IRIN HIV/AIDS Weekly - 313
Africa
8 December 2006


NEWS:

SUDAN: Darfur at risk of mounting HIV/AIDS epidemic
SOUTH AFRICA: Prevention for positives
RWANDA: Need to incorporate nutrition into kids' HIV programmes
TANZANIA: African Muslim clerics divided on condom use
MALAWI: Each migrating nurse costs country up to US$26 million
SOMALIA: Cross-border migration an HIV/AIDS threat
SOUTH AFRICA: AIDS 'paradigm shift' in life insurance
SWAZILAND: Has Swaziland turned the corner in the fight against AIDS?
UGANDA: An HIV/AIDS campaign in crisis?
KENYA: Government introduces combination therapy for PMTCT
SOUTH AFRICA: HIV/AIDS still running amok - report
SOUTHERN AFRICA: Hitting the target? New study explores HIV/AIDS
   information needs
OPT: No friends, few drugs and little expertise for AIDS patients


EVENTS/RESOURCES

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

VACANCIES

1. Programme Officer, Southern Africa - Brighton, UK
2. HIV/AIDS Project Director - Kenya
3. Provincial HIV/AIDS Care and Treatment Scale-up Coordinator - Mozambique


NEWS

SUDAN: Darfur at risk of mounting HIV/AIDS epidemic

The United Nations is raising awareness about HIV/AIDS in Sudan, but has 
warned that infection rates may be on the rise in the unstable Darfur 
region.

"There are suggestions that the number of people who have the disease 
[in Darfur] is increasing," UNAIDS Country Coordinator Musa Bungudu told 
reporters in the Sudanese capital Khartoum recently.

More details: http://www.plusnews.org/aidsreport.asp?reportid=6598


SOUTH AFRICA: Prevention for positives

Love and sex are complicated at the best of times; adding HIV to the mix 
can strain the strongest relationship to breaking point.

After Zodwa [not her real name] learned she was HIV positive, six 
torturous months passed before she felt able to tell her boyfriend. "I 
had to check his mindset," she said. "We were using condoms, but I 
worried about the condom breaking, and I felt so guilty." As it turned 
out, her boyfriend was supportive, but the couple broke up a few months 
later.

"I was very uncomfortable having sex, so it affected the relationship," 
Zodwa said. "Now I'm in a relationship with someone who's positive and 
it's easier, but it took time to think of sex normally."

More details: http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSReport.ASP?ReportID=6599


RWANDA: Need to incorporate nutrition into kids' HIV programmes

Nearly 45 percent of HIV-positive Rwandan children under five years old 
are severely malnourished, delegates at last month's second annual 
Rwandan paediatric conference on HIV/AIDS heard.

Josephine Kayumba, a nutritionist with Rwanda's Treatment and Research 
AIDS Centre, who attended the conference in the capital, Kigali, told 
IRIN/PlusNews that "the nutrition aspect is not well thought out in 
HIV/AIDS care and treatment. The sector does not receive the sufficient 
financial and political support it deserves, despite the impact its 
interventions can have."

More details: http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSReport.ASP?ReportID=6600


TANZANIA: African Muslim clerics divided on condom use

Muslim clerics from 25 African countries failed to reach consensus on 
the use of condoms in preventing HIV/AIDS at a meeting on the 
semi-autonomous Tanzanian island of Zanzibar.

The Network of African Islamic Faith-based Organisations met in November 
to discuss issues that included HIV/AIDS and gender-based violence, but 
could not to agree on a unified HIV/AIDS strategy.

More details: http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSReport.ASP?ReportID=6597


MALAWI: Each migrating nurse costs country up to US$26 million

Malawi, one of the world's poorest countries, is losing up to US$26 
million for every nurse who leaves the country in search of greener 
pastures, according to a new research paper.

"Better salaries and good working conditions are among the contributing 
factors for these nurses' migration," said Fresier Maseko, one of the 
authors of 'The financial losses from the migration of nurses from 
Malawi'.

More details: http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSReport.ASP?ReportID=6591


SOMALIA: Cross-border migration an HIV/AIDS threat

Somalia's HIV prevalence of about one percent is low, but the 
cross-border movement of people is causing an increase in infection 
rates, according to Dr Fernando Morales of the UN Children's Fund's 
Somalia office. Northwestern Somalia, which shares a frontier with 
Ethiopia, is particularly at risk.

Leo Kenny, UNAIDS country coordinator for Somalia, told PlusNews: "The 
prevalence rate is very high for a Muslim society and it is heading 
towards a generalised epidemic. Somalia is at the same stage that South 
Africa was 10 years ago."

More details: http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSReport.ASP?ReportID=6592


SOUTH AFRICA: AIDS 'paradigm shift' in life insurance

A South African firm is bringing more affordable life insurance within 
reach of HIV-positive people otherwise struggling with limited and 
costly schemes.

AllLife has listed regular blood tests and compliance with 
antiretroviral (ARV) treatment among some of the primary conditions for 
accessing their policies, which could pay up to US$410,000 in the event 
of accidental or AIDS-related death.

More details: http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSReport.ASP?ReportID=6593


SWAZILAND: Has Swaziland turned the corner in the fight against AIDS?

The Swazi government expressed cautious optimism after a survey found 
that 39.2 percent of women visiting antenatal clinics tested positive 
for HIV, indicating that the infection rate was dropping.

Medical data from pregnant women is used as a barometer of HIV/AIDS 
prevalence among the country's about one million people and although the 
figure was above the 38.6 percent recorded in 2002, it was down from the 
42.6 percent reached in 2004.

More details: http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSReport.ASP?ReportID=6594


UGANDA: An HIV/AIDS campaign in crisis?

