IRIN HIV/AIDS Weekly - 302
Africa
22 September 2006


NEWS:

MOZAMBIQUE: Recognising the reality of HIV/AIDS in prisons saves lives
SOUTH AFRICA: Labour urged to demand sacking of health minister
SOUTH AFRICA: Alarming AIDS figures reported in new study
TANZANIA: Early marriage puts girls at risk of HIV
TANZANIA: New roads expose remote areas to HIV - report
KENYA: Better care could be taken of AIDS orphans
TOGO: Alleged mismanagement of funds worries NGOs
LIBERIA: AIDS orphans need attention, foundation says
KAZAKSTAN: Government to toughen fight against HIV/AIDS
PAKISTAN: Drug injecting refugees vulnerable to HIV infection
PAKISTAN: Taboo heightens risks for male sex workers


RESOURCE

1. AIDS Vaccine Science, Strategy and Action: The state of the field,
the stakes for the future

CONFERENCE

1. HIV/AIDS and its Impact on Business in Africa - 22 to 25 January 2007

VACANCIES

1. HIV/AIDS Programme Manager - Angola



NEWS

MOZAMBIQUE: Recognising the reality of HIV/AIDS in prisons saves lives

In Mozambique's Machava Central Prison, the largest jail in the country,
sex between prisoners is an unavoidable reality, but little is being
done to prevent it, according to inmates and medical staff.

"Some of the younger inmates are forced to sleep with the older ones in
exchange for food and protection," said Julio Vicente Mundai, 41, a
mechanic serving an eight-year sentence for stealing a car. Mundai
discovered his positive status after taking a voluntary test in jail.

More details: http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=6403

SOUTH AFRICA: Labour urged to demand sacking of health minister

A leading AIDS activist caused a stir by demanding the South African
health minister's removal in the presence of the deputy president at a
conference on Tuesday.

"Our government has failed us. We must speak the truth. We are willing
to work with you [the government] anytime; you have ignored our letters;
you have not spoken to us, but we are ready to talk," Zackie Achmat,
leader of the AIDS lobby group, Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) told
Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka at a conference of the Congress
of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) outside Johannesburg.

More details: http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=6391


SOUTH AFRICA: Alarming AIDS figures reported in new study

HIV/AIDS is sweeping through parts of South Africa's east-coast province
of KwaZulu-Natal, where researchers are finding alarming HIV prevalence
levels among women.

"The study might be considered somewhat biased, as only women were
tested, but the figures do suggest a worrying upward trend which could
be part of a bigger problem," Medical Research Council (MRC) researcher
Prof Gita Ramjee told PlusNews.

More details: http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=6390


TANZANIA: Early marriage puts girls at risk of HIV

Data collected by the Tanzania Media Women Association (TAMWA) shows a
strong correlation between HIV/AIDS, early school exit, teenage marriage
and pregnancy.

Tanzanian law allows girls aged as young as 15 to get married with
parental consent, and between 20 percent and 40 percent do so before
reaching adulthood, according to the United Nations Population Fund,
which addresses reproductive health and population issues.

More details: http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=6389


TANZANIA: New roads expose remote areas to HIV - report

Rural road construction in Tanzania is opening new markets and providing
greater economic opportunities, but can also increase the risk of HIV
transmission.

"When roads and bridges are built they link low- and high-prevalence
areas, such as villages where risk is lower and cities where the
prevalence is higher," said a new report by the Tanzania Civil
Engineering Contractors Association (TACECA) and the African Medical and
Research Foundation (AMREF).

More details: http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=6400


KENYA: Better care could be taken of AIDS orphans

Being an orphan is tough enough at the best of times, but in the
working-class district of Dagoretti Corner in the Kenyan capital,
Nairobi, it often means going without food as well as love.

Felista Kibe tries to make sure that doesn't happen. She and a handful
of volunteers have been providing food and comfort to children orphaned
by AIDS in Dagoretti since 1996. Eighty kids depend on her for a daily
meal, 30 of whom are HIV-positive, but when word gets out that a
donation has been received as many as 200 children can show up.

