IRIN HIV/AIDS Weekly - 148
Africa
26 September 2003


NEWS:

AFRICA: Donor support needed for religious organisations helping orphans 
- report
AFRICA: Male sex workers face silence, denial and hostility
GLOBAL: WHO plans to get three million people on ARVs by 2005
RWANDA: World Bank gives US $30 million for HIV/AIDS programme
KENYA: HIV/AIDS - "People's Tribunal" demands access to life
GLOBAL: Onus on governments to organise ARV procurement - MSF
BOTSWANA: Women living with HIV caring for each other
SWAZILAND: AIDS "indaba" highlights conflicting views
AFRICA: Action, funding still lag behind in the fight against HIV
AFRICA: Religious leaders expose damning attitudes towards HIV/AIDS

LINKS

1. AIDS 101: Guide to HIV basics
2. Summer Camp for HIV-positive Children
3. List of HIV Databases

CONFERENCES/EVENTS/RESEARCH

1. Incorporating HIV Prevention into the Medical Care of Persons Living
with HIV

VACANCIES

1. HIV/AIDS Policy and Campaigns Officer - Belgium
2. Public Health Advisor - Zimbabwe


NEWS

AFRICA: Donor support needed for religious organisations helping orphans -
report

Donor support is needed for the increasing number of church groups and
mosques looking after Africa's orphans, most of whose parents have died of
AIDS-related illnesses, says a report produced by the UN Children's Fund
(UNICEF) and the World Conference of Religions for Peace.

"The scale of the response from churches and mosques is far greater than
anybody ever imagined," said Dr Geoff Foster, author of "Study of the
Response by Faith-based Organisations to Orphans and Vulnerable Children".

The report was released at the 13th International Conference on AIDS and
Sexually Transmitted Infections in Africa (ICASA), being held in Nairobi,
Kenya, from 21 to 26 September.

Research conducted with 322 groups (out of 505 processed), in six
countries, showed that almost 140,000 orphans and vulnerable children were
being supported - mostly by female volunteers - with essentials like
clothing and food, school assistance, HIV prevention, counselling, and
home visiting.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=2553&SelectRegion=Africa&SelectCountry=AFRICA

AFRICA: Male sex workers face silence, denial and hostility

The shroud of silence and denial surrounding male sex workers in Africa
has left them unable to access services addressing HIV/AIDS and their
sexual health needs, researchers say.

According to a study presented on Tuesday at the 13th International
Conference on AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infections in Africa (ICASA),
HIV/AIDS programmes targeting men who sell sex in Africa were "lagging
behind", if not virtually non-existent.

Key barriers included official denial about their existence, social
marginalisation and a lack of information about their needs and concerns,
Aruma Chinebuah, one of the researchers involved in the study, told
delegates.

The Population Council's Horizon project and the International Centre for
Reproductive Health conducted the investigation, after male sex workers in
Mombasa, Kenya, expressed a desire to see interventions that targeted
them - and not just female sex workers.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=2552&SelectRegion=Africa&SelectCountry=AFRICA

GLOBAL: WHO plans to get three million people on ARVs by 2005

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has thrown out a challenge to the
international community to support its target of providing antiretroviral
(ARV) treatment to three million people worldwide by the end of 2005.

Speaking at a press briefing at the 13th International Conference on AIDS
and Sexually Transmitted Infections in Africa (ICASA), WHO Director of
HIV/AIDS, Dr Paulo Teixeira, declared the lack of access to ARV drugs a
"global health emergency".

WHO's "3 by 5" plan, which aims to provide 3 million HIV-positive people
with ARVs by the end of 2005, targets half the six million people who need
treatment now, and a fraction of the 40 million currently living with the
virus. Although modest in numbers, the challenge represents a significant
hurdle, given the current state of global funding for AIDS and technical
capacity.

It is estimated that the "3 by 5" plan will cost at least US $5 billion a
year, but WHO is conducting further in-depth studies to produce a more
accurate figure. In the meantime, there was no time for "more discussions"
as ARV treatment was feasible, Teixeira said.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=2551&SelectRegion=Global&SelectCountry=GLOBAL

RWANDA: World Bank gives US $30 million for HIV/AIDS programme

Rwanda has received US $30 million from the World Bank to help it
implement its multisectoral programme of combating HIV/AIDS, an official
in the Rwanda National AIDS Control Programme told IRIN on Wednesday.

"The issue of AIDS is no longer a health only issue, it has to be
broadened to all sectors," Jean-Marie Manzi Kabarega, financial specialist
in Rwanda's Multi-Sectoral AIDS Project (MAP), said. "The biggest portion
of the funds will be spent on treatment and care."

