Your daily Selection of IRIN Africa PlusNews reports, 5/26/2005

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CONTENT:

1 - BOTSWANA: Red tape stymies media spreading anti-AIDS message

2 - ZAMBIA: Provinces left behind in ARV rollout

1 - BOTSWANA: Red tape stymies media spreading anti-AIDS message

GABORONE, 26 May (PLUSNEWS) - Journalists in Botswana say the government's lack

of cooperation with the media is threatening to undermine ongoing efforts to

reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS.

The diamond-rich country has one of the highest HIV prevalence rates in the

world - over 35 percent of its 1.6 million people - and according to UNAIDS, the

epidemic is still gaining ground.

While there have been some successes in the decade-long response to the disease,

Botswana has been unable to keep pace with the number of new infections. It is

already distributing ARVs to all citizens in need of them, and promoting routine

testing at all public health facilities.

But reporters allege that it is difficult to gauge the success of the anti-AIDS

strategy because of the reluctance of the authorities to release information to

the media.

Earlier this week, Khumbulani Kholi, a journalist working for an independent

weekly newspaper, told PlusNews he had yet to receive an official response to

questions faxed to the health ministry two weeks ago, about the number of people

who have passed through the routine testing system since its introduction in

January 2004.

" For two weeks I have been tossed from one government official to another. There

is nothing controversial about my questions - I only want to know if there have

been some successes in the programme, " he explained.

Mbongeni Mguni, news editor at The Mirror newspaper, pointed out that when

journalists eventually did receive a response from the government, they were

unable to raise any further questions because of the time lag: any further

questions would also have to be faxed, thanks to the red tape.

Some reporters complain that government responses are often marked

'confidential'. " How can such information be deemed confidential when it is for

public consumption? " asked Moketsi Motsumi, an international correspondent based

in Selebi Phikwe, a mining town in central Botswana.

The main sources of government information are speeches made by ministers at

official functions, in the National Assembly, or on tours of their

constituencies.

While some journalists have been calling for the government to be more

forthcoming, others have argued that the media are not doing not enough to

destigmatise the virus.

" Several journalists have died since the first identified AIDS death in 1985,

yet AIDS is not mentioned, either in obituaries or at the funerals. It is

unclear how the media can report accurately and openly on a disease that is

still shrouded in mystery among the very people tasked with disseminating vital

information, " Kudakwashe Makudo, the editor of a monthly magazine based in the

capital, Gaborone, remarked to PlusNews.

A recent survey by the Media Institute of Southern Africa revealed that only two

of the 10 newspapers operating in Botswana had a policy for HIV-positive

employees in place.

Anti-AIDS organisations have also raised concerns over the local media's

approach to the disease.

Bantsi, from the Maun AIDS Counselling Centre in northwestern Botswana,

said media reports failed to convey the benefits of testing to the population.

" The media should tell its audience that HIV/AIDS is a manageable chronic

disease. In many African countries, many people want to know their [HIV] status,

but the facilities are not readily available - in Botswana, it is the opposite, "

Bantsi commented.

Calvin Morwaeng, a programme officer at the Botswana Christian AIDS Intervention

Programme, which also offers counselling, said local journalists were

insufficiently trained to report on HIV/AIDS issues.

He recommended greater cooperation between the media and grassroots HIV/AIDS

organisations as a way of raising awareness among journalists.

[ENDS]

2 - ZAMBIA: Provinces left behind in ARV rollout

ZAMBEZI, 26 May (PLUSNEWS) - In the remote district of Zambezi, near the Zambian

border with Angola, getting hold of anti-AIDS drugs is a major struggle for

those living with the virus.

HIV-positive Zambians in need of treatment have to travel more than 500 km on

potholed roads once a month to receive the life-prolonging medication at a

health facility in Solwezi. The provincial capital is the only centre providing

antiretrovirals (ARVs) in this impoverished region.

Melody Sachikoka discovered she was HIV-positive about three years ago, but does

not have the 300,000 Kwacha (US $65) it costs for a round-trip to Solwezi for a

CD4 count test (which measures the strength of the immune system) - a

requirement before treatment can begin.

Getting to the provincial capital is not only expensive, but also extremely

uncomfortable; public transport is erratic, and the greater part of the journey

is made on rutted dirt roads in vehicles that have seen better days.

" Most of our members can't even raise K50,000 (US $11) per month ... they have

been dying before receiving treatment, " said Kalukangu, secretary of the

Zambezi branch of the Network of Zambian People Living with HIV/AIDS (NZP+).

Sachikoka, who makes ends meet by doing menial jobs, is not looking forward to

the time when she becomes ill and needs to start taking ARVs.

" For now I am stranded and don't know what to do next. I am just looking forward

to support groups and other well-wishers to help in any way, " the 34-year-old

NZP+ member told PlusNews.

With a poor harvest driving up food prices, even those receiving treatment are

struggling to complement it with a balanced diet.

NZP+ used to distribute food parcels with maize-meal, sugar, groundnuts and

beans, until their funding for the nutrition programme ran out last year. " The

only support [for positive people] at the moment is counselling, " said

Sachikoka.

According to Kalukangu, statements by government officials in the media

congratulating themselves on the widespread availability of treatment in Zambia

were giving people in inaccessible areas " false hope " .

" It is saddening to hear ministers or anti-AIDS activists saying we have so many

ARVs, but people here are dying ... they should not just be speaking in Lusaka

to please donors - we need ARVs here, " he stressed.

Although an estimated 25,000 Zambians are currently receiving anti-AIDS

medication, the government has to scale up treatment in rural areas, warned

local NZP+ chairman Likoso. He said that three NZP+ members he knew had

died while waiting for ARVs.

For those already on therapy, but who cannot afford to keep making the arduous

trip to Solwezi for their monthly supply, health workers and caregivers in the

area try and help.

Zambezi Home-Based Care coordinator Machune Chivunda, for example, travels to

Solwezi regularly and is often asked by her clients to replenish their

medication.

Although a nurse at the local Zambezi District Hospital, Chivunda spends a long

day waiting in line like everyone else at the health centre in Solwezi.

NZP+ national coordinator, Clement Mfuzi, said government could not afford to

ignore the provinces. Not only were there local inhabitants that needed

treatment, but sick people from urban areas were relocating to the villages.

The government hopes to have about 100,000 people on treatment by the end of

2005. An estimated two million Zambians are living with HIV/AIDS.

" We have opened 65 centres countrywide, and we are hoping that by the end of the

year all the districts will be providing ARVs ... then we will move to

sub-district level, " said Victor Mukonka, a spokesman for the Central Board of

Health.

" The important thing to note is that a year ago only nine provincial centres

were providing ARVs, but we have scaled up. "

HIV-positive activist Winston Zulu acknowledged that Zambia's treatment

programme has made progress.

" We have moved on, and we should now build capacity at every health centre to

provide ARVs, " he told PlusNews. But, as in most countries in the region, the

exodus of healthcare professionals remained a major obstacle, he warned.

[ENDS]

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