Your daily Selection of IRIN Africa PlusNews reports, 9/22/2003

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U N I T E D N A T I O N S

Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

Integrated Regional Information Network

CONTENT:

1 - AFRICA: Action, funding still lag behind in the fight against HIV

2 - AFRICA: Religious leaders expose damning attitudes towards HIV/AIDS

3 - GLOBAL: Highest ethical standards needed in HIV/AIDS vaccine trials

4 - SWAZILAND: AIDS " indaba " highlights conflicting views

1 - AFRICA: Action, funding still lag behind in the fight against HIV

NAIROBI, 22 September (PLUSNEWS) - HIV/AIDS has finally reached the top of

the African agenda, according to a new UNAIDS report released on Sunday.

However, the increasing political attention the epidemic has received has

not translated into sufficient action, as total funding for HIV/AIDS was

only half of what was needed, the report, " Accelerating Action against

AIDS in Africa " noted.

Speaking at a press conference at the 13th International

Conference on AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infections (ICASA), being held

in Nairobi from 21 to 26 September, the UNAIDS director of country and

regional support, Michel Sidibe, admitted that progress had been made in

the continent's fight against the disease during the last two years.

Resources have begun to flow - UNAIDS estimates that about

US $950 million was spent to fight HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa last

year - but although this was an increase of US $400

million since 2000, more was needed to implement and expand prevention and

care programmes.

African leaders such as presidents Festus Mogae of Botswana and Yoweri

Museveni of Uganda, had taken the lead in not only speaking out on

HIV/AIDS, but in backing this up with action. Leaders in other countries

such as Kenya were now taking similar steps, the report said.

Behaviour change was slowly taking place and there had been a reduction in

HIV prevalence among young girls in Ethiopia and young people in Zambia,

Sidibe pointed out.

" They said behaviour change would not happen...this is not true.

Prevention is working, " he said. But all these " exciting developments "

were not enough, he added.

The report outlined three major challenges the continent had to grapple

with.

Firstly, the scaling up of antiretroviral treatment programmes was crucial

for an effective response. At the end of 2002, only 1 percent of the 4.1

million people who needed it in Africa were receiving treatment - even

though the demands for treatment have been growing louder through AIDS

activism - the report found.

The increasing impact of the epidemic on African women could no longer be

ignored. The report called for additional focus on women in any response

against the epidemic.

But national coordinator for Rwanda of the Society of Women against AIDS

in Africa, Rose Gahire, remained skeptical.

" Money is coming in to Africa but how much of this is reaching women?

Women and youth are still marginalised in government programmes, " she told

IRIN.

There had been " too much talk " about the plight of women in Africa, but

this still had to be translated into action Gahire added.

Thirdly, the humanitarian crisis in Southern Africa had highlighted the

complexity of the epidemic and the need to integrate HIV/AIDS responses

with broader development initiatives.

The report is available at: <a href= " http://www.unaids.org "

target= " blank " >www.unaids.org</a>

[ENDS]

2 - AFRICA: Religious leaders expose damning attitudes towards HIV/AIDS

NAIROBI, 21 September (PLUSNEWS) - African religious leaders admitted on

Sunday that their own institutions were sometimes guilty of spreading the

stigma attached to HIV/AIDS.

Christian and Muslim leaders attending the 13th International Conference

on AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infections in Africa, being held on 21-26

September in Nairobi, Kenya, spoke of damning attitudes to the virus that

were spread by their churches and mosques.

Sheikh Al Haj Yussuf Murigu, Vice-Chair of the Muslim Supreme Council of

Kenya, said HIV was equated with " a curse " , and those who lived with it

were viewed as " sinners " . Bishop Otsile Osimilwe said the church tended to

point a finger at people living with HIV, instead of adopting a caring and

compassionate response.

Father Lwaminda, a Roman Catholic priest, said it was " a question of

condemnation " . " Many religious leaders I have met have inspired fear into

people, " he said.

An Anglican priest living with HIV, Rev Jape Heath, linked the stigma and

discrimination to what he described as his church's double standards when

it came to the concept of 'sin'. Lying and cheating on tax returns were

considered " socially acceptable " , he said, while being HIV positive was

equated with being caught in adultery.

" The church has been exceptionally good at judgmentalism, " Heath said.