Rwanda recently established MAP, which seeks to promote HIV/AIDS
awareness, improve access to treatment and the care given to those living
with the HIV/AIDS, and initiate research on the pandemic.

Kabarega said the World Bank money will finance a five-year programme, and
will also be used to fund small-scale poverty alleviation projects in
rural areas.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=2550&SelectRegion=Great_Lakes&SelectCountry=RWANDA

KENYA: HIV/AIDS - "People's Tribunal" demands access to life

"We need treatment, we need treatment," Kenyans shouted loud and clear on
Tuesday outside the venue of the 13th International Conference on AIDS and
Sexually Transmitted Infections in Africa (ICASA), being held from 21 to
26 September in the capital, Nairobi.

The "People's Tribunal", organised outside the Kenya International
Conference Centre, demanded that Kenyans be given access to antiretroviral
medicines to keep themselves alive.

"I am obliged to this country, but I am in the process of dying
prematurely, not because my life is over, but because I am unable to
manage the AIDS disease on my own," Renish Achieng, one of the "witnesses"
at the tribunal told the crowd.

"We had great hopes and expectations for our family, my husband and I. But
when we discovered our [HIV] positive status, everything changed." Unable
to afford medicines for her husband, she said "I could only sit by his bed
and watch him suffer until he died."

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=2549&SelectRegion=East_Africa&SelectCountry=KENYA

GLOBAL: Onus on governments to organise ARV procurement - MSF

Governments must urgently develop procurement strategies to supply people
living with HIV/AIDS with low-cost antiretroviral medicines (ARVs),
Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said on Monday.

"The need to get effective medical treatment to people living with
HIV/AIDS in developing countries has never been more urgent, and will only
grow in the coming years," MSF and the World Health Organisation said in a
joint report, "Surmounting Challenges: Procurement of Antiretroviral
Medicines in Low- and Middle-Income Countries".

As the price of ARVs continues to fall and governments have the legal
right to import or make affordable generic drugs, they must put in place
systems and infrastructure - detailing procurement, supply chains,
transport, training for health professionals and essential monitoring of
people taking ARVs - to accelerate their distribution, MSF delegates told
reporters in Nairobi, Kenya, at the launch of the draft report.

The price of ARVs - required to decrease levels of the HIV virus in the
body - has fallen dramatically from between US $10,000 and US $15,000 per
year in 2000, to about US $300 per year in 2003. Yet in Sub-Saharan Africa
only one percent of the 4 million people in need of the drugs can access
them.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=2548&SelectRegion=Global&SelectCountry=GLOBAL

BOTSWANA: Women living with HIV caring for each other

HIV-positive women in Botswana have created an innovative support network
through which newly diagnosed women receive individual care and
companionship from other women living with the virus.

Traditional care programmes often focused on treatment and counselling
services, without taking into account something as simple as support in
the form of friendship, delegates attending the 13th International
Conference on AIDS and STIs in Africa (ICASA) in Nairobi, Kenya, heard on
Monday.

Botswana’s Coping Centre for People living with HIV/AIDS (COCEPWA)
initially started the "Buddy Programme" for 12 women in the capital,
Gaborone, who requested peer support after discovering their status.

The project has now been extended to other parts of Botswana, including
the villages of Serowe and Molepolole. HIV-positive men will also become
involved in the project, COCEPWA said.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=2547&SelectRegion=Southern_Africa&SelectCountry=BOTSWANA

SWAZILAND: AIDS "indaba" highlights conflicting views

A three-day "AIDS Indaba", or traditional Swazi meeting, concluded at the
weekend with the enlistment of church leaders in the national campaign to
combat the disease by tapping into their influence.

"It is good that the church leaders are getting involved, and we support
the training of pastors in AIDS awareness," said Derrick Von Wissel,
director of the government's National Emergency Response Committee on
HIV/AIDS.

Hannie Dlamini, secretary-general of the Swaziland AIDS Support
Organisation, said after the Indaba, "Words from the pulpit are heard by
Swazis, who may turn a deaf ear to government health workers."

About 500 religious leaders from mainstream Christian denominations and
evangelical Christian groups met in the capital, Mbabane, to debate ways
of promoting morality as a counter to the rising HIV rate, now officially
at 38,6 percent of the adult population.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=2546&SelectRegion=Southern_Africa&SelectCountry=SWAZILAND

AFRICA: Action, funding still lag behind in the fight against HIV

HIV/AIDS has finally reached the top of the African agenda, according to a
new UNAIDS report released on Sunday. However, the increasing political
attention the epidemic has received has not translated into sufficient
action, as total funding for HIV/AIDS was only half of what was needed,
the report, "Accelerating Action against AIDS in Africa", noted.

