IRIN HIV/AIDS Weekly - 157
Africa
28 November 2003


NEWS:

AFRICA: Governments have failed children orphaned by AIDS
BURUNDI: Women wake up to HIV/AIDS
GLOBAL: AIDS treatment must adapt to poor communities, says MSF
LESOTHO: Stepping up HIV/AIDS efforts
ETHIOPIA: Interview with UNAIDS head Bunmi Makinwa

LINKS

1. HIV/AIDS Partnership Menu
2. Soul Beat Africa
3. Global Fund for Women
4. Regional AIDS Training Network
5. Regional Psychosocial Support Initiative

CONFERENCES/EVENTS/RESEARCH RESOURCES

1. Mandela 46664 Concert
2. Gendering AIDS - a new report
3. SWAA March
4. HIV/AIDS and STIs Research Conference
5. Online fact sheets
6. Round-up of global World AIDS Day events

VACANCIES

1. Editor PlusNews HIV/AIDS Service - West and Central Africa
2. TAC Treatment Project Coordinator


NEWS

AFRICA: Governments have failed children orphaned by AIDS

Africa's governments are failing children affected by HIV/AIDS - up to 65
percent of countries in sub-Saharan Africa have no national policy in
place to care for orphans and vulnerable children, a new UN Children's
Fund (UNICEF) report has found.

According to the report "Africa's Orphaned Generations", the cultural
practice of the extended family caring for orphans has so far relieved the
pressure on governments and national institutions, but this was slowly
unravelling. Families had become "overstressed and overwhelmed", UNICEF
Executive Director Carol Bellamy told journalists at the release of the
report on Wednesday in Johannesburg.

Orphaned children could no longer remain invisible, shielded by their
extended families. "It has been too easy for government leaders to assume
that the extended families will take on this burden," Bellamy said.

Child rights activist Graca Machel, who attended the launch of the report,
reiterated the need for African governments to play a greater role.

More details:
http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=2773


BURUNDI: Women wake up to HIV/AIDS

As the 10-year Burundian civil war winds down, Kinama township, set
against the hills of the capital, Bujumbura, is once more becoming the
bustling place it was. Women have inevitably borne the brunt of the
conflict and are often forced into prostitution to stay alive.

In 1994, one year into the fighting between the Tutsi and Hutu ethnic
groups, Gloriosa Bamboneyeho fled her village in central Burundi to rejoin
her husband, a security guard, in Bujumbura. Unknown to her, he had
acquired a new wife and small child.

Three years ago Gloriosa fell sick - she was HIV-positive. "I didn't know
that HIV existed until I came to Bujumbura," she told PlusNews.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=2767


GLOBAL: AIDS treatment must adapt to poor communities, says MSF

AIDS treatment procedures must be demystified, simplified, and adapted to
the needs of the world's poorest communities in order to be effective,
according to the NGO, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF).

"To scale up treatment on a large scale, we have to adapt treatment models
to real life," Dr Morten Rostrup, President of MSF's International Council
told reporters in Nairobi. "Adaptation means fewer pills per day, fewer
lab tests and free treatment dispensed in the communities where people
live, that is at district facilities and at community health posts."

Currently ARV treatment - consisting of two triple therapy pills per day -
costs about US $270 per person per year, which is way beyond the reach of
ordinary people.

MSF doctor, Earnest Nyamoto, said that for a long time people had believed
ARV treatment was "complex, sophisticated and too technical" for poor and
rural communities. Yet MSF is proving otherwise with its treatment of
1,200 people in Kenya, including in Nairobi's slum areas. "It can be done,
we can get the patients on treatment," he said.

More details:
http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=2774

LESOTHO: Stepping up HIV/AIDS efforts

Lesotho will soon launch a new body to coordinate HIV/AIDS programmes and
place the epidemic at the top of the government's agenda.

After adopting a policy document to scale up the kingdom's response to the
prevalence rate last month, the cabinet also agreed to the establishment
of an autonomous National AIDS Commission (NAC) to spearhead the
initiative.

NAC will replace the existing Lesotho AIDS Programme Coordinating
Authority (LAPCA), which has been criticised for its slow pace in
implementing prevention and treatment programmes.

"It was felt that LAPCA did not have enough influence to ensure that
programmes move forward. They have also been plagued by inadequate
staffing and have not been able to effectively carry out their mandate,"
Mojakisane Mathaha, UN Development Programme (UNDP) social policy planner
told PlusNews.

