UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - December 31, 2002
[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations] The small southern African kingdom of Swaziland has the worst HIV infection rate in the world, according to a new ministry of health report, and the government is turning to NGOs and international health organisations to help handle the crisis.
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - December 31, 2002
Zambia s over-stretched health facilities are inadequate at the best of times, but the situation is especially grim for the more than 1.2 million people living with HIV/AIDS. Kanatapa Hantuba has an opportunistic TB infection. He told IRIN that on the occasions the state hospital has drugs, he can sometimes beat the cl
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - December 30, 2002
South Africa s National Association of People Living with HIV/AIDS (NAPWA) on Monday continued a fasting protest outside the Johannesburg offices of a drug multinational as part of its Black Christmas campaign. NAPWA spokesman Thanduxolo Doro said the volunteers, many of whom are HIV-positive, started the protest outsi
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - December 23, 2002
The military and police in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) are to launch a countrywide HIV/AIDS awareness campaign, according to the UN Population Fund (UNFPA). A meeting held on 3 December with the International Centre for Migration and Health (ICMH), over 100 senior military and police officers, as well as
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - December 21, 2002
An advocacy group in Central African Republic (CAR) has called for the regulation of the commercial sex industry in the country to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS. In a very short time, we will review the provisions of the penal code on prostitution, and draft a bill of law taking into account the existence of HIV/AIDS,
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - December 21, 2002
The United Nation s Children s Fund (UNICEF) sounded a warning at Tanzania s National HIV/AIDS Conference on Thursday, saying that without involving and supporting the youth, the fight against HIV/AIDS would never be won. Children present at the conference echoed those remarks, claiming that at present, their participa
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - December 12, 2002
A row has broken out between the Tanzanian government and some development partners over the control and disbursement of development funds. We strongly urge all our partners and funding institutions to refrain from imposing parallel systems outside the government procedures, established by law, the Tanzanian Ministry o
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - December 11, 2002
Of the 111 women raped during October s fighting in the Central African Republic capital, Bangui, and now receiving care from Medicos Sin Fronteras-Espana (MSF- Spain ), 26 have tested HIV positive. For the moment, it is impossible to know whether there is any link between their HIV sero-positivity and the rapes, Raqu
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - December 10, 2002
Carol Bellamy is the Executive Director of the United Nations Children s Fund (UNICEF). She has just ended a two-day visit to Ethiopia to witness at first hand the scale of the drought there. Here are excerpts from her interview with IRIN, during which she talked about HIV/AIDS, the drought, genetically modified food,
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - December 9, 2002
The HIV/AIDS pandemic has not yet affected the profitability and productivity of Swazi businesses, as the burden has been passed onto households and the community, a new report has found. A study commissioned by the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives and the United Nations Country Team said the coping strategies
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - December 5, 2002
A campaign spearheaded by the Thomas Sankara Pan-African Association to sensitise the residents of the Republic of Congo (ROC) capital, Brazzaville, to the HIV/AIDS pandemic has yielded satisfactory results, according to an official of the local NGO. Utilising focus groups, debates, and meetings in markets, streets and
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - November 29, 2002
There is no food at home. I am fed at school. I think I would die without school meals, like my sister did, Janice Simelane, an eight-year-old second grade student at Swaziland s Sobani Primary School, told IRIN. Janice, who comes from a home affected by HIV/AIDS, is among the most vulnerable of Swazi children in the
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - November 29, 2002
Stephen Lewis is the UN Secretary-General s Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa. He spoke to IRIN about the crippling impact of HIV/AIDS on women, and the human rights violations that people living with HIV/AIDS face. He said there were no modern parallels in the scale of suffering Q: Why is stigma and discrimination
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - November 29, 2002
The family names of some people featured in this article have been withheld at their request As more and more people die of AIDS, traditional practices of inheritance are becoming a source of grief and subsequent hardship for many Malawian widows. Shortly before he died in 1999, Florence s husband said she and the chil
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - November 29, 2002
Huge billboards with life-size photographs of Nigeria s President Olusegun Obasanjo holding close two teenagers, a boy and girl, one on each side, have been springing up across the country in recent months. On Obasanjo s left side is Kabati Ishaya, 19-year-old student living with HIV, and one of the few to go public wi
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - November 29, 2002
Swaziland is a harsh place to be for anyone touched by the AIDS epidemic. The country has no constitution, let alone laws outlawing discrimination against HIV-positive people. Widespread conservatism results in HIV-positive people being banished from their own homes. And it remains taboo for someone to declare public
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - November 29, 2002
Situated in an informal settlement about 30-km east of South Africa s main city of Johannesburg, Dan Pharasi Primary is a state-run school coming to grips with the HIV/AIDS epidemic in its community. The area is called Emaphupheni - a place of dreams. For many of the settlement s inhabitants, having a place to call the
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - November 29, 2002
AIDS threaten our very raison d etre; our ability to live and our instinct to create life. Little wonder, therefore, that HIV and AIDS are so feared. As the articles in this IRIN World AIDS Day web special [http://www.irinnews.org/webspecials/aids/] illustrate, fear is at the heart of much of the stigma and discriminat
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - November 29, 2002
The family names of some people featured in this article have been withheld at their request As more and more people die of AIDS, traditional practices of inheritance are becoming a source of grief and subsequent hardship for many Malawian widows. Shortly before he died in 1999, Florence s husband said she and the chil
