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The Role of Civil Society Organizations in Monitoring the Global AIDS Response

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Abstract

Civil society organizations (CSOs) are recognized as playing an exceptional role in the global AIDS response. However, there is little detailed research to date on how they contribute to specific governance functions. This article uses Haas’ framework on global governance functions to map CSO’s participation in the monitoring of global commitments to the AIDS response by institutions and states. Drawing on key informant interviews and primary documents, it focuses specifically on CSO participation in Global AIDS Response Progress Reporting and in Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria processes. It argues that the AIDS response is unique within global health governance, in that CSOs fulfill both formal and informal monitoring functions, and considers the strengths and weaknesses of these contributions. It concludes that future global health governance arrangements should include provisions and resources for monitoring by CSOs because their participation creates more inclusive global health governance and contributes to strengthening commitments to human rights.

Resumen

El rol de las organizaciones de la sociedad civil en el monitoreo de la respuesta mundial al sida Las organizaciones de la sociedad civil (OSC) son reconocidas por jugar un rol excepcional en la respuesta mundial al SIDA. Sin embargo, hasta la fecha, la investigación detallada sobre cómo éstas contribuyen a funciones específicas de gobernanza, es limitada. Este artículo utiliza el marco de funciones de gobernanza global propuesto por Haas para mapear la participación las OSC en el monitoreo de los compromisos globales de instituciones y Estados frente a la respuesta al SIDA. Basándose en entrevistas con informantes clave y documentos primarios, se enfoca específicamente en la participación de las OSC en el Informe mundial de avances en la lucha contra el SIDA y en los procesos del Fondo Mundial de lucha contra el SIDA, la tuberculosis y la malaria. Se argumenta que, debido a que las OSC cumplen funciones de monitoreo tanto formales como informales, la respuesta al SIDA es única dentro de la gobernanza de la salud mundial, y se consideran las fortalezas y debilidades de estas contribuciones. Se concluye que futuros acuerdos en gobernanza de la salud mundial deberían incluir provisiones y recursos para el monitoreo por la parte de las OSC, ya que su participación genera una gobernanza de la salud mundial más inclusiva y contribuye a fortalecer los compromisos con la defensa de los derechos humanos.

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Notes

  1. In total 173 submitted the NCPI in 2012 and in 2014 117 countries submitted the complete NCPI (including the CSO section), and 43 countries in Europe and Central Asia submitted responses to a shorter version, the so called Dublin Declaration questionnaire, not including all these questions.

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Funding

This study was partly funded by National Cancer Institute, US National Institutes of Health, Grant R01-CA091021. The contents of this paper are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the funders.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Blusson Hall, Room 11802, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, BC, V5A 1S6, Canada

    Julia Smith & Kelley Lee

  2. UNAIDS, Geneva, Switzerland

    Christoforos Mallouris & Tobias Alfvén

  3. Global Health - Health Systems and Policy, Department of Public Health Sciences, Karolinska Institutet, Solna, Sweden

    Tobias Alfvén

Authors
  1. Julia Smith
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  2. Christoforos Mallouris
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  3. Kelley Lee
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  4. Tobias Alfvén
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Correspondence to Julia Smith.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Smith, J., Mallouris, C., Lee, K. et al. The Role of Civil Society Organizations in Monitoring the Global AIDS Response. AIDS Behav 21 (Suppl 1), 44–50 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-016-1579-3

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