More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=2762

ETHIOPIA: Interview with UNAIDS head Bunmi Makinwa

Bunmi Makinwa is the newly appointed head of UNAIDS in Ethiopia. Here
ahead of World AIDS Day he tells PlusNews that total mobilisation is
needed to win the fight against the virus that has infected 2.2 million in
Ethiopia.

More details:
http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=2779


LINKS

1. UNAIDS and the World Economic Forum (WEF) have created a tool to help
the private sector find innovative HIV/AIDS partnership opportunities in
developing countries. Known as the Partnership Menu, it provides potential
donors with a list of HIV/AIDS projects they can sponsor at country level,
ranging from youth-friendly health services to home-based care programmes,
to education for orphans.
http://www.unaids.org/partnership/index.html

2. Soul Beat Africa is a web-based initiative focusing specifically on
sharing information about using communication for change and development
in Africa. It is a space to share experiences, materials, strategic
thinking and events, and to engage in discussion and debate.

Through Soul Beat Africa, people and organisations are sharing information
about how communication is being used to address such issues as HIV/AIDS,
economic development, women's issues, youth, health, and the environment.
Experiences in developing radio programmes, edutainment, drama, mass media
campaigns, and a diverse range of communication programmes are summarised,
always with contact information, helping to connect communicators across
the continent. The project is a collaboration between Soul City and The
Communication Initiative.
http://www.comminit.com/africa

The Soul Beat, an e-newsletter based on the information summarised on the
website, is published every other Wednesday. To subscribe email:
bonolo@comminit.com or vist the online form:
http://www.comminit.com/africa/soul-beat-subscribe.html

3. The Global Fund for Women is an international network which advocates
for and defends women's human rights by making grants to support women's
groups around the world. The Global Fund makes grants to seed, support,
and strengthen international women's rights groups working to address
human rights issues.
http://www.globalfundforwomen.org/

4. The Regional AIDS Training Network (RATN) is a Network of training
institutions in the Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA) region.
http://www.ratn.org/

5. The Regional Psychosocial Support Initiative is a project designed to
address the needs of orphaned children. This technical resource network
brings together over 30 organisations in eastern and southern Africa and
aims to offer psychosocial support to more than 25,000 children over the
next five years.
[http://www.repssi.org/]


CONFERENCES/EVENTS/RESEARCH RESOURCES

1. South Africa will take centre stage in this year's World AIDS Day
celebrations with what is undoubtedly the biggest event: the 46664 concert
at the Green Point Stadium in Cape Town on 29 November. Featuring some of
the world's leading pop artists, the three-hour concert is expected to
draw a crowd of 40,000 people. It will be broadcast by the SABC and MTV to
cumulative audiences estimated at around 2 million. Performers include 50
Cent, Anastacia, Baaba Maal, Beyonce, Bono, Johnny Clegg, The Corrs,
Eurythmics, Moloko, Ms Dynamite, Paul Oakenfold
featuring Shifty Shell Shock and TC, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Queen, and
Zucchero. Former President Nelson Mandela is the patron of the campaign.

For more information: www.46664.com.

2. VSO's new campaign, AIDS Agenda, aims to focus attention on the need
for more equality between women and men as part of an effective response
to HIV/AIDS. The publication of VSO's new position paper "Gendering AIDS:
Women, Men, Mobilisation, Empowerment" marks the beginning of the new
campaign. Research for Gendering AIDS was carried out in South Africa,
India, Namibia and Cambodia. It examines how national and international
policies designed to protect women's rights can be put into practice, and
how men can be more constructively involved in HIV/AIDS work at grassroots
level.

To read the report:
http://www.vso.org.uk/advocacy/gendering_aids.pdf

3. The City of Dakar, in partnership with the Society for Women and AIDS
in Africa (SWAA) International, are organising a march in Dakar, Senegal,
as a prelude to the 6th International Home and Community Care Conference
for Persons Living with HIV/AIDS to be held in Dakar from 8 to 12 December
2003.

The march will focus on raising awareness about stigma and
discrimination - the theme of this year's World AIDS Day Campaign. The
event will kick off at 8:30am on Sunday 7 December 2003. Round-trip
transport will be provided for conference participants.

For more information and to sign up for the march, contact SWAA
International at email: contact@swaainternational.org.

SWAA International
6, Avenue Bourguiba
B.P. 16425 Dakar-Fann
Senegal
Tel: +221 824 59 20
Fax: +221 865 26 07
Email: contact@swaainternational.org
Website: www.swaainternational.org

4. Botswana's AIDS Coordinating Agency (NACA), in collaboration with all
stakeholders and developmental partners, will be hosting the country's
first national HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted infections and other related
infectious diseases research conference (NHASORC 2003). This will take
place from 7 to 12 December 2003 in the capital, Gaborone.