Uganda's success in lowering its HIV/AIDS level, lauded as a rare 
African achievement, could be unravelling. The latest UNAIDS statistics 
show rising prevalence, and questions are being asked about the 
government's commitment to fighting the epidemic.

The 2006 UNAIDS epidemic update revealed that Uganda's prevalence rose 
marginally to 6.7 percent in 2005.

More details: http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSReport.ASP?ReportID=6587


KENYA: Government introduces combination therapy for PMTCT

HIV-positive pregnant women in Kenya may soon receive the AIDS drug 
Zidovudine, also known as AZT, alongside single-dose Nevirapine, a 
combination shown to significantly reduce the transmission of the virus 
to new-born babies.

"We began to introduce AZT in combination with Nevirapine at several 
pilot sites around the country last year and, depending on the results, 
we plan to roll out the new treatment across the country," said Dr 
Robert Ayisi of the National AIDS and other Sexually Transmitted 
Infections Control Programme (NASCOP).

More details: http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSReport.ASP?ReportID=6589


SOUTH AFRICA: HIV/AIDS still running amok - report

HIV/AIDS continues to wreak havoc in South Africa, with the nation's 
youth appearing to be hardest hit, researchers said on 1 December, World 
AIDS Day.

The nation's 15-year-olds now had a 56 percent chance of dying before 
the age of 60, compared to a 29 percent chance of dying of an 
AIDS-related illness in 1990, according to 'The Demographic Impact of 
HIV/AIDS in South Africa: National and Provincial Indicators for 2006', 
a joint study issued every two years by the Actuarial Society of South 
Africa (ASSA) and the Medical Research Council (MRC).

More details: http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSReport.ASP?ReportID=6583


SOUTHERN AFRICA: Hitting the target? New study explores HIV/AIDS 
information needs

Hundreds of media organisations, nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) 
and government agencies are producing information about HIV and AIDS. 
But how much of that information is accessible and useful to AIDS 
organisations on the ground and who is benefiting from it?

A study commissioned by IRIN/PlusNews, with funding from the Irish 
government, surveyed 192 organisations in Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, 
Mozambique and Swaziland to find out. Respondents described how and 
where they accessed HIV and AIDS information, whether it met their needs 
and how they disseminated it to their members and target groups.

More details: http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSReport.ASP?ReportID=6579


OPT: No friends, few drugs and little expertise for AIDS patients

The manner in which 14-year-old Mahmoud (not his real name) was infected 
with HIV was unusual - but the subsequent reaction of Palestinian 
society was all too predictable.

"I got it from a blood transfusion when I was 12. Now, no one talks me. 
My friends all left me when they knew that I'm AIDS patient. I feel I'm 
alone in this world. They are afraid to get infected from me, as I was 
infected, but it is not my fault that I have AIDS now," said the 
youngster from the West Bank.

More details: http://www.plusnews.org/aidsreport.asp?reportid=6595


EVENTS/RESOURCES

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.

Register at http://www.aidsafricaconference.com


2. Guide to AIDS Communication

AIDS communication draws on a number of different academic fields and is 
concerned with advocacy, behaviour change, social mobilisation and 
social change. It can address both issues that immediately impact on HIV 
and AIDS, such as a lack of knowledge of safer sex, and the driving 
causes of the epidemic, such as the gender relations obstructing safer 
sex practice. A key factor in effective AIDS communication is an 
understanding of audiences' needs and circumstances. Much attention has 
been given to the importance of the social context of communication, 
including religious, economic and cultural factors. Practitioners are 
increasingly focusing on the creation of enabling AIDS communication 
environments through work with bodies such as the media and civil 
society organisations.

This online guide outlines what is meant by AIDS communication and looks 
at how the field has evolved. It also reviews a range of different AIDS 
communication approaches and addresses some of the broader factors that 
impact on particular communications strategies.

To read the full guide, go to: 
http://www.eldis.org/hivaids/communications/index.htm


VACANCIES

1. Programme Officer, Southern Africa - Brighton, UK

The International HIV/AIDS Alliance, an international NGO supporting 
community action against the pandemic in developing countries seeks a 
suitably trained individual to fill the position of Programme Officer at 
its Secretariat in Brighton, UK.

The post holder will play a key role in developing, supporting and 
monitoring country programmes either in Mozambique, Zimbabwe or Zambia, 
managing and/or providing technical support to meet identified needs and 
writing funding proposals and reports.

Experience in programme management, developing funding proposals and 
consensus building are essential, as is the ability to move easily and 
effectively between the worlds of donors and grassroots NGOs. The 
successful candidate will also have the ability to communicate fluently 
in English and in Portuguese, both verbally and in writing.

Closing date: 12 December 2006
Ref: FP/326

For further details and for information about how to apply, go to: 
http://www.aidsalliance.org/sw43293.asp


2. HIV/AIDS Project Director - Kenya

Doctors of the World-USA seeks a public health professional to lead 
field-based implementation of an HIV/AIDS treatment and support project 
in the West Pokot District of Kenya.

Duties include working with head quarters programme leadership and 
in-country partners; managing operations, including financial oversight; 
supervising local staff and monitoring and improving quality of 
services; and otherwise leading project activities in close cooperation 
with local Kenyan Ministry of Health officials.

The position requires collaborative work style, comfort with a diversity 
of cultures and communities, comfort and experience living and working 
in very low-resource and low-technology settings, experience supervising 
international staff, and willingness to undertake frequent local travel 
in rural Kenya.

Also requires 3-5 years of experience in international health, 
outstanding writing and communication skills, and capacity to work with 
public and private funders. Technical knowledge of HIV/AIDS treatment, 
health services for rural populations, medical education, and/or 
regional knowledge of Kenya a plus.

Closing date: 07 Mar 2007

To apply, contact: humanresources@dowusa.org


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


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