IRIN HIV/AIDS Weekly - 256
Africa
6 January 2006


NEWS:

SOUTH AFRICA: Global Fund withdraws support for loveLife
SIERRA LEONE: First post-war countrywide survey shows 1.5 percent HIV
   prevalence
MOZAMBIQUE: Steady progress as ARV rollout gathers momentum
SWAZILAND: "Sewage sociology" finds condom use rising
SENEGAL: Bringing condoms out of the closet

CONFERENCES/ EVENTS/ RESOURCES

1. Buckling: The impact of AIDS in South Africa
2. Advocacy Guide: HIV/AIDS Prevention among Injecting Drug Users

JOBS

1. Medical Practitioner - Lesotho


NEWS

SOUTH AFRICA: Global Fund withdraws support for loveLife

The Global Fund to fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has pulled 
the plug on financing loveLife, a controversial South African 
youth-targeted HIV/AIDS campaign.

In a statement the Global Fund board said it had found that loveLife 
"was deemed to not have sufficiently addressed weaknesses in its 
implementation".

Global Fund spokesman Jon Liden said it had become difficult to measure 
how the prevention campaign was contributing to the reduction of 
HIV/AIDS among young people.

More details:
http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=5558


SIERRA LEONE: First post-war countrywide survey shows 1.5 percent HIV 
prevalence

The first countrywide HIV/AIDS survey carried out in Sierra Leone since 
the end of its 11-year war shows a relatively low prevalence rate of 1.5 
percent, according to the head of the National AIDS Secretariat, Brima 
Kargbo.

Prevalence in Sierra Leone previously had been estimated at 0.9 percent 
on the basis of a 2002 survey touching on only a part of the country of 
five million people. Activists had reckoned prevalence to be as high as 
five per cent in the capital, Freetown.

More details:
http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=5561


MOZAMBIQUE: Steady progress as ARV rollout gathers momentum

When Maria (last name withheld), 35 years old and HIV-positive, reflects 
on the past year she gives an answer that a growing number of 
Mozambicans living with HIV/AIDS would probably echo.

"The year 2005 has been good for my health. It has got so much better 
because this year I started taking ARVs (antiretroviral drugs)," she 
told PlusNews.

Maria is one of the 17,000 people now accessing ARVs of a national 
target to treat 20,000 people by the end of 2005.

More details:
http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=5565


SWAZILAND: "Sewage sociology" finds condom use rising

Without a definitive survey it's hard to know the extent of condom use 
by Swazis, but one group claims to have proof that it's on the rise: the 
workers at Swaziland's newest sewage treatment plant.

"Condom use has gone up 50 percent this past year," boldly asserts 
Marvin Simelane, a worker at the new Ngwane Park sewage pumping facility 
outside the country's most populous urban centre, Manzini.

"We are finding more condoms in the filters that separate solids from 
liquid waste," said Simelane. "Because of their size, the condoms pass 
through the first set of large filters and are trapped in the second set 
of filters, so they are easily identifiable. I guess it's good because 
it shows people are using condoms."

More details:
http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=5568


SENEGAL: Bringing condoms out of the closet

Adriana Bertini is a woman with a mission. She intends to turn condoms, 
which she considers the best form of protection against AIDS, into an 
everyday object that both men and women use as naturally as a piece of 
clothing.

At the hands of this Brazilian artist, thousands of condoms come 
together to form a sumptuous evening gown, an elegant trouser suit, a 
flamboyant sheath dress - whose name was never more appropriate - or 
even a wild samba outfit. It's a feast of sartorial delights with only 
one common ingredient: latex.

More details:
http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=5560



CONFERENCES/ EVENTS/ RESOURCES

1. The Centre for the Study of AIDS at the University of Pretoria has 
published a new report, 'Buckling: The impact of AIDS in South Africa', 
by South African writer and journalist Hein Marais. The report contains 
a comprehensive review of published sociological and epidemiological 
research. Marais offers a critical analysis of the conclusions reached 
by the research, presents an alternative analysis of the impact of AIDS 
in South Africa, and proposes a minimum social package to reduce the 
damage.

To download the publication, go to: 
http://www.csa.za.org/filemanager/fileview/101/


2. Advocacy Guide: HIV/AIDS Prevention among Injecting Drug Users

The World Health Organisation, UNAIDS and the United Nations Office on 
Drugs and Crime jointly developed this guide, based on the experiences 
of individuals, institutions and nongovernmental and international 
organisations, on the role of advocacy in establishing HIV/AIDS 
prevention and care programmes for injecting drug users.

The purpose of the guide is to provide a wide audience with a systematic 
approach to such advocacy, which can be replicated and adapted to 
various cultural, economic and political circumstances. Part 1 outlines 
the general principles of advocacy for HIV/AIDS prevention and care for 
IDUs. Part 2 offers a step-by-step process of establishing advocacy 
groups with specific goals; situation analysis; strategy development, 
including analysis of stakeholder and advocacy audiences; and 
implementation of action.

For more information:
http://www.who.int/hiv/en/



JOBS

1. Medecins Sans Frontieres seeks a creative and dynamic medical 
practitioner who enjoys working closely with people, and can develop 
innovative ideas for education and advocacy. The candidate will be based 
at Scott Hospital, located in the village of Morija in the western 
lowlands of Lesotho.


RESPONSIBILITIES:

- Assist in initiating an HIV clinic in the hospital

- Assist in ward rounds for HIV-positive patients in relevant 
departments of Scott Hospital under the supervision of the Field MEDCO

- Integrate HIV/AIDS care and treatment into the activities of an 
existing Mobile Team and consult/supervise a network of 14 rural Primary 
Health Care centres on HIV care and treatment

- Set up, together with other team members, formal training sessions 
targeting nurses, counsellors, community health workers

- Clinically train in-service nurses in VCT and the management of 
HIV-related conditions

- Assist the Field MEDCO in designing medical protocols and introducing 
the ART component of the programme

- Participate in monitoring and evaluation tasks

- Participate in the rotating call roster of the hospital Medical 
Officers


REQUIREMENTS:

- Physician with clinical experience in management of HIV-related 
conditions including ART

- Registered with the HPCSA, with a minimum 3 years' experience in 
Primary Health Care and experience in HIV/AIDS care

- Good knowledge of management of HIV-related conditions and public 
health, including experience with ART

- Medical training/experience in health education, good tutorial, 
communication skills

- Willingness to work in a remote rural area, and capacity to cope with 
the inherent constraints

- Community involvement and personal experience showing a genuine 
commitment to MSF's humanitarian principles

- Knowledge of patient rights and the information management system of 
dissemination

- Fluency in both English and Sesotho or willingness to learn SeSotho


This position is subject to an initial six-month (renewable) contract 
with a probation period of three months.

To apply for the post, please send your comprehensive CV and covering 
letter with two contactable references to: The Administrator, MEDECINS 
SANS FRONTIERES, Town One Properties, Site B, Sulani Drive, Khayelitsha 
7784 or P O Box 24701 Rhine Road, Sea Point 8050 or Email: 
lrolls@mweb.co.za

Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.


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


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