IRIN PlusNews Weekly Issue 300, 8 September 2006

[Guest guest]

SOUTHERN_AFRICA: IRIN PlusNews Weekly Issue 300, 8 September 2006

NEWS

ZAMBIA: Advocacy groups put HIV/AIDS on the election agenda

SOUTH AFRICA: Comic book on HIV/AIDS education for deaf community

THAILAND: Refugees to get better access to HIV/AIDS drugs

KENYA: Music and drama teach lakeshore communities about AIDS

INDIA: HIV/AIDS battle spreads to rural areas

SUDAN: Fighting the HIV/AIDS enemy in Darfur

ETHIOPIA: WFP scheme sustaining thousands affected by HIV

KENYA: Widows who refuse to be inherited care for orphans

WEBSITE

1. AIDS 2006 Global Village

RESOURCE

1. Reasons for Condom Use Among Young People in KwaZulu-Natal: Prevention of

HIV, Pregnancy or Both?

2. HIV prevention with especially vulnerable young people

VACANCIES

1. HIV/AIDS Project Officer - Somalia, Mogadishu

NEWS

ZAMBIA: Advocacy groups put HIV/AIDS on the election agenda

Advocacy groups in Zambia are forcing HIV/AIDS issues onto the agenda in the

run-up to this month's general election.

" All election candidates should make clear their personal commitment to tackling

HIV and AIDS because we want Zambian politicians to take a leading role in

fighting the HIV/AIDS pandemic. We want them to tell us what they will do about

the pandemic if we elect them to office, because they should recognise that HIV

is as much an election issue as a better economy or improved education, " said

Felix Mwanza, project manager of Treatment Advocacy and Literacy Campaign

(TALC), a civic organisation.

About one in five sexually active Zambian adults are infected, or 1.6 million of

a population of 10 million, but only 60,000 people have access to antiretroviral

(ARV) medication.

More details: http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=6334

SOUTH AFRICA: Comic book on HIV/AIDS education for deaf community

Using illustrations of South African Sign Language instead of speech bubbles, a

new comic book is reaching out to the deaf community with messages about HIV and

AIDS, sexual violence and sexual rights.

The 14-page 'Are Your Rights Respected?' follows a group of friends attending

deaf school as they learn about their sexuality, how to protect themselves from

HIV, their rights to health and education, and how to deal with sexual abuse.

Judge Edwin Cameron, a prominent HIV/AIDS lobbyist, commented at the opening of

an exhibition of artwork from the comic book on Saturday that deaf people were

still " a politically, linguistically, socially and economically marginalised

group " , and information and education on HIV and AIDS, sexuality and sexual

diversity largely bypassed the deaf community.

" Deaf people are dying without HIV testing or treatment, family or community

support, " he said.

More details: http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=6332

THAILAND: Refugees to get better access to HIV/AIDS drugs

Thailand is considering making life-saving antiretroviral (ARV) drugs available

to refugees from Myanmar living with HIV/AIDS in camps along the Thai-Myanmar

border.

Thaksin Shinawatra, the Thai prime minister, promised to look into the plight of

refugees living with HIV/AIDS after an appeal from Guterres, the United

Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

In an hour-long meeting with the premier last week, Guterres urged Thailand to

include the refugees in its national programme to provide ARVs and initiatives

for the prevention, care and treatment of HIV/AIDS.

More details: http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=6331

KENYA: Music and drama teach lakeshore communities about AIDS

Lake , the world's second largest body of fresh water, is renowned for

its rich harvests of tilapia and Nile perch, but the people living along its

shores have the highest HIV-prevalence rate in Kenya.

Low literacy rates make music and drama the easiest ways of educating these

communities about the dangers of HIV/AIDS, and well-attended competitions have

enabled conservative communities to discuss more openly how HIV/AIDS is spread.

" Here we talk about sensitive issues such as sexual intimacies, " said Lillian

Ondiek, senior project officer for the UK-based medical relief charity, Merlin.

The festival drew hundreds of people from offshore islands, who spent the entire

day acting in plays, singing HIV-related songs and reciting original poetry

about the pandemic's effects on their community. Winning teams were rewarded

with trophies.

