IRIN HIV/AIDS Weekly - 146
Africa
12 September 2003


NEWS:

BOTSWANA: Miss HIV Stigma Free 2003
BOTSWANA: "Community Mobilisation Tool" launched
AFRICA: Health gains at WHO regional committee meeting
ZAMBIA: Poverty driving children into sex work
SOUTH AFRICA: Government releases long-awaited AIDS figures
ETHIOPIA: US funds to help cut mother-to-child transmission of HIV/AIDS
CENTRAL AFRICA: ADF grants US $8.3 million to help region fight HIV/AIDS
SWAZILAND: US mayors experience the impact of HIV/AIDS

LINKS

1. African Christian HIV/AIDS Network
2. Managing HIV
3. Revamped Health-e website
4. AIDSMark

CONFERENCES/EVENTS/RESEARCH RESOURCES

1. African Women and HIV/AIDS satellite session
2. Women's AIDS Run
3. Research Fellowships
4. Resource Allocation for HIV/AIDS conference
5. Call for Papers: HIV/AIDS in the Workplace

VACANCIES

1. HIV/AIDS and Sport Coordinator
2. Programme Manager

NEWS

BOTSWANA: Miss HIV Stigma Free 2003

Amidst cultural dance and drama performances, fourteen HIV-positive women
in Botswana paraded down the runway this weekend in a beauty pageant aimed
at destroying misconceptions about people living with the disease.

This was a beauty contest with a difference - the judges were searching
for participants who could be ambassadors of HIV/AIDS, and displayed
courage, sacrifice and patriotism.

The eventual winner of Miss HIV Stigma-Free, Kgalalelo Ntsepe, told the
audience she was living proof that antiretroviral drugs worked. "I was
scared to go home, and my parents did not recognise me as the child they
once knew," she said. Initially weighing 48kg before beginning treatment,
Ntsepe is now a healthy 75kg beauty queen.

More details:
http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSReport.ASP?ReportID=2488

BOTSWANA: "Community Mobilisation Tool" launched

Botswana's antiretroviral (ARV) AIDS therapy programme last week launched
a tool designed to teach Batswana about HIV/AIDS and get more communities
talking about treating the disease.

The Interactive Community Mobilisation Tool is a flip chart, using the
culturally relevant analogies of cattle, a kraal and "super-strong"
termites to describe the issues of health, the immune system, HIV and ARV
therapy.

"The interactive tool will empower our people with the knowledge they
require to make informed lifestyle decisions that could limit their risk
of HIV infection or reinfection, and to help them understand the roles of
ARV therapy and the importance of adherence to this therapy," said Tuelo
Mphele, an information, education and communication (IEC) specialist at
the Ministry of Health.

More details:
http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSReport.ASP?ReportID=2487

AFRICA: Health gains at WHO regional committee meeting

A five-day regional health meeting ended last week in Johannesburg, South
Africa, with African health ministers pledging to give greater attention
to women's health and scale up their HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis
(TB) programmes.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) regional committee session, held last
week, urged governments to develop "appropriate policies and legislation
to create a supportive environment for scaling up interventions" for the
three epidemics, a WHO statement said.

Addressing the conference on Monday, WHO Director-General Dr Lee Jong-Wook
warned that staff shortages in the continent's overstretched health
facilities could jeopardise WHO's "3 by 5" plan to provide antiretrovirals
(ARVs) to three million people living with HIV/AIDS in developing
countries by the end of 2005.

More details:
http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSReport.ASP?ReportID=2482

ZAMBIA: Poverty driving children into sex work

Street children and child workers in Zambia are being driven into
commercial sex work, exposing them to the risk of HIV/AIDS and sexually
transmitted infections (STIs), a report has found.

"HIV/AIDS and Child Labour in Zambia: a rapid assessment", released last
week by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), found that commercial
sex work was common among children between the ages of 14 and 16 years,
particularly girls.

Boys were also becoming increasingly involved in sex work. "Their clients
tended to be rich widows who paid in dollars," the report observed.

More details:
http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=2493

SOUTH AFRICA: Government releases long awaited AIDS figures

The number of HIV-positive people in South Africa increased by 12 percent
last year, but the spread of the epidemic may be slowing down, according
to a long-awaited report released by the government on Wednesday.

The delay in releasing the data, which is usually published in April, was
a cause of further tension between the government and the country's AIDS
activists.