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - November 26, 2002
Stigma and discrimination of HIV/AIDS victims are preventing countries from adequately tackling the pandemic, the UN s anti-AIDS taskforce in Ethiopia said on Tuesday. UNAIDS said that often the rights of victims of HIV/AIDS are violated because of disgrace attached to the virus. Gerardina Van Mensvoort, of UNAIDS,
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - November 22, 2002
More women than men are dying of HIV/AIDS in South Africa , a study of death certificates by Statistics SA has found. The study, which was commissioned by the cabinet after a previous interpretative report by the Medical Research Council was questioned, found that the highest death rate among females was in the 15-39 a
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - November 22, 2002
The Zambian parliament passed an AIDS bill this week which establishes a national council and secretariat to coordinate the previously fragmented fight against the epidemic. We did not have a single coordinated body that could marshal effectively the responses being initiated by the various actors. It is necessary that
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - November 19, 2002
The food aid response to the humanitarian crisis in Southern Africa has gathered pace, but underlying factors exacerbating the emergency needed to be addressed, an update to the UN s regional consolidated appeal said. Food aid is good, but we need to ensure that social services are well supported, especially in the lig
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - November 18, 2002
This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) plans to launch a five-year pilot programme in collaboration with the Mozambican government to provide free antiretrovirals (ARVs) to a selected group of HIV-positive people in the northern province of Tete and in th
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - November 14, 2002
People living with HIV/AIDS (PWAs) in Mozambique are learning how to live longer and more productive lives under a new programme currently being rolled out in the country. The Vida Positiva/Positive Living programme is a social education project targeting those infected and affected by the disease, national coordinator
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - November 13, 2002
HIV/AIDS education and prevention campaigns often ignore prisoners but a project in Malawi is reaching out to educate them about the disease and treat those with sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Malawi prisons are considered fertile grounds for transmission of HIV/AIDS and yet little has been done to prevent the
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - November 12, 2002
Zimbabwean households already affected by HIV/AIDS and those headed by women, children or the elderly may have difficulty accessing food aid because of stigma, according to a recently released AIDS country profile. The current food crisis threatens six million Zimbabwean, but people living with HIV/AIDS may have diffic
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - November 11, 2002
An UN inter-agency effort in the Republic of Congo (ROC) has so far trained 1,939 teachers on HIV/AIDS- prevention education methods involving the active participation of students, Brenda Bowman, the project administrator, has told IRIN. The US $668,504 Project for the Prevention of AIDS in Congolese Schools - known as
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - November 6, 2002
Ethiopia s anti-AIDS taskforce came under fire on Wednesday for failing to fund projects aimed at tackling the virus - despite a three-year US $59 million loan from the World Bank. Dr Yigeremu Abebe, a board member of the Executive Committee of the taskforce, told IRIN the bank loan should have been ploughed into anti-
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - October 22, 2002
HIV/AIDS education in schools has not achieved significant behaviour change, despite high levels of knowledge among students, a study has found. According to a report on a University of Sussex study of the impact of HIV/AIDS on elementary and secondary education in Botswana , Uganda
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - October 21, 2002
This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations When Marita Barassa s husband died in 1990, she knew he had died of an AIDS-related illness. She also knew she was HIV-positive herself. So when his family announced that a cousin would inherit her as his wife, she realised she had to make a choic
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - October 17, 2002
An Ethiopian living with the HIV/AIDS virus on Thursday helped launch the country s first-ever teenage forum aimed at tackling the disease. Beniam Tesfaye told of how he had been rejected by his family and forced to leave home after learning he was HIV-positive. He spoke out as Ethiopian teenagers also revealed the dev
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - October 16, 2002
After renewing his pledge last week to highlight the problem of the million HIV/AIDS orphans in Ethiopia through the UN Children s Fund (UNICEF), Haile Gebreselassie, one of the greatest athletes in the world, tells IRIN why he has personally campaigned to emphasise the problem among the youth, and how drug companies d
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - October 15, 2002
Media experts and other specialists from across the Central African Republic began a three-day workshop on Monday to map out a national strategy for communicating HIV/AIDS-prevention messages. I invite you to avail yourselves of this occasion to lay down communications strategies adapted both to the traditional and mod
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - October 8, 2002
The cultural practice of the extended family caring for orphans is rapidly unravelling in Botswana under the strain of HIV/AIDS, exposing children to possible exploitation. When the parents die of HIV/AIDS, in our culture it is the duty of the extended family to care for the children left behind. Within our traditional
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - October 7, 2002
Ethiopian President Girma Woldegiorgis opened parliament on Monday with a grim warning about the twin evils of AIDS and drought that the country now faces. He told MPs it was imperative that government policies were implemented to help escape the quagmire of poverty. The alarming spread of the disease which is attackin
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - October 4, 2002
A new report by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) has found that cultural practices intended to safeguard young Swazi women from unwanted pregnancies and HIV infections may actually be contributing to the spread of HIV/AIDS. The UNDP study titled Gender Focused Responses to HIV/AIDS in Swaziland , said
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - October 2, 2002
The Zimbabwe government s HIV prevention mother-to-child transmission programme (PMTCT) has come under fire from AIDS activists over the slow pace of implementation. But government officials have warned that there was more to the programme than just dispensing nev
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - September 30, 2002
