IRIN HIV/AIDS Weekly - 307
Africa
27 October 2006


NEWS

AFRICA: ART on the frontline
SAO TOME AND PRINCIPE: Stigma hobbles HIV/AIDS fight
SIERRA LEONE: Stigma and fear prevent uptake of vital services
ZIMBABWE: Homophobia raises HIV risk for gays
TANZANIA: ARV rollout slowly improving
KENYA: Prisoners in remote Turkana get HIV/AIDS education
INDIA: New study reveals HIV/AIDS stigma in hospitals
SOUTH AFRICA: AIDS fight picks up pace in a Durban township
UGANDA: Men in the north slow to respond to AIDS message
SWAZILAND: AIDS campaign induces behaviour change

RESOURCES

1. HIV Prevention for Girls and Young Women (Report Cards)

CONFERENCES

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

VACANCIES

1. HIV/AIDS Programme Manager - Nigeria



NEWS

AFRICA: ART on the frontline

Providing HIV/AIDS treatment and care in countries at peace is hard
enough; extending those services to people on the run from conflict or
disaster seems, on the face of it, hopelessly complicated.

But even during the height of the fighting in war-wracked eastern
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the medical relief group Medecins
Sans Frontieres was doing it in two clinics in Bukavu, capital of South
Kivu Province, developing a model that has been replicated in other
conflict areas.

The rationale is straightforward: crisis-affected people have the same
right to HIV/AIDS services as the general population. That entitlement
extends to refugees, with a series of international protocols upholding
their right to a minimum standard of assistance.

To read the PlusNews Webspecial on 'ART on the frontline':
http://www.plusnews.org/webspecials/ART/default.asp


SAO TOME AND PRINCIPE: Stigma hobbles HIV/AIDS fight

When Maria (not her real name) took the brave step of speaking to the
media in Sao Tome about her HIV-positive status, she had no idea what
she was letting herself in for.

Although she had her back turned to the cameras, her voice was not
disguised and it did not take long for people in her community to
identify her. "After that, everyone knew it was me - at least, they
thought it was me," she told PlusNews.

The stigma attached to being HIV positive in the tiny twin-island state
of Sao Tome and Principe is huge. No one living with the virus has so
far gone public about his or her status, and health workers say that
discrimination presents the biggest challenge to curbing the spread of
the epidemic.

More details:
http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=6491


SIERRA LEONE: Stigma and fear prevent uptake of vital services

Stigma against HIV/AIDS and fear of learning one's status are slowing
the uptake of free testing and treatment services in Sierra Leone.

The focus of the national response so far has been on increasing
people's awareness of the basic facts of HIV/AIDS. But the concept of
voluntarily discovering one's HIV status is largely alien, despite the
availability of free testing at all district hospitals and a number of
sites in the capital, Freetown. Most people only learn what their HIV
status is after being referred for testing by their doctor.

According to a national HIV seroprevalence survey published this year,
an estimated 1.5 percent of the country's roughly five million people
are HIV positive.

More details:
http://www.plusnews.org/aidsreport.asp?reportid=6499


ZIMBABWE: Homophobia raises HIV risk for gays

Efforts to address the HIV/AIDS epidemic among Zimbabwe's homosexual
population are being frustrated by homophobia in the government and
society.

This is according to the Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ), a
national network of 6,000 gay men and women formed in 1989 to champion
and protect the interests of the gay community in Zimbabwe.

Men who have sex with men are at high risk from HIV/AIDS, but Samuel
Madzikure, GALZ programme manager for health, said the government's
attitude towards homosexuals had made it extremely difficult for his
organisation to target the gay community with prevention messages.

More details:
http://www.plusnews.org/aidsreport.asp?reportid=6498


TANZANIA: ARV rollout slowly improving

After a slow start to its antiretroviral (ARV) treatment programme,
Tanzania has speeded up the pace, doubling the number of HIV-positive
people receiving the drugs over the past 10 months.

According to the National AIDS Control Programme (NACP), 49,315 patients
were receiving the life-prolonging medication from state facilities by
mid-September, an average of about 2,500 new patients per month since
December 2005, when the figure was 23,000.

NACP's head of the care and treatment unit, Emma Msuya Lekashingo,
attributed the rise to increased funding and an easier procurement
process. Until 2005, when the government made the central medical stores
semi-autonomous from the ministry of health, the main complaint of ARV
dispensers was the unavailability of the drugs. The supply cycle - from
tendering to procurement to distribution - often took many months,
sometimes years, to complete.

More details:
http://www.plusnews.org/aidsreport.asp?reportid=6494


KENYA: Prisoners in remote Turkana get HIV/AIDS education

On a sweltering afternoon in the crowded courtyard of Lodwar Prison, in
northern Kenya's remote Turkana district, inmates jostle for positions
on the floor, enraptured by rare entertainment - a short film to educate
them about HIV/AIDS.