The main aim of NHASORC 2003 is to provide a platform for sharing research
data and experience by scientists that have done, or are currently
intending to do, HIV/AIDS research in or about Botswana. NHASORC 2003 will
identify research gaps and impediments to research implementation. NHASORC
2003 will also be used as a framework for streamlining national research
priorities and determining dissemination modalities, in line with the
country's National Strategic Framework (2003-2009).

For more details:
www.naca.gov.bw
NHASORC 2003
NACA P/bag 00463
Gaborone, Botswana
Tel: +267- 3903188/3904083/3903185
Fax: +267 3903273/3170960
Email: nacaemail@gov.bw or bmonare@gov.bw or cosborne@unicef.org

5. Aidsmap's range of factsheets has been expanded. The following
factsheets are now available online:

- Blood Pressure
http://www.aidsmap.com/publications/factsheets/fs80.htm
- Sexual Health Check-Ups
http://www.aidsmap.com/publications/factsheets/fs81.htm
- Winter Viral Illnesses
http://www.aidsmap.com/publications/factsheets/fs82.htm
- Disclosing HIV status to healthcare workers
http://www.aidsmap.com/publications/factsheets/fs83.htm

6. The theme of the World AIDS Campaign 2002-03 is "Live and let live" and
focuses on eliminating HIV- and AIDS-related stigma and discrimination –
key obstacles to effective HIV prevention and AIDS care.

World AIDS Day has been commemorated globally on 1 December since 1988 and
around the world a number of activities are again planned for World AIDS
Day this year. Many events are summarised on the UNAIDS website. All
events on the site include links or contact details.
www.unaids.org/EN/events/world+aids+day+2003.asp


VACANCIES

1. Editor PlusNews HIV/AIDS Service for West and Central Africa

IRIN is looking for an editor to expand and enhance its current coverage
of HIV/AIDS issues for sub-Saharan Africa. The successful candidate will
be charged with expanding IRIN's PlusNews HIV/AIDS service by increasing
the news flow from West and Central Africa, using both personal contacts
and IRIN's extensive stringer network in the two regions. S/he will be
expected to write and edit well -researched and sensitively written
stories about HIV/AIDS in both English and French. S/he will also
supervise the work of a newly created translation unit charged with
producing a French language online news service about HIV/AIDS in Africa.
S/he will liase closely with the existing PlusNews editorial unit in
Johannesburg South Africa and IRIN's West Africa bureau. S/he will be
expected to travel occasionally within Africa to report directly on
HIV/AIDS issues in individual countries and to attend conferences on
efforts to control the pandemic and improve the lives of people living
with AIDS.

The deadline for applying is 5 December 2003.

Apply to: Robert Powell, Managing Editor IRIN West Africa e-mail:
robert@irin.ci (cc application to Joanne.Clark@un.org)

The job description has been posted to the ReliefWeb vacancies page on 26
November 2003 (http://www.reliefweb.int/vacancies/). Copies can also be
obtained by sending a request to Joanne Clark – Joanne@IRINnews.org.

2. The Treatment Action Campaign is seeking an experienced manager for its
Treatment Project. The TAC Treatment Project provides Highly Active
Antiretroviral Therapy for TAC activists and an equal number of people who
are not TAC members. TAC is a non-profit organisation that campaigns for
greater access to HIV treatment for all South Africans by raising public
awareness and understanding about issues surrounding the availability,
affordability and use of HIV treatments. The organisation has offices in
six provinces in the country, and over 35 full time staff.

For more information on TAC: www.tac.org.za.

The Treatment Project Coordinator is responsible for all aspects of
managing the project, including operations, financial management,
strategic planning and the management of Treatment Project staff.

REQUIREMENTS:

- At least two years' management experience [experience in a healthcare
and/or non-profit or public environment preferred]
- Advanced knowledge of HIV/AIDS treatment [formal medical training not
required]
- Knowledge and experience of project management [including good proposal
and report writing, planning, financial management and people-management
skills]
- A tertiary qualification will be advantageous

The position is based in Cape Town. Candidates must be willing to travel
regularly.

A competitive remuneration package commensurate with qualifications and
experience, including medical aid and other standard benefits, is offered.

Send your application, including a cover letter and full CV to: Eduard
Grebe, Email: eduard@tac.org.za,
Fax: +27 21 788 1297 PO Box 172, Muizenberg, 7950. Closing date: 30
November 2003


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 2003


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