More details: http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=6341

INDIA: HIV/AIDS battle spreads to rural areas

India's economic revival has led to surging growth, malls and multiplexes and

the creation of vast wealth. But the growth masks the situation in rural areas

where millions of illiterate people continue to grind out a living in extreme

poverty.

The basics - primary healthcare, education and clean drinking water - are often

missing. It is rurally - where 70 percent of the population lives - that India

is facing its greatest challenges in its battle against HIV/AIDS, according to

India's National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO).

Urban middle-class India and the English-language media largely ignore the

existence of this 'other India'. However, villagers unable to eke out a living

are leaving for the cities in large numbers, making it difficult to

compartmentalise the concerns of urban and rural India.

More details: http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=6344

SUDAN: Fighting the HIV/AIDS enemy in Darfur

A group of faith-based organisations is teaching communities affected by three

years of conflict in the Darfur region of western Sudan to defend themselves

against HIV/AIDS.

The lives of more than three million people have been disrupted, of which

one-third are internally displaced. The Sudan Council of Churches (SCC), acting

in partnership with Action by Churches Together (ACT), a group of

nongovernmental organisations, and Caritas International, a Catholic relief

agency, are working to prevent the spread of the disease in a culture where

sexual matters are traditionally not discussed.

" People may have heard of HIV/AIDS but they do not know what it is, or how to

protect themselves or care for the infected, " Charlotte Brudenell, ACT

information officer in Darfur, told PlusNews. " Generally, it is difficult to

talk about things that concern sex in open forums in a Muslim society. "

More details: http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=6346

ETHIOPIA: WFP scheme sustaining thousands affected by HIV

A UN World Food Programme (WFP) initiative is providing nutritional support to

thousands of poor, HIV-affected families in Ethiopia, where hunger is still a

major problem more than twenty years after famine killed an estimated one

million people.

" The scaling-up and expansion of our HIV/AIDS urban programme will allow WFP to

continue working towards improving the nutritional status and quality of life of

many thousands of people in Ethiopia, who are either infected or affected by

HIV/AIDS, " said WFP acting country director Abnezer Ngowi.

In terms of a US$9 million agreement, signed in August by WFP, the Addis Ababa

HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Office, and other local agencies and

implementing partners, WFP will provide nutritional assistance to 110,000 people

in 14 towns across the country, including 54,000 beneficiaries in the capital,

Addis Ababa, until December 2007.

More details: http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=6347

KENYA: Widows who refuse to be inherited care for orphans

St 's Orphanage in the western Kenyan city of Kisumu also shelters widows

who do not wish to follow the traditional practice of being 'inherited' by their

husbands' brothers.

" When a man dies, his wife will be inherited by his brothers or close cousin -

if she refuses, she is chased away. To them the disease that killed the man is

immaterial, but what matters is that the wife is 'cleansed' [by remarrying] so

that she can be allowed to mix freely with the rest of the community, " Sister

Philomena Adhiambo, the home's director, told PlusNews. " This has added to the

spread of HIV/AIDS in the Luo community. "

Caroline Atieno, widowed at 23, commented: " After the death of my husband, the

family made sure I had nothing; nothing to eat, and my house was falling down.

My daughter didn't attend school. Here I can eat, I have shelter, I can wash my

children's clothes and my daughter will attend school. "

More details: http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=6335

WEBSITE

1. AIDS 2006 Global Village

This site is open to delegates and non-delegates to the 16th International AIDS

Conference, and also enables greater civil society involvement and exchange.

It contains details about Global Village events and participants, including a

complete listing of Global Village sessions, with interactive activities that

seek to involve those who could not travel to Toronto for the conference.

These activities are all accessible via at the Virtual Village site:

http://globalvillage.aids2006.org/English/home.aspx

RESOURCE

1. Reasons for Condom Use Among Young People in KwaZulu-Natal: Prevention of

HIV, Pregnancy or Both?

Although rates of both unintended pregnancy and HIV/AIDS are high in South

Africa, programmes and policies rarely address both problems simultaneously.