The high cost of the female condom is forcing Zimbabwean women, particularly commercial sex workers, to reuse the device to save money, despite the risks associated with reuse, AIDS activists have warned. Recent workshops between the Women s AIDS Support Network (WASN) and commercial sex workers have revealed that many
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - September 30, 2002
A four-day workshop organised by the Association des Femmes Africaines Face au Sida (AFAFSI) aimed at educating prostitutes about HIV/AIDS and reproductive health concluded on Friday in Bangui, capital of the Central African Republic (CAR). The aim of the workshop was to invite them to adopt a more responsible sexual b
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - September 25, 2002
A coalition of organisations involved in the fight for access to essential medicines in Kenya , has urged the Kenyan government to clarify its contradictory position on a new law aimed at expanding use of HIV/AIDS treatment in the country. In a statement issued on Wednesday, the Kenya Coalition for Access to Essential
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - September 25, 2002
The European Commission (EC) on Wednesday said it will provide US $22 million to help fight HIV/AIDS in Zambia . The funding is aimed at improving care and treatment for people living with the HI virus. We are looking for projects that have young women as the focus. For a variety of reasons, research has shown that you
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - September 24, 2002
The Burundi government and civil society groups have urged church leaders not to oppose the use of condoms as a means of protection against the spread of HIV/AIDS. The spread of AIDS has continued to increase despite the position adopted by religious leaders, which recommended sexual abstinence to the unmarried and mar
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - September 23, 2002
A three-day seminar organised by the Centre National de Lutte contre le Sida (CNLS) concluded on Friday in the city of Bangui, capital of the Central African Republic (CAR), with the aim of training 60 Islamic religious leaders as HIV/AIDS educators. According to Kongovoulou Yahya, Vice President of the Groupe de Predi
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - September 17, 2002
Malawi is reinforcing its image as the warm heart of Africa by forming networks of volunteers who provide home-based care (HBC) to the country s HIV/AIDS sufferers. The groups help the sick with bathing and going to the toilet. They fetch water for them and help with some housework and disseminate HIV/AIDS awareness
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - September 17, 2002
This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations On a warm dusty Friday morning, a Maputo market was the improbable setting for a piece of theatre on how to prevent infection by HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. The actors presented their play in Shangaan, the local language most commonly spoken
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - September 17, 2002
An American AIDS organisation has launched a regional mass communication campaign that hopes to sensitise youth about the dangers of HIV/AIDS and will culminate in major music concerts in the three East African countries. The organisation, Africans Unite Against Aids Globally (AUAAG), has teamed up with the health mini
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - September 11, 2002
Six doctors specialised in HIV/AIDS care are leading a five-day seminar in the Central African Republic (CAR) this week to train 50 traditional healers in combating opportunistic diseases which attack infected people. We received six million CFA francs (US $9,230) from the UN Development Programme that will allow us to
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - September 11, 2002
The cost of HIV/AIDS drugs in the Central African Republic (CAR) has been reduced from 600,000 CFA francs (US $1,000) to 22,815 CFA francs ($37) for some patients, following negotiations with foreign pharmaceutical laboratories. The move, facilitated by UNAIDS , came during an HIV/AIDS triple
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - September 10, 2002
10 September (IRIN) - AIDS activists in Malawi have launched a new awareness programme that targets men at their workplaces. We have been targeting women in a society where men make decisions. If you want to reach more men, you have to go to their workplaces, Jenni Mueller, the programme manager for development Aid fro
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - September 6, 2002
Fifty radio and television reporters are receiving training on HIV/AIDS and the techniques of educating the population in the Central African Republic (CAR). They are members of a journalists network - Reseau des Communicateurs de Lutte contre le Sida - which campaigns against the disease. The seminar, which began
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - September 4, 2002
Southern Africa s food crisis is taking place in the context of a severe HIV/AIDS epidemic, and coping mechanisms that previously saved lives may now facilitate the spread of the disease, according to a report by the UN Children s Fund (UNICEF). During food crises, affected populations adopt a variety of coping mechani
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - September 3, 2002
The UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and the joint UN programme on HIV/AIDS ( UNAIDS ) have inaugurated an HIV/AIDS documentation, information, education and communication centre in the Central African Republic (CAR) capital, Bangui. The main objective of the project, which is scheduled for an initial three-year period from
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - September 2, 2002
Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS ( UNAIDS ) Executive Director, Peter Piot, is attending the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg to deliver a simple message: until HIV/AIDS is brought under control, initiatives to promote sustainable development will be a waste of time. He spoke to IRIN about the need
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - August 29, 2002
Meaningful and sustainable development cannot occur if the HIV/AIDS epidemic continues to drain human resources, the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS ( UNAIDS ) said in a new report released for the Earth Summit in Johannesburg. By robbing communities and nations of their greatest wealth - their people - AIDS drains the
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - August 29, 2002
This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations One could be forgiven for wondering why a tiny minority of HIV-positive Kenyans have access to anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs) to keep themselves alive, or to be precise, 6,000 of an estimated two million who need the same drugs. The issue is not sim
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - August 27, 2002
The World Food Programme (WFP) in Zambia is planning an urban school feeding programme to help keep AIDS orphans in class, and support AIDS-affected families struggling to cope with the impact of the disease and rising food prices. Extended families, the last line of defence for the poor, are under pressure in Zambia.
