Africa today with more than 16 having been established in the last 5 years to meet growing demands. The study provides guidance to newly launched and those soon to be formed coalitions, shares best practices, benefits, achievements, and highlights the key challenges facing coalitions. Other businesses and donors are now being urged to back the approach and help strengthen Business Coalitions as an important part of the solution to the epidemic, which is devastating Africa’s people and economy.

Business Coalitions create critical mass for businesses wanting to respond to the crisis. Although the set-up and running can vary dramatically from country to country, they are successfully mobilizing business efforts in a coordinated way, facilitating the sharing of best practices and serving as the voice of the private sector in calling for increased action and facilitation of treatment programmes. They provide a way for businesses to engage with other coalition partners in their country in fighting the disease, and channeling resources from both the private and public sectors.

For five years, The Global Health Initiative’s (GHI) and the World Bank’s AIDS Campaign Team for Africa (ACTafrica), have worked together to catalyze public private partnerships in health, by building and supporting business coalitions across Africa, and well placed to coordinate the mapping and evaluation of the work done to date. This was achieved with additional cooperation from Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ), UNAIDS, Corporate Council on Africa, and PharmAccess. Francesca Boldrini, GHI Director, commented, “This study highlights the richness of the business response in Africa that groups like the World Bank have been able to stimulate. It is fantastic that so many Business Coalitions have formed across Africa in recent years. It presents a huge opportunity to strengthen further the business response to AIDS - an opportunity we should not miss.”

All these new Business Coalitions have made excellent progress to date. In total, the coalitions have reached 1,950 organizations in sub-Saharan Africa. In order to sustain and keep growing their efforts a number of challenges need to be overcome.

The study reveals key challenges facing Business Coalitions today which include financial sustainability, with unpredictable funding from donors; the difficulty in meeting increasing company demands with limited staff and a lack of relevant skills; and reaching out to engage small and medium enterprises (SMEs), who employ the majority of Africa’s workers, but don’t have the resources and expertise of multinationals.

“In the global battle against HIV/AIDS, business has an obvious and important role to play”, says Elizabeth Ashbourne, Focal Point for Private Sector and HIV/AIDS in Africa, at the World Bank. “This study provides an excellent overview of how Business Coalitions can work effectively to overcome the challenges they face. I hope it acts as a motivator for all stakeholders – businesses, governments, donors – to recognize the value of National Coalitions and to work together with our development partners and country clients to strengthen their initiatives across Africa.”

The study concludes that strengthened HIV/AIDS Business Coalitions have the potential to meet the demands of companies today.

To download a copy of the full report and the individual country coalition profiles, highlighting the activities and successes, please visit the GHI website, http://www.weforum.org/en/initiatives/globalhealth/index.htm

Notes to editors:

About the Global Health Initiative (GHI) of the World Economic Forum
The GHI provides a unique platform for catalysing public-private partnerships in health and driving action on HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria at the regional, national and international levels. To achieve this goal, the GHI works closely with the World Economic Forum’s member and partner companies as well as UNAIDS, the boards of the Global Fund and the Global Partnership along with the World Health Organization’s Stop TB and Roll Back Malaria partnerships. In addition to these, the GHI successfully engages with a broad range of NGOs and other members of civil society, as well as governments from across the world, effectively stimulating public-private dialogue in world health.

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The World Economic Forum is an independent international organization committed to improving the state of the world by engaging leaders in partnerships to shape global, regional and industry agendas.
 
Incorporated as a foundation in 1971, and based in Geneva, Switzerland, the World Economic Forum is impartial and not-for-profit; it is tied to no political, partisan or national interests.

For more information:
Richard Elliott
Senior Media Officer
Tel.: +41 (0)22 869 12 92
Fax: + 41 (0)22 869 13 94
richard.elliott@weforum.org 
www.weforum.org

UNAIDS welcomes the African Civil Society Coalition as a significant stakeholder in the process to move towards universal access by 2010.

Thirty representatives from the African Civil Society Coalition on HIV and AIDS attended the International AIDS Conference in Toronto to push forward the agenda on universal access to prevention, treatment, care and support for all Africans.

The African Civil Society Coalition was recently established to work on key advocacy challenges in Africa, review AIDS strategies and provide a platform for energising HIV and AIDS campaigns by African civil society groups. The Coalition joins together a range of civil society groups including, women’s groups, youth networks, associations of people living with HIV, the media and faith based organisations.

The Toronto conference was an opportunity not only for the Coalition to promote the need to scale-up the response in Africa at an international level, but was also a chance to meet with other key actors to discuss ways forward and the active involvement and participation of African civil society in the decision making processes.

“It is extremely important that such a Coalition exists,” said UNAIDS’ Director of Country and Regional Support, Michel Sidibe. “It empowers small scale organizations and gives them more visibility at regional and international level”.

Midway through the conference, the Coalition met with the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) to discuss practical steps for ensuring that the Coalition is fully involved in the process of setting national targets to scale up towards universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support by 2010.

UNAIDS is urging countries to set up, through transparent and fully inclusive processes, ambitious national targets to move towards universal access. As agreed in the Political Declaration adopted in June at the 2006 United Nations High Level Review. “We believe that at this period in history, when the world seems to be united in the drive towards achieving universal access, African civil society groups must come together strongly to play critical roles in the national and regional responses,” said Omololu Falobi from the Nigerian non governmental organization, Journalists Against AIDS. “Civil society must play an active role with national governments, regional institutions such as the African Union and stakeholders such as UNAIDS in the movement to scale up the AIDS response,” he added.

Members of the Coalition are meeting in Mombassa, Kenya mid-September, to develop strategic directions for enhanced civil society participation in target-setting process and in monitoring accountability by African governments towards universal access benchmarks for 2008 and 2010.

