Your daily Selection of IRIN Africa PlusNews reports, 12/7/2006

[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) -

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

CONTENT:

1 - RWANDA: Need to incorporate nutrition into kids' HIV programmes

2 - SUDAN: Darfur at risk of mounting HIV/AIDS epidemic

1 - RWANDA: Need to incorporate nutrition into kids' HIV programmes

NAIROBI, 7 December (PLUSNEWS) - Nearly 45 percent of HIV-positive Rwandan

children under five years old are severely malnourished, delegates at a recent

paediatric conference on HIV/AIDS heard.

phine Kayumba, a nutritionist with Rwanda's Treatment and Research AIDS

Centre, who attended the conference in the capital, Kigali, told IRIN/PlusNews

that " the nutrition aspect is not well thought out in HIV/AIDS care and

treatment. The sector does not receive the sufficient financial and political

support it deserves, despite the impact its interventions can have. "

Nearly 45 percent of HIV-positive Rwandan children under five years old are

severely malnourished, delegates at last month's second annual Rwandan

paediatric conference on HIV/AIDS heard.

phine Kayumba, a nutritionist with Rwanda's Treatment and Research AIDS

Centre, who attended the conference in the capital, Kigali, told IRIN/PlusNews

that " the nutrition aspect is not well thought out in HIV/AIDS care and

treatment. The sector does not receive the sufficient financial and political

support it deserves, despite the impact its interventions can have. "

She said the small central African nation suffered from " unstable " climatic

conditions, which caused seasonal food insecurity in some parts of the country,

leading to high rates of malnutrition.

About 23,000 children are born to HIV-positive mothers each year and about 80

percent of Rwanda's 9 million people live on US$2 or less a day.

The government runs programmes for therapeutic feeding, provides training in

infant feeding options and gives food support to breastfeeding mothers;

nongovernmental organisations also have feeding schemes for undernourished

children, but there are very few specific programmes catering for those who are

HIV-positive.

According to Girma Makonnen, information officer for the United Nations World

Food Programme in Rwanda, " We do not have any special programmes for

HIV-positive children, but if they are malnourished then they are eligible to

receive supplementary or therapeutic feeding at our feeding centres around the

country. "

kr/go/he/oa

[ENDS]

2 - SUDAN: Darfur at risk of mounting HIV/AIDS epidemic

KHARTOUM, 7 December (PLUSNEWS) - The United Nations is raising awareness about

HIV/AIDS in Sudan, but has warned that infection rates may be on the rise in the

unstable Darfur region.

" There are suggestions that the number of people who have the disease [in

Darfur] is increasing, " UNAIDS Country Coordinator Musa Bungudu told reporters

in the Sudanese capital Khartoum recently.

Sudan's western region of Darfur, home to about 3 million people, was plunged

into crisis in February 2003, when the mainly black African tribes of the region

rebelled against President al-Bashir's government, which in turn allegedly

backed the mainly Arab Janjawid militia, which has been accused of committing a

slew of atrocities against unarmed Darfur civilians.

Three years of fighting has caused the death of more than 200,000 people and

forced another 2.5 million people from their homes. Rape and sexual assault are

widespread in Darfur, and it is thought commercial sex networks have been

established around the 7,000-strong African Union peacekeeping force in the

region, a development that could fuel the spread of HIV/AIDS.

" When a population is displaced, the socio-economic base is totally affected;

there is likely to be a change in behaviour, " Bungudu said. " The bottom line is

that the disease is in Darfur. "

UNAIDS, in partnership with the Sudan National AIDS Programme, has launched

initiatives aimed at raising awareness of HIV/AIDS across Sudan. However, HIV

education is problematic in the Muslim north, where public discussion of sexual

matters is a thorny issue.

Prevention efforts to stop the disease spreading in southern Sudan are

complicated by the Roman Catholic Church's negative stance on condom use among

the large Catholic population.

The UN estimates that Sudan has the highest rate of HIV infection in North

Africa and the Middle East. However, statistics on the rate of HIV/AIDS

infection in Sudan has been very difficult to compile. A 21-year long civil war

between north and south Sudan, which ended with a peace agreement in 2005,

rendered much of the south inaccessible to surveys on HIV/AIDS. In 2003, UNAIDS

estimated that the infection rate in the nation of 41 million people hovered

around 1.6 percent.

The UN is planning a comprehensive survey in Sudan in 2007, to try and ascertain

nationwide infection rates. UNAIDS has warned, however, that statistics from

Darfur may be difficult to obtain. Widespread violence in the region has granted

only partial access to many areas of Darfur's three states.

