Your daily Selection of IRIN Africa PlusNews reports, 4/21/2006

April 21, 2006

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

Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

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CONTENT:

1 - LIBERIA: HIV/ AIDS infection rate rising rapidly

MONROVIA, 21 April (PLUSNEWS) - Liberia's new peacetime government is alarmed at

the rapidly rising rate of HIV and AIDS infections, which is now a " serious

problem " , according to President Ellen -Sirleaf.

" HIV/AIDS is now a serious problem in Liberia. The problem has been increasing

very rapidly. Now we are talking an average infection rate of 12 percent [and]

the rate of infection for women and children is higher, " said Sirleaf at the

recent launch of a new HIV/AIDS public awareness campaign in collaboration with

the World Health Organisation and the African Union.

During Liberia's 14 years of brutal warfare, guns and mortars were used

alongside sexual violence and rape to terrorise, intimidate and control the

civilian population. The UN estimates that 40 percent of all women and girls

were raped during the war.

Today, the fighting has stopped and security is provided by 15,000 UN

peacekeeping troops from 46 countries. In the past, soldiers from West African

states served as peacekeepers in Liberia too.

According to Sirleaf, the presence of large numbers of soldiers has added to the

AIDS problem. " We have peacekeeping forces in this country, and they have been

here many years of our conflict. They come from areas where the infection rate

is much higher. Our sexual behaviour, contribution and interactions with those

who come with the peacekeeping forces, all increases the incidence of AIDS. So

today we are feeling the effect, " said Sirleaf.

Among the troops that make up the United Nation Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) force

are battalions and police support from several southern African countries with

some of the highest AIDS infection rates registered in the world.

" It is an international problem, " said Egunsola UNMIL spokesman in response

to Sirleaf's comments. " However, on our side we have been doing a lot in terms

of sensitising not only our staff members and troops, but also the public about

the danger of HIV/AIDS, and also about measures they can take to prevent the

spread of the virus. "

All new UN troops undergo a " mandatory induction exercise " to educate them about

AIDS, said Egunsola. New UN peacekeeping guidelines discourage personnel from

sexual relations with members of the local community, and ban sex in exchange

for money.

UNAIDS has warned that military personnel are a high-risk group for contracting

and spreading HIV. " Uniformed service personnel are considered one of the

high-risk groups for contracting HIV, " said a UNAIDS report on peacekeepers and

AIDS in July.

And new guidelines and UN resolutions for peacekeeping operations, are not

working to fully inform peacekeepers of the risks of HIV/AIDS, according to

UNAIDS.

" Despite all that has been achieved since 2000, it is clear that there is still

a long way to go... the un-stated goal underpinning Resolution 1308 is that all

peacekeepers and all uniformed personnel must be given the knowledge and means

to protect themselves and others from HIV. This goal is not being achieved, "

said Piot UNAIDS Executive Director at a briefing to the UN Security

Council last year.

Some AIDS workers say that poverty - not soldiers - is to blame for the spread

of the disease in Liberia. " Young girls are tempted to go to bed with adults,

sometimes ignoring the use of condoms, and that too is spreading the virus, "

said Taypison, a social worker with the community-based HIV/AIDS Outreach

Prevention Association.

Posters are splashed across Liberia's war battered capital Monrovia, but

youngsters take little notice, students told IRIN. " Almost every school has HIV

clubs intended to educate young people about the virus, but some of my friends

have a 'don't care' attitude towards AIDS, " said Joanna Bedell, a secondary

school pupil. " Most of them confide that they prefer sex without condoms. "

Much of the problem, according to government ministers, is a lack of information

on how far the disease has spread in Liberia's population of some 3 million

people. According to Liberia's Health Minister, Walter Gwenigale, the 12 percent

infection rate cited by Sirleaf is not universal " At some testing centres, five

or six [people] are tested positive out of 100, " the minister said last week.

The government's latest estimates could indicate a significant leap from HIV

levels at the end of the war. At the end of 2003, just months after the fighting

stopped, UNAIDS estimated that 5.9 percent of Liberians lived with the virus.

Aid workers have called for nationwide testing, including the testing of

returning refugees, to get a clearer picture of the challenges that lie

ahead.[ENDS]

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April 21, 2006