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - August 23, 2002
A leading scientific journal, The Lancet, has questioned Uganda s HIV/AIDS success story , saying that it is based on flimsy evidence. Despite being widely regarded by the international community as having very successfully lowered the rates of HIV/AIDS, the basis for the Ugandan claim of success has rarely been critic
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - August 22, 2002
A leading anti-HIV/AIDS organisation in Uganda has welcomed plans by President Yoweri Museveni s government to introduce sex education in the country s primary schools. The New Vision government-owned newspaper reported on Thursday that a guidebook on sex education for primary school teachers would soon to be released
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - August 22, 2002
A group of five firms in the Central African Republic (CAR), known as the Groupe Kamach, have agreed to hold a fund-raising drive to buy HIV/AIDS drugs for their infected employees. The owner of one of the five, Joseph Kamach, said his firm of 1,000 people was badly affected by the disease. A great number of my staff
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - August 22, 2002
The current wave of land policy reforms in Lesotho has focused on the commercialisation of agriculture to promote economic growth and reduce poverty. But HIV/AIDS affected households face problems which may not allow them to benefit, a new report has warned. A study commissioned by the Food and Agriculture Organisation
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - August 22, 2002
With the spread of HIV/AIDS having reached an alarming rate in the Republic of Congo (ROC), a number of non-governmental organisations have, with the help of funding from the UN and other donors, and by means of outreach and education, stepped up their longstanding efforts to halt the exponential spread of the epidemic
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - August 21, 2002
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has observed that, despite a difficult environment, economic growth in Africa averaged about 3.1 percent last year. But he warned that violence, declining donor funding, and the scourges of AIDS and poverty were still critical problems plaguing Africa. A UN statement said Annan s report
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - August 20, 2002
A leading Tanzanian health official has warned religious and civic leaders against infighting and finger pointing in the war against HIV/AIDS in the country. Herman Lupogo, chairman of the Tanzanian Commission for AIDS (TACAIDS), the leading agency fighting the spread of HIV/AIDS in Tanzania, told IRIN on Monday that a
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - August 16, 2002
Parliament has reversed an amendment to the Industrial Property Act curbing imports of generic HIV/AIDS drugs, the Kenya Coalition for Access to Essential Medicines (KCAEM) announced on Thursday. This is great news for all Kenyans, said Liza Kimbo, a member of the KCAEM. We hope that this means that soon cheaper anti-r
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - August 14, 2002
An international youth conference organised recently in the Republic of Congo (ROC) brought together hundreds of participants, who debated various issues related to the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Participants representing the ROC were members of a national effort to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS and other issues that affectin
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - August 14, 2002
The official figure for numbers of HIV/AIDS orphans in Kenya is now 1.1 million, Kenneth Chebet, the head of the National AIDS Control Council told IRIN on Wednesday. The figure had been arrived at by the Ministry for Health, NGOs and the Bureau of Statistics, he said. Speaking about the high numbers, Kenyan Health Min
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - August 6, 2002
Rwanda is among eight countries worldwide to benefit from a US $2-million grant from the US Agency for International Development (USAID) to help people living with HIV/AIDS, the agency announced on Friday. Of this amount, Rwanda would get $397,846 through the international NGO CARE, the CARE country representative, A
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - August 5, 2002
This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations. Pressure is mounting on the Kenyan government to re-amend the Industrial Property Act to allow for the importation of generic anti-retroviral medicines (ARVs) into the country, as parliament prepares to go into recess until October at the end of
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - July 30, 2002
Plans to make HIV testing compulsory for foreign health workers aiming to work in Britain were discriminatory and insulting to African nurses, nursing unions said on Tuesday. We are strongly opposed to mandatory testing because this will exacerbate the stigma of HIV positive nurses. We are worried about what will happe
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - July 25, 2002
Burundi and the World Bank signed a US $36-million agreement on Thursday to support a multisectoral project to combat HIV/AIDS in the war-torn country. The project will come in five components. The first, of $9.3 million, would support a major expansion of the anti-HIV/AIDS activities being implemented by government
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - July 24, 2002
Rwanda is to receive a US $14-million grant from the Global Fund for HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, Health Minister Ezechias Rwabuhihi said at a news conference in Kigali. State-owned Radio Rwanda reported that Rwabuhihi made the announcement on Friday at a joint news conference with the World Health Organisatio
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - July 22, 2002
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) urgently needs US $61.9 million to help about 1.3 million cope with the double blow of HIV/AIDS and food shortages in Southern Africa. Working with the World Food Programme (WFP), the organisation would directly target 750,000 households affect
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - July 22, 2002
HIV positive mothers in three sites in South Africa will now get treatment to ensure their survival after the births of their babies. The newly-launched MTCT (mother-to-child transmission) Plus initiative run by Columbia University s Mailman School of Public Health, recently announced grants of more than US $9 million
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - July 19, 2002
The African folklore tradition is being revived in Swaziland to communicate difficult contemporary problems like AIDS and child abuse. These stories are not Swaziland-specific, and we believe they would be welcome and useful in other African nations, UN children s agency UNICEF representative, Alan Brody, told IRIN. Br
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - July 19, 2002
This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations Nesredin Ala has lived every one of his four years in a camp for displaced people. He is now destined to celebrate his fifth birthday in a tuberculosis clinic. But many children are not so fortunate. TB is the single biggest killer in Ethiopia s S
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - July 18, 2002
Children account for more than half of the 12.8 million people in Southern Africa threatened by starvation, and related diseases such as measles, cholera and HIV/AIDS. This emerged on Wednesday when the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) launched an inter-agency consolidated appeal for the dr
