Your daily Selection of IRIN Africa PlusNews reports, 3/4/2004

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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

CONTENT:

1 - ETHIOPIA: Calls for greater youth involvement in anti-AIDS fight

2 - SOUTH AFRICA: Anti-HIV programme fails rape victims

3 - SOUTHERN AFRICA: AIDS conference underway in Zimbabwe

1 - ETHIOPIA: Calls for greater youth involvement in anti-AIDS fight

ADDIS ABABA, 4 March (PLUSNEWS) - Ethiopia’s youth were on Wednesday urged

to join the fight against the HIV/AIDS pandemic devastating the country.

Bjorn Ljungvist, the head of the UN Children Fund (UNICEF) in Ethiopia,

said young people constituted the " greatest hope " in combating the virus.

His rallying call was voiced during a conference convened at the UN

Conference Centre in the capital, Addis Ababa, to discuss ways of boosting

the role of young people and that of anti-AIDS clubs springing up in the

country.

" Much needs to be done with and by young people to strengthen their

capacity to make a difference, " Ljungvist told the delegates. " Young

people are extremely vulnerable to HIV infection for many reasons, " he

said, citing risky sexual behaviour, lack of information, and sexual

exploitation of girls. " But just as much as young people are at greatest

risk, they also offer the greatest hope and are a potential force to curb

the pandemic, " he noted.

Ethiopia, like many other African nations, has a growing population of

people between the ages of 15 and 24, who constitute about 30 percent of

the population, and, according to the health ministry, also has one of the

largest populations in the world living with HIV/AIDS.

UNICEF says that of every 10 women aged between 15 and 24, one is now

infected with the virus, while the figure for men in the same age group is

one in 18. " The situation is worse in cities, where as many as one out of

every five or six may be infected, " Ljungvist said during the three-day

meeting, due to end on Friday.

Currently there are some 12,000 anti-AIDS clubs in the country, but UNICEF

says they must become more active by obtaining greater support. Among the

key issues for young people is voluntary testing and counselling,

programmes that have been set up in many parts of the country.

Ljungvist said challenges remained in " effectively engaging and mobilising

young people " and in securing financial support for the anti-AIDS clubs.

He added that girls and young women must be urged to shoulder a " greater

leadership role " in combating and preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS.

Teshome Toga, the minister of youth, sports and culture, expressed support

for Ljungvist's calls, saying that boosting the effectiveness the ability

of anti-Aids clubs would help in the fight against the virus.

The calls comes just days after Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and

Botswanan President Festus Mogae joined forces in the fight against the

virus. Their two countries are to share experiences and knowledge and

learn " best practices " to improve their individual fights against the

pandemic.

[ENDS]

2 - SOUTH AFRICA: Anti-HIV programme fails rape victims

JOHANNESBURG, 4 March (PLUSNEWS) - Human rights activists said mixed

messages and government inaction are undermining South Africa's pledge to

provide victims of sexual assault with drugs to help reduce their chances

of HIV infection.

In a new report, " Deadly Delay: South Africa's Efforts to Prevent HIV in

Survivors of Sexual Violence, " Human Rights Watch (HRW) said the HIV/AIDS

epidemic had turned sexual assault into a possible death sentence, but

many rape victims still had little or no access to antiretroviral drugs.

In the face of an explosive HIV/AIDS epidemic, the government pledged in

April 2002 to provide a course of drugs known as post-exposure

prophylaxis, or PEP, as part of a comprehensive package of services for

rape survivors. Research shows that obtaining PEP soon after the sexual

assault can reduce the victim's risk of contracting HIV.

However, the government had failed to provide adequate information on or

training for the programme to police, health workers, counsellors or

victims, the 73-page report said.

Schleifer, a researcher with HRW's HIV/AIDS and Human Rights

Programme, said: " The South African government has taken a crucial step in

recognising the importance of HIV prevention for rape survivors, but there

is a deadly disconnect between the government's stated intention to

provide drugs that can prevent HIV, and the reality for rape survivors who

can't get them. "

Factors like police inadequately responding to rape cases, neglecting to

help rape survivors seek medical treatment or, in some cases, even turning

them away, had further impeded access to PEP.

Sexual violence, particularly against children aged under 18, who

represent an estimated 40 percent of rape victims, had reached alarming

levels, the report noted.

Without urgent government action, Schleifer said, " the dual epidemics of

HIV/AIDS and sexual violence will continue to claim the lives of too many

South Africans " .

According to HRW, more than 52,000 rapes and attempted rapes were reported

to police in 2002, but the actual figure is believed to be much higher.

To read the Human Rights Watch report in English during the embargo

period, please see:

http://docs.hrw.org/embargo/southafrica0304/

After March 4, 2004, the report can be found at:

http://hrw.org/reports/2004/southafrica0304/

[ENDS]

3 - SOUTHERN AFRICA: AIDS conference underway in Zimbabwe

HARARE, 4 March (PLUSNEWS) - A conference on the scaling up of

antiretroviral (ARV) therapy in Southern Africa opened this week in

Harare, Zimbabwe.

The first of its kind in the country, the event is being hosted by the

Pan-African Treatment Access Movement (PATAM), the Treatment Action

Campaign, Zimbabwe Activists on HIV and AIDS (ZAHA) and the Southern

Africa HIV/AIDS Information Dissemination Service (SAfAIDS).

Addressing journalists on Wednesday at the start of the conference,

SAfAIDS executive director, Lois Lunga, said the meeting could provide an

opportunity for countries to review some of the challenges faced in the

roll-out of ARVs.

He said the three-day conference, titled " Scaling up Treatment in Southern

Africa: A Way Forward " , was also expected to focus on the need for more

public information on antiretroviral drug treatment.

" The conference would also focus on the World Health Organisation (WHO) 3

by 5 initiative, which is aimed at providing antiretroviral treatment to

three million people by 2005, " Lunga was quoted as saying.

The WHO initiative could this month see Zimbabwe's major hospitals

offering ARVs to people living with HIV/AIDS under a partnership with

UNAIDS and the country's Ministry of Health and Child Welfare.

A representative of the clergy, Bishop Trevor Manhanga, said it was time

Africans discarded their perceived indifference towards the epidemic.

" This conference has to find out what is going wrong. Despite the

suffering and deaths of our compatriots, we continue as though nothing is

wrong. If debt-ridden bankrupt African countries can find the money to buy

luxury vehicles for their government ministers and political cronies, then

why can they not find the money to ease the suffering of their people

infected by HIV/AIDS with access to ARVs and other essential medicines, "

said Manhanga.

[ENDS]

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