IRIN HIV/AIDS Weekly - 147
Africa
19 September 2003


NEWS

MOZAMBIQUE: ARV project brings improved health and renewed hope
GLOBAL: Older people and orphans overlooked
LESOTHO: Culture undermines prevention efforts
SOUTH AFRICA: MCC softens stance on Nevirapine
KENYA: Activists demand better access to antiretrovirals
GREAT LAKES: Activists lobby for cheaper HIV/AIDS drugs
UGANDA: Drug price cuts yet to reach PWAs

LINKS

1. ICASA website
2. The Supply Initiative
3. Well Women Media Project
4. Report on Reproductive Revolution
5. Commission on HIV/AIDS and Governance

CONFERENCES/EVENTS/RESEARCH RESOURCES

1. Female Condom at ICASA
2. Conference on Home and Community based Care
3. HIV/AIDS and Mobile Populations in Southern Africa

VACANCIES

1. Country Directors

NEWS

MOZAMBIQUE: ARV project brings improved health and renewed hope

A pilot project providing antiretroviral (ARV) therapy to HIV-positive
people in Mozambique has had a constructive effect on the quality of life
of its beneficiaries.

One such beneficiary is 31-year-old Graça Neves, who rejected assertions
that it would be difficult for Mozambicans, many of whom are poor and
uneducated, to maintain the drug regimen.

"I always take my tablets on time and even my daughters remember them.
They always ask [me if I] have taken [the] tablets," she said.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=2513

GLOBAL: Older people and orphans overlooked

HIV/AIDS policymakers are not acknowledging the key roles of senior
citizens and orphans in their strategies to combat the pandemic, says an
NGO report released this week.

"Few national HIV/AIDS policies pay adequate attention to the growing
numbers of orphans and vulnerable children affected by HIV/AIDS, and even
less make provision for their older carers and guardians," says the report
"Forgotten families, Older People as Carers of Orphans and Vulnerable
Children", written by HelpAge International and International HIV/AIDS
Alliance.

Currently about 16 million children under the age of 15 worldwide have
lost one or both parents to AIDS. This figure is expected to rise to a
staggering 40 million in 10 years time. Many of the children are taken in
by grandparents, who struggle with meagre resources to support them.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=2514

LESOTHO: Culture undermines prevention efforts in Lesotho

Social and cultural norms and traditions in Lesotho are hampering efforts
to combat the rising HIV/AIDS epidemic, government officials told
PlusNews.

Mathoriso Monaheng, Director of Administration at the Lesotho AIDS
Programme Co-ordinating Agency (LAPCA), said the first case of HIV/AIDS
was detected in Lesotho in 1986, when "a medical practitioner from East
Africa, working in the Mokhotlong district, about 8 hours drive from [the
capital] Maseru," was diagnosed as HIV-positive.

"As a result, everybody concluded that it was a disease for the foreigner.
It was perceived to be a disease for Makwerekwere [a derogative term for
foreign Africans]."

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=2521

SOUTH AFRICA: MCC softens stance on Nevirapine

South Africa's Medicines Control Council (MCC) has given pharmaceutical
company Boehringer-Ingelheim a further six months to provide new data to
avoid the de-registration of Nevirapine for use in prevention of
mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) of HIV.

The decision came almost two months after the regulatory body threatened
to withdraw the use of the antiretroviral (ARV) if its manufacturers
failed to come up with new evidence supporting the use of the drug.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=2512

KENYA: Activists demand better access to antiretrovirals

A lobby group, the Kenya Coalition for Access to Essential Medicines, is
demanding that the government provide affordable or free antiretrovirals
(ARV) for Kenyans.

"What we want to see is an expanded programme to treat as many people as
possible," said Gitura Mwaura, Chairman of the coalition. "We believe the
government has the resources, and can do something," he said. "Its
priorities need to change."

Of the some three million people living with HIV in Kenya, at least 10
percent are in urgent need of ARVs, while only between 7,000 and 10,000
are able to access them - mainly through mission hospitals, the private
sector, or NGOs who sponsor the drugs.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=2532

GREAT LAKES: Activists lobby for cheaper HIV/AIDS drugs

Delegates at a conference on HIV/AIDS in Africa's Great Lakes region, held
this week, explored ways in which people living with the disease could
gain greater access to affordable antiretroviral (ARV) drugs.