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - July 16, 2002
A group of campaigners against HIV/AIDS in Somalia , called AIDSOM, last week held the country s first ever public awareness demonstration in the coastal town of Marka, south of Mogadishu. Riding in trucks draped with banners carrying Somali slogans such as AIDS is real, don t ignore it , and get a blood test before m
UN Integrated Regional Information Network - Thursday, July 11, 2002
JOHANNESBURG (IRIN) - People not directly affected by the food crisis in Southern Africa still faced serious health risks like cholera and dysentery, with HIV/AIDS adding to the problem, the World Health Organisation (WHO) told IRIN on Thursday. Without proper focus on these problems, the current figure of 12.8 million
UN Integrated Regional Information Network - Thursday, July 11, 2002
JOHANNESBURG (IRIN) - The European Union (EU) was releasing Euro 30 million (US $29.6 million) to provide urgent support for Angola s peace process. The funds fall within a Euro 125 million (US $ 123.6 million) plan for humanitarian and rehabilitation projects in the country, Jeronimo Belo of the EU office in Angola to
UN Integrated Regional Information Network - Wednesday, July 10, 2002
[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations] ASMARA (IRIN) - It s mid-morning at the HIV voluntary counselling and testing centre (VCT) in Asmara. About 20 men and women are waiting to be seen by a counsellor. The centre, which opened last month, is Eritrea s first free-standing HIV test
UN Integrated Regional Information Network - Wednesday, July 10, 2002
NAIROBI (IRIN) - Conflict is a root cause of the spread of HIV/AIDS, and it is promoting up the transmission of the virus, says the international aid agency, Save the Children. A report, entitled HIV and Conflict: A Double Emergency , issued at the international AIDS conference being held in Barcelona,
UN Integrated Regional Information Network - Tuesday, July 9, 2002
JOHANNESBURG (IRIN) - Girls in Malawi have to overcome a mountain of sometimes insurmountable obstacles if they hope to complete their education, a new study has found. The girls battle to get an education falls within the shocking statistic that only 20 percent of Malawi s children complete primary school. The lat
UN Integrated Regional Information Network - Tuesday, July 9, 2002
ISLAMABAD (IRIN) - Delegates at the 14th International AIDS Conference, in Barcelona, Spain have been told that intravenous drug users are boosting the spread of HIV/AIDS in Central Asia, where the prevalence of the deadly disease remains low but the rate of spread is increasing alarmingly. In spite of the fact th
UN Integrated Regional Information Network - Monday, July 8, 2002
JOHANNESBURG (IRIN) - Donors have begun to respond to the World Food Programme s (WFP) massive US $500 million appeal for the millions in need of food aid in six Southern African countries. WFP said in a press release that the United Kingdom had donated US $28.1 million, Canada nearly US $1 mi
UN Integrated Regional Information Network - Monday, July 8, 2002
NAIROBI (IRIN) - Activists in Kenya are seeking ways to reverse a new law which they say blocks the importation and local manufacture of much-needed cheaper, generic AIDS drugs. Kenya s Daily Nation newspaper sounded the alarm on 1 July, saying 2.4 million Kenyans suffering from HIV/AIDS were unlikely to get access to
UN Integrated Regional Information Network - Monday, July 8, 2002
BARCELONA (IRIN) - Two pilot antiretroviral (ARV) programmes, underway in South Africa and Uganda , have demonstrated that AIDS treatment campaigns are possible in poor communities. What s missing to scale-up these initiatives into national programmes is funding, and the political will, healthcare workers say.
UN Integrated Regional Information Network - Monday, July 8, 2002
NAIROBI (IRIN) - The average life expectancy of Rwandan citizens may be reduced to under 40 over the next few years due to the AIDS epidemic, says a new report issued by the US Census Bureau on Sunday. Presenting a middle-case scenario report at the International AIDS conference in Barcelona, Spain , the
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - July 3, 2002
It s so hard, said a tearful Rita Domingos. The moment people learn I m HIV positive, they treat me differently. Neighbours shun me. Children avoid touching me. The landlord finds an excuse to kick me out of my room. One of a handful of Angolans open about being HIV positive, Domingos, 22, endures prejudice and stigma
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - June 28, 2002
Most of Ethiopia s 65 million people are at high risk from HIV/AIDS, the world s most far-reaching-ever sexual survey has established. According to the study, most Ethiopians still fail to take precautions against contracting the disease which is devastating their country. The survey found that almost all Ethiopians wh
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - June 28, 2002
Kapiri Mposhi is normally a sleepy little town of crumbling buildings and ox carts in central Zambia . But once a week, on Thursday evenings, it comes to life. That s when the TAZARA (Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority) passenger train pulls in to disgorge its weekly assortment of tourists, travelling salesmen and drift
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - June 25, 2002
More than 28 million Africans are now living with HIV/AIDS and in some countries over 30 percent of the adult population is infected, a UNAIDS statement warned on Tuesday. The devastating impact of HIV/AIDS is rolling back decades of development progress in Africa, said Peter Piot, UNAIDS executive director. Every ele
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - June 19, 2002
The UN Children s Fund (UNICEF) and national football players in Mozambique celebrated Global Football Day for Children on Wednesday by educating young players about HIV/AIDS. This year s World Cup has been dedicated to children, the first time that the games have been dedicated to a humanitarian cause. UNICEF and the
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - June 14, 2002
The Rwandan government is to spend US $14.64 million pledged in April by the United Nations Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, on antiretroviral drugs, the Rwanda News Agency (RNA) reported on Tuesday. The money has been pledged over two years, with $3.3 million for the first year. Asked whether there
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - June 13, 2002
A two-year claim of an HIV/AIDS cure by 12 Nigerians has been found false in an investigation conducted by the National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development (NIPRD), officials said on Wednesday. The House of Representatives Committee on Health directed the investigations in 2000 after intense controver
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - June 12, 2002
HIV/AIDS and hunger were a dual tragedy threatening sub-Saharan Africa, and endangering the lives of millions. They were also hindering development, UNAIDS told the World Food Summit in Rome on Wednesday. Where the lack of food is greatest, HIV prevalence is alarmingly high, Marika Fahlen, head of social mobilisation
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - June 11, 2002
