IRIN HIV/AIDS Weekly - 45
Africa
21 September 2001


NEWS:

SOUTH AFRICA: HIV/AIDS Report still to be released
KENYA: US $39 million needed for HIV/AIDS drugs
AFRICA: FAO official says AIDS poses biggest threat to food security
AFRICA: UNICEF Report Says HIV/AIDS threatens the rights of children

LINKS:
1. SA Health Info
2. Soul City
3. AIDS Information Dissemination Site
4. CATIE - The Community AIDS Treatment Information Exchange

CONFERENCES/RESEARCH/ARTICLES:
1. African Journal Of AIDS Research
2. UNAIDS Media Handbook For HIV Vaccine Trials
3. Male Circumcision and HIV Prevention
4. Workshop on Management of AIDS-Nigeria
5. Making A difference for Children Affected by AIDS

JOB OPPORTUNITIES:
1. Regional Technical Advisor for HIV/AIDS
2. HIV/AIDS Radio Production Advisor
3. International Planned Parenthood Federation Africa Regional Director

SOUTH AFRICA: HIV/AIDS Report still to be released

The South African Medical Research Council (MRC) announced that it would
not release its report, which points to HIV/AIDS as the leading cause of
deaths in the country, this week because it still has to hold a series of
briefings and discussions with various role-players. This announcement
followed a statement on Monday in which the council said it hoped to
release the document, "The Impact HIV/AIDS has on Mortality in South
Africa", this week.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, MRC president Dr Malegapuru Makgoba was
unable to say when the report might be released. "The report will
definitely not be released this week because I must first be satisfied
with the process which it is going through once it is completed," Makgoba
said. "Given the significance of the findings, the MRC has decided to
pursue the process of informing the policy-makers of our country through
several discussion processes." He said the MRC had received useful and
constructive feedback from various government agencies using different
methodologies and approaches to analyse the same problem. "When these
processes are completed the MRC will release the report. We have every
confidence that our country's policy-makers will expedite this process in
the interest of informing the public," he added.

Meanwhile religious, labour and AIDS groups gathered in Cape Town this
week to challenge the government to "overcome the denial syndrome" of
HIV/AIDS and called for the "immediate release" of the MRC report.  The
Anglican and Catholic churches, the Congress of South African Trade Unions
and the AIDS group Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) met on Monday to draft
a statement asking the government to "acknowledge the scale of the
HIV/AIDS epidemic" in South Africa.  The group said that it has created a
programme to help government officials and others overcome their "denial"
of HIV/AIDS. The TAC has written to the health minister, Manto
Tshabalala-Msimang, giving her one week to publish the report or else face
legal action from the group.

KENYA: US $39 million needed for HIV/AIDS drugs

The Kenyan government said on Wednesday it requires Ksh 3 billion (US $39
million) to provide antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) for HIV/AIDS patients in
public health institutions, the 'East African Standard' reported. Minister
for health, Sam Ongeri was quoted as saying that it was impossible to
provide ARVs - used in the drug cocktail used to fight HIV/AIDS - in
public hospitals as it would mean spending one-fifth of the ministry's Ksh
15 billion (US $195 million) on the therapy, forcing spending on many
other public health services to be frozen.

He added that treatment was only available in private hospitals, which
employed clinicians qualified to administer the drugs. Only 2,000 of
Kenya's estimates 2.2 million people living with HIV/AIDS were able to
afford treatment with ARVs, according to Ongeri.

Enactment of the Industrial Property Act by Parliament, however, could
make the drugs more widely available, as it would allow the government to
import or manufacture cheaper copies of brand-name drugs, including ARVs,
Ongeri said. Kenya's MPs took the first step towards improving
accessibility to the drugs in June, when they passed the Industrial
Property Bill, making Kenya the second African country, after South
Africa, to adopt such legislation.

AFRICA: FAO official says AIDS poses biggest threat to food security

George McGovern, current American ambassador to the UN Food and
Agriculture Organization (FAO), told a press briefing in Johannesburg on
Wednesday that HIV/AIDS is by far Africa's biggest killer and poses the
biggest threat to food security. McGovern, who has just completed a
fact-finding mission to Ethiopia, Senegal and South Africa, likened the
impact of HIV/AIDS on agriculture with the devastating effects that the 11
September attacks on New York and Washington has had on the world.

"It's really a form of terrorism that will destroy more lives than have
been destroyed in any attack of the kind that just took place in the
United States, " McGovern said. "It's like a runaway freight train ripping
across the continent, killing people on all sides." Because AIDS affects
people in the prime of their lives, he said, there is an inverse relation
between the spread of AIDS and food production. McGovern cited the deaths
from HIV-related illnesses of 7 million agricultural workers worldwide in
the past 15 years, adding that because of diminished agricultural capacity
in Africa, the FAO will have to give additional aid to Angola, Ethiopia
and Zimbabwe.

