IRIN HIV/AIDS Weekly - 223
Africa
4 March 2005


NEWS:

AFRICA: AIDS death toll could reach 80 million by 2025 - report
ANGOLA: Govt must act now on AIDS, warns UN envoy
BOTSWANA: Miss Stigma Free 2005 crowned
CHAD: HIV free certificates on sale to woo girls and get loans
NIGERIA: Authorities predict 250,000 people on ARVs by mid-2006
SOUTH AFRICA: Capacity shortfalls undermine rollout
SWAZILAND: Humanitarian crisis worsening, warn relief agencies


CONFERENCES/EVENTS/RESEARCH RESOURCES

1. Deadlines for Conference on HIV Pathogenesis and Treatment
2. Online toolkit on orphans and other vulnerable children
3. Pocket Guide to Adult HIV/AIDS Treatment

JOB OPPORTUNITIES

1. Head of Africa Team - The International HIV/AIDS Alliance

NEWS

AFRICA: AIDS death toll could reach 80 million by 2025 - report

More than 80 million people living in Africa could die from AIDS by 2025
unless concerted actions are taken that could save some of these lives, a
new report by UNAIDS said on Friday.

Entitled, 'AIDS in Africa: Three scenarios to 2025', the report paints a
bleak picture of the impact of HIV on the continent. It gives a detailed
glimpse into the epidemic over a 20-year period and outlines three
different scenarios.

More details:


ANGOLA: Govt must act now on AIDS, warns UN envoy

Angola will have to make an epic effort in both preventing and treating
HIV/AIDS-related illnesses if it is to escape the dismal fate of many of
its neighbours, a senior UN official told PlusNews.

Stephen Lewis, Kofi Annan's special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, spoke to
PlusNews after spending a week in the southwest African country which,
ironically, thanks to its 27-year civil war, has the lowest infection rate
in the region.

"Angola is at the moment on the knife's edge - Angola will either plunge
into the abyss of the devastation of the pandemic, or Angola will
undertake a Herculean prevention effort and keep the prevalence rate low,"
Lewis told PlusNews.

More details:
http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=4529


BOTSWANA: Miss Stigma Free 2005 crowned

An elated 22-year-old AIDS activist, Cynthia Leshomo, was crowned Miss
Stigma Free 2005 at a glittering event on Saturday at Botswana's Gaborone
International Convention Centre.

About 500 people attended the gala evening with the theme 'Down with
stigma, Down with discrimination', which was broadcast live on television.

Dressed to kill in a flowing floral evening gown, a glamorous Leshomo
looked every inch a winner - a far cry from the stereotypical image of a
person living with the virus.

More details:
http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=4530


CHAD: HIV free certificates on sale to woo girls and get loans

Chadian men wanting to chat up the girls or boost their credit rating are
turning to fake certificates to prove they are not HIV-positive, to
improve their chances with potential partners and private moneylenders.

Paul, a teacher in a secondary school in Chad's capital, N'djamena, has
done just that. Last month he got a phoney certificate showing he was
HIV-negative without stepping inside a testing centre.

"I use it to seduce women and buy goods at the shop on credit while I'm
waiting for the end of the month," Paul told PlusNews, saying he had got
the precious pass from a relative who works at a testing centre. "When
they see this, people trust me."

More details:
http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=4547


NIGERIA: Authorities predict 250,000 people on ARVs by mid-2006

The Nigerian government has said it aims to quadruple the number of people
on antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) by mid-2006, enabling up to 250,000
HIV-positive people receive the medication.

"With grants from the Global Fund, the US President's Initiative (PEPFAR),
the World Bank and the federal government, our projection is that we'll be
able to treat 250,000 people by June 2006," Babatunde Osotimehin, the head
of Nigeria's National Action Committee on AIDS (NACA), told PlusNews.

The target was first announced at a press conference last week, at the end
of a visit to Nigeria by Richard Feachem, the director of the Global Fund
to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

More details:
http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=4537


SOUTH AFRICA: Capacity shortfalls undermine rollout

A lack of capacity in South Africa's healthcare system is a serious
challenge to the government's plan to roll out a free treatment programme
for its HIV-positive citizens, a European Union (EU) official told
PlusNews.

According to Ian Ralph, health advisor to the European Commission in South
Africa, the slow pace of providing free antiretroviral (ARV) drugs was in
some instances for "very good reasons", as health systems remained
under-resourced, causing a "major operational problem".