Religious organisations are better placed to change the prevailing negative attitudes towards HIV/AIDS which have undermined efforts to contain the pandemic in many African societies, and served to accelerate its growth, Carol Bellamy, head of the United Nations Children s Fund (UNICEF), has said. Addressing 120 Africa
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - June 6, 2002
A programme to provide subsidised treatment for people living with HIV/AIDS in Nigeria got underway in April after a months-long delay, but so far it has had a poor response from the over three million people infected nationwide, hospital sources said. Under the scheme, which is novel in Africa, 10,000 infected adults
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - June 5, 2002
Malnutrition and hunger in Malawi is more than not having a plate of food to eat. It s a volatile mix of social, health and economic factors - and HIV/AIDS has added a dangerous dimension to the country s food crisis. This is borne out in a recent Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) report which said that HIV/AIDS
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - June 5, 2002
Despite optimism about the development of an HIV/AIDS vaccine in Africa, researchers still face many hurdles, scientists said this week at the launch of the African AIDS Vaccine Programme (AAVP). Dr Pontiano Kaleebu, a leading researcher with the Uganda Virus Research Institute, said at the launch of the AAVP in Cape T
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - June 5, 2002
Ethiopia needs at least US $166 million a year to fight the HIV/AIDS crisis that is devastating the country, a government official has said. It also needs food aid for orphans and victims of the virus, Abebe Kebede from the metropolitan HIV/AIDS secretariat, told IRIN. For prevention and care, the minimum cost is est
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - June 4, 2002
The UN peacekeeping mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) has taken the lead in providing training on how to tackle the HIV/AIDS epidemic sweeping Africa. It has trained troops from both countries, as well as its own peacekeepers, to instruct fellow soldiers and civilians on how to combat the virus and prevent its sp
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - May 31, 2002
UNICEF, the UN Children s Fund, has received just 24 percent of the funds needed to implement urgent projects for women and children in Burundi in 2002, requested as part of the UN Consolidated Inter-Agency Appeal. Among the programme areas most affected were HIV/AIDS projects, assistance to mine victims and related ed
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - May 30, 2002
Three pm on a Monday. It is hot and dusty in the sprawling shantytown of Rocha Pinto near Luanda s airport, but dark and cool inside Chico s Bar. A soft kizomba is on the sound system. A teenage girl dances alone, eyes closed, with small movements. She seems absorbed, but shows off her lithe body in hip-hugging jeans a
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - May 30, 2002
Irish rock star Bono has warned that the AIDS epidemic is the wake-up call rich nations need to become aware of the plight of Africa. The singer made an impassioned plea to western governments on Wednesday to shed their old prejudices and start injecting massive amounts of money to avert a meltdown. He made history by
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - May 28, 2002
Zimbabwe s government has declared a state of emergency over HIV/AIDS and will allow the importation and manufacture of generic drugs, a local state-controlled newspaper reported. However, Lindy Francis, director of The Centre, an NGO working with people living with AIDS (PWAs) in Harare said that if true, the declarat
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - May 27, 2002
A network of Angolan journalists concerned about HIV/AIDS is taking shape, following a workshop on reporting on HIV/AIDS held in Luanda last month, the first such training to take place in Angola. Twenty journalists, half from the provinces and half from the capital, attended the 15-18 May workshop sponsored by the UN
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - May 27, 2002
Swaziland s mayors are adopting a novel new method in the fight against HIV/AIDS. They are reversing the usual top-down approach and are being led instead by their constituents, ordinary Swazis. The voice of the people will determine how we will combat AIDS in the towns, explained chairman of the Ezulwini town board, N
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - May 21, 2002
When Mercy Makhalemele s husband died of HIV/AIDS seven years ago her home was taken away after the insurance company refused to pay out his life cover. At the time, I decided not to fight it because I had too many things to deal with, she told IRIN. As the executive director of a local community organisation, Makhalem
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - May 20, 2002
The government of Tanzania has expressed concern that the country is facing a shortage of condoms, with only a million now in stock - sufficient for one month - although their wide availability is a central plank of national strategy to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS. Deputy Health Minister Dr Hussein Mwinyi told report
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - May 20, 2002
AIDS organisations meeting in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, on Sunday urged political, religious and community leaders to step up, expand and intensify the fight against the disease, and provide better leadership and guidance to society in the face of the scale of the pandemic. The current budgets and support levels do
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - May 20, 2002
Ethiopia s first-ever team of youth counsellors who will help combat HIV/AIDS was launched on Friday. The members of the 30-strong team, which specialises in voluntary counselling and testing (VCT), will return to their local communities to teach youth counsellors in the fight against the virus. The team, known as yout
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - May 15, 2002
Chriselda Kananda was seven months pregnant when she discovered she was HIV positive in 1997. She has been living healthily and positively without any antiretroviral treatment ever since. The first day is your worst nightmare come true, because all you re thinking is, I am going to die now , she told IRIN. After that,
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - May 15, 2002
Extreme food shortages and HIV/AIDS are forcing the elderly in Southern Africa to become breadwinners all over again, HelpAge said on Wednesday. The organisation recently conducted a study on the plight of the elderly in Southern Africa and found that grandparents are using their meagre resources to fill the void left
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - May 14, 2002
A major campaign aimed at providing young people with HIV/AIDS counselling and testing is to be launched in Ethiopia . The country has one of the largest populations living with HIV/AIDS in the world, according to statistics from the health ministry. About one million children have been orphaned by the virus. Four
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - May 10, 2002
Togo s Red Cross association launched a two-year project against the spread of HIV/AIDS this week, as part of a continent-wide health initiative by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). The HIV/AIDS initiative includes an education and sensitisation campaign targeting those aged above 15, considered to b
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - May 9, 2002
