IRIN HIV/AIDS Weekly - 231
Africa
29 April 2005


NEWS:

AFRICA: UN urges fewer words and more results on HIV/AIDS
KENYA: HIV/AIDS treatment centre inaugurated
SWAZILAND: Business coalition launches HIV/AIDS mitigation plan
ZAMBIA: Govt not doing enough for OVC, says official report
SOUTHERN AFRICA: New solutions needed to lessen HIV/AIDS impact on farming


CONFERENCES/ EVENTS/ RESEARCH/ RESOURCES

1. "HIV and Islam, Social Science and Medicine" - Resource

LINKS

1. ProNut-HIV (Nutrition and HIV/AIDS)
2. Programme for the Collaboration Against AIDS and Related Epidemics

VACANCIES

1. Head of clinical Research Laboratory - Tanzania




NEWS

AFRICA: UN urges fewer words and more results on HIV/AIDS

UNAIDS has called for more action and less rhetoric from both government 
and civil society organisations if Africa is to succeed in its battle 
against the pandemic.

The agency's monitoring and evaluation advisor for Eastern and Southern 
Africa, Emmanuel Baingana Kasheeka, told delegates at an international 
HIV/AIDS convention underway in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, that the 
results of mitigating the disease fell far short of the resources being 
poured into existing intervention strategies.

"In the last 20 years we focused too much on planning, and very little on actions to transform the plans into tangible results matching the magnitude of the epidemic," said Kasheeka.

More details:
http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=4743


KENYA: HIV/AIDS treatment centre inaugurated

Kenya's health ministry and the medical charity, Medecins Sans 
Frontieres (MSF), on Thursday inaugurated a new facility designed to 
provide comprehensive healthcare to people living with HIV/AIDS in the 
capital, Nairobi.

The Comprehensive Care Centre (CCC), jointly run by the Ministry of 
Health and MSF-Belgium, will provide counselling, testing and treatment 
with antiretroviral (ARV) drugs to those living with HIV.

Some 1,850 patients have already been receiving regular treatment at the 
centre, Moses Massaquioi, MSF's medical coordinator in Kenya, told 
PlusNews. The health centre has been set up inside the Mbagathi District 
Hospital in Nairobi, and will also train the hospital's staff in the 
diagnosis and care of HIV/AIDS patients.

More details:
http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=4742


SWAZILAND: Business coalition launches HIV/AIDS mitigation plan

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have the potential to lift living 
standards and build a new generation of entrepreneurs, but in Swaziland 
that strategy is being challenged by AIDS.

"I am HIV negative, but my past two work supervisors left because of 
illness. They grew so thin that you knew the cause," said Charles 
Mtetfwa, a contractor in the central commercial town of Manzini.

"It wasn't in my heart to retrench them. I believe it was right to 
follow my heart, but my bottom line is hit when so many workers get 
sick," he acknowledged.

More details:
http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=4740


ZAMBIA: Govt not doing enough for OVC, says official report

An official report has found that the Zambian government was not "giving 
sufficient priority" to orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) and has 
called for universal access to antiretroviral (ARV) drugs.

The study by the Ministry of Sport, Youth and Child Development (MSYCD) 
reviewed the state of OVC in Zambia over the past five years and found 
that assistance to the children was being hampered by inadequate funding 
and a lack of coordination among policies.

"To change this, government at the highest levels needs to accept that 
the OVC problem is perhaps the greatest challenge to future development 
in Zambia. The risks presented by a generation growing up without 
adequate physical and emotional care, or access to good education, are 
grave," the authors noted.

More details:
http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=4739


SOUTHERN AFRICA: New solutions needed to lessen HIV/AIDS impact on 
farming

Two years after Southern Africa's humanitarian crisis exposed the 
destructive relationship between hunger and HIV/AIDS, still not enough 
is known about the actual impact of the epidemic on rural households.

Now, new research from the recent international conference on 'HIV/AIDS 
and Food and Nutrition Security', held earlier this month in Durban, 
South Africa, has provided greater insight into how farming communities 
have been affected.

The three-day conference, organised by the Washington-based 
International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), brought together 
policymakers, donors and researchers to develop strategies for improving 
and expanding the response to HIV/AIDS and food security.

More details:
http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=4738



CONFERENCES/ EVENTS/ RESEARCH/ RESOURCES

1. This paper examines the relationship between HIV/AIDS and Islam. It 
identifies religious factors associated with the disease, and tests the 
hypothesis that Islamic religious affiliation negatively associates with 
HIV seropositivity.

Access the complete article:
http://www.positivemuslims.org.za/article%20on%20HIV.pdf



LINKS

1. ProNut-HIV is a global discussion group supporting healthcare 
providers, community health workers, policy-makers and programme 
managers with current, relevant practical knowledge relating to 
nutrition and HIV/AIDS, as well as tools for decision-making.

Topics include: antiretroviral therapy and weight gain; food sources of 
multivitamins; community gardens and farming/agricultural practices.

Access ProNut-HIV at:
http://list.healthnet.org/mailman/listinfo/pronut-hiv


2. ProCAARE - This site focuses on the continuum of biomedical and care 
issues, covering topics such as prevention, access to drugs, home and 
institutional care, education and epidemiology.

Subscribers can join over 2,000 health professionals from around the 
world in an ongoing discussion on the fight against HIV/AIDS.

Access the site at:
http://www.procaare.org



VACANCIES

1. Head of clinical Research Laboratory - Tanzania

The Mbeya Medical Research Programme, one of the largest in Africa, 
seeks an experienced individual to head its clinical research laboratory 
in Mbeya Town, Tanzania.


RESPONSIBILITIES:

- Supervise one of the most advanced research laboratories in Africa 
with more than 20 employees

- Provide laboratory services to clinical HIV and TB trials, including 
HIV vaccine trials and large antiretroviral intervention projects

- Introduce additional laboratory techniques

- Provide training and quality assurance to local laboratory technicians


QUALIFICATIONS:

- Diploma as a lab technician or in microbiology

- Experience in supervising a large clinical laboratory

- Experience in the following methods: flowcytometry for immunology and 
haematology; serology; viral load determination; clinical chemistry and 
cell isolation


To apply, please contact:

Dr Michael Hoelscher
Department of Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine
University of Munich
Leopoldstrasse 5
80802 Munich
Germany
Email: hoelscher@lrz.uni-muenchen.de

Closing date for applications: 1 August 2005


IRIN-SA
Tel: +27 11 895-1900
Fax: +27 11 784-6759
Email: IRIN-SA@irin.org.za

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Copyright (c) UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 
2005


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