" If you are going to do a successful survey you want to have each community

represented in that survey, " Bungudu said. " Those areas where the fighting is

ongoing are likely not to be involved. "

nk/kr/go/he/oa

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Subscriber: AIDS treatments

[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) -

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

CONTENT:

1 - RWANDA: Need to incorporate nutrition into kids' HIV programmes

2 - SUDAN: Darfur at risk of mounting HIV/AIDS epidemic

1 - RWANDA: Need to incorporate nutrition into kids' HIV programmes

NAIROBI, 7 December (PLUSNEWS) - Nearly 45 percent of HIV-positive Rwandan

children under five years old are severely malnourished, delegates at a recent

paediatric conference on HIV/AIDS heard.

phine Kayumba, a nutritionist with Rwanda's Treatment and Research AIDS

Centre, who attended the conference in the capital, Kigali, told IRIN/PlusNews

that " the nutrition aspect is not well thought out in HIV/AIDS care and

treatment. The sector does not receive the sufficient financial and political

support it deserves, despite the impact its interventions can have. "

Nearly 45 percent of HIV-positive Rwandan children under five years old are

severely malnourished, delegates at last month's second annual Rwandan

paediatric conference on HIV/AIDS heard.

phine Kayumba, a nutritionist with Rwanda's Treatment and Research AIDS

Centre, who attended the conference in the capital, Kigali, told IRIN/PlusNews

that " the nutrition aspect is not well thought out in HIV/AIDS care and

treatment. The sector does not receive the sufficient financial and political

support it deserves, despite the impact its interventions can have. "

She said the small central African nation suffered from " unstable " climatic

conditions, which caused seasonal food insecurity in some parts of the country,

leading to high rates of malnutrition.

About 23,000 children are born to HIV-positive mothers each year and about 80

percent of Rwanda's 9 million people live on US$2 or less a day.

The government runs programmes for therapeutic feeding, provides training in

infant feeding options and gives food support to breastfeeding mothers;

nongovernmental organisations also have feeding schemes for undernourished

children, but there are very few specific programmes catering for those who are

HIV-positive.

According to Girma Makonnen, information officer for the United Nations World

Food Programme in Rwanda, " We do not have any special programmes for

HIV-positive children, but if they are malnourished then they are eligible to

receive supplementary or therapeutic feeding at our feeding centres around the

country. "

kr/go/he/oa

[ENDS]

2 - SUDAN: Darfur at risk of mounting HIV/AIDS epidemic

KHARTOUM, 7 December (PLUSNEWS) - The United Nations is raising awareness about

HIV/AIDS in Sudan, but has warned that infection rates may be on the rise in the

unstable Darfur region.

" There are suggestions that the number of people who have the disease [in

Darfur] is increasing, " UNAIDS Country Coordinator Musa Bungudu told reporters

in the Sudanese capital Khartoum recently.

Sudan's western region of Darfur, home to about 3 million people, was plunged

into crisis in February 2003, when the mainly black African tribes of the region

rebelled against President al-Bashir's government, which in turn allegedly

backed the mainly Arab Janjawid militia, which has been accused of committing a

slew of atrocities against unarmed Darfur civilians.

Three years of fighting has caused the death of more than 200,000 people and

forced another 2.5 million people from their homes. Rape and sexual assault are

widespread in Darfur, and it is thought commercial sex networks have been

established around the 7,000-strong African Union peacekeeping force in the

region, a development that could fuel the spread of HIV/AIDS.

" When a population is displaced, the socio-economic base is totally affected;

there is likely to be a change in behaviour, " Bungudu said. " The bottom line is

that the disease is in Darfur. "

UNAIDS, in partnership with the Sudan National AIDS Programme, has launched

initiatives aimed at raising awareness of HIV/AIDS across Sudan. However, HIV

education is problematic in the Muslim north, where public discussion of sexual

matters is a thorny issue.

Prevention efforts to stop the disease spreading in southern Sudan are

complicated by the Roman Catholic Church's negative stance on condom use among

the large Catholic population.

The UN estimates that Sudan has the highest rate of HIV infection in North

Africa and the Middle East. However, statistics on the rate of HIV/AIDS

infection in Sudan has been very difficult to compile. A 21-year long civil war

between north and south Sudan, which ended with a peace agreement in 2005,

rendered much of the south inaccessible to surveys on HIV/AIDS. In 2003, UNAIDS

estimated that the infection rate in the nation of 41 million people hovered

around 1.6 percent.

The UN is planning a comprehensive survey in Sudan in 2007, to try and ascertain

nationwide infection rates. UNAIDS has warned, however, that statistics from

Darfur may be difficult to obtain. Widespread violence in the region has granted

only partial access to many areas of Darfur's three states.

" If you are going to do a successful survey you want to have each community

represented in that survey, " Bungudu said. " Those areas where the fighting is

ongoing are likely not to be involved. "

nk/kr/go/he/oa

[ENDS]

Your input is important. Please complete our annual survey at

http://www.irinnews.org/readership_survey.aspThis is non-reply e-mail. Please do

not hesitate to contact us at Mail@....

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.]

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