This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations Eritrea faces a rapid expansion of the HIV/AIDS pandemic within the next few years, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS ( UNAIDS ) warned on Tuesday. Dominique Mathiot, the UNAIDS Country Programme Adviser, believes the number of people
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - May 9, 2002
Togo Red Cross association launched on Wednesday a two-year project against the spread of HIV/AIDS, as part of a continental initiative by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). The education and sensitisation campaign targets those aged above 15, who are the country s most vulnerable. The Red Cross als
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - May 8, 2002
In a move considered to be a breakthrough for the conservative kingdom of Swaziland , more than thirty people living with HIV/AIDS have come forward to tell their stories in a new book to be released this week. Life Stories: Testimonies of Hope from People with HIV and AIDS is a collection of interviews with 30 Swazis
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - May 7, 2002
Education could play a critical role in HIV/AIDS prevention but the pandemic s devastating impact threatens to derail any such efforts, the World Bank warns in a new report. HIV/AIDS is draining the supply of education, eroding its quality, weakening demand and access, drying up countries pools of skilled workers and i
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - May 3, 2002
The World Bank has pledged US $42 million to help Zambia s anti-AIDS campaign, but disbursement of the funds will hinge on the response of an unpredictable parliament to a proposed new national HIV/AIDS policy. The Zambian government and the World Bank reached agreement late last month on a programme under which the Ba
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - April 30, 2002
Ethiopia has been awarded more than US $7 million as part of the Global Fund to tackle diseases, backed by computer billionaire Bill Gates. The award is part of a multi-million dollar package announced in New York recently, and which gives a large proportion of the money to African countries. The money will be us
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - April 29, 2002
Lesotho has one of the highest HIV/AIDS infection rates in the world, yet prevention and treatment programmes are only just getting off the ground. UNAIDS associate country programme advisor Ludo Bok told IRIN the impoverished mountain kingdom was still in the early stages of responding to the pandemic, but had a pre
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - April 25, 2002
This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations In a country long-sickened by the level of sexual violence, a shocking series of child rapes has stunned South Africa and left people grasping for answers. Among the theories advanced to explain the phenomenon is the apparently accepted myth that
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - April 22, 2002
United Nations HIV/AIDS experts believe HIV/AIDS prevalence in Zanzibar is on a steady increase, but are worried that currently available data could be underestimating the actual magnitude of the pandemic in the semi-autonomous islands. Dr Fath Alloba, the United Nations Volunteer (UNV) specialist on HIV/AIDS in Zanzib
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - April 17, 2002
The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has launched a programme to bring HIV/AIDS prevention, counselling and testing to migrant populations in Ethiopia . These mobile units provide information on HIV/AIDS, distribute male and female condoms, offer voluntary counselling and testing, and provide treatment fo
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - April 16, 2002
Although the cost of anti-retroviral drugs, which have proved to be an essential treatment for HIV/AIDS, has significantly reduced in recent months, frequent shortages on the local market is placing many patients at risk, according to a coalition of organisations fighting for access to essential medicines in
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - April 15, 2002
The weeklong technical workshop attended by 22 countries that ended on Friday in Cote d Ivoire underscored a high level awakening by West and Central Africa to the plight of the HIV/AIDS pandemic on children. Held in the capital, Yamoussoukro, the workshop provided a forum for exchange of information and sharing nation
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - April 3, 2002
The US government has lent its support to an initiative to educate the Congolese military on the prevention of the spread of HIV/AIDS. A contribution of US $65,000 was made on 28 March by the US ambassador to the Republic of Congo (ROC), David Kaeuper, to the director of health services of the Forces armees congolaises
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - March 28, 2002
The World Bank has agreed in principle to allocate over US $140 million to support reconstruction and development efforts and fight against HIV/AID in the war-torn country, the bank said on Wednesday. Under the Transitional Support Strategy, the government will receive $140 million over the next two years to finance pr
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - March 26, 2002
The Cameroon government has unveiled a three-year programme against HIV-AIDS with the ultimate objective of lowering the national prevalence rate to under 10 percent, Health Minister Urbain Olanguema Awono has said. Drawn up by the National Committee against AIDS (Comite national de lutte contre le sida), the programme
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - March 18, 2002
A leading AIDS activist organisation in Tanzania has expressed concern at the country s religious leaders recent statement that they were implacably against the use of condoms in the fight against HIV/AIDS, a key tenet of national policy on tackling the disease. However, it also considered that position would have litt
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - March 13, 2002
A recent survey of street children living in the Rwandan capital, Kigali, has shown that most of them are interested in learning more about HIV/AIDS, said Johns Hopkins University, which conducted the survey in conjunction with an association caring for the children - the Myboboh Club. The median age of the interviewed
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - March 2, 2002
This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations In response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic in the Republic of Congo (ROC) - described by the World Food Programme (WFP) as a looming national catastrophe - United Nations agencies and the ROC government, together with other implementing agencies, have s
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - March 2, 2002
The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria recently announced its first call for proposals, as the initial step to supporting projects in countries hard hit by the epidemics. During its first year, the Fund will disburse some US $800 million. The disbursements come out of a US $1.9 billion pot so-far pledg
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - February 22, 2002
Uganda has an estimated 1.7 million orphans, the highest number in the world, and 25 percent of all households look after at least one child orphaned by either HIV/AIDS or war, according to a new study by the Ministry of Gender and Labour and Social Development, cited by the nongovernmental organisation World Vision.