Having drafted a "sound and sustainable" strategy to treat people living
with the virus, the government would have to "radically restructure" its
health system to successfully implement the programme, he added.

More details:
http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=4546


SWAZILAND: Humanitarian crisis worsening, warn relief agencies

Relief agencies have warned that the humanitarian crisis in Swaziland,
brought on by drought and aggravated by AIDS, is worsening.

"The food insecurity situation is going to continue for the next 12
months - people are not producing enough. Many sectors of the population,
especially the elderly, will remain dependent on food aid," Abdoulaye
Balde, country representative of the UN World Food Programme, (WFP) told
PlusNews.

Balde was part of a high-powered delegation of representatives from the
government, UN agencies and NGOs, who visited drought-stricken eastern and
southern Swaziland last week. The country is experiencing its fourth
consecutive year of drought.

More details:
http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=4531



CONFERENCES/EVENTS/RESEARCH RESOURCES

1. The 3rd International AIDS Society (IAS) Conference on HIV Pathogenesis
and Treatment will be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 24 to 27 July
2005

This conference brings together researchers and clinicians from around the
world to address current issues in HIV research, prevention and treatment,
and will cover aspects of basic, clinical and prevention sciences in the
field of HIV/AIDS through plenary sessions, abstract-driven sessions, fora
and debates.

IAS 2005 will offer concentrations in basic, clinical and prevention
sciences. Basic sciences will focus on HIV virology and immunology, and
AIDS vaccine research. Clinical sciences will cover a breadth of issues
from treatment in resource-limited settings to state-of-the-art and
high-technology topics. Prevention sciences will cover epidemiology,
science of behaviour change, and prevention research, including vaccines,
microbicides, chemoprophylaxis and other prevention methods. In addition
to abstract-driven sessions, the conference will feature daily plenary
sessions, smaller workshops, fora and debates.

Important Deadlines:

- 6 March 2005: Abstract Submission Deadline
- 10 June 2005: Standard Registration Fee
- 15 June 2005: Late Breakers Abstract Submission
- 10 July 2005: Letter of Invitation Request

For more information:
http://www.ias-2005.org


2. The International HIV/AIDS Alliance and Family Health International
have launched a new online toolkit on supporting orphans and other
vulnerable children, which shares learning and resources from a wide range
of organisations.

The website: www.ovcsupport.net covers the following broad categories:

- Running a programme
- Health and nutrition
- Education
- Psychosocial support
- Economic strengthening
- Living environments
- Children's rights.

Each category has several sections and sub-sections - over seventy
sections in all - on a wide range of topics covering practical,
community-based support to orphans and vulnerable children.

Users can download over 500 publications, find out about experiences in
particular countries, read about terminology, learn about monitoring and
evaluation, contribute new resources and make comments.

3. The Johns Hopkins HIV Care Programme, located in Baltimore, Maryland,
USA, has released a new 'Pocket Guide to Adult HIV/AIDS Treatment'. The
pocket guide is a quick reference for baseline evaluation, antiretroviral
drugs, antiretroviral therapy, opportunistic infections, and related
issues.

The document is provided as an information resource for physicians and
other healthcare professionals to assist in the appropriate treatment of
patients with HIV/AIDS.

To view the pocket guide:
http://hopkins-aids.edu/publications/pocketguide/pocketgd0105.pdf



JOB OPPORTUNITIES

1. Head of Africa Team - The International HIV/AIDS Alliance

The Head of Team will lead the Africa team within the broader Field
Programmes Department. The team currently consists of ten staff based in
the UK, and an extended team in field offices in Madagascar, Mozambique,
Zambia, and other field-based staff in Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire,
Senegal and Uganda.

Within the region, the Alliance currently supports programmes and other
field-based staff in Cote d'Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Madagascar, Morocco,
Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe, as well as two
regional programmes of work.

With the support of the Director: Field Programmes, the Head of Team will
further improve and expand the programme work in the region, oversee the
implementation and development of the regional programmes, as well as
manage and further build the capacity of the team and its members. A
strong familiarity with HIV/AIDS work on the issues of care and support,
prevention in high-prevalence settings, impact mitigation and the
involvement of people living with HIV/AIDS is desirable for this position.

Candidates must have strong leadership and management skills, as well as
technical skills in community-based HIV/AIDS programming, considerable
working experience from a broad range of countries in the region,
excellent English and French, and proven management skills.

For further details about the position, including job description, person
specification, application deadlines and interview dates:
www.aidsalliance.org.


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

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