UNAIDS encourages similar civil society networking initiatives around the world. “The movement to scale up towards universal access is a momentum that we have to seize together. Because mutual accountability will produce better results, we will seek every opportunity to build bridges between state and non state actors,” said Michel Sidibe.

The XVI International AIDS Conference, a biennial event, this year brought together some 24,000 participants from around the world to present the latest findings and share the latest evidence, ideas and lessons learned in AIDS research, policies and programmes.

Related links
UNAIDS at XVI International AIDS Conference

The partners of the African Civil Society Coalition on HIV and AIDS include:

AIDS Rights Alliance of Southern Africa
ActionAid International - Africa
African Council of AIDS Service Organisations (AfriCASO)
African Microbicides Advocacy Group (AMAG)
Central African Network of AIDS Service Organisations (CANASO)
Civil Society Network on HIV/AIDS in Nigeria (CISHAN)
CREDO for Freedom of Expression and Associated Rights
Eastern African National Network of AIDS Service Organisations (EANNASO)
Global Youth Coalition on AIDS (GYCA)
Journalists Against AIDS (JAAIDS) Nigeria
Network of African People Living with HIV/AIDS (NAP+)
Treatment Action Campaign (TAC)
Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA)
Oxfam International
Panos Institute Global AIDS Programme
Southern African AIDS Information Dissemination Service (SAfAIDS)
Society for Women and AIDS in Africa (SWAA)
World AIDS Campaign

African leaders and Heads of State recently met in Abuja, Nigeria at a Special Summit on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria to address the challenges posed by the three diseases that kill an estimated four million Africans every year.

Organized by the African Union in collaboration with UN Agencies and other development partners, and at the invitation of Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, the Special Summit adopted the Abuja Call for accelerated action towards Universal Access to AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria (ATM) services in Africa, and a resolution to achieve this by 2010. The delegates also adopted an African Common Position to be presented to the High Level Meeting on AIDS in June 2006.

In the Abuja Call, participants urged for intensified leadership at all levels; further commitments regarding human rights; increased mobilization of resources including negotiations for debt cancellation; and collective advocacy with multilateral and bilateral donors.

African leaders renewed their commitment to allocate 15% of their national budgets to health, and to incorporate health financing plans into national development plans.

“For the first time the political commitment exists to work towards Universal Access to HIV prevention, treatment and care, but getting this will require that once more we change gear and further accelerate the response to AIDS. We have no other options that will save entire societies”, said UNAIDS Executive Director Dr Peter Piot.

Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo commended African countries for the progress they had so far made in responding to AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. The Nigerian leader called for the development of structures and systems guaranteeing better and more transparent utilization of funds, as well as for the development of strategies translating national level goals into community targets.

Also speaking on the occasion, African Union Commission Chairperson, Prof. Alpha Konare, outlined measures Africa should adopt to successfully deliver AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria services. These include local production of essential medicines, greater mobilization of resources, more efficient utilization of resources, and ensuring access to the most vulnerable groups.

Sub-Saharan Africa has just over 10% of the world’s population, but is home to more than 60% of all people living with HIV - 25.8 million. In 2005, an estimated 3.2 million people in the region became newly infected, while 2.4 million adults and children died of AIDS. Among young people aged 15-24 years, an estimated 4.6% of women and 1.7% of men were living with HIV in 2005.

Related links
Read Statement of the UNAIDS Executive Director Dr Peter Piot at the Special Assembly of Heads of State and Government, Abuja, 4 May 2006  

Photo gallery
3 April 2006
4 April 2006

In an attempt to step up the pace of HIV prevention in Africa, the African Union and United Nations launched a new initiative last week to scale up HIV prevention programmes in Africa.

The campaign, which was kicked off in Addis Ababa, Johannesburg, Khartoum, and Ouagadougou, is a follow up to the Declaration adopted by African Ministers of Health in 2005, declaring 2006 as the “Year for Accelerating HIV Prevention in the African Region”.

HIV prevention deserves more serious attention if the goal of coming as close as possible to universal access to HIV prevention, treatment and care by 2010 is to be met. Without effective prevention activities, the impact of AIDS will become even more severe as more people becoming newly infected.

“AIDS responses must be exceptional, but not isolated, requiring balancing of political momentum on AIDS and putting countries in the lead” said UNAIDS Director for Country and Regional Support, Michel Sidibe. He also stressed the need for an appropriate balance between emergency action and long term commitment.

According to UNAIDS, AIDS poses the greatest threat to security and development in Africa. As a result, HIV prevention and treatment should be scaled up urgently. The number of new HIV infections in Africa must be dramatically reduced in the next few years to ensure that treatment, care and support remain economically and socially sustainable.

Despite efforts to fight AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa, 3.2 million people were infected with HIV last year. HIV infections are rising most rapidly among young people under the age of 25 and women. 

The African prevention campaign is expected to build a powerful political and social movement that can finally reverse and stop the spread of HIV, which claimed 2.4 million African lives in 2005 alone. Sub-Saharan Africa continues to be the region worst-affected by the epidemic with close to 26 million people living with HIV.

Press statement: Following the recent claim of a new treatment which can cure AIDS in the Gambia, UNAIDS and WHO strongly encourage the Gambia to collaborate with international experts on efforts to assess the safety, efficacy and quality of the therapeutic intervention, according to standard practices in any product development.

The United Nations today called on all Africans including governments, communities, people living with HIV and AIDS and individuals to take ownership and unite in the response to AIDS in Africa.

UNAIDS is deeply shocked at the recent killing of FannyAnn Eddy, a leading pan-African gay rights activist and founder of the Sierra Leone Lesbian and Gay Association (SLLAGA).