In 'Reasons for Condom Use Among Young People in KwaZulu-Natal: Prevention of

HIV, Pregnancy or Both?' researchers from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, in

Durban, South Africa, examine whether and why sexually active young men and

women in KwaZulu-Natal use condoms.

Access the resource: http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/journals/3202806.html

2. HIV prevention with especially vulnerable young people

'HIV prevention with especially vulnerable young people - case studies of

success and innovation' is a new resource from the UK Department for

International Development (DFID) - and the World Health Organisation (WHO) -

supported 'Safe Passages to Adulthood programme'.

It shows how projects in Africa, Latin America, South East Asia and the Middle

East are working with young people in contexts of special vulnerability to

prevent HIV.

Access the resource: www.safepassages.soton.ac.uk/pdfs/vulnerableyp.pdf

VACANCIES

1. Concern, an Ireland-based NGO, seeks the services of an experienced HIV/AIDS

Project Officer to provide overall management and support for the organisation's

existing programmes in Mogadishu and surrounding areas in Somalia, with some

international travel.

Suitable candidates should possess experience in partnership development and

capacity building, training and facilitation skills, strong mentoring skills and

good networking skills.

If interested, please submit a cover letter and CV to:

Concern

Mogadishu Office

K5,

Tel: 215350/853379

Reference Code: RW_6SJHZQ-30

Closing Date: 18 September 2006

[ENDS]

This is non-reply e-mail. Please do not hesitate to contact us at

Mail@....

IRIN-SA

Tel: +27 11 895-1900

Fax: +27 11 784-6759

Email: IRIN-SA@...

Principal donors: IRIN is generously supported by Australia, Canada, Denmark,

ECHO, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and

the United States of America. For more information, go to:

http://www.IRINnews.org/donors

[This item comes to you via IRIN, a UN humanitarian news and information

service, but may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations or its

agencies. All IRIN material may be reposted or reprinted free-of-charge; refer

to the copyright page (Http://www.irinnews.org/copyright ) for conditions of

use. IRIN is a project of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian

Affairs.]

To make changes to or cancel your subscription visit:

http://www.Plusnews.org/subscriptions/AIDSsubslogin.asp

Subscriber: AIDS treatments

Keyword: Southern Africa

[Guest guest]

SOUTHERN_AFRICA: IRIN PlusNews Weekly Issue 300, 8 September 2006

NEWS

ZAMBIA: Advocacy groups put HIV/AIDS on the election agenda

SOUTH AFRICA: Comic book on HIV/AIDS education for deaf community

THAILAND: Refugees to get better access to HIV/AIDS drugs

KENYA: Music and drama teach lakeshore communities about AIDS

INDIA: HIV/AIDS battle spreads to rural areas

SUDAN: Fighting the HIV/AIDS enemy in Darfur

ETHIOPIA: WFP scheme sustaining thousands affected by HIV

KENYA: Widows who refuse to be inherited care for orphans

WEBSITE

1. AIDS 2006 Global Village

RESOURCE

1. Reasons for Condom Use Among Young People in KwaZulu-Natal: Prevention of

HIV, Pregnancy or Both?

2. HIV prevention with especially vulnerable young people

VACANCIES

1. HIV/AIDS Project Officer - Somalia, Mogadishu

NEWS

ZAMBIA: Advocacy groups put HIV/AIDS on the election agenda

Advocacy groups in Zambia are forcing HIV/AIDS issues onto the agenda in the

run-up to this month's general election.

" All election candidates should make clear their personal commitment to tackling

HIV and AIDS because we want Zambian politicians to take a leading role in

fighting the HIV/AIDS pandemic. We want them to tell us what they will do about

the pandemic if we elect them to office, because they should recognise that HIV

is as much an election issue as a better economy or improved education, " said

Felix Mwanza, project manager of Treatment Advocacy and Literacy Campaign

(TALC), a civic organisation.

About one in five sexually active Zambian adults are infected, or 1.6 million of

a population of 10 million, but only 60,000 people have access to antiretroviral

(ARV) medication.

More details: http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=6334

SOUTH AFRICA: Comic book on HIV/AIDS education for deaf community

Using illustrations of South African Sign Language instead of speech bubbles, a

new comic book is reaching out to the deaf community with messages about HIV and

AIDS, sexual violence and sexual rights.

