Your daily Selection of IRIN Africa PlusNews reports, 10/12/2004

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U N I T E D N A T I O N S

Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

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

CONTENT:

1 - AFRICA: Experts explore rural impact of AIDS

2 - AFRICA: Millions lack access to ARVs - UN study

3 - MOZAMBIQUE: Religious leaders tackle AIDS

4 - ZIMBABWE: Global Fund rejects appeal, denies political bias

1 - AFRICA: Experts explore rural impact of AIDS

ADDIS ABABA, 12 October (PLUSNEWS) - Africa's cemeteries are " filled

beyond capacity " because of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, Ethiopian President

Girma Wolde-Giorgis told experts meeting in the capital, Addis Ababa, on

Tuesday to discuss combating the spread of the virus.

Opening a session of the Commission on HIV/AIDS and Governance in Africa

(CHGA), a UN-inspired body set up last year to track the long-term impact

of the pandemic in Africa, Wolde-Giorgis said HIV/AIDS was fuelling

" social decay " and " community breakdown " that threatened the very fabric

of African society.

The " CHGA Interactive " meeting brought together leading HIV/AIDS experts

and African NGOs to discuss the impact of HIV/AIDS on Africa's rural

populations.

According to UNAIDS, an estimated 20 million Africans have died since the

start of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, some 29.4 million are living with the

virus and 25 million children have been orphaned.

The CHGA session heard how HIV/AIDS was crippling rural communities in

Africa and exacerbating food shortages, with the heaviest burden falling

on women.

" HIV/AIDS affects food availability by affecting the labour supply, " said

Daphne Topouzis, an expert in HIV/AIDS and its impact on food security.

" It can affect access to food by eroding household disposable income due

to increased expenditure on health. "

ph Tumushabe, from Uganda's Makerere University, warned that over the

next 15 years Africa's agricultural labour force could be decimated by

HIV/AIDS. He said studies showed that in Namibia up to 26 percent of the

agricultural workforce could die from the virus by 2020. In South Africa a

fifth of the workforce could succumb.

Gladys Mutangadura, from the UN's Economic Commission for Africa (ECA),

added that women needed support to help cope with the impact, including an

increased domestic workload, they often had to care for orphans, and girls

were taken out of school to help at home.

She noted that women also often lacked the same property rights as men,

losing their land if their husbands died from the virus and facing further

exclusion. She said women needed greater access to credit, girls needed

support to stay in schools and men had to share the growing burden if the

impact of HIV/AIDS was to be mitigated.

The CHGA meeting coincided with the ECA's weeklong African Development

Forum in Addis Ababa, which will discuss on Thursday the impact of

HIV/AIDS on Africa's capacity to govern, and the challenge of scaling up

treatment.

UN Secretary-General Kofi n first announced the CHGA initiative in

February 2003. It is chaired by Kingsley Amoako, head of the ECA, and

includes among its 20 commissioners Feachem, executive director of

the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, Piot, executive

director of UNAIDS, Dr Mamphele Ramphele, managing director of the World

Bank, and former Zambian president Kaunda.

The discussions at the interactive meeting will feed into a final report

on the long-term impact of the pandemic in Africa, due for submission to

n in June 2005.

[ENDS]

2 - AFRICA: Millions lack access to ARVs - UN study

ADDIS ABABA, 12 October (PLUSNEWS) - The United Nations Commission on

HIV/AIDS and Governance in Africa (CHGA) is to meet later this week in the

Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, to discuss how treatment for people living

with the virus could be scaled up, as a new report shows that millions of

Africans lack access to potentially life-saving antiretroviral drugs

(ARVs).

CHGA, which says it will call for massive expansion in availability of

ARVs to millions on the continent, brings together health experts, key

government officials and ministers, and includes one commissioner who is

living with HIV.

Kaunda, the former president of Zambia whose own son died from

AIDS, is one of the commissioners on the task force, set up in February

2003 by UN Secretary-General Kofi n. Kaunda will officially open the

conference on Thursday.

According to the new CHGA report sponsored by the UN and due to be

released this week, only 50,000 Africans get ARV treatment - a coverage of

around one percent - and a further 4 million people are in need.

An estimated 20 million Africans have died since the start of the HIV/AIDS

pandemic, while some 29.4 million are living with the virus and 25 million

children have been orphaned, according to the report. The pandemic is

concentrated in Africa, which has some 70 percent of the people living

with HIV/AIDS globally.

Life expectancy in sub-Saharan Africa has also dropped because of the

virus from 62 years to 47 years - equivalent of the life expectancy in the

US 100 years ago. Fears are now growing that if the virus continues, it

threatens the very fabric of African society and could spark its eventual

collapse.

" Given the fact that an estimated 30 million individuals on the continent

live with HIV/AIDS, the worst effects of the epidemic will be felt by

future generations, " the report warns.

CHGA commissioners are looking at how scaled-up treatment with ARVs can

prevent the " disastrous erosion " of human capital and how African health

systems can be strengthened. " The debate on antiretrovirals has until

recently focused on the cost of these drugs and on making them available

more cheaply, " the report adds.

" The cost has already fallen, and it is widely assumed that it will fall

further in the future. However, even the cheaper drugs currently remain

way beyond the means of the majority of Africans. If access is to be

widened, then the cost both of providing the drugs and of creating the

necessary infrastructure for their delivery will need to be carefully

calibrated for African states, " it says.

[ENDS]

3 - MOZAMBIQUE: Religious leaders tackle AIDS

MAPUTO, 11 October (PLUSNEWS) - In an unprecedented show of solidarity, 16

faith-based organisations in Mozambique have united to tackle the HIV/AIDS

epidemic, coming up with a national action plan.

