Your daily Selection of IRIN Africa PlusNews reports, 2/18/2004

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CONTENT:

1 - GABON: Youth is more afraid of unemployment than AIDS

1 - GABON: Youth is more afraid of unemployment than AIDS

LIBREVILLE, 17 February (PLUSNEWS) - In Gabon, where government spending

is falling and unemployment is growing as the oil starts to run out, young

people are more worried about getting a job than the risk of HIV/AIDS.

That doesn't help efforts to fight the disease in this relatively affluent

country of 1.2 million people where 6.0 percent of the population is HIV

positive.

President Bongo, Africa's longest serving head of state, has declared

the fight against AIDS to be a " national priority. "

But the first outpatient treatment centre for people living with AIDS was

only established in Libreville in 2001, antiretroviral drugs are difficult

to obtain and there is a widespread view that government efforts to combat

the pandemic are hampered by rampant corruption.

A recent survey of 15 to 26 year-olds carried out for the United Nations

Children's Fund (UNICEF), showed that unemployment was their main concern

in life, with AIDS in second place and poverty in third.

Slightly more encouraging was a survey of 4,500 secondary school pupils

conducted by the government's National Plan for the Fight against AIDS

(PNLS) in May 2003. This showed that 55 percent of boys had used condoms

in their first sexual encounter compared to just 45 percent a year

earlier.

According to the French Red Cross, the HIV prevalence rate in Gabon rose

from 2.2 percent of the population in 1989, when oil production and

government revenues were still rising comfortably, to 6.0 percent in 2003,

when oil production was in free-fall as offshore reserves dried up.

Government spending has been cut accordingly so roads have been left

unrepaired and spending on education and health have fallen.

In Libreville, a port town of 700,000 people surrounded by slums which now

holds more than half of Gabon's small population, the HIV prevalance rate

of 7.8 percent is well above the national average.

The government finally reacted to the spread of AIDS by setting up a one

billion CFA (US $20 million) solidarity fund last year to help people

living with AIDS and prevent the disease from spreading.

But both the PNLS and the solidarity fund have been widely criticised for

failing to use the money at their disposal effectively.

" Although it should be encouraged, the government programme to fight AIDS

has been marred in recent years by the corruption of certain

administrators who have used the funds for their own ends and everybody

knows this, " said Brother Hubert Guerineau, a leading member of the local

AIDS activist group Solidarity of Young Christians.

Another problem is that many people living with AIDS cannot afford

treatment at local hospitals, some of which make quite plain that AIDS

patients are not welcome.

They therefore seek treatment from traditional doctors, whose

recommendations can clash with those of Western medicine.

" The traditional healers do a great deal of damage because sometimes they

urge those who are ill to have sex with a virgin to make the disease

disappear, " said Pierre Andre-Kombila, the director general of the

Ministry of Health.

The fact that many parents are reluctant to discuss sexual issues with

their children doesn't help either.

The PNLS survey conducted last year concluded that: " The guidance given by

parents has failed to keep pace with changes in social behaviour,

particularly in polygamous families and single parent families. "

" It is difficult to talk about sex education with our parents at home. It

is a taboo subject, " Bidouma, a university student told PlusNews.

" At the age of 22, my sexual education has been carried out in the

streets, at university and in the homes of other families. "

The PNLS survey said that sexual education tended to be carried out most

effectively in households where one member of the family was already

living with AIDS.

Condoms are widely available, but they are relatively expensive and often

unreliable as a result of deterioration during storage.

The influential Roman Catholic Church, while active in the fight against

AIDS, steadfastly preaches abstinence before marriage. " The Church favours

dialogue above all else, " said Father , who works with street

children. " We tell young people about the dangers they face if they have

sex in an uncontrolled manner. "

Brother Hubert of Solidarity of Young Christians put it even more

strongly. " In my view contraceptives should not be distributed because

they just encourage young people who have not yet had a sexual experience

to try it, " he said. " Furthermore, the contraceptives are often of poor

quality, " he added.

However, the reality is that most Gabonese teenagers have their first

sexual encounter between the ages of 12 and 14 and teenage pregnancies are

common.

Meanwhile the state is faced with the challenge of looking after an

estimated 9,000 AIDS orphans.

Mbouty Ikapi, a senior official in the Ministry of Family Affairs, told

PlusNews that government policy was to encourage extended families to take

these children under their wing.

The creation of orphanages was too costly an undertaking for the

government and would only lead to children being brought up in an

institutional rather than a family atmosphere, he added.

Ikapi said his ministry projected that the number of AIDS orphans in Gabon

would increase to 14,000 by 2010 unless people changed their sexual

behaviour.

[ENDS]

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