The 14-page 'Are Your Rights Respected?' follows a group of friends attending

deaf school as they learn about their sexuality, how to protect themselves from

HIV, their rights to health and education, and how to deal with sexual abuse.

Judge Edwin Cameron, a prominent HIV/AIDS lobbyist, commented at the opening of

an exhibition of artwork from the comic book on Saturday that deaf people were

still " a politically, linguistically, socially and economically marginalised

group " , and information and education on HIV and AIDS, sexuality and sexual

diversity largely bypassed the deaf community.

" Deaf people are dying without HIV testing or treatment, family or community

support, " he said.

More details: http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=6332

THAILAND: Refugees to get better access to HIV/AIDS drugs

Thailand is considering making life-saving antiretroviral (ARV) drugs available

to refugees from Myanmar living with HIV/AIDS in camps along the Thai-Myanmar

border.

Thaksin Shinawatra, the Thai prime minister, promised to look into the plight of

refugees living with HIV/AIDS after an appeal from Guterres, the United

Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

In an hour-long meeting with the premier last week, Guterres urged Thailand to

include the refugees in its national programme to provide ARVs and initiatives

for the prevention, care and treatment of HIV/AIDS.

More details: http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=6331

KENYA: Music and drama teach lakeshore communities about AIDS

Lake , the world's second largest body of fresh water, is renowned for

its rich harvests of tilapia and Nile perch, but the people living along its

shores have the highest HIV-prevalence rate in Kenya.

Low literacy rates make music and drama the easiest ways of educating these

communities about the dangers of HIV/AIDS, and well-attended competitions have

enabled conservative communities to discuss more openly how HIV/AIDS is spread.

" Here we talk about sensitive issues such as sexual intimacies, " said Lillian

Ondiek, senior project officer for the UK-based medical relief charity, Merlin.

The festival drew hundreds of people from offshore islands, who spent the entire

day acting in plays, singing HIV-related songs and reciting original poetry

about the pandemic's effects on their community. Winning teams were rewarded

with trophies.

More details: http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=6341

INDIA: HIV/AIDS battle spreads to rural areas

India's economic revival has led to surging growth, malls and multiplexes and

the creation of vast wealth. But the growth masks the situation in rural areas

where millions of illiterate people continue to grind out a living in extreme

poverty.

The basics - primary healthcare, education and clean drinking water - are often

missing. It is rurally - where 70 percent of the population lives - that India

is facing its greatest challenges in its battle against HIV/AIDS, according to

India's National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO).

Urban middle-class India and the English-language media largely ignore the

existence of this 'other India'. However, villagers unable to eke out a living

are leaving for the cities in large numbers, making it difficult to

compartmentalise the concerns of urban and rural India.

More details: http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=6344

SUDAN: Fighting the HIV/AIDS enemy in Darfur

A group of faith-based organisations is teaching communities affected by three

years of conflict in the Darfur region of western Sudan to defend themselves

against HIV/AIDS.

The lives of more than three million people have been disrupted, of which

one-third are internally displaced. The Sudan Council of Churches (SCC), acting

in partnership with Action by Churches Together (ACT), a group of

nongovernmental organisations, and Caritas International, a Catholic relief

agency, are working to prevent the spread of the disease in a culture where

sexual matters are traditionally not discussed.

" People may have heard of HIV/AIDS but they do not know what it is, or how to

protect themselves or care for the infected, " Charlotte Brudenell, ACT

information officer in Darfur, told PlusNews. " Generally, it is difficult to

talk about things that concern sex in open forums in a Muslim society. "

More details: http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=6346

ETHIOPIA: WFP scheme sustaining thousands affected by HIV

A UN World Food Programme (WFP) initiative is providing nutritional support to

thousands of poor, HIV-affected families in Ethiopia, where hunger is still a

major problem more than twenty years after famine killed an estimated one

million people.

" The scaling-up and expansion of our HIV/AIDS urban programme will allow WFP to

continue working towards improving the nutritional status and quality of life of

many thousands of people in Ethiopia, who are either infected or affected by

HIV/AIDS, " said WFP acting country director Abnezer Ngowi.

