IRIN HIV/AIDS Weekly - 274
Africa
10 March 2006


NEWS:

GUINEA: AIDS patients want less talk and more action
ZAMBIA: Risky business - Fish for Sex
SOUTH AFRICA: Activists lament AIDS and rights abuses on International
   Women's Day
ETHIOPIA: Gov't scales up antiretroviral rollout
CAMEROON: Kribi, a small paradise for tourists and AIDS

LINKS

1. NetComSA

CONFERENCES/ EVENTS/ RESEARCH/ RESOURCES
1. Panel discussion to analyse HIV/AIDS reporting

VACANCIES
1. HIV/AIDS Programme Coordinator - Lofa County, Liberia



NEWS

GUINEA: AIDS patients want less talk and more action

Donors and the government have launched another HIV/AIDS programme in 
the forest region of southeastern Guinea, the region with the highest 
infection rate in the country, but HIV-positive residents are still 
struggling to access anti-AIDS medication.

Nzerekore, the main town in the forest region, has an HIV prevalence 
rate of about seven percent compared to the national average of 2.8 
percent, according to local government officials, yet the town has some 
of the poorest HIV-health facilities in the country.

More details: http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=5761


ZAMBIA: Risky business - Fish for Sex

When fish are scarce in the Kafue Flats wetlands of south-central 
Zambia, and competition between fish traders is high, fish for sex deals 
between the female traders and fishermen are often a means of survival 
for the women, but this form of transactional sex comes at a price.

Research presented at a recent workshop on HIV/AIDS in the fishery 
sector found that female fish traders were increasingly becoming 
stigmatised by local communities because they were perceived as being a 
source of HIV/AIDS.

More details: http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=5757


SOUTH AFRICA: Activists lament AIDS and rights abuses on International 
Women's Day

The rising number of women living with HIV/AIDS globally is directly 
related to the abuse of women's rights, South African activists said on 
Wednesday as International Women's Day was commemorated.

People Opposing Women Abuse (POWA) - a Johannesburg-based NGO supporting 
women who experience domestic violence, sexual harassment and rape - 
said many violations that increased the susceptibility of women to HIV 
infection still occurred.

More details: http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=5756


ETHIOPIA: Gov't scales up antiretroviral rollout

The Ethiopian Ministry of Health has announced that it will provide free 
antiretroviral therapy (ART) and treatment of opportunistic infections 
to 58,000 HIV-positive people until the beginning of July.

The ministry said on Friday that some 23,000 people had already 
benefited from free ART provision since January 2005. At least 1.5 
million people in Ethiopia are currently living with the HI virus, 
according to UN estimates.

More details: http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=5744


CAMEROON: Kribi, a small paradise for tourists and AIDS

The inhabitants of Kribi, a well-known sea resort on the Gulf of Guinea, 
were hoping that an oil terminal linking Chad to Cameroon would solve 
all their problems of unemployment, poverty and isolation. But three 
years after construction began, little has changed.

Between June 2001 and July 2003, with the financial support of the World 
Bank, 1,070 km of pipeline was built, linking the oil fields of Doba in 
southern Chad to the oil tankers stationed outside the bay of Kribi. The 
sea terminal, with the capacity to handle 225,000 barrels of oil per 
day, was inaugurated in October 2003.

The economic boom experienced by Kribi has, however, heightened the 
HIV/AIDS risk.

More details: http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=5742



LINKS

1. Network of AIDS Communities in South Africa (NetComSA)

This is a link to NetComSA, an NGO founded to address issues relating to 
the escalating HIV/AIDS pandemic in South African communities.

The network comprises a group of people living with or affected by AIDS, 
who banded together to develop outreach programmes targeting communities 
commonly bypassed in formal health service provision.

Access the site: http://www.netaids.org



CONFERENCES/ EVENTS/ RESEARCH/ RESOURCES

1. Panel discussion to analyse HIV/AIDS reporting

Journalists have until 14 March to register for an informal panel 
discussion on HIV/AIDS news coverage in Southern Africa. The talk is set 
for 16 March in Johannesburg, South Africa.

The Institute for the Advancement of Journalism is organising the event, 
which features the US journalist, professor and Fullbright scholar, 
Eleanor Burkett, who is currently working at the University of Zimbabwe 
and has written extensively on the pandemic.

For more information or to attend, contact Nhlahla Maseko of IAJ at: 
nhlanhla@iaj.org.za or telephone +27 11 4841765



VACANCIES

The International Medical Corps, a global NGO, seeks a suitable 
candidate with relevant medical/technical experience in AIDS, a Masters 
Degree in Public Health and a minimum 5 to 7 years of AIDS programme 
experience, to help oversee the planning, coordination, and 
implementation of HIV/AIDS programmes in Liberia's Lofa County.

For more information: 
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/res.nsf/db900SID/OCHA-6MFU2G?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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