Your daily Selection of IRIN Africa PlusNews reports, 6/9/2004

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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

[These reports do not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

CONTENT:

1 - AFRICA: First ladies launch organisation to fight HIV/AIDS

2 - NIGERIA: US pledges $58 million to combat HIV/AIDS this year

3 - ZIMBABWE: Local production of AIDS drugs begins

1 - AFRICA: First ladies launch organisation to fight HIV/AIDS

KAMPALA, 9 June (PLUSNEWS) - The wives of eight African heads of state

have formed a body to be known as the Organisation of African First Ladies

Against HIV/AIDS (OAFLA), which, they said, would coordinate their efforts

to combat the spread of the disease.

The organisation, which was launched in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, on

Tuesday, would also encourage women to play a more active role in the

promotion of peace and security and in activities designed to attain

sustainable food security on the continent, they said.

The first ladies, from Burundi, Comoros, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Uganda,

Zimbabwe and the queen of Swaziland, had accompanied their husbands to a

summit of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), a

regional bloc aimed at promoting regional integration through trade and

investment.

They said OAFLA would have annual round-table conferences and that its

members would be torchbearers in efforts to improve the lives of African

children, women and their communities in general, noting that women were

most vulnerable to the ravages of AIDS and poverty.

The first ladies proposed the creation of a regional HIV/AIDS fund aimed

at reducing dependency on donor funding for HIV/AIDS programmes.

" The first ladies are disturbed particularly that HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis,

malaria and other communicable diseases are placing additional burdens on

an already inadequate work force. Of the 42 million people affected by

HIV/AIDS as of end of 2003, over 75 to 80 percent live in sub-Saharan

Africa, " they said in a joint statement.

" We have agreed that first ladies of the COMESA region should become the

torchbearers in improving the lives of children, women and the communities

and play an advocacy role towards implementation of policies enhancing the

participation of women in business, " they added.

The heads of state said in a joint communiqué at the end of their meeting

that the COMESA summit had endorsed the proposed launch of their wives'

organisation.

" These prominent women of the region pledged to urgently do all that is

necessary to make anti-retroviral treatment availed to our needy

population, including the introduction of policies and gender equality in

access to treatment and care, " the heads of state said.

COMESA is made up of 19 countries, namely: Angola, Burundi, Comoros,

Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia,

Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sudan,

Swaziland, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

[ENDS]

2 - NIGERIA: US pledges $58 million to combat HIV/AIDS this year

ABUJA, 7 June (PLUSNEWS) - Nigeria will receive US $58 million of US aid

this year for programmes aimed at treating HIV/AIDS and curbing the spread

of the pandemic, half of which will be channelled through faith-based

organisations, a senior US official has revealed.

Randall Tobias, Global Coordinator of the US Emergency Plan for AIDS

Relief, made the announcement on Friday during a visit to Nigeria.

He said the funds would be used to build special facilities, train health

workers and provide preventive counselling as well as to treat for those

infected by HIV virus.

" This year we expect that the United States contribution to the HIV/AIDS

efforts in Nigeria will be about $58 million. And there will be certainly

more money coming in the years ahead, " Tobias said.

" Everything we do will be done in coordination with the national

coordinating body and the government authorities, " he added.

Tobias said a large chunk of the funds for Nigeria would be channelled

through about 110 non-governmental organisations which had already been

identified.

About half of these groups were " faith-based organisations who have some

very important capabilities of reaching well into the country, " he added.

Nigeria is Africa's most populous country with an estimated 126 million

people. Of these, more than six million are officially estimated to

infected with the HI virus that causes AIDS.

During his brief visit to Nigeria, Tobias found time to visit a 350-bed

government-owned hospital at Gwagwalada, a suburb of the capital, Abuja,

where the United States has funded the refurbishment of refrigers used to

store antiretroviral drugs for people living with AIDS.

Hospital officials showed him a three-day-old HIV-positive baby abandoned

by its mother near the hospital.

" It's been the pattern we have been seeing these days, " said Dr Dora

Okechukwu, head of the hospital’s paediatric section. " HIV/AIDS positive

mothers give birth and then they abandon the babies. "

The latest annual sentinel survey of HIV prevalence in Nigeria, released

in May, showed that the HIV prevalence rate had declined to 5.0 percent

from 5.8 percent in 2003.

However, the survey, based on the voluntary testing of pregnant women

attending ante-natal clinics throughout the country, forecast that the HIV

prevalence rate would increase over the coming five years.

Randall visited Nigeria as part of a tour of three African nations

selected to receive special US help in combatting AIDS. The other two are

Cote d'Ivoire and South Africa.

[ENDS]

3 - ZIMBABWE: Local production of AIDS drugs begins

BULAWAYO, 9 June (PLUSNEWS) - Access to anti-AIDS drugs is improving in

Zimbabwe, due to recent initiatives to roll-out antiretroviral (ARV)

therapy and to manufacture the medicines locally.

A Zimbabwean pharmaceutical company has started manufacturing generic

antiretroviral (ARV) drugs in a bid to significantly reduce the cost of

the medication for people living with HIV/AIDS.

Tobias Dzangare, chief executive of the local drug manufacturing company

Varichem, said his company would produce nine types of generic ARVs in its

factory.

The generic drugs will cut the cost of ARVs, which are currently mainly

imported from India. A monthly cocktail of ARVs costs Zim $600,000 (US

$155) currently. With the manufacture of local generics, the price is

expected to drop to between Zim $140,000 (US $27) and Zim $160,000 (US

$30) a month.

But even at the reduced price, the drugs remain beyond the reach of most

Zimbabweans.

At the launch of the programme on Monday, Dzangare said his company hoped

to ensure constant availability of the generic ARVs. He urged government

to assist by reducing duties on imported ingredients needed for their

manufacture.

Meanwhile, the Zimbabwe Red Cross Society announced that it would begin

distributing ARVs to people living with the HI virus as part of its

home-based care programme.

Zimbabwe Red Cross (ZRC) president, Emma Kundishora, said Zimbabwe was one

of three countries in southern Africa that had been selected for the pilot

programme. She said the ZRC would train its volunteers to educate its

home-based care clients on the proper use of ARVs.

The British and Danish Red Cross societies, through the International

Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent (IFRC), have provided the

drugs. Pilot programmes are also being launched in Zambia and Namibia.

Two months ago the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare launched an ARV

therapy distribution programme at two of its major hospitals in the

capital Harare, and second city Bulawayo.

This week, Health Minister Parirenyatwa announced that his

department would expand the ARV roll-out to other health institutions in a

bid to reach more people in need of ARV therapy.

According to the ministry, about 100 patients at Mpilo Hospital, in

Bulawayo, and 80 patients at Harare Hospital have been receiving free ARVs

since the start of the pilot programme.

Dr Tapiwa Takura, who is in charge of the ARV therapy distribution at

Harare Hospital, said officials had so far " screened more than 500

patients for the scheme " .

" Those eligible pay a nominal fee of Zim $50,000 [uS $9.34] for them to be

taken on board, " Takura explained.

However, activists in Zimbabwe have called on the government to subsidise

the cost of the drugs.

Tendai Westerhof of Prominent People Against AIDS Trust (PPAAT) said:

" Government should subsidise the cost of the drugs because the high cost

has impoverished people living with AIDS who need a special diet. Many

poor people are dying because they cannot even afford to by food for

themselves. "

[ENDS]

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