Speaking at a press conference at the 13th International Conference on
AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infections (ICASA), being held in Nairobi,
Kenya, from 21 to 26 September, the UNAIDS director of country and
regional support, Michel Sidibe, admitted that progress had been made in
the continent's fight against the disease during the last two years.

Resources have begun to flow - UNAIDS estimates that about US $950 million
was spent to fight HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa last year - but although
this was an increase of US $400
million since 2000, more was needed to implement and expand prevention and
care programmes.

African leaders such as presidents Festus Mogae of Botswana and Yoweri
Museveni of Uganda had taken the lead in not only speaking out on
HIV/AIDS, but in backing this up with action. Leaders in other countries
such as Kenya were now taking similar steps, the report said.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=2541&SelectRegion=Africa&SelectCountry=AFRICA

AFRICA: Religious leaders expose damning attitudes towards HIV/AIDS

African religious leaders admitted on Sunday that their own institutions
were sometimes guilty of spreading the stigma attached to HIV/AIDS.

Christian and Muslim leaders attending the 13th International Conference
on AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infections in Africa, being held on 21-26
September in Nairobi, Kenya, spoke of damning attitudes to the virus that
were spread by their churches and mosques.

Sheikh Al Haj Yussuf Murigu, Vice-Chair of the Muslim Supreme Council of
Kenya, said HIV was equated with "a curse", and those who lived with it
were viewed as "sinners". Bishop Otsile Osimilwe said the church tended to
point a finger at people living with HIV, instead of adopting a caring and
compassionate response.

Father Peter Lwaminda, a Roman Catholic priest, said it was "a question of
condemnation". "Many religious leaders I have met have inspired fear into
people," he said.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=2540&SelectRegion=Africa&SelectCountry=AFRICA


LINKS

1. AIDS 101: Guide to HIV Basics
This easy-to-understand guide on the basics of HIV and AIDS by the San
Francisco AIDS Foundation covers topics on how HIV is spread, testing for
HIV, and safe sex and safe injection practices.
For more information: http://www.sfaf.org/aids101/hiv_testing.html

2. Summer Camp for HIV-positive Children
The US-based Camp Heartland is a nonprofit organisation that runs summer
camps for children living with, and affected by, HIV/AIDS. The camp also
runs the "Journey of Hope" HIV/AIDS education programme specifically aimed
at providing support for the children.
For more information: http://www.campheartland.org/

3. List of HIV Databases
The HIV databases contain information on HIV genetic sequences, drug
resistance-associated mutations, and vaccine trials. The site also
provides users access to a large number of tools that can be used to
analyse the data.
For more information: http://hiv-web.lanl.gov/content/index


CONFERENCES/EVENTS/RESEARCH

1. Incorporating HIV Prevention into the Medical Care of Persons Living
with HIV.
This live broadcast and webcast will discuss the rationale for providing
HIV prevention in medical care settings and the role of physicians and
other health care professionals in public and private settings. It takes
place on 13 November 2003, from 1 pm to 3 pm Eastern Standard Time

For more information:
http://legacy.cdcnpin.org/broadcast/current/2003/1113/start.htm

2. Scaling up the Response of the Private Sector in the Fight Against
HIV/AIDS.
The conference is structured as a consultative meeting, with participants
coming together to unveil the West Africa Private Sector AIDS Network. It
explores how groups operating in the Economic Community Of West African
States (ECOWAS) can form linkages to promote dialogue, exchange of
information and protocols, and expand access to treatment in the
sub-region.
For more information and registration: http://www.a5coalition.org/


VACANCIES

1. HIV/AIDS Policy and Campaigns Officer - Belgium

Full description and requirements are available from
chau@actionaidalliance.org

RESPONSIBILITIES:

The terms of reference for this position straddle five strategic areas as
follows:
- Strategic planning of the advocacy programme of work
- Policy research and analysis
- Lobbying and networking
- Strengthening North-south and North-North linkages, to address barriers
to progress in the South and utilise potential for synergies
- Coordination with the AAA International HIV/AIDS campaign.

Minimum Qualifications:
MSc

Desired Qualifications:
MSc

Interested applicants are urged to please send an expression of interest
to chau@actionaidalliance.org

2. Public Health Advisor - Zimbabwe

A full description and requirements are available from dfleming@cdc.gov

RESPONSIBILITIES:

The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Global AIDS
Programme (GAP) is seeking a public health advisor to serve as the
assistant director for operations and to function as the principal
management person for all GAP activities in Harare, Zimbabwe.

Please refer to the official posting for additional information and
instructions on applying for the position at the following sites:
www.cdc.gov/hrmo/hrmo.htm or www.cdc.gov


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