The conference, the second of its kind in the Great Lakes, brings together
delegates from Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya,
Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda, as well as representatives of the World Bank,
UNAIDS, NGOs and the UK-based Community Health and Information Network.

In a speech during the opening of the three-day conference on Tuesday,
Rwandan Health Minister Abel Dushimimana said only 1 percent of Africans
living with HIV/AIDS had access to ARV drugs.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=2522

UGANDA: Drug price cuts yet to reach PWAs

People living with HIV/AIDS in Uganda are yet to benefit from drug
manufacturer GlaxoSmithKline's recent announcement of price cuts of up to
40 percent for anti-AIDS drugs in the developing world.

Despite the pharmaceutical company's pledge, the Ugandan government has
been unable to obtain key antiretrovirals at the reduced price.

The government has been told by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) officials that it
must first purchase the existing stock of the company's ARVs in Uganda "at
the previous - and higher - prices, before being able to take advantage of
[GlaxoSmithKline's] new ... pricing for developing world countries," said
a statement by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, an NGO running free AIDS
treatment clinics in Uganda and South Africa.

But GlaxoSmithKline accused the NGO of "disseminating misleading
information", as the Ugandan government had placed their order before the
drug company had announced its price cuts.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=2520


LINKS

1. The 13th International Conference on AIDS and STIs in Africa (ICASA)
takes place between 21 and 26 September 2003, in Nairobi, Kenya. The
conference is a forum where, every two years, African scientists, social
leaders, political leaders and communities come together to share
experiences and updates on responses to the HIV/AIDS pandemic. The
objectives are to: review and discuss updates on major advances in
understanding the epidemic; provide a forum for critical analysis of
various responses to the HIV/AIDS/STI epidemic; and outline and set
effective strategies and priorities for dealing with epidemics from an
African point of view.
http://www.icasanairobi2003.org/index.php

2. The Supply Initiative has been set up to call attention to the lack of
essential supplies for HIV/AIDS prevention, family planning, contraception
and other vital sexual and reproductive health care services. Four leading
reproductive health organisations have joined forces to enlist global
support and commitment from major supply donors and buyers, public sector
providers, multi- and bi-lateral agencies, NGOs and governments.
http://www.rhsupplies.org/

3. The Well Women Media Project works with local audiences to develop
interactive radio and television programmes that promote "positive"
attitudes to women's reproductive and sexual health. Programmes include
soap operas and phone-in shows dealing with issues such as HIV/AIDS,
domestic violence and female genital mutilation. The project has been
launched in three regions: the Somali-speaking Horn of Africa, the African
Great Lakes Region and Cambodia, and reaches a total audience of 32
million people.
http://www.healthunlimited.org/hornofafrica/index.htm

4. Birth rates in developing countries have continued to decline since
1990, as contraceptive use increases, and people want to have fewer
children, according to the latest issue of Population Reports published by
the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health's Centre for
Communication Programmes (CCP). Yet many couples are having more children
than they would prefer.

Moreover, child survival rates lag far behind international goals for
2000, set a decade earlier.  During the 1990s an average of 11 million
children under the age of five died each year in developing countries. In
some countries the AIDS epidemic offset improvements in child survival.
A full text of the report can be seen on line at:
http://www.populationreports.org/m17/.

5. The Commission on HIV/AIDS and Governance in Africa (CHGA), chaired by
K.Y. Amoako, the Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa
(ECA), was officially launched on 17 September 2003 in Addis Ababa, at an
event attended by world leaders, including former President Kenneth Kaunda
and Prime Minister Pascoal Mucumbi of Mozambique, two of the Patrons of
CHGA.

The CHGA's Secretariat, which is based at the ECA, has mandate is to study
the impacts of HIV/AIDS on state structures and Africa's economic
development. "The core challenge for CHGA research is to capture the
complex linkages between human capacity losses at the micro level
(households), their relationship to the core indicators of economic growth
at the macro level and, crucially, their likely implications for
inter-generational survival of families, communities and states", the
Commission said in a statement.

