Your daily Selection of IRIN Africa PlusNews reports, 2/28/2005

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CONTENT:

1 - ANGOLA: Govt must act now on AIDS, warns UN envoy

2 - BOTSWANA: Miss Stigma Free 2005 crowned

1 - ANGOLA: Govt must act now on AIDS, warns UN envoy

LUANDA, 28 February (PLUSNEWS) - Angola will have to make an epic effort

in both preventing and treating HIV/AIDS related illnesses if it is to

escape the dismal fate of many of its neighbours, a senior UN official

told PlusNews.

, Kofi n's special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, spoke to

PlusNews after spending a week in the southwest African country which,

ironically, thanks to its 27-year civil war, has the lowest infection rate

in the region.

" Angola is at the moment on the knife's edge - Angola will either plunge

into the abyss of the devastation of the pandemic, or Angola will

undertake a Herculean prevention effort and keep the prevalence rate low, "

told IRIN.

The most recent data on the country, a 2004 survey by the Centres for

Disease Control (CDC), showed a prevalence rate of just 2.8 percent, far

less severe than many had expected.

With the return of many of the country's four million refugees and

internally displaced after the end of the conflict, many aid workers and

health experts had feared the figure would be higher.

But while the country's average is relatively low compared to neighbouring

Botswana (37 percent), Zambia (17 percent) and Namibia (21 percent), in

certain parts of Angola, especially along the borders, the HIV/AIDS

prevalence rate has begun to creep up.

" I would not take issue with the CDC study, but there is anecdotal

evidence as you move around the country which suggests that there are

pockets ... [where the HIV/AIDS prevalence rate is] much higher, "

said.

The southern province of Cunene, bordering Namibia, has a prevalence rate

of about 9 percent.

After touring the region, noted that 12 to 15 percent of the women

visiting antenatal clinics were HIV positive, as were 18 percent of those

attending the testing and counselling centre during the last several

months. Between August and December last year, 24 percent of all

admissions to the state-run hospital in the provincial capital, Ondjiva,

were AIDS-related illnesses.

" You can sense when you are there that the figures may be rising, "

said.

He praised the Angolan authorities for their commitment, but warned that

if the disease were left unchecked, the country would face a war even

" more terrible than the civil war which has now ended. "

" They [the Angolan authorities] will be reeling with the assault of the

force of the pandemic. When it grips the heart of a country it is

ferocious and devastating; everything crumbles before it and only a

super-human effort can resist it - that is the challenge that faces the

government now, " he noted.

said Angola was about to receive a helping hand of about US $90

million from the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis

(TB), which will fund part of the government's $160 million national

strategic plan for HIV/AIDS, expected to be finalised within the next two

months.

As part of its implementation, the UN Development Programme (UNDP) would

ensure the money was distributed to the people and areas most in need.

Avoiding escalation was crucial. " I think the urgent priority is

prevention ... [it] should be focused on the high risk groups - the

returning refugees, the truck drivers, commercial sex workers, the army,

the street children - all those groups where there is a significant

prevention need and where the pandemic can spread quickly, "

stressed.

As part of preventive measures, rolling out voluntary counselling and

testing (VCT) centres and educating the population about the risks of the

disease and how to avoid them, would be key.

" We were sitting listening to people [with HIV/AIDS] pour out their

hearts. Time and time again they talked about information; they made it

clear that what they felt was needed in the country was much more radio,

much more television ... billboards and print and messages circulated

through the schools and the communities, " said.

The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) believes that nine out of 10 young people

aged between 15 and 19 have insufficient knowledge about the disease, and

more than two-thirds do not know that using a condom could prevent

infection - especially worrying in a country where the youth are sexually

precocious.

" Angola is at the early stages of awareness-raising; it's behind other

countries - that is absolutely true, " noted.

" The best preventive vehicles, in my experience in Africa, tend to be the

age group 15 to 24, who move from school to school and community and

community, using drama, drums, song, dance ... all the cultural artistry

of a country, to convey very effectively and straight-forwardly the

message around sexuality. A lot of that has to happen in Angola, " he

added.

The need to treat the disease was also vital to install a sense of hope

among those living with HIV/AIDS.

" If you're going to encourage the rolling-out of prevention of

mother-to-child transmission or VCT centres, then the treatment will give

people a lot of hope, " pointed out. " When they get tested and [find]

they are positive, they will know that it's not a death warrant. "

He urged the Angolan authorities to learn from success stories in Uganda,

which had managed to slash its prevalence rate to 6 percent from around 30

percent in the late 1980s, and Senegal, which had also effectively

controlled its HIV/AIDS problem.

" There could be a triangle of hope where Uganda in the east and Senegal in

the west join with Angola in the south as three models of maintaining and

confronting the pandemic successfully, " he said.

" Countries facing the devastation of the pandemic seldom have this

phenomenal choice. "

[ENDS]

2 - BOTSWANA: Miss Stigma Free 2005 crowned

GABORONE, 28 February (PLUSNEWS) - An elated 22-year-old AIDS activist,

Leshomo, was crowned Miss Stigma Free 2005 at a glittering event

on Saturday at Botswana's Gaborone International Convention Centre.

About 500 people attended the gala evening with the theme " Down with

stigma, Down with discrimination " , which was broadcast live on television.

Dressed to kill in a flowing floral evening gown, a glamorous Leshomo

looked every inch a winner - a far cry from the stereotypical image of a

person living with the virus.

" I am going to urge our government to involve HIV-positive people in work

on HIV/AIDS, especially in hospitals, because we have shortages of

nurses, " Leshomo said in response to the questions put to each of the

contestants.

Saturday's event was the third time since 2000 that the competition has

been held. All the 12 entrants were HIV-positive, and stood to win a

monthly allowance of US $500 and a study scholarship sponsored by the

mining giant De Beers.

Approximately 300,000 people in Botswana are estimated to be living with

the virus but, due to stigma, only 13 had gone public with their status,

said Letsatsi, project coordinator for the NGO, Centre for Youth of

Hope.

" This pageant is intended to increase the message about the negative

impact of stigma and discrimination, " he told PlusNews.

Leshomo is now the public face of a campaign designed to educate,

challenge prejudice, and encourage people to know their status, in a

country that was one of the first in Africa to introduce a free national

AIDS treatment programme.

" Being HIV-positive is not the end of the world - if you are HIV-positive

you still have access to life-saving treatment and do things that other

people do, " said Norah Nkwe, staff welfare officer for De Beers.

Neo Sampoela, a mother with four children, said she had entered the

pageant because she wanted people living with HIV/AIDS to feel good about

themselves, and not give up living life to the fullest.

" In July 1994, when I first tested positive, it was difficult because it

was not talked about. We only knew that if you are HIV-positive, you are

going to die, " said Sampoela.

A decade later, she walked out in front of the TV cameras at one of

Botswana's biggest venues to publicly proclaim she was still very much

alive.

[ENDS]

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