IRIN HIV/AIDS Weekly - 244
Africa
29 July 2005


NEWS:

MOZAMBIQUE: Economic security a challenge to ARV patients
ZIMBABWE: HIV-positive people dispersed in 'cleanup' operation
TOGO: Battling men's reticence to have pregnant women tested for HIV
SOUTH AFRICA: Men falling through the cracks


CONFERENCES/ EVENTS/ RESEARCH/ RESOURCES

1. New HIV/AIDS Dossier on SciDev.net
2. Gender and HIV/AIDS Training Course

LINKS

1. HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria in Africa Conference: Registration 
Link

VACANCIES

1. Technical Advisor PMTCT - Lesotho, Southern Africa



NEWS

MOZAMBIQUE: Economic security a challenge to ARV patients

Although anti-AIDS drugs have helped thousands of people in Mozambique, 
hundreds of thousands more still desperately need the life-saving 
medication but lack the money to continue treatment.

When his wife died of an AIDS-related illness four years ago, Isufu 
Portina, 29, was wrongly arrested for allegedly poisoning and killing 
her. A priest from the Community of Sant' Egidio, a Christian civil 
society organisation, managed to get him released from prison after 
obtaining the autopsy report.

However, Portina emerged from 14 months in detention suffering from 
tuberculosis and other AIDS-related complications and was too sick to 
look after his three children.

More details:
http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=5079


ZIMBABWE: HIV-positive people dispersed in 'cleanup' operation

Near a dumpsite on the outskirts of Gwanda, some 130 km south of 
Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second city, Mtshumayeli Ndebele, 45, helps his 
visibly ailing spouse, Sithandekile, draw closer to a smouldering fire.

The couple are among a dozen people offloaded at the site by police when 
they closed down the Hellensvale transit camp. The holding camp, set up 
by a coalition of humanitarian and human rights NGOs about 40 km north 
of Bulawayo, had provided shelter to hundreds of families left homeless 
after the government's controversial crackdown on informal settlements 
and markets in urban areas.

Mtshumayeli and his wife said the authorities instructed them to find 
their own way to their rural home area.

More details:
http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=5078


TOGO: Battling men's reticence to have pregnant women tested for HIV

More than 18 months into a programme to prevent mother-to-child 
transmission of HIV in Togo, half the pregnant women approached are 
still refusing to be tested for the virus during prenatal consultations, 
often because of pressure from their male partner, doctors said.

Most of the pregnant women in the waiting room of Be hospital in a 
working-class suburb of the capital, Lome, told IRIN they would agree to 
be tested.

The mothers-to-be were aware that even though they might be HIV 
positive, they could still stop the virus from passing on to their 
child.

"I would do it at the very least to save the life of my baby," said one.

More details:
http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=5074


SOUTH AFRICA: Men falling through the cracks

Most women can testify to the old adage that a good man is hard to find. 
But finding men who are willing to undergo voluntary HIV counselling and 
testing (VCT), and support their HIV-positive pregnant partners in the 
prevention of mother-to-child transmission, is even harder.

According to researchers, men account for only 21 percent of all clients 
receiving VCT in South Africa.

In the old Nurses Home building at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in 
the country's largest township, Soweto, near Johannesburg, most of the 
patients at the Perinatal HIV Research Unit (PHRU) or its psychosocial 
support services, HIVSA, are women.

As Dr Francois Venter of the Reproductive Health Research Unit (RHRU) 
put it, it was "bloody easy to find women": they were more likely to 
access health care services and get tested, particularly during 
pregnancy; or clinics, especially antenatal clinics, where most of the 
HIV testing takes place, because these healthcare facilities were 
perceived as unfriendly to men.

More details:
http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=5071



CONFERENCES/ EVENTS/ RESEARCH/ RESOURCES

1. Scidev.net, the leading online science news website for Africa, has 
launched a range of new in-depth materials on the latest scientific and 
technological advances in combating HIV/AIDS in developing countries.

Articles include perspectives and overviews covering HIV research in 
Brazil and microbicides research in South Africa.

Access the dossiers at:
http://www.scidev.net/dossiers


2. The Centre for African Studies (CAFS) will be holding a training 
course, 'Promoting Gender and Rights in Reproductive Health and 
HIV/AIDS', from 24 October to 11 November 2005.

CAFS is a regional collaborating centre of the World Health Organisation 
(WHO) in its worldwide effort to improve the quality and scope of 
reproductive health. Launched in 1996, 'Operationalising Cairo and 
Beijing: A Training Initiative in Gender and Reproductive Health' is a 
collaboration of the WHO Secretariat, the South African Women's Health 
Project of the University of Witwatersrand and the Harvard School of 
Public Health.

The training initiative offers a three-week core curriculum on gender 
and rights in reproductive health and HIV/AIDS for senior programme 
managers, planners and policymakers. The course uses a unique format of 
core modules and regional case material. The content has been adapted to 
highlight regional priorities and current controversies in diverse 
countries, in relation to the Millennium Development Goals and Beijing 
Plans of Action in the context of HIV/AIDS.

Course focus:
- The gender concept and reproductive health
- Gender analysis
- Gender policy approaches
- Social determinants of health
- Gender mainstreaming in RH and HIV/AIDS programmes
- Health systems analysis
- Sexual and reproductive rights
- Gender and HIV/AIDS

This course is ideal for senior- and middle-level programme managers, 
planners and policymakers from the public and private sectors, as well 
as NGOs. Researchers and trainers with an interest in gender and 
reproductive health can also benefit from the course.

For more information:
Isabella Chege
Centre for African Family Studies
Pamstech House, Woodvale Grove, Westlands
PO Box 60054 00200, Nairobi, Kenya
Fax: +254 20 4448621
Email:courses@cafs.org




LINKS

1. HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria in Africa: From Knowledge Sharing 
to Implementation. This annual forum will take place in Durban, South 
Africa, from 3 to 5 October 2005. It is aimed at fostering closer 
collaboration and networking between European and sub-Saharan African 
partners involved in health research and capacity building in Africa, 
especially in HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria clinical trials.

The forum also provides a platform for feedback on new developments in 
research in these fields, and several recognised international experts 
will deliver state-of-the-art presentations and facilitate workshops.

Register at:
http://www.mrc.ac.za/conference/edctp/registerinfo.htm




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 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.

Interested applicants should email their CV and salary history to: 
HRINT@pedaids.org with "Technical Advisor, Lesotho" as the subject line.

Reference Code: RW_15966S

Closing date: 2 Aug 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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