Your daily Selection of IRIN Africa PlusNews reports, 7/4/2003

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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 - GHANA: HIV/AIDS drugs to be ordered for hospitals

2 - SWAZILAND: Truckers change gear in HIV awareness

1 - GHANA: HIV/AIDS drugs to be ordered for hospitals

ACCRA, 4 July (PLUSNEWS) - Ghanaian health authorities have ordered

antiretroviral drugs from undisclosed sources to cater for the treatment

of 2000 HIV/AIDS patients for the next two years.

" We are placing this order through recognised international agencies such

as UNICEF and the International Development Agency, " programme manager of

the National AIDS Control Programme, Dr Nii Akwei Addo, told IRIN.

Some of the drugs on the importation list are Zidovudine, AZT, Didanosine,

ddI, Indinavir, Neverapine and Efavirenz. Usage and treatment of these

drugs will however be limited to specific hospitals such as the country's

two biggest hospitals in the capital, Accra, and in the second largest

city, Kumasi.

The drugs will also be made available at the Atua/Agormanya government

hospital in eastern Ghana, which according to the country's 2002 HIV

Sentinel Survey has a prevalence rate of 7.9 percent, the highest in

Ghana.

" The cost of the treatment will not be 100 percent free to the end user.

The central government will bear part of the cost, though we are yet to

decide on that, " Dr Addo said.

The cost of HIV/AIDS treatment in Ghana using antiretroviral drugs is

high. It costs between US $200 and $300 per patient a month, which is

above the means of the ordinary Ghanaian who earns a daily minimum salary

of about $2.

Ghana, last year, had flirted with the idea of producing antiretrovirals

locally and mentioned March 2003 as the final production date.

However, Addo said previous attempts to produce three off-patent

antiretrovirals locally from Thailand failed due the need to fulfil legal

patent rights as well as rules and regulations of the World Trade

Organization (WTO).

He however stated that the government had reopened discussions with

Thailand, facilitated by the World Health Organisation, into the transfer

of technology in the form of expertise to enable Ghana to start production

locally.

" Currently, we have looked at resolving the legal issues by exploring the

leeway available to us. Negotiations are still continuing on

cost-effectiveness in manufacturing the drugs locally or importing them.

Cabinet is currently reviewing our recommendations, " Addo added.

[ENDS]

2 - SWAZILAND: Truckers change gear in HIV awareness

MBABANE, 4 July (PLUSNEWS) - Truckers and commercial sex workers in

Swaziland have been targeted in a regional HIV/AIDS prevention programme

known as the " Corridors of Hope " initiative.

" Long-distance truckers, bus drivers, and taxi drivers have fallen through

the cracks in previous AIDS programmes, and they now occupy the 'high

risk' category in Ministry of Health studies, " Hlobise Ndlovu, marketing

and communications manager for the NGO Population Services International

(PSI) Swaziland, told PlusNews.

PSI's partners in Mozambique and South Africa, which distribute condoms

and handle the marketing and promotion of AIDS initiatives for other NGOs,

will help launch Swaziland's Corridors of Hope programme this week.

" It is shocking how many of our drivers are lost to AIDS each year. We can

hardly keep up [with] hiring and training new employees. My concern is

also with drivers who come back from the road and infect members of our

office staff with HIV, " the manager of a commercial trucking firm told

PlusNews. " I can imagine the devastation that is caused at the drivers’

homes when they have sex with their wives. Some of the men are

polygamists. "

Since most workers spend their time at one location, they can easily be

reached by health motivators and AIDS NGOs with educational information

and condoms. But, " truckers fall outside these efforts because they are

never in one place. They are high-risk for contracting HIV because they

find their sexual pleasure wherever they are, " said Hannie Dlamini,

president of the Swaziland AIDS Support Organisation (SASO).

Swaziland's health ministry confirmed in a recent report what was common

knowledge in the transportation industry, that truckers turn to

prostitutes on the road. To combat the rapid infection rate of HIV/AIDS

among them, the Corridors of Hope programme is using commercial sex

workers to promote safer sex and distribute free condoms to their clients.

" We call the extra condoms 'some for the road', " said " Gloria, " one of ten

commercial sex workers participating in the initiative at the Lavumisa

border post with South Africa.

" Gloria " and her co-workers are being trained as peer educators by the

Family Life Association of Swaziland (FLAS). They are given a course in

the basics of AIDS and informed about the life-saving benefits, to

themselves and their clients, of using and giving away condoms.

" We have 10 other peer educators from Lomahasha, which is Swaziland's

border post with South Africa. The greatest number, 20, come from Oshoek,

the border post most heavily utilised by truck traffic from the

Johannesburg-Pretoria region, " Jerome Shongwe, the Corridors of Hope

programme director for FLAS, told PlusNews.

While FLAS trains peer educators, its partner in the initiative, PSI,

provides condoms and literature, and handles public relations. The

campaign is financed by the United States Agency for International

Development.

" We are training 40 peer educators, concentrating on the key border posts.

But an additional 30 sex workers - 15 from the capital Mbabane and 15 from

Manzini - will join the others, because the truckers from other nations

hire sex workers at those towns, " said Shongwe.

The peer educators will also spread the anti-AIDS gospel, along with

condoms and pamphlets, among other commercial sex workers. " We wanted

actual commercial sex workers, and not professional social welfare

workers, " said Shongwe. " They are on the front line of high-risk

activity. They can save themselves by promoting safe sex, as well as their

clients. "

Peer educators are given a small stipend of R300 (about US $40) a month.

" This is not enough to get them to give up their lives as prostitutes, but

it keeps them motivated, " Shongwe said.

Without a road transport industry, landlocked nations like Swaziland and

Lesotho would be in crisis, and export nations like Mozambique and South

Africa would collapse economically, say transport industry operators. A

healthy transport workforce is vital to national development, as national

health ministries have come to realise.

" Prostitution is illegal in Swaziland, but government and the police are

not interfering with the Corridors of Hope programme, " an administrator

with the project told PlusNews.

Mozambican and South African health NGOs involved in the initiative will

join their Swazi counterparts at the weekend for a tri-nation celebration

of the initiative. " We'll be gathering at the border posts, cheering each

other and giving mutual support, " promised Ndlovu.

Organisers look forward to the largest gathering of public transport

vehicles, taxis and buses ever assembled in Swaziland for a parade on

Saturday through downtown Mbabane, all carrying anti-AIDS messages.

It is hoped the hundreds of truckers that queue daily at the border for

customs clearances will get the message.

[ENDS]

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