The figures were based on a national antenatal survey conducted in October
2002, which gathered HIV information from 16,500 pregnant women at 396
state antenatal clinics throughout the country.

More details:
http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=2500

ETHIOPIA: US funds to help cut mother-to-child transmission of HIV/AIDS

Ethiopia has been awarded US $5 million to help prevent the transmission
of HIV from mothers to their unborn babies, officials announced on Monday.

The funding is part of US President George Bush's five-year US $15 billion
global initiative to curb the spread of HIV/AIDS.

Health Minister Dr Kebede Tadesse warned that HIV/AIDS could soon become
the lead cause of mortality among children under five years old in
Ethiopia.

More details:
http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSReport.ASP?ReportID=2486

CENTRAL AFRICA: ADF grants US $8.3 million to help region fight HIV/AIDS

The African Development Fund (ADF) has approved a US $8.3 million grant to
finance a project in support of countries bordering the Congo, Oubangi and
Chari rivers to control HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases,
the African Development Bank (ADB) reported on Thursday.

It said the objective of the project was to strengthen regional
integration on HIV/AIDS control among the countries - namely, Republic of
Congo (ROC), Central Africa Republic (CAR), Democratic Republic of the
Congo (DRC) and Chad.

"These countries are confronted by important transborder movements of
their populations and need to coordinate and harmonize their strategies to
fight HIV/AIDS," an ADB communiqué said.

More details:
http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=2499

SWAZILAND: US mayors experience the impact of HIV/AIDS

A delegation from the US Conference of Mayors met with their Swazi
counterparts last week to discuss mutually beneficial ways to maintain
contact and tackle the country's daunting HIV/AIDS dilemma.

"The towns of Swaziland can certainly benefit from American assistance,
but this country offers opportunities for our doctors, students and
technical people to be involved in important humanitarian programmes,"
Meyera Oberndorf, mayor of Virginia Beach, Virginia, told PlusNews.

More details:
http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSReport.ASP?ReportID=2476


LINKS

1. The Pan African Christian HIV/AIDS Network (PACANet) is a network of
African churches and Christian organisations working to enhance their
HIV/AIDS responses by sharing resources, skills and experiences, and
stimulating strategic partnerships.

PACANet is currently carrying out research in Zambia, Namibia, Swaziland
and Uganda. The objectives of this research are: to identify existing
HIV/AIDS interventions by the church and Christian organisations; to
identify and document existing resources available and accessible to the
church; to assess the capacity of the churches, based on their responses,
and to recommend mechanisms of how the church can scale up its HIV/AIDS
response.
http://www.pacanet.org/

2. Managing HIV is a website dedicated to providing information to people
living with HIV/AIDS, and offers these individuals, their friends and
family a broad range of HIV/AIDS information. Managing HIV covers symptoms
and the latest medications, provides expert advice on when to start
treatment and coping with treatment side effects. All this information is
also available in video, audio and written formats.
http://www.managinghiv.com/

3. Health-e News Service has introduced a new-look website with new
features. The service produces print and broadcast stories that
contextualise and analyse public health issues, especially HIV/AIDS in
South Africa. Some of the new features on the website include: transcripts
of all audio reports; resource pages offering reports, speeches and book
reviews, and web casts and archives of major health events
http://www.health-e.org.za

4. AIDSMark is a project led by USAID and Population Services
International that uses social marketing in 29 countries in an effort to
prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission (MTCT) and to franchise services
to treat sexually transmitted infections (STIs). All of these programmes
operate condom social marketing projects, 14 deliver voluntary counselling
and testing (VCT) services, and three offer STI services. AIDSMark
campaigns use mass media, peer education, school programmes, community
theatre and mobile multi-media events. Training sessions encourage healthy
lifestyles and behaviours while communicating risks.
http://www.psi.org/our_programs/AIDSMark.html


CONFERENCES/EVENTS/RESEARCH RESOURCES

1. The Society for Women and AIDS in Africa (SWAA) has organised a
satellite session to be held during the 13th International Conference on
AIDS and STDs in Africa (ICASA).