"The [AIDS] education is very important for our prisoners. Everyone
needs to know what it is, and every human being has to know and be
enlightened," said Julius Krapus, the officer in charge of Lodwar
Prison.

Most awareness campaigns consist of posters, leaflets or other written
material, but the literacy rate in Turkana is among the lowest in Kenya
and many prisoners can neither read nor write, restricting their ability
to fully understand the threat of the disease.

More details:
http://www.plusnews.org/aidsreport.asp?reportid=6493


INDIA: New study reveals HIV/AIDS stigma in hospitals

India's growing HIV/AIDS pandemic is putting more pressure on hospitals
to provide improved levels of care, but prejudice among medical staff
against HIV-positive people is keeping those most in need away,
according to a recent report.

'Reducing AIDS-related Stigma and Discrimination in Indian Hospitals',
is being viewed with interest by policy makers and practitioners in
India, as stigma and discrimination against people living with the virus
threaten to derail official efforts to contain the epidemic.

The study was conducted by HORIZONS, a global research programme
affiliated with the Population Council, a US-based reproductive health
nongovernmental organisation (NGO), in conjunction with SHARAN, an
Indian NGO, and the Delhi-based Institute of Economic Growth.

More details:
http://www.plusnews.org/aidsreport.asp?reportid=6481


SOUTH AFRICA: AIDS fight picks up pace in a Durban township

The 'Blue Roofs Clinic' in Wentworth, on the outskirts of South Africa's
east-coast city of Durban, is difficult to miss with its giant steel top
echoing the colour of its name.

Situated on the former premises of a popular night club, the anti-AIDS
initiative seeks to address the needs of HIV-positive people who are
slipping through the cracks at public healthcare facilities.

Marion Jacobs, 21 and displaying a number of AIDS-related illnesses,
comes to the facility every day so nursing staff can monitor her
adherence to recently started tuberculosis (TB) medication.

More details:
http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSReport.ASP?ReportID=6480


UGANDA: Men in the north slow to respond to AIDS message

Awareness of the AIDS pandemic is generally high in northern Uganda, but
the message has not hit home with some men, who are still too afraid of
the stigma against the disease to seek treatment.

According to Robert Ochola, coordinator of HIV/AIDS activities at
Kitgum's St Joseph's Hospital, the social fabric of the Acholi people -
the ethnic group worst affected by the 20-year war in Uganda's northern
region - has broken down almost entirely, relegating men to waiting for
handouts from relief agencies.

The war has forced an estimated two million people into camps for the
internally displaced, drastically altering their lives and roles in
their communities.

More details:
http://www.plusnews.org/aidsreport.asp?reportid=6500


SWAZILAND: AIDS campaign induces behaviour change

An aggressive HIV/AIDS awareness campaign has had a positive impact on
the sexual behaviour and attitudes of Swazis, a new survey has found.

The study was commissioned by the National Emergency Response Council on
HIV/AIDS (NERCHA), with support from the United States Agency for
International Development (USAID), and conducted by the Mexico-based
research centre, Community Information and Epidemiological Technologies
(CIET).

A controversial awareness media campaign, called 'Makhwapheni' - SiSwati
slang for illicit lovers - focused on the dangers of having multiple
sexual partners. During extensive consultations to prepare for the
Second National HIV and AIDS Multisectoral National Strategic Plan
2006-2008, the practice of multiple concurrent sexual partnerships was
identified as the key driver of the epidemic, said NERCHA.

More details:
http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=6501



RESOURCES

1. HIV Prevention for Girls and Young Women (Report Cards)

The Report Cards are advocacy tools aimed at increasing and improving
the programmatic, policy and funding actions taken on HIV prevention for
girls and young women.

They build on global policy commitments, particularly those outlined in
the 'Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS' from the UN General Assembly
Special Session on AIDS (UNGASS).

Their key audiences are national, regional and international policy and
decision-makers, and service providers.

Access the resource:
www.unfpa.org/publications/detail.cfm?ID=315&filterListType

CONFERENCES

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 prevention
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 on HIV/AIDS.

Register at http://www.aidsafricaconference.com.


VACANCIES

1. The international humanitarian organisation, Christian Aid (CA),
seeks a suitably trained individual manage the expansion of their HIV
programme in Nigeria.

The successful applicant should have a degree in development studies or
a related field (e.g. public health, education, social studies etc); at
least 8 years experience in international development with a significant
involvement in HIV work in Nigeria; and at least 3 years senior
management experience in projects funded by large institutional donors.

To apply for this position, visit the Christian Aid website:
http://www.christianaid.org.uk/aboutca/jobs/intjobs.htm

Closing date for applications is 10 November.


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


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