In terms of a US$9 million agreement, signed in August by WFP, the Addis Ababa

HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Office, and other local agencies and

implementing partners, WFP will provide nutritional assistance to 110,000 people

in 14 towns across the country, including 54,000 beneficiaries in the capital,

Addis Ababa, until December 2007.

More details: http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=6347

KENYA: Widows who refuse to be inherited care for orphans

St 's Orphanage in the western Kenyan city of Kisumu also shelters widows

who do not wish to follow the traditional practice of being 'inherited' by their

husbands' brothers.

" When a man dies, his wife will be inherited by his brothers or close cousin -

if she refuses, she is chased away. To them the disease that killed the man is

immaterial, but what matters is that the wife is 'cleansed' [by remarrying] so

that she can be allowed to mix freely with the rest of the community, " Sister

Philomena Adhiambo, the home's director, told PlusNews. " This has added to the

spread of HIV/AIDS in the Luo community. "

Caroline Atieno, widowed at 23, commented: " After the death of my husband, the

family made sure I had nothing; nothing to eat, and my house was falling down.

My daughter didn't attend school. Here I can eat, I have shelter, I can wash my

children's clothes and my daughter will attend school. "

More details: http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=6335

WEBSITE

1. AIDS 2006 Global Village

This site is open to delegates and non-delegates to the 16th International AIDS

Conference, and also enables greater civil society involvement and exchange.

It contains details about Global Village events and participants, including a

complete listing of Global Village sessions, with interactive activities that

seek to involve those who could not travel to Toronto for the conference.

These activities are all accessible via at the Virtual Village site:

http://globalvillage.aids2006.org/English/home.aspx

RESOURCE

1. Reasons for Condom Use Among Young People in KwaZulu-Natal: Prevention of

HIV, Pregnancy or Both?

Although rates of both unintended pregnancy and HIV/AIDS are high in South

Africa, programmes and policies rarely address both problems simultaneously.

In 'Reasons for Condom Use Among Young People in KwaZulu-Natal: Prevention of

HIV, Pregnancy or Both?' researchers from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, in

Durban, South Africa, examine whether and why sexually active young men and

women in KwaZulu-Natal use condoms.

Access the resource: http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/journals/3202806.html

2. HIV prevention with especially vulnerable young people

'HIV prevention with especially vulnerable young people - case studies of

success and innovation' is a new resource from the UK Department for

International Development (DFID) - and the World Health Organisation (WHO) -

supported 'Safe Passages to Adulthood programme'.

It shows how projects in Africa, Latin America, South East Asia and the Middle

East are working with young people in contexts of special vulnerability to

prevent HIV.

Access the resource: www.safepassages.soton.ac.uk/pdfs/vulnerableyp.pdf

VACANCIES

1. Concern, an Ireland-based NGO, seeks the services of an experienced HIV/AIDS

Project Officer to provide overall management and support for the organisation's

existing programmes in Mogadishu and surrounding areas in Somalia, with some

international travel.

Suitable candidates should possess experience in partnership development and

capacity building, training and facilitation skills, strong mentoring skills and

good networking skills.

If interested, please submit a cover letter and CV to:

Concern

Mogadishu Office

K5,

Tel: 215350/853379

Reference Code: RW_6SJHZQ-30

Closing Date: 18 September 2006

[ENDS]

This is non-reply e-mail. Please do not hesitate to contact us at

Mail@....

IRIN-SA

Tel: +27 11 895-1900

Fax: +27 11 784-6759

Email: IRIN-SA@...

Principal donors: IRIN is generously supported by Australia, Canada, Denmark,

ECHO, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and

the United States of America. For more information, go to:

http://www.IRINnews.org/donors

[This item comes to you via IRIN, a UN humanitarian news and information

service, but may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations or its

agencies. All IRIN material may be reposted or reprinted free-of-charge; refer

to the copyright page (Http://www.irinnews.org/copyright ) for conditions of

use. IRIN is a project of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian

Affairs.]

To make changes to or cancel your subscription visit:

http://www.Plusnews.org/subscriptions/AIDSsubslogin.asp

Subscriber: AIDS treatments

Keyword: Southern Africa