IRIN HIV/AIDS Weekly - 288
Africa
16 June 2006


NEWS:

BOTSWANA: No refuge from HIV/AIDS in Dukwi camp
BOTSWANA: Racing to keep resistant HIV at bay
KENYA: HIV-positive prisoners often locked out of services
SOUTH AFRICA: Govt wants to monitor PEPFAR funds
UGANDA: Living positively in war-ravaged northern camps
UGANDA: Condom shortage in north affecting HIV prevention efforts

EVENTS

1. Second Africa Conference on Sexual Health and Rights
2. HIV Vaccines and Microbicides Resource Tracking Working Group
3. Consultation on HIV Vulnerability and Cross-Border Mobility in the
    Horn of Africa

NEWS

BOTSWANA: No refuge from HIV/AIDS in Dukwi camp

Dukwi refugee camp sprawls for 20sq.km into the bush along the road 
between Francistown, Botswana's second city, and the Zambian border to 
the north, but there is little to show that 3,000 individuals from 14 
countries, mostly Somalia, Angola and Namibia, are living here.

The haphazard jumble of small brick buildings interspersed with shacks 
and huts may look temporary, but it has been here for 30 years and some 
people have raised their children and even their grandchildren in Dukwi. 
Despite its seeming isolation, the inhabitants often receive permission 
to live outside the camp while they pursue casual labour, mingle with 
and sometimes even marry people in the surrounding villages.

The downside to this freedom of movement is that the refugees are as 
vulnerable to HIV infection as anyone else in a country with an adult 
prevalence rate of 37 percent.

More details:
http://www.plusnews.org/aidsreport.asp?reportid=6063


BOTSWANA:  Racing to keep resistant HIV at bay

The sustainability of the national HIV treatment programme in Botswana, 
and elsewhere in Africa, depends on avoiding widespread drug resistance 
that could threaten long-term affordability. Patients who miss even five 
percent of their drug doses can develop resistant strains of the virus, 
and will need to switch to second-line medication at more than double 
the cost.

Botswana was the first country in Africa to implement a nationwide 
antiretroviral (ARV) programme. Four years later, 85 percent of 
patients, including those using the private sector, are receiving 
treatment, and the programme has often been held up as a test case for 
the rest of the continent.

Other countries in the region lag far behind - while they are focusing 
on a wider distribution of ARVs, Botswana's major challenge is to ensure 
that patients stick to their daily regimen.

More details:
http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=6069


KENYA: HIV-positive prisoners often locked out of services

Skeletally thin George Okoth (not his real name), 37, has been in prison 
on remand for murder for almost a year. He was diagnosed with HIV late 
in 2005, when he fell seriously ill, and has since been put on a course 
of antiretroviral (ARV) drugs, which increases his appetite.

When he has the rare opportunity of talking to the warden, the first 
thing Okoth asks is whether there is any chance of improving the daily 
diet of maize and beans in western Kenya's Kitale Main Prison. "If it is 
possible to get us some fruits from time to time, and a bit more food, 
we would be grateful."

Kenya's prison populations have little access to voluntary counselling 
and testing (VCT) or treatment in a system designed to hold some 16,000 
inmates, but which houses more than 50,000, often in cramped, unhealthy 
conditions - ideal for the spread of HIV/AIDS.

More details:
http://www.plusnews.org/aidsreport.asp?reportid=6075


SOUTH AFRICA: Govt wants to monitor PEPFAR funds

Hailed as a "quantum leap" in the global funding response to the 
HIV/AIDS pandemic, the US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief 
(PEPFAR) has experienced its fair share of controversy.

Many AIDS activists have criticised PEPFAR, regarding it as a slight to 
the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, set up in 2002.

But delegates attending this week's PEPFAR annual meeting for programme 
implementers in Durban, South Africa, are taking stock of the progress 
made by PEPFAR-funded projects and steering clear of controversy.