According to the FAO, HIV/AIDS undermines agricultural systems and affects
the nutritional situation and food security of rural families. As adults
fall ill and die, families face declining productivity as well as loss of
knowledge about indigenous farming methods and loss of assets. FAO has
estimated that in the 25 most-affected African countries, AIDS could kill
16 million agricultural workers within the next 20 years

AFRICA: UNICEF Report Says HIV/AIDS threatens the rights of children

HIV/AIDS is one of the "cruellest political and social problems in the
world," particularly for children, UNICEF reports in its "State of the
World's Children 2002," which was released this week in preparation for
the U.N. General Assembly Special Session on Children. The assembly,
originally scheduled for Sept 19-21, has been postponed because of the
recent terrorist attacks on New York City and the Pentagon.

HIV/AIDS is "destroying families, communities and nations," causing life
expectancy to "plummet" while AIDS orphans "overwhelm family networks,
social services and health care institutions," the report states.  One of
the goals set forth at the 1990 World Summit for Children was to "improve
protection of children in especially difficult circumstances," including
children affected by HIV/AIDS.

According to the report, the impact of the disease was "crushing the
attempts of countries all over the world to put human development and the
rights of women and children first", especially in Southern and Eastern
Africa.  The report said poverty in the regions had exacerbated the
epidemic, illustrating that AIDS was the "most savage index of the
inequality of our world". It added that projected child mortality rates
for 2000-2005 in Botswana, Zimbabwe and South Africa were equal to or
greater than 50 percent, and the southern and eastern regions of the
continent had 6.4 million AIDS orphans as of last year. For more on the
report: http://www.unicef.org/media/sowc02presskit/fullreport.htm


LINKS:

1. SA Health Info. A comprehensive health information website.
www.sahealthinfo.org

2. Soul City. A South African AIDS TV programme www.soulcity.org.za

3. AIDS Information Dissemination Site, Southern Africa. This site has an
extensive list of AIDS-related links in southern Africa and around the
world. It also includes a discussion forum to which anyone can freely
subscribe. http://www2.wn.apc.org/sahivaids

4. CATIE - The Community AIDS Treatment Information Exchange. A site for
information on the latest in HIV/AIDS treatment
http://www.catie.ca/network.html


CONFERENCES/RESEARCH/ARTICLES:

1. African Journal of AIDS Research is a newly founded journal that
publishes papers, which make an original contribution to understanding of
the social dimensions of HIV/AIDS in African contexts. AJAR should be of
interest to researchers in sociology, demography, epidemiology,
psychology, anthropology, media, cultural studies, nursing, health
promotion, social work, and economics. Further details:
http://www.kabissa.org/kfn/newsletter.php?id=2862

2. UNAIDS Media Handbook For HIV Vaccine Trials. This handbook has been
written to enhance the capacity of scientists involved with HIV vaccine
trials to develop useful collaborations with the media, and through them,
other relevant groups and members of the public."
http://www.unaids.org/publications/documents/vaccines/index.html

3. Male Circumcision and HIV Prevention: Directions for Future Research
http://www.popcouncil.org/horizons/reports/circumcision/default.html

4. A workshop on management of AIDS in Nigeria is being held from 20-22
September in Lagos. For more information contact Kingsley Ihegworo
Telephone: 01 - 2647666 Facsimile:  01-2662300 E-Mail: mergefnm@yahoo.com
www.comminit.com/events_cal/2001/108-event.html

5. Making A difference for Children Affected by AIDS:
http://www.popcouncil.org/pdfs/horizons/orphansbsln.pdf


JOB OPPORTUNITIES:

1. Catholic Relief Services (CRS) is looking for a Regional Technical
Advisor for HIV/AIDS. The top priority for this post is to provide
assistance to the South Africa HIV/AIDS Programme Office, which is
responsible for programmes in Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa and
Swaziland. For more information contact: Dawn
Sheckells-CRS@rpc.webhire.com Include req. no. I 01 009 and source code
DRUMBEAT.

2. A HIV/AIDS Radio Production Advisor is needed by Media Support
Partnership Mozambique. Successful candidate will be Primarily responsible
for working with local broadcasters to develop HIV/AIDS radio programming
in Sofala, Manica and Tete provinces. Contact: Julia Russell -
julia@mediasupport.org Ref: DB_09

3. The International Planned Parenthood Federation is looking for a Africa
Regional Director. For more information
http://www.comminit.com/vacancy499.html  Contact: Dick Irish -
leadershipsearch@erols.com Ref: DB_09


IRIN-SA
Tel: +27 11 880-4633
Fax: +27 11 447-5472
Email: IRIN-SA@irin.org.za

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Copyright (c) UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2001


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