The session, entitled: "African Women and HIV/AIDS: Toward a better
future", will be held on 23 September 2003 from 6 to 8 pm in Hall #8 of
the Kenyatta International Conference Centre, Nairobi, Kenya. The session
will include international speakers and focus on what can and is being
done to improve the situation for African women in the face of AIDS. A
highlight of the session will be the presentation of the innovative Women’
s Protection Initiative. The audience will also be invited to participate
in a question and answer session.

2. A Women's AIDS Run is scheduled to take place on the 20th September
2003, ahead of the 13th International Conference on AIDS and STDs in
Africa (ICASA) in Nairobi, Kenya. The CORE Initiative Project and the
Society of Women Against AIDS in Kenya are co-funding the event. Kenyan
First Lady Lucy Kibaki and some athletic stars will be among the 10,000
women participating in the charity race to raise funds to support orphaned
and vulnerable children.

Participation fee is KSh 150 (US $1.9) for ages 14 to 19 and KSh 300 (US
$3.8) for age 20 and above. Registration is available at any Telecom
Telecare Centre or on the events website: http://www.womenaidsrun.org

For more information:

Phoebe Kilele
Regional Co-ordinator
CORE Initiative Project
PO Box 43864
Nairobi, Kenya
Tel: +254-20-272-4601/271-7367/271-3672

3. The South African Medical Research Council (MRC) and the South African
AIDS Vaccine Initiative (SAAVI) invite applications for one-year
travelling research fellowships in health research, with preference given
to proposals which address the MRC's research priorities and,
particularly, to those addressing HIV/AIDS research.

The purpose of the fellowship is to build research capacity and strengthen
research collaboration within Africa and between African scientists. The
fellowship may be held in South Africa for non-South African applicants,
or in any other African country for South African applicants.

The award will cover the fellow's return economy airfare from home to host
country, the fellow's salary in the host country, and research costs for
research undertaken in the host country. Four such fellowships may be
awarded. Applicants providing proof of a research doctorate or equivalent
in a health-related area, including health economics, nursing or public
health, will be considered. Applicants that do not hold a research
doctorate or equivalent must have proven research capabilities.

To be considered for this fellowship, applicants must submit a preliminary
application with the following information: full CV of the visiting fellow
and host researcher, including full publications lists and reliable
telephone, cellular phone, fax and email contact details, a letter of
support from the host researcher, a letter from the home institution
assuring a post to return to after completion of the fellowship, a
two-page project outline prepared in consultation with the host
researcher, a preliminary budget in South African Rand to cover the
fellow's salary, return airfare and reasonable research costs. In
addition, three letters of support for the applicant must be submitted by
the applicant's referees under separate cover. Incomplete and/or late
applications will not be considered.

Applications and queries must be sent by post, courier, e-mail or
facsimile to:
Carole Roberts
Director, Office of International Affairs
Medical Research Council
PO Box 19070
Tygerberg 7505, South Africa

Street address for hand/courier delivery:
Medical Research Council
Francie van Zijl Drive
Parowvalley 7500, South Africa
Tel: +27-21-938-0359
Fax: +27-21-938-0239
mailto:carole.roberts@mrc.ac.za
http://www.mrc.ac.za

4. The theme for the sixth International Conference on Healthcare Resource
Allocation for HIV/AIDS, jointly organised by McGill University, the
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the University of
Natal, is "healthcare systems in transition".

Experts from 30 countries, representing six geographic regions, will be
present to examine each country's health care system response to HIV/AIDS.
The conference will take place from 13 to 15 October 2003, in Washington,
DC. One of the objectives of this year's meeting is to craft guiding
documents outlining model responses to national HIV epidemics, and
guidelines for health care system reform addressing the public health
impact of HIV/AIDS, as well as advisory bodies to monitor future progress
in this area.

For more information:
Lynn-Marie Holland
IAPAC Editorial Assistant
Tel: +1 (514) 398-3231
Fax: +1 (514) 398-4503
Email: lholland@iapac.org
http://www.iapac.org

5. A research symposium organised by members of the Schools of Business,
Economics, Law, Public Health and Social Sciences of the University of the
Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, has issued a call for papers.

The symposium aims to provide an opportunity for researchers from all
academic disciplines to present and cross fertilize their work on HIV/AIDS
in the workplace. Open and accessible debate on HIV/AIDS in the workplace
is important in a context where there are limited public fora to discuss
these issues with vigour and freedom of expression.