More details:
http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=6068


UGANDA: Living positively in war-ravaged northern camps

HIV/AIDS was unheard of in northern Uganda in the mid-1980s; now it is 
the second most prolific killer in the region, where almost two decades 
of conflict between the Ugandan army and the cult-like Lord's Resistance 
Army (LRA) has driven thousands of people into camps for displaced 
persons, and the prevalence rate has climbed above nine percent.

Although malaria causes more deaths, according to the 2004-05 Uganda 
Sero Survey the national HIV prevalence rate is much lower - only 6.4 
percent.

Residents in the Acholiland districts of Gulu, Kitgum and Pader have 
been terrorised by the LRA, notorious for the murder, rape and torture 
of thousands of innocent civilians and the abduction of an estimated 
25,000 children for use as soldiers, sex slaves and domestic workers.

More details:
http://www.plusnews.org/aidsreport.asp?reportid=6056


UGANDA: Condom shortage in north affecting HIV prevention efforts

On a shelf in The Faith Drug Store at Unyama camp for the internally 
displaced, near the northern Ugandan town of Gulu, a box of 'Lifeguard' 
and a box of 'Protector' - commercial condom brands - sit between boxes 
of malaria and common cold medicines, but both are empty.

"We often run out of stock," admitted storekeeper Kevin Kipwola. "We buy 
one box of Lifeguard and one box of Protector from town each week, a 
total of 40 condoms."

No free 'Engabo' (shield) condoms are available in the camp. A severe 
shortage of condoms in northern Uganda is compromising efforts to curb 
the rising HIV prevalence rate, despite a growing demand for them, said 
senior health officials in two districts.

More details:
http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=6077



EVENTS

1. The second Africa Conference on Sexual Health and Rights will be held 
from 19 to 21 June 2006, in Nairobi, Kenya. The conference will be 
convened by the Africa Regional Office of the Planned Parenthood 
Federation of America and the African Federation for Sexual Health and 
Rights (AFSHR). The conveners will provide technical support, and assist 
in mobilising resources and other support for the conference.

The goal of the conference is to bring the discourse of sexuality, 
sexual health and sexual rights to the forefront in Africa. 
Specifically, the conference aims to give participants an opportunity to 
meet and discuss these issues, share experiences and innovative 
programmes, build alliances and networks, and disseminate research 
findings on current and emerging sexuality issues in Africa.

For more information: http://www.africasexuality.org


2. The HIV Vaccines and Microbicides Resource Tracking Working Group has 
released preliminary data, and launched a new website on 1 June 2006.

The Working Group comprises the AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition (AVAC), 
the Alliance for Microbicide Development (AMD), the International AIDS 
Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) and UNAIDS.

For more information on microbicides, please contact the Alliance for 
Microbicide Development email: info@microbicide.org.

For more information on UNAIDS resource-tracking activities, please 
contact the UNAIDS Resource Tracking Unit
email: rtpdata@unaids.org.


3. The Government of Djibouti, the UN Theme Group on AIDS - Djibouti, 
the UNAIDS Secretariat and co-sponsors will host a consultation entitled 
'HIV Vulnerability and Cross-border Mobility in the Horn of Africa - an 
inter-country response', from 29 June to 1 July 2006 in Djiboutiville.

Vulnerability to HIV among mobile populations in the Horn of Africa 
presents a pervasive and imperative challenge. Located at the crossroads 
of the Middle East and Africa, with a population of approximately 130 
million, the Horn of Africa is characterised by sociocultural and 
historical links, as well as mobility between countries. The subregion 
is facing arduous humanitarian crises, major development challenges and 
public health concerns, coupled with varying degrees of HIV prevalence.

The objective of this workshop is to bring together key partners from 
Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen to determine joint 
action and the related inter-country coordination mechanisms required to 
improve access to prevention, treatment, care and support services for 
mobile people and the host populations with whom they interact.

Please contact Sinead Ryan at the UNAIDS Regional Office for the Middle 
and North Africa [ryans@unaids.org] should you have further questions 
concerning the consultation.


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


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