SPANISH GOVERNMENT POLICY ON HIV/AIDS AT HOME AND

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MADRID 004290 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR S/GAC, OES/IHA, AND EUR/WE. HHS FOR OS/OGHA/BUDASHEWITZ. CDC FOR GLOBAL AIDS PROGRAM. GENEVA FOR HEALTH ATTACHE. DEPARTMENT ALSO PASS TO EST COLLECTIVE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: SOCI KHIV SP SUBJECT: SPANISH GOVERNMENT POLICY ON HIV/AIDS AT HOME AND ABROAD REF: MADRID 3835 ¶1. Secretary of the Spanish National AIDS Plan Lourdes Chamorro Ramos briefed ESTHOFF November 4 on her office's domestic and international activities/priorities. Chamorro Ramos, the highest ranking Spanish Government official focusing solely on HIV/AIDS, indicated that her office has a good handle on the nature of the HIV/AIDS problem in Spain and is adequately funded to combat it. New HIV infection rates continue to decline since their 1994 peak and Chamorro Ramos does not believe a resurgence is likely. -------------- DOMESTIC PRIORITIES -------------- ¶2. Reflecting the lack of "crisis," Chamorro Ramos said she was currently focusing on three priorities: (A) whether to target prevention activities on the infected vice general population a la the U.S. practice; (B) how to balance the infected population's right to privacy with the national health system's need to disseminate information about infected individuals; and, (C) how to convince all hospitals to perform transplants on infected individuals (i.e., destroying the myth that such procedures can only be conducted in specialized facilities). ¶3. Regarding prevention activities, Chamorro Ramos indicated that she might be interested in sending some of her staff members to the U.S. to study specialized prevention programs that focus on infected individuals. ESTHOFF offered to assist in brokering desired meetings/visits. ¶4. Regarding the right to privacy, Chamorro Ramos said that the Spanish HIV/AIDS NGO community had mounted a successful legal challenge to a 2001 draft law that attempted to achieve a proper balance between privacy and dissemination. As a result, her office was building on the failed law to draft a new statute that would satisfy all stakeholders. The revised text was currently in the consultation phase with the NGO community. ¶5. Regarding transplants, Chamorro Ramos used the example of liver transplants to illustrate the problem. She said that there are 20 public hospitals in Spain that perform liver transplants, but only 10 had so far agreed to perform such transplants on individuals infected with the HIV virus. She stressed, however, that the GOS was attempting to address this problem via information campaigns vice Ministerial coercion. -------------- INTERNATIONAL ACTIVITIES -------------- ¶6. Chamorro Ramos openly acknowledged that Spain is not/not a key player in international efforts (multilateral or bilateral) to combat HIV/AIDS worldwide. Spain's most significant activity is its 100 million euro donation to the Global AIDS fund. This donation covers the 2003-6 period (25 million euros each year for four years). 50 million euros has already been dispersed (covering 2003/4); the remaining 50 million will be provided in 25 million increments in 2005 and 2006. Spain has also donated 400,000 euros to UNAIDS and 1 million euros to the World Health Organization (which is earmarked for distribution by the Pan-American Health Organization to anti-AIDS programs in Latin America). -------------- COMMENT -------------- ¶7. Chamorro Ramos is Spain's point person on HIV/AIDS both at home and abroad (though she stressed her office does not/not control the budgets of Spain's international HIV/AIDS activities). While the nature of her position would of course imply a strong defense of her office's domestic activities, we believe she was not/not blowing smoke when she described an adequately funded national health effort that has a good handle on the HIV/AIDS problem in Spain. If Chamorro Ramos can focus on privacy and transplant-related issues, that suggests to us that the malady itself is under control. Several NGOs do not agree and have publicly argued that the government has consistently underestimated the gravity of the HIV/AIDS situation in Spain. But this is understandable. It is, after all, their raison d'etre. However, the lack of general public controversy over HIV/AIDS suggests that the GOS does have this problem well under control. ARGYROS