Five themes have been selected for the symposium:
- All Together?: Exploring tensions, contradictions and opportunities
around HIV/AIDS programmes in the workplace
- Projections vs. Reality: The real impact of HIV/AIDS in the workplace
- Workplace Programmes in The Era of Treatment: What is Best Practice?
- HIV/AIDS and the 'atypical' workplace
- Workplace and Society: Are there boundaries in responding to HIV/AIDS at
work?

For more information send an email to: marion.stevens@nhls.ac.za AND
dickinson.d@wbs.wits.ac.za


VACANCIES

1. HIV/AIDS and Sports Coordinator

The European Union funds the Integrated Community Sports Programme (ICSP)
in South Africa. This project aims to empower and strengthen communities
through sport. One of the objectives is to integrate HIV/AIDS awareness
activities into community sport to help combat the pandemic. SCORE, an NGO
based in Cape Town, is the implementing agent. The NGO is looking for a
dynamic individual to coordinate these activities in Limpopo, Mpumalanaga,
Western Cape and Eastern Cape.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

- Develop training materials and coordinate training.
- Coordinate implementation of activities and events in communities.
- Develop a strategic plan for the project.

REQUIREMENTS:

- An effective communicator and administrator with a genuine interest in
combining sport and HIV/AIDS awareness activities.
- Training and experience in HIV/AIDS related issues.
- Must be prepared to travel and must have experience in working with
community structures
- A driving licence is compulsory

The position is based in Cape Town and is an 8-month contract position.
Renewal is dependent on further funding. Remuneration will be a negotiated
competitive package based on skills and experience. Submit a detailed CV
to: PO Box 4989, Cape Town, 8000. Email: score@iafrica.com. The closing
date for application is 22 September 2003.

2. Programme Manager

The Lutheran World Relief (LWR) is now recruiting for a Programme Manager
for HIV/AIDS Projects - based in South Africa - to support churches and
related ecumenical or faith-based organisations in Southern Africa, to
develop programmes to address the HIV/AIDS crisis in impoverished
communities - based on need rather than on race, ethnicity, religion, or
creed. This is a temporary position with a two-year contract with no
possibility of renewal.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

- Develop HIV-AIDS plans and projects.
- Prepare proposals to submit to LWR and to other grant-makers.
- Strengthen their institutional capacity to respond to HIV-AIDS.
- Serve as the focal point for all communications between partners and LWR
during all phases of project development and implementation.
- Responsible for networking for other organisations working on HIV-AIDS,
for developing funding proposals to submit to major donors, and to keep
LWR headquarters and LWR stakeholders informed about the results of
projects.

REQUIREMENTS:

- Commitment to LWR's core values and ability to model those values in
relationships with colleagues and partners.
- Five or more years experience working in Southern Africa on HIV-AIDS
from a community development, rather than purely medical, perspective.
Experience working in more than one country is highly desirable.
- Bachelor's degree in a relevant field or the equivalent. A master's
degree is highly desirable.
- Fluency in at least one of the languages spoken in Southern Africa.
Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English are a must.
- Demonstrated experience in working effectively with churches and
ecumenical or faith-based organisations.
- Demonstrated experience in designing, managing, implementing,
monitoring, and evaluating HIV-AIDS and community development projects.
- Ability to travel up to 30 percent of his/her time in the region.
- Proficiency in using in Word, Excel, Access, e-mail, and web browser
software.

Anyone interested in applying should send a cover letter, salary history,
resume, a list of references with their contact information, and two short
writing samples in English to:
Ann Fries
Director, Human Resources
Lutheran World Relief
700 Light Street
Baltimore, MD, 21230 USA
Fax: +1 (410) 230-2882
Email address: hr@lwr.org


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

[This Item is Delivered to the "PlusNews" HIV/AIDS Service of the UN's
IRIN humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the
views of the United Nations. For further information, free subscriptions,
or to change your keywords, contact e-mail: Plusnews@irinnews.org or Web:
http://www.irinnews.org/aidsfp.asp . If you re-print, copy, archive or
re-post this item, please retain this credit and disclaimer. Reposting by
commercial sites requires written IRIN permission.]

Copyright (c) UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2003


distributed by
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Center for International                  web: www.cidi.org
    Disaster Information             listserv: www.cidi.org/listsub.htm
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
HIV-AIDS Weekly Issue                 www.cidi.org/humanitarian/hivaids