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IRIN PlusNews Weekly Issue 225, 18 March 2005


	Friday 25 March 2005

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IRIN PlusNews Weekly Issue 225, 18 March 2005

[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

NEWS:

ZIMBABWE: UNICEF appeals to donors to look beyond politics
ZAMBIA: Govt scales up TB programme
SWAZILAND: Elderly bear burden of orphan crisis
SOUTHERN AFRICA: New thinking needed on impact of HIV/AIDS on agriculture
TOGO: Fighting to keep ARV drugs within population's grasp
ETHIOPIA: Nationwide HIV/AIDS hotline launched
COTE D IVOIRE: Doctor concerned by high HIV prevalence rate in forgotten northeast
AFRICA: Youth meet to discuss ways of fighting HIV/AIDS

CONFERENCES/ EVENTS/ RESEARCH/ RESOURCES:

JOB OPPORTUNITIES:

ZIMBABWE: UNICEF appeals to donors to look beyond politics

The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) has called on the global community to "differentiate between the politics and the people of Zimbabwe".

"Every day children in Zimbabwe are dying of HIV/AIDS; every day children are becoming infected