" Faith-based Organisations (FBOs) can make a big difference if they are

involved and given the tools, " said Mohamad Yassine, coordinator of the

World Conference of Religion for Peace (WCRP) in Mozambique.

He told PlusNews that religious leaders could play a major role in

tackling HIV/AIDS, as about 10 million of the country's 18 million people

were members of an organised religion - from Christians and Muslims to

those of the Bahai faith.

To date the epidemic has shown no indication of abating. Mozambique

recently announced an upsurge in HIV/AIDS prevalence rates from 13.6

percent last year to 14.9 percent this year. An estimated 500 people are

infected with the virus each day.

The FBO action plan, agreed last week and supported by the various

ministries and a range of donors, includes initiatives to care for orphans

and other children affected by the epidemic, as well as supporting adults

living with AIDS-related illnesses.

With the assistance of WCRP, UNAIDS and the UN Children's Fund, the action

plan will kick off in mid-November with a training of trainers programme

on HIV/AIDS.

Yassine said the training was essential. Although most religious leaders

now know about HIV/AIDS, " They haven't all been open about it - all

religions need to speak about it in their services, in their communities

and in schools. They should also make sure there is no stigmatisation of

those living with HIV; they should always welcome those living with HIV. "

The training of trainers programme will start with 60 leaders in southern

Mozambique, as part of an ongoing process that will be expanded to include

the central region in February, and the north of the country in April.

Yassine said it had not been easy to find consensus among the religious

groups over safer sex methods. The issue of condom use had been

problematic, he conceded, but all agreed that " the problem is not the

condom itself - the problem is how, when and why to use it " .

There was agreement among all FBOs that condoms should be used in the case

of a couple wanting to stay together, where one was HIV positive and the

other negative. They were also united about discouraging the youth to have

pre-marital sex.

He acknowledged the reality that young people were having sex before they

married. " We should not use the condom as a propaganda item; we should not

liberalise condoms; we should not distribute them among young people and

say use them and you are safe. We rather want behaviour change, " said

Yassine.

Another major activity of the religious leaders will be caring for

children who have been affected by the epidemic, including orphans and

children living with HIV. In Mozambique over 270,000 children have either

lost one parent or both to HIV/AIDS, and over 80,000 children are living

with the virus.

Yassine said religious leaders needed resources to make sure affected

children were well cared for by alternative families in their communities.

Because most families are poor, such children will need support,

especially food and education.

" Religious leaders should be responsible for these children - we need to

protect them from abuse and discrimination and bring back the African

tradition that the child belongs to the community, " Yassine said.

Religious leaders have already been caring for those living with

AIDS-related illnesses. " At the moment they are doing it from their

heart, " he said. " We need to train them so they themselves do not get

infected. "

[ENDS]

4 - ZIMBABWE: Global Fund rejects appeal, denies political bias

JOHANNESBURG, 12 October (PLUSNEWS) - Zimbabwe's request for funding from

the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis (TB) and Malaria has again

been rejected.

Last week Zimbabwe appealed the Fund's earlier rejection of its HIV/AIDS

and TB grant proposals. Fund spokesman Tim told PlusNews on Tuesday

that " sadly, neither of the Zimbabwe appeals was successful " .

In July the Fund turned down proposals from Zimbabwe for HIV/AIDS, TB and

malaria, " for technical reasons " . Parirenyatwa, Zimbabwe's Minister

of Health and Child Welfare, accused the Fund of political bias, something

the Global Fund has strongly denied.

Had its proposals been approved, Zimbabwe would have benefited from a US

$218 million five-year commitment by the Fund. pointed out that

Zimbabwe was not the only country to have proposals rejected in July: 36

proposals had been unsuccessful.

There were 13 appeals to the Fund to reconsider country proposals, and " of

these Zimbabwe launched two appeals - it only appealed for two of the

disease components (HIV/AIDS and TB), and neither of those were successful

at appeal, " noted.

As was the case in July, " technical reasons were given for the failure of

the appeals, which were judged by an independent panel, and those reasons

will be communicated back to Zimbabwe. So, if they intend to re-lodge the

applications in the next round [of proposals], they will have a good idea

of what work needs to be done to knock them into shape, " said.

However, Sandasi, the director of a local HIV/AIDS group, Women and

AIDS Support Network, told PlusNews she believed the Global Fund was

" mixing issues " and had " a hiddgen agenda " .

" The Global Fund is supposed to be looking at HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria,

but they are taking up other issues; issues that are to do with the people

of Zimbabwe, and that can only be dealt with by Zimbabweans without

outside interference, " Sandasi said.

" I think this is the fourth round [of proposals], and we have not received

any funding from them. We feel there is a hidden agenda, " she added.

denied any political bias in the Fund's decision. " Anybody looking

at our portfolio of grants throughout the world will see we have given

grants to North Korea, Sudan, Myanmar ... to a number of difficult

environments throughout the world. I don't think that, logically, anybody

could accuse us of political motivations in our funding decisions, " he

said.

He explained that the funding applications " are all screened by an

independent panel; the board of the Global Fund then approves funding on

the basis of the recommendations of the independent technical review

panel, which is an international review panel that reviews [proposals] for

technical efficacy " .

He noted that " there are two grants that have already been approved to

Zimbabwe during the first round in April 2002 - some US $14 million for

HIV/AIDS programmes and a malaria grant for nearly US $9 million - and

it's unfortunate the subsequent applications have not been successful " .

The appeal process concluded on 7 October. Three proposals succeeded, one

each from Niger, Russia and Uzbekistan.

[ENDS]

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