IRIN HIV/AIDS Weekly - 238
Africa
17 June 2005


NEWS:

SOUTH AFRICA: Military makes headway against HIV/AIDS
MOZAMBIQUE: HIV/AIDS-affected children need more assistance
ANGOLA: Plight of children still desperate, UNICEF head
COTE D'IVOIRE: MSF launches AIDS treatment programme in conflict
   hotspots
SWAZILAND: Changing face of home-based hospice care
SOUTHERN AFRICA: Community-based groups need more support to help OVC
SOUTH AFRICA: Nevirapine still most readily available method of PMTCT
BENIN: Experts throw doubt over HIV prevalence figures that show 50
   percent drop
SOUTH AFRICA: Fear of stigma still prevents disclosure
NIGERIA: Patient fees preventing access to AIDS drugs, activists
ANGOLA-LESOTHO: Food aid cuts loom due to lack of funds


CONFERENCES/ EVENTS/ RESEARCH/ RESOURCES

1. "HIV/AIDS and Disability: Capturing Hidden Voices"
2. A Guide to HIV Drug Resistance

LINKS

1. Wola Nani - "A caring response to AIDS"

VACANCIES

1. Technical Advisor PMTCT - Lesotho, Southern Africa


NEWS

SOUTH AFRICA: Military makes headway against HIV/AIDS

Members of the South African military have to undergo mandatory
HIV-testing to qualify for deployment on international peace missions,
and if found to be infected with the HI virus are denied deployment.

HIV-tests are part of the military's routine predeployment health
assessments, during which soldiers are tested for a number of chronic
diseases.

Initially the government decided to exclude HIV-positive soldiers from
international deployment, based on the assumption that the disease would
develop more quickly in stressful working environments, such as military
missions.

More details:
http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=4935


MOZAMBIQUE: HIV/AIDS-affected children need more assistance

Nongovernmental organisations in Mozambique are concerned that not
enough is being done to assist the escalating number of children
infected and affected by the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

More than one million Mozambican children are either living with HIV,
caring for family members sick with AIDS-related illnesses, or have
already lost one or both parents to the pandemic.

"Children and young people need to be at the centre of the national
response to HIV/AIDS in Mozambique," said Leila Pakkala, the UN
Children's Fund (UNICEF) representative, on Wednesday, the eve of the
'Day of the African Child'.

More details:
http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=4934


ANGOLA: Plight of children still desperate, UNICEF head

Angola still has one of the highest rates of child mortality in the
world, says UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) Country Representative, Mario
Ferrari, and challenges relating to children remain huge.

Three years after the end of the country's 27-year long civil war, "the
situation is that the long period of war had the effect of dismantling
the social services, weakening social services in a radical way in the
country. The effect is that ... this country has a child mortality rate
of 250 per 1,000 - one of the highest in the world," Ferrari told IRIN.

"Many children are not in primary school, and very few go to secondary
school; there are still problems with birth registrations despite
various campaigns - so, overall, the situation is not good," he noted.

More details:
http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=4929


COTE D'IVOIRE: MSF launches AIDS treatment programme in conflict
hotspots

Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) has announced plans to start a treatment
programme for people living with AIDS on both sides of the front line in
the volatile west of Cote d'Ivoire.

Martin Sloot, the head of MSF-Holland in Cote d'Ivoire, said the
programme would be based at hospitals in the rebel-held towns of Man and
Danane, and the government-held town of Bin-Houye, and would serve an
estimated local population of 500,000.

"We have completed the training of counsellors and we can begin testing
as soon as we have the go-ahead of Cote d'Ivoire's National Programme to
Fight HIV/AIDS, which is preparing a final assessment mission," Sloot
told IRIN.

More details:
http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=4928


SWAZILAND: Changing face of home-based hospice care

AIDS has accelerated the death rate in Swaziland, causing home-based
hospice care to expand into an entire support system for affected
families.

"People now come to us as a resource to go for help when they have a
terminally ill family member, to help them cope with the burden, to help
the patient, and to help the whole family emotionally, spiritually and
medically," said Thulile Dlamini-Msane, director of Hospice at Home, a
care centre near the Matsapha industrial estate outside Manzini in
central Swaziland.

The country has the world's highest HIV prevalence rate, with 42.6
percent of its adult population infected, according to the health
ministry.

More details:
http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=4927


SOUTHERN AFRICA: Community-based groups need more support to help OVC

Community initiatives to support orphans and vulnerable children (OVC)
in Southern Africa need more funds and technical support, according to
new research.

The study conducted by the British NGO, Save the Children UK, identified
a number of "bottlenecks" preventing the smooth flow of funds to support
community initiatives, and suggested "drip-feeding", or providing
long-term funding to local groups, as an alternative.

"Southern Africa is in the middle of a protracted and unprecedented
disaster and, with HIV/AIDS at its centre, the consequences for children
are tragic. More than 12 million children in sub-Saharan Africa have
already been orphaned, and millions more are living with sick parents,"
the paper noted.

More details:
http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=4926


SOUTH AFRICA: Nevirapine still most readily available method of PMTCT

Since the implementation of prevention of mother-to-child transmission
(PMTCT) programmes in South Africa, the chances of bearing a healthy
child have improved greatly for most HIV-positive mothers.

Only 13 percent will now pass the virus to their children, compared with
a transmission rate of around 30 percent where no PMTCT programme is in
operation.

PMTCT programmes offering testing and counselling services, a single
dose of nevirapine for mother and baby and free formula milk for six
months were implemented about three years ago. If accompanied by formula
feeding, nevirapine reduces the risk of transmission from 30 percent to
around 13 percent.