" The role of the stigma has been to see an increase of the pandemic "

because people were too scared to be tested for HIV. The Anglican church

looked upon those living with HIV as sinners who could be " written off " ,

he said. " That has been the church's major contribution to the stigma

attached to HIV. "

Misogyny and lack of gender equality had also contributed to the spread of

the virus, the conference heard, by not allowing women to make choices

about their lives. " The church has been quite behind in dealing with

gender injustice, " said Dr Musa Dube, a Christian theologian. " Every

culture that is patriarchal exposes women to HIV. "

UNAIDS estimates that 60 percent of HIV-positive women in Africa believed

themselves to be in monogamous relationships and were therefore infected

by unfaithful partners.

Dube said it was imperative for religious leaders to educate themselves

about HIV/AIDS and for their churches to give them training sessions and

educational materials to do so.

Theology also needed to be developed that could support a compassionate

attitude towards people living with HIV, and it needed to be explained in

a language that they could understand, she added.

" We religious leaders are part of the problem, " Dube said.

[ENDS]

3 - GLOBAL: Highest ethical standards needed in HIV/AIDS vaccine trials

NAIROBI, 21 September (PLUSNEWS) - AIDS experts gathered in Kenya on

Saturday urged drug companies, governments and affected communities to

observe the highest ethical standards in the race to develop an HIV/AIDS

vaccine.

beth Ngugi, a researcher at the University of Nairobi, warned against

people being coerced into taking part in vaccine trials, either by

communities who give a 'block consent' or families. As the search

continues for an HIV/AIDS cure and vaccine, community 'policing' was

necessary, she said. Poor people and women were particularly vulnerable,

as " in many locations, particularly in Africa, women do not have the right

to make decisions, " she noted at a symposium on aids vaccines, held on the

eve of the 13th International Conference on AIDS and sexually transmitted

infections in Africa (ICASA).

It was also essential that people were fully informed of any risks

involved in trials, the process they were going through, and all of the

research findings by the companies involved, Ngugi stressed. " It doesn't

matter whether the person has ever seen the doors of a school or not, that

person must be made to understand, " she added.

It will be at least three or five years before large-scale trials are

started on any vaccine, according to the International Aids Vaccine

Initiative (IAVI).

IAVI European Director Dr Frans Van den Boom told IRIN it was " crucial "

that whole communities, not just individuals, were involved in the trial

process. They needed to be fully informed and educated, so that once a

vaccine had been developed it could be distributed as quickly as possible.

Similarly, infrastructure had to be developed by governments to allow the

distributions to take place.

Van den Boom added that companies developing the vaccines were bound by a

number of ethical obligations, such as ensuring that test groups had

access to vaccines once they were finally placed on the market, and

providing treatment for anyone who became infected with the human

immuno-deficiency virus during trials. " It is essential that we give back

something to those communities even where there are failures, " he said.

Two decades into the HIV/AIDS pandemic, only one vaccine trial - conducted

among about 8,000 people in the Netherlands, the United States and

Canada - has been completed.

The results showed the vaccine to be ineffective but proved for the first

time that human trials were possible and that participation did not give

people a false sense of safety, making them engage in risky behaviour.

Currently, nine approved vaccines are being tested worldwide, including

six in Africa - one in Botswana, two in Kenya, two in South Africa, and

one in Uganda.

They are all early safety studies, involving fewer than 100 people each,

to monitor any side effects or negative reactions to the drugs. Later

studies will be conducted with a much larger group of people and reveal

whether the vaccines actually protect against HIV.

The number of versions of HIV is on the increase worldwide, due to

mutations and 'recombinations' - when a person is infected with more than

one virus and these exchange genomes to form a new variant.

HIV trial vaccines are constructed using small pieces of the virus called

'immunogens', with the aim of boosting the body's defence system.

The 13th International Conference on AIDS and sexually transmitted

infections in Africa (ICASA) is being held in Nairobi, Kenya from 21 to 26

September.

[ENDS]

4 - SWAZILAND: AIDS " indaba " highlights conflicting views

MBABANE, 22 September (PLUSNEWS) - A three-day " AIDS Indaba " , or

traditional Swazi meeting, concluded at the weekend with the enlistment of

church leaders in the national campaign to combat the disease by tapping

into their influence.

