IRIN HIV/AIDS Weekly - 295
Africa
4 August 2006


NEWS:

AFRICA: New report laments adolescent HIV/AIDS
KENYA: Men abandon tradition to fight HIV/AIDS
DRC: Hoping to counter the war legacy of rising HIV/AIDS
DRC: Help and justice for raped, displaced women
ZIMBABWE: Govt policies hampering AIDS efforts
RWANDA: Managing HIV among refugee populations

RESOURCES

1. HIV/AIDS Treatment Education: A Critical Component of Efforts to 
Ensure Universal Access to Prevention, Treatment and Care (2006)

2. HIV and AIDS Treatment Education, Technical Consultation Report, 
22-23 November 2005 (2006)

VACANCIES

1. HIV/AIDS Programme Coordination Officer - Sudan
2. Community Mobilisation Advisor - Zambia




NEWS


AFRICA: New report laments adolescent HIV/AIDS

Young people in developing countries are in growing danger of HIV 
infection because of forces beyond their control, an NGO said on Monday.

In a report released ahead of the upcoming International AIDS Conference 
in Toronto, Canada, Plan International noted that social, economic and 
cultural factors were preventing the youth from protecting themselves, 
regardless of available anti-AIDS education campaigns.

More details: http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=6225


KENYA: Men abandon tradition to fight HIV/AIDS

On Saturday afternoons the 69 members of the Kisumu chapter of the 
Movement of Men Against AIDS (MMAAK) in Kenya's Nyanza Province gather 
in a dusty hall in the Manyatta slum to discuss their problems and find 
new ways to involve their peers in controlling HIV.

MMAAK is a nongovernmental organisation with a national membership of 
more than 6,000 mostly HIV-positive men, part of whose mission statement 
is to "challenge social and cultural stereotypes [that] hinder progress 
in the fight against HIV/AIDS".

In this old-school part of the country, men are expected to bottle up 
their problems, grit their teeth and get on with it, so the chance to 
meet and talk to others in the same situation has come as a welcome 
relief.

More details: http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=6220


DRC: Hoping to counter the war legacy of rising HIV/AIDS

After years of conflict, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is now 
faced with a new challenge: to prevent the number of HIV infections from 
escalating to those in neighbouring countries.

According to the national AIDS programme (PNLS), there were about 1.2 
million HIV-positive people in the country in 2005, about four percent 
of the population.

Although the HIV prevalence rate appears to have been stable for the 
last 10 years, health experts have noted that stabilisation can disguise 
the worst phase of the epidemic, when roughly the same number of people 
is being newly infected as is dying of AIDS. An estimated 100,000 people 
died from AIDS-related conditions in 2005, when there were around 
155,000 new HIV infections.

More details: http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=6224


DRC: Help and justice for raped, displaced women

Seven years after she was gang-raped by a dozen soldiers and had to flee 
her village near Kalemie, in northern Katanga Province of the Democratic 
Republic of the Congo (DRC), Masoka Furha is still trying to recover 
from the brutal attack that left her infected with sexually transmitted 
infections (STIs), in constant pain and unable to bear children.

"When the soldiers came to our village, they gathered some of my family 
into our hut and set it on fire. Then they raped all the women," said 
Masoka, lying on the ground because sitting is painful. She looks 10 
years older than her age of 32.

More details: http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=6226


ZIMBABWE: Govt policies hampering AIDS efforts

Human Rights Watch (HRW) warns in a new report that the Zimbabwean 
government's policies might be reversing gains made against HIV/AIDS.

The report said "the Zimbabwean government's [Operation Murambatsvina, 
or 'Clean Out Garbage'] programme of evictions is disrupting access to 
antiretroviral (ARV) treatment and healthcare for many people living 
with HIV." An estimated 700,000 people were affected by the purge aimed 
at the informal economy launched last year.

However, Zimbabwe's Minister of Health and Child Welfare, David 
Parirenyatwa, told PlusNews the report had all the trademarks of 
"desk-top research", as the ARV access number was off by 11,000 people.

More details: http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=6228


RWANDA: Managing HIV among refugee populations

More than 40,000 Congolese refugees living in camps in neighbouring 
Rwanda depend on the generosity of donors and their host nation, who 
provide them with everything from food and water to education and health 
services.

Most fled the conflict in North and South Kivu provinces in the eastern 
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and have been in Rwanda for the whole 
of the war. The decade-long fight has been one of the world's most 
brutal, and many refugee women and children could have contracted the HI 
virus in vicious sexual attacks.

Rwandans are all too familiar with sexual violence, used as a weapon 
during the 1994 genocide when rape was commonplace, but arriving 
Congolese refugees are often stigmatised because the local population 
perceived them as "bringing" HIV into Rwanda.

More details: http://www.plusnews.org/aidsreport.asp?reportid=6230



RESOURCES

1. HIV/AIDS Treatment Education: A Critical Component of Efforts to 
Ensure Universal Access to Prevention, Treatment and Care (2006)

This publication shows how the education sector can play a role in 
efforts to achieve Universal Access to HIV Prevention, Treatment and 
Care. It considers some key strategies, including how to effectively 
engage and prepare communities, and how to involve key constituencies, 
in particular people with HIV and those on treatment.

Access the document: 
http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0014/001461/146114e.pdf


2. HIV and AIDS Treatment Education, Technical Consultation Report, 
22-23 November 2005 (2006)

This document summarises the key points and recommendations that emerged 
in the course of the two-day event co-organised by the UN Educational, 
Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and World health 
Organisation (WHO) in the framework of scaling up HIV treatment and 
preparedness efforts in support of Universal Access.

Access the document: 
http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0014/001461/146120e.pdf



VACANCIES

1. The International Medical Corps, a global humanitarian NGO, seeks the 
services of an experienced HIV/AIDS Programme Coordination Officer to 
help oversee their anti-AIDS programme in Western Equatoria, Sudan.

Please submit an expression of interest via the online employment 
application form at: http://www.imcworldwide.org/joinourteam.shtml

Reference Code: RW_6SATWE-18


2. The Elizabeth Glaser Paediatric AIDS Foundation, a US-based NGO, is 
looking for an experienced Community Mobilisation Advisor to help 
strengthen the management and improve the effectiveness of their 
anti-AIDS programme in Lusaka, Zambia.

Please visit http://www.pedaids.org to submit your application

Reference Code: RW_6RVSHU-75


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