More details:
http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSReport.ASP?ReportID=4917


BENIN: Experts doubt HIV prevalence figures showing 50 percent drop

A newly published official survey of AIDS in Benin has revealed an HIV
prevalence rate of 2.0 percent, less than half the previously reported
infection rate of 4.1 percent.

However, experts warned that the sharp drop reflected improved survey
methodology, rather than any dramatic success in bringing the AIDS
infection rate under control.

Marie Constance d'Almeida Melome, a spokeswoman for the government's
National Plan to Fight AIDS (PLNS), said the latest sentinel survey of
7,800 pregnant women tested at antenatal clinics in 2002 and 2003 showed
an HIV infection rate of 2.0 percent.

More details:
http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSReport.ASP?ReportID=4918


SOUTH AFRICA: Fear of stigma still prevents disclosure

Zeni's baby arrived prematurely while she was visiting her mother in the
KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa and was rushed to the nearby
Edendale Hospital.

She had been scheduled for a caesarean section at Chris Hani Baragwanath
Hospital in the country's largest township, Soweto, near Johannesburg,
but gave birth by natural delivery at Edendale, about 500 km away.

Zeni was too scared to tell the hospital staff there that she was
HIV-positive, so her baby boy didn't receive the nevirapine he needed.
"He didn't get the syrup; maybe if he got the syrup he would have been
fine," she said.

More details:
http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSReport.ASP?ReportID=4913


NIGERIA: Patient fees preventing access to AIDS drugs, activists

Patient fees are deterring poverty-stricken Nigerians from participating
in a government-subsidised scheme to provide HIV/AIDS medication,
according to a coalition campaigning for free access to the
life-prolonging drugs.

According to the coalition, which includes French NGO Medecins Sans
Frontieres (MSF) and representatives of people living with HIV/AIDS, the
monthly charge of 1,000 Naira (US $7.50) for the antiretroviral (ARV)
medication is more than many Nigerians can afford.

Participants in the programme - run by the government, the Global Fund
to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and the US government - also
have to find cash for regular laboratory tests, treatment of
opportunistic infections and transport to health centres.

More details:
http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSReport.ASP?ReportID=4914


ANGOLA-LESOTHO: Food aid cuts loom due to lack of funds

Much-needed food aid distributions in Angola and Lesotho have had to be
cut back due to a lack of funds, according to the World Food Programme
(WFP).

Manuel Cristovao, WFP's spokesman in Angola, told PlusNews on Monday
that the agency was helping about a million people, mostly returning
refugees and resettled internally displaced persons (IDPs).

Earlier this year WFP had to halve the cereal rations for returning
refugees. "If the funding crisis continues we may have to implement
further cuts," Cristovao added.

More details:
http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSReport.ASP?ReportID=4915



CONFERENCES/ EVENTS/ RESEARCH/ RESOURCES

1. This resource, prepared as part of the World Bank's 'Global HIV/AIDS
Programme', critically reviews the social, economic and medical risks
associated with HIV infection, and proposes a three-tiered typology of
interventions.

More details:
http://globalsurvey.med.yale.edu/Capturing%20hidden%20voices-1.pdf


2. Resistance to anti-AIDS drugs is now one of the most complicated
aspects of HIV treatment, and questions such as: "How does HIV actually
become resistant to your meds? When do you need to have a resistance
test done, and how do those tests figure out which meds will work in
your body and which won't?" are frequently being raised.

This fully illustrated, easy-to-read new booklet aims to answer some of
these pressing questions and more.

The book is available at:
http://www.thebody.com/resistance/contents.html?m102h



LINKS

1. This is a link to the site for Wola Nani [a Xhosa word meaning
'embrace'], an HIV/AIDS service organisation based on a self-help ethos
that allows men and women affected by the pandemic to help themselves.

Access the site:
http://www.wolanani.co.za



VACANCIES

1. Technical Advisor - prevention of mother-to-child transmission
(PMTCT) of HIV - Lesotho, Southern Africa

The Elizabeth Glaser Paediatric AIDS Foundation, an international NGO,
is seeking a competent individual to take up the post of Technical
Advisor PMTCT in Lesotho, a small mountain kingdom surrounded by South
Africa.

The successful candidate will work closely with the US government team,
in-country collaborating partners, the government of Lesotho and other
relevant agencies to increase access to HIV/AIDS prevention, care and
treatment efforts for mothers, children and families.


RESPONSIBILITIES:

- Provide programmatic and technical assistance in the management and
implementation of the national PMTCT programme to ensure high quality
service delivery

- Track progress at individual sites through site visits and supervision
reports, in collaboration with partnership team

- Facilitate and ensure completion of relevant reports and ensure timely
feedback to sites and districts

- Provide technical input and assistance to the Minister of Health and
partnership team, with particular reference to the development of
national policy and training materials as requested

- Interface with the national government and relevant agencies to
achieve a mutual understanding of programmes so as to avoid duplication

- Participate in all relevant planning meetings in-country


REQUIREMENTS:

- MD or RN with 2 to 5 years of experience working in HIV/AIDS
programmes and international health

- At least 3 years of proven project management experience in the
design, administration, management and implementation of international
health programmes in developing countries, including supervision and
reporting

- Master's in Public Health or other Master's degree an asset

- Extensive skills and knowledge of monitoring and evaluation (both
quantitative and qualitative methods) of PMTCT and care and support

- Skills and knowledge of programme sustainability and capacity building

- Skills and knowledge of quality of care assessment and assurance tools


When applying, please include a letter of motivation, indicating why you
think you are suitably qualified for the position, your CV, the details
of three recent referees (with telephone, fax and e-mail contact
details), and a breakdown of your current cost-to-company package.

Applications should go directly to: fwoodard@pedaids.org

Closing date: 30 June 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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