CHGA's work will culminate in a Final Report in June 2005. The Report will
analyse the governance and development threats posed by the pandemic and
contain policy options for mounting an effective response.
http://www.uneca.org/chga/


CONFERENCES/EVENTS/RESEARCH RESOURCES

1. List of Events on the Female Condom at the International Conference on
AIDS and STIs in Africa (ICASA) 2003:

- Tuesday 23rd September

1. Skills Building:
What should we do about Female Condom Re-use in our programmes? (French) -
Female Health Foundation/Society of Women Against AIDS in Africa (SBP24),
16.00 - 17.30 in the Aberdare Room.
2. Oral Session:
Female Sex Workers and Female Condom Use in Plateau State, Nigeria
(960067)- Dr Viola Onwulimi 16.00 - 17.30 in Conference Hall 7
3. Satellite Session:
African women and HIV/AIDS: Towards a Better Future - Society of Women
Against AIDS in Africa 18.00 - 20.00 in Conference Hall 8

- Wednesday 24th September

4. Oral Sessions:
a) Acceptance of the Female Condom amongst CSWs in Thyolo District, Malawi
(666180) - R Zachariah 16.00 - 17.30 in Conference Hall 7
b) Eroticising the Female Condom (508233) - Anne Philpott, Female Health
Foundation 16.00 - 17.30 in Conference Hall 7
5. Skills Building:
Expanding Safer Sex Options: Introducing and Maintaining the Female
Condoms in National Programmes (SBP37) - Female Health Foundation/Society
of Women Against AIDS in Africa 14.00- 15.30, Mkutano Room
6. Poster Sessions:
a) The Female Condom - A History of New Product Introduction - Mary Ann
Leeper, Female Health Company, Ps786507
b) The Female Condom - Challenges for HIV/STI Prevention for Lagos Sex
Workers - Dora Ofobru/Olufemi A Oke, Ps816145
c) The Buttons the Female Condom Pushes - A Philpott, Female Health
Foundation, Ps896041

- Thursday 25th September

7. Skills Building:
What should we do about Female Condom Re-use in our programmes? - Female
Health Foundation/Society of Women Against AIDS in Africa (SBP24) 16.00 -
17.30, Aberdare Room

2. The Dakar 2003 Conference on Home and Community-based Care, to be held
in Dakar, Senegal, from 8 to 11 December 2002, will be an opportunity to
mainstream the care issue into the political agenda at national and
international levels. The theme of the 6th Home and Community Care
Conference, "More Care for Better Living", attempts to put the focus on
the priority needs of HIV-positive people, with the increasing
availability of antiretroviral drugs (ARV).

Online registration can be done at: www.dakarvihs2003.sn. For more
information, email: cipeccvihdak@sentoo.sn or cipecdak1@sentoo.sn or
cipecdak2@sentoo.sn

3. The Centre for the Study of AIDS (CSA) and the International
Organisation for Migration (IOM) will be launching the Desk Review and
Bibliography on HIV/AIDS and Mobile Populations in the Southern African
Region - a joint publication by IOM and UNAIDS, funded by Sida. The launch
will be held on 10 October 2003, from 14h30 to 16h00, at the Edoardo Villa
Museum, Old Merensky Building, University of Pretoria.

For more information, contact Natasja Brummer on +27 12 420 4391 or email
nbrummer@ccnet.up.ac.za.


VACANCIES

1. The Elizabeth Glaser Paediatric AIDS Foundation is looking for country
directors for its Call to Action project, to be located in Uganda,
Zimbabwe, Rwanda, Tanzania, South Africa and Swaziland.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

- Provide overall management and programmatic support for the
implementation of a USAID cooperative agreement and national programmes
for the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV (PMTCT).
- Provide local administrative and fiscal support and programmatic
direction to facilitate expanding PMTCT programmes to additional regions
in the country, and introduce expanded care and support programmes.

REQUIREMENTS:

- Minimum five years experience in managing an overseas operation with
programmatic and administrative duties.
- Knowledge of principles and practices governing USAID and/or other
Federal grant programmes.
- Financial management, including preparing and managing budgets, banking
activities, contracts and negotiations.
- Experience in developing and managing procurement and logistical
procedures and policies.
- Skills and knowledge in programme sustainability and capacity building,
public-private partnerships, and project monitoring and evaluation (both
quantitative and qualitative methods) and reporting.
- Understanding of the international development context, experience in
the international development sector (NGO's, direct bilateral,
multilateral).
- Basic knowledge of HIV prevention and care, MTCT knowledge an asset.
- MPH and/or MBA.

To apply, email cover letter, resume and salary history to
hrint@pedaids.org, Subject: Country Director (Specify Country). For full
job description: www.pedaids.org.


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

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