More details: http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=6405


TOGO: Alleged mismanagement of funds worries NGOs

Togolese NGOs are circulating a petition to pressure officials to take
measures to assure that funds contributed to help fight HIV/AIDS in the
country are well managed, after financing for their programmes was
suspended.

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS early this month sent a letter to Togo's
health ministry, calling attention to "irregularities" in the management
of funds allocated for tackling HIV/AIDS. As a result, the organisation
withdrew financial support for the programmes.

More details: http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=6399


LIBERIA: AIDS orphans need attention, foundation says

The Liberian government needs to reexamine how it deals with children
whose parents are HIV-positive or have died of AIDS, the leader of a
local AIDS charity says.

"We have received no government subsidy as compared to other social
welfare institutions, which the government is providing annual financial
assistance. We just rely on funds from the Global Fund and other private
donations," said Lela Samuels, executive director of the Liberia Orphans
of AIDS Foundation (LOAF).

More details: http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=6406


KAZAKSTAN: Government to toughen fight against HIV/AIDS

The Kazakh government is expected to approve a new programme worth over
US$50 million to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS in the former Soviet
republic.

"This is a [four-year] programme to fight the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the
country, with the overall amount worth 6.7 trillion Kazakh tenge [$53.16
million]," Alexander Kossukhin, national programme officer with the
Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), said from the
Kazakh commercial capital of Almaty on Wednesday.

More details: http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=6397


PAKISTAN: Drug injecting refugees vulnerable to HIV infection

In an alley close to the historic Qissa Kahani Bazaar in Peshawar,
capital of Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (NWFP), Najeeb Khan,
22, crouches on his haunches beneath a flimsy shop awning.

It is raining, and his clothes are drenched, but Najeeb seems oblivious
to the weather. His vacant eyes, unkempt beard and the syringe wounds
pock-marking his left arm give him away as a drug addict.

More details: http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSReport.ASP?ReportID=6388


PAKISTAN: Taboo heightens risks for male sex workers

Under the illuminated Minar-e-Pakistan, the towering monument that marks
the birth of the country, Pervaiz Din lays out the accessories of his
trade. The tiny bottles of massage oil and aromatic colognes tinkle
cheerfully as he pulls them out of a cloth bag and sets them out on a
tray. Through much of the balmy September night, Pervaiz will await
customers who seek a soothing roadside massage, a head rub - or
something more.

"Some nights I get lucky. I get two or even three 'good customers' and I
return home happy," Pervaiz told IRIN.

More details: http://www.plusnews.org/aidsreport.asp?reportid=6402



RESOURCE

1. AIDS Vaccine Science, Strategy and Action: The state of the field,
the stakes for the future

This document provides updates on the state of AIDS vaccine science,
science management and funding, including an analysis of the Global HIV
Vaccine Enterprise and its ongoing search for an executive director; and
the new enterprise-related funding streams which emerged over the last
year.

Access the resource:
http://avac.org/pdf/reports/2006_Report/AVAC_ch1.pdf


CONFERENCE

1. HIV/AIDS and its Impact on Business in Africa - 22 to 25 January 2007

One of the major challenges facing the continent is to gather resources
and translate knowledge and experience into treatment and preventions
programmes.

This conference at the Sandton Convention Centre, in Johannesburg, South
Africa, seeks to address the consequences if business continues to
ignore current warnings and statistics.

Register at http://www.aidsafricaconference.com, as well as nominate a
company you feel deserves an award for their course of action.


VACANCIES

1. The international humanitarian organisation, Oxfam, seeks a suitably
trained candidate to manage their HIV/AIDS programme in Benguela,
Angola.

The successful applicant would be required to work with local partners
and communities to ensure that the programme delivers effective
solutions to the increased incidence of HIV in the region.

The incumbent would also be expected to help raise public prevention
awareness of the pandemic and its socio-economic impact.

For more details and to apply, visit www.oxfam.org.uk/jobs quoting
reference INT1881.


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


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