IRIN HIV/AIDS Weekly - 276
Africa
24 March 2006


NEWS:

UGANDA: Misuse of funds revealed as Global Fund inquiry quizzes
   ministers
ANGOLA: Doctors discriminate against HIV positive people
TANZANIA: Bars, sex trade fuelling HIV spread, say Zanzibar's Muslims
ZIMBABWE: Traditional healing centres to supplement ailing health
   system
AFRICA: AIDS hinders TB interventions - WHO
SOUTHERN AFRICA: Lewis "frantic" over slow AIDS response for women


EVENTS

1. Private sector conference on HIV/AIDS issues
2. New Fact Sheets from the Global Campaign for Microbicides

VACANCIES

1. Medical Doctor for HIV/AIDS Treatment Programme - Mozambique



NEWS:

UGANDA: Misuse of funds revealed as Global Fund inquiry quizzes
ministers

A commission of inquiry grilled Uganda's health ministers this week over
a corruption scandal that NGOs say prevented donor money from reaching
the severely sick.

The commission investigating the suspension of funding worth hundreds of
millions of dollars by the Global Fund for Aids, Malaria and
Tuberculosis has quizzed 130 Ugandan government officials and members of
civil society over allegations of financial mismanagement and nepotism.

More details:
http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=5804


ANGOLA: Doctors discriminate against HIV positive people

HIV-positive people in Angola face stigma and discrimination not only
from their relatives, friends or neighbours, but also from health
professionals who do not know enough about HIV/AIDS.

Felisberta Massango, an activist with the AIDS NGO, Ac=E7ao Humana,
recently took her friend, who was already in the terminal stage of AIDS,
to a public hospital in the capital, Luanda.

Her friend needed to be hospitalised, but the doctor on duty would not
admit her...

More details:
http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=5796


TANZANIA: Bars, sex trade fuelling HIV spread, say Zanzibar's Muslims

The battle against HIV/AIDS in Zanzibar will not succeed as long as
trade in alcohol and commercial sex work continue to thrive on the
island, according to Muslim leaders.

"Zanzibar would have been free of HIV/AIDS if Muslims stuck to their
religious teachings but, mainly, if the government was serious about
controlling the spread of pubs, especially in residential areas," said
Sheikh Azzan Khalid, deputy leader of the Zanzibar Islamic Propagation
Group. "The state television has been a key player in moral decay by
showing programmes which promote sex."

More details:
http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=5793


ZIMBABWE: Traditional healing centres to supplement ailing health system

The Zimbabwean government is stepping up its efforts to include
traditional medicine in the ailing health sector, officials told
PlusNews, but traditional healers feel more can be done.

Although indigenous medicine practitioners have been formally recognised
since 1981, it has taken a while for the legislation to be put into
practice.

More details:
http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=5800


AFRICA: AIDS hinders TB interventions - WHO

The presence of HIV/AIDS has slowed efforts to control tuberculosis (TB)
in Africa, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said in a report released
ahead of World TB Day on 24 March.

According to its 'Global Tuberculosis Control 2006' report, three of the
world's six regions, one of which was Africa, would not reach the TB
control targets of WHO's Global Plan to curb the disease.

More details:
http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=5798


SOUTHERN AFRICA: Lewis "frantic" over slow AIDS response for women

A senior UN official says there is an urgent need to tackle the gender
discrimination that for too long has 'feminised' HIV/AIDS in Africa.

After a recent trip to Lesotho and Swaziland, Stephen Lewis, the UN
Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, said at the weekend that it was
"impossible to traverse the continent without an enveloping sense of
horror and despair at the carnage amongst women".

More details:
http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=5789



EVENTS:

1. Private sector conference on HIV/AIDS issues

The South African Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, in partnership with
Business Unity South Africa, is hosting the first South African HIV/AIDS
conference dedicated to enabling the private sector to 'take its
response to HIV to the next level' at Gallagher Estate, Midrand,
Johannesburg from 5 to 7 April 2006.

The three-day programme consists of eight interactive debates focusing
on difficult and controversial issues related to the pandemic, including
whether the impact of mass media campaigns and HIV impede South Africa's
economic growth.

High-level presenters and facilitators include Judge Edwin Cameron and
Mark Heywood from the AIDS Law Project.

For more information please email: philisiwes@meropa.co.za /
lisad@meropa.co.za or telephone: +27 11 772 1000

2. New Fact Sheets from the Global Campaign for Microbicides

- Microbicide Messaging: Themes to emphasise and avoid
- Addressing Questions and Common Misperceptions about Microbicide
   Clinical Trials
- Managing Expectations Around Microbicides

can be accessed respectively at:
- http://www.global-campaign.org/clientfiles/FS12-Messages-Mar06.pdf
- http://www.global-campaign.org/clientfiles/FS18-Trials-Mar06.pdf
- http://www.global-campaign.org/clientfiles/FS19-ManagingExpectations-Mar06.pdf


VACANCIES

1. Medical Doctor for HIV/AIDS Treatment Programme, Mozambique

The Italian medical NGO, Doctors in Africa, seeks a suitably experienced
candidate to manage its HIV/AIDS treatment programme in Moma District, a
rural area in Mozambique's Nampula Province.

The successful applicant be responsible for the AIDS component of the
programme, and also be involved in the general care of the patients.

More details:
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/res.nsf/db900SID/OCHA-6N4JJC?OpenDocument&rc=1


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


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