Your daily Selection of IRIN Africa PlusNews reports, 7/5/2005

[Guest guest]

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

Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

Integrated Regional Information Network (IRIN) - 1995-2005 ten years serving the

humanitarian community

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

CONTENT:

1 - BURKINA FASO: Government aims to put 30,000 on ARVs by 2010

2 - CONGO: HIV-positive couple marry, making history

1 - BURKINA FASO: Government aims to put 30,000 on ARVs by 2010

OUAGADOUGOU, 5 July (PLUSNEWS) - The government of Burkina Faso has announced

plans to double the number of people living with AIDS on subsidised

antiretroviral (ARV) treatment to 10,000 by the end of this year and increase

the number of people receiving the life-enhancing drugs to more than 30,000 by

2010.

ph Andre Tiendrebeogo, the permanent secretary of the National Council for

the Fight against AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Diseases (CNLS/IST), told

PlusNews that 5,000 people were receiving ARV therapy in Burkina Faso at present

at the subsidised price of 5,000 CFA francs (US $10) per month.

" We think we will be at 10,000 by the end of this year, " Tiendrebeogo said.

But he added that the government's new five-year plan to combat HIV/AIDS aimed

to double spending over the period 2006-2010 and lift the number of people

receiving ARVs to between 30,000 and 35,000. That would cover 80 percent of the

people living in Burkina Faso who would benefit from the therapy, he added.

Burkina Faso's current programmes to fight AIDS are mostly financed by the World

Bank, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS Malaria and Tuberculosis and the African

Development Bank.

But Tiendrebeogo said the government would hold a donor conference in October to

seek fresh funding for its new five-year plan. This is budgeted at 160 billion

CFA francs (US $290 million) and aims to lift the current spending on AIDS

prevention and treatment by around $30 million per year.

Besides putting more people on life prolonging ARV treatment, the new five-year

plan aims to step up the AIDS prevention campaign and extend HIV/AIDS testing

and treatment facilities from Burkina Faso's large cities into smaller towns and

even villages.

Mamadou Sakho, the head of UNAIDS in Burkina Faso, said that given the drastic

shortage of doctors in this poor West African country of 12 million people, it

was essential to provide more HIV/AIDS training for other health workers such as

midwives and nurses.

" We must enlarge the base, " he said, noting that in some remote areas of Burkina

Faso there is only one doctor for 200,000 people. " We have to focus on better

access to ARVs for the poorest people. "

According to sentinel surveys of pregnant women tested voluntarily at ante-natal

clinics, the HIV prevalence rate in Burkina Faso declined from 7.2 percent in

1997 to 4.2 percent at the end of 2003.

But AIDS activists have warned there is no room for complacency.

With at least 365,000 returning migrants coming back from Cote d'Ivoire over the

past two years, activists are concerned about a possible surge in HIV infection.

Cote d'Ivoire's HIV prevalence rate, officially estimated at seven percent, is

one of the highest in West Africa.

[ENDS]

2 - CONGO: HIV-positive couple marry, making history

BRAZZAVILLE, 5 July (PLUSNEWS) - For the first time in the history of Congo, a

two people who admit openly that they are living with HIV-AIDS have married.

They tied the knot at a sumptuous ceremony last weekend aimed at celebrating

their union and fighting prejudice against the disease.

To a hearty round of applause, Mouellet, wearing a wedding dress, and

Thierry Maba, exchanged rings and a kiss at the Brazzaville town hall last

Saturday.

Now the couple want to have children to show people living with the virus that

HIV-positive people can give birth to healthy babies.

Mouellet, who is president of the Association of Young HIV-Positive People

Against AIDS (APJC), and Maba, who is a member of the group, both tested HIV

positive more than a decade ago.

" We love each other and want to show through this act that we can brave the

jibes and the prejudice, " said Mouellet after the wedding.

She discovered she was HIV-positive in 1993 when she voluntarily took a test,

while Maba tested positive on returning from a trip abroad in 1991.

" At the time I just wanted to stop living, " said Maba. " But I recovered thanks

to help from my friends, and later I joined the fight against AIDS at 's

side as she was president (of the association). "

Mouellet said it was during their militant work inside the association set up in

2001 that they both realised it was possible to live for a long time with the

disease " providing you change your sexual behaviour and follow appropriate

treatment. "

The APJC has around 100 members, most of whom are on antiretroviral drugs (ARVs)

provided under the government's Congolese Access to Antiretrovirals Initiative

(ICAARV), a scheme set up in June 2003.

In April 2005, some 2,500 people were registered on ARV programmes in specialist

centres at Brazzaville and Pointe-Noire, the country's two main cities.

They account for around 80 percent of the country's estimated 100,000 people

living with HIV/AIDS. The majority are women and young people aged between 15

and 29. Congo has an estimated population of 3.1 million.

According to the most recent study undertaken by the National Council to Fight

AIDS (CNLS) in November 2003, 4.2 percent of Congo's adult population is

HIV-infected. This figure is far lower than previous government estimates, which

had put the infection rate at 10 percent.

" When I meet people I try to make them understand that nowadays people don't die

of AIDS the way they used to 10 years ago. You can live 10, 15 years or even

longer if you follow treatment properly, " Mouellet said.

She would now like to have children with the help of a programme to prevent

mother-child transmission called PTME that was set up in the capital Brazzaville

and the Atlantic port city of Pointe Noire two years ago.

" We're reassured by the results obtained in our country by this programme, " she

said.

PTME coordinator Angouno, who is a doctor, said that of the 292 children

born to HIV-positive mothers since last November, only 15 were born with the HIV

virus.

" Women who are infected follow a treatment during pregnancy to avoid the risk of

contamination during childbirth. An HIV-positive woman can perfectly well give

birth to a healthy child, " he said.

A total of 493 pregnant women were currently in the care of the PTME programme

in the Congo, he said, noting that women living with HIV/AIDS have a 70 percent

chance of giving birth to non-infected babies.

" Thanks to PTME, and Thierry will produce healthy children, " he

predicted.

The couple hope their children, like their marriage, will help others living

with the virus.

" We hope to raise enthusiasm among the thousands of people living with HIV who

endure their agony in silence because of prejudice and discrimination, " said

Maba.

[ENDS]

We have sent this message from a no-reply address to avoid bounced messages into

our general email folder. Please do not hesitate to contact us at

Mail@... with any comments or questions you may have

[This Item is Delivered to the English Service of the UN's IRIN

humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views

of the United Nations. For further information, free subscriptions, or

to change your keywords, contact e-mail: Irin@... or Web:

http://www.irinnews.org . If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post

this item, please retain this credit and disclaimer. Reposting by

commercial sites requires written IRIN permission.]

Copyright © UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2005

IRIN Contacts:

PLUSNEWS

Tel: +27 11 895-1900

Fax: +27 11 784-6759

Email: Mail@...

To make changes to or cancel your subscription visit:

http://www.irinnews.org/subscriptions

Subscriber: AIDS treatments