" It is good that the church leaders are getting involved, and we support

the training of pastors in AIDS awareness, " said Derrick Von Wissel,

director of the government's National Emergency Response Committee on

HIV/AIDS.

Hannie Dlamini, secretary-general of the Swaziland AIDS Support

Organisation, said after the Indaba, " Words from the pulpit are heard by

Swazis, who may turn a deaf ear to government health workers. "

About 500 religious leaders from mainstream Christian denominations and

evangelical Christian groups met in the capital, Mbabane, to debate ways

of promoting morality as a counter to the rising HIV rate, now officially

at 38,6 percent of the adult population.

" Essentially, God is the answer to all but, more specifically, we are

fostering Biblically sanctioned lifestyles, like abstinence and fidelity

to your partner, as the best ways to stop the spread of HIV, " said pastor

Jabulani Lukhele.

Dlamini has seen his congregation in rural Mliba dwindle by 10 percent a

year, according to church enrolment records.

" Sadly, there are fewer children at Bible school because they are also

dying of AIDS, " said Sister Thandie Yende of the Blue Gown Women's

Christian Society of Manzini, Swaziland's commercial hub.

Other church leaders expressed alarm at the diminishing congregations they

see on weekends, and the increasing number of funerals they preside over.

Because it is still socially unacceptable for a Swazi to admit being HIV

positive, deaths are blamed on " lingering illnesses " .

" Our brothers and sisters are wasting away, and then they die. Nobody says

it is AIDS - but we know, " said Manzini pastor Nthsangase.

Targeting church leaders to assist social causes began in 2001, when the

UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) enlisted Swazi pastors in a campaign against

child abuse.

UNICEF, together with the Swaziland Religious Organisation, this year

published a portfolio of sample sermons addressing children's issues, to

impress upon pastors and their congregations the emphasis the Bible places

on children's welfare, and alert them to the sexual abuse that is another

contributor to HIV/AIDS.

" Swaziland is a very religious country. We want to involve the church

leaders who are really listened to by the people, " said UNICEF

representative Alan Brody.

The featured speaker at the AIDS Indaba, American evangelical preacher

Bruce Wilkinson, was hosted by King Mswati III and Queen Mother Ntombi.

Both are evangelical Christians, although they remain faithful to the

tenets of traditional Swazi ancestral worship.

A portion of Wilkinson's " instructions " , printed in the daily newspapers,

raised questions among health workers. His message was presented as a

" learning aide " and included a list of immoral behaviour that did not

differentiate between homosexuality or premarital sex, and rape and

incest.

" The tone of the instructions, and of the AIDS Indaba preaching we've

heard, is that a violation of Biblical scripture leads to AIDS. You have

wronged God by having sex out of wedlock, or cheating on your spouse, and

so you get sick and die. This attitude has led to great guilt about AIDS

in Swaziland, and it is the reason why it is taboo to admit you are HIV

positive; it is the reason why there is such a great denial about a

disease that infects almost 40 percent of the adult population, " said a

clinic director who asked that her name not be used.

A nurse at Raleigh Fitkin Memorial Hospital in Manzini said: " We have been

fighting the stigma of AIDS from the beginning. Throwing the Bible at

people and calling them sinners for casual sex is counter-productive from

a health care point of view. "

Pastors like Justice Dlamini used the AIDS Indaba as a platform to condemn

condom usage, which was generally disparaged by the assembled church

leaders. This contradicted the government's policy of encouraging condom

usage as the best known way to prevent sexually transmitted diseases.

" If you abstain from sex, or you are faithful, you don't need condoms,

which are full of holes anyway, " said Pastor Dlamini.

Pastor Lukhele disputed the concerns of some health workers that using

Biblical morality to condemn unsafe sex practices would increase AIDS

denial in the country.

" God is the judge, not us. We are saying that all people are sinners, and

the church exists to forgive and provide guidance. Medical science says

the only certain way to avoid HIV is through sexual abstinence. We hope to

inspire Swazis through the word of God to embrace abstinence, " he said.

Lukhele acknowledged that abstinence is a hard sell in a polygamous

society, where multiple partners are the social norm, and most Swazis

become sexually active in their early teens.

" We have tried every other approach to stopping AIDS in this country, but

nothing is changing personal behaviour. Perhaps it is time for church

leaders to do what they do best: preaching morality, and staying that

course, " said Lukhele.

[ENDS]

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