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - February 22, 2002
This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations. The devastating impact of HIV/AIDS in Africa is all too evident. Millions have died, their children orphaned and entire communities destroyed. But it is the crippling effect of AIDS on African economies that is now starting to ring alarm bells.
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - February 22, 2002
This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations Panic breeding is the inelegant term given to a response by some Swazis to an AIDS epidemic that is decimating the population of the small Southern Africa kingdom. The impulse to make-up for AIDS deaths by having more babies is exacerbating both t
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - February 13, 2002
The border town of Messina, at the northeastern tip of the country, is South Africa s gateway to the rest of the continent. Throughout the day, a steady flow of vehicles with number plates from throughout the region churn up the dust alongside the road to the border. At night, Messina seems just as busy. It serves as t
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - February 12, 2002
The Burundi government says although the HIV infection prevalence in urban areas has stabilised at 18.6 percent, it is concerned by a significant increase in the level of infection in rural areas. At 1 percent in 1989, HIV prevalence in rural areas was 7.5 percent by 2001, the Burundi minister for HIV/AIDS issues, Gene
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - February 6, 2002
Two hundred and fifty thousand children under the age of five are living with the HIV/AIDS virus in Ethiopia , according to the ministry of health. Desta Woldeyohannes, who heads the HIV/AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Diseases Prevention and Control Section of the ministry, said the children had contracted the virus fro
Integrated Regional Information Network - February 4, 2002
ADDIS ABABA (IRIN) - A 12 year-old girl has become the new face of a campaign to improve the lives of children in Ethiopia . Leah Abebe, who is in grade five at her primary school, told a conference in Addis Ababa last week that children are the future of the country. The campaign - called Say Yes for Children - is an
Integrated Regional Information Network - February 1, 2002
ABIDJAN (IRIN) - The World Bank has resumed full economic cooperation with Cote d Ivoire , the bank s office in Abidjan announced on Friday, one day after the country paid in full arrears amounting to FCFA 31 billion (US $44.5 million) that it owed the institution. Mamadou Dia, head of operations in Abidjan, said at a
Integrated Regional Information Network - January 31, 2002
ADDIS ABABA (IRIN) - Female genital mutilation (FGM) is becoming one of the most serious health issues affecting women and is helping to spread HIV/AIDS, according to the international lobby group, Inter-African Committee (IAC). Traditional harmful practices are also being exported around the world with migrant populat
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - January 29, 2002
The Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has issued its first call for funding proposals from countries hard hit by the epidemics. Members of the new Board of the Global Fund held their first meeting on Monday and finalised procedures for the disbursing of funds. The first round of grants - to be awarded
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - January 23, 2002
They are the forgotten victims of the HIV/AIDS virus that is devastating Africa. Amid the terrible social and economic destruction, all too often it is the elderly who are left to pick up the pieces. Mullnesh Alemu is 69 and looks after four orphaned grandchildren. A year ago the virus killed her unmarried daughter. I
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - January 22, 2002
The head of the Ethiopian Orthodox church has warned about the spread of AIDS in a sermon marking the country s holiest day. Patriarch Abune Paulos, in an address to celebrate Ethiopian Epiphany, urged the community to provide support and show compassion to victims of the virus. Ethiopia has the third highest number of
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - January 17, 2002
The Ugandan government is soon to start distributing free condoms in villages countrywide as part of its struggle against the HIV/AIDS pandemic and unwanted pregnancies , according to a senior health official. Dr Elizabeth Madraa, who heads Uganda s AIDS Control Programme, said on Wednesday that the ministry was alread
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - January 11, 2002
New organisation tasked with supporting the burgeoning number of AIDS orphans is to be set up in Ethiopia . The association will specifically target children whose parents have been killed by the virus. It will help co-ordinate funds and direct them to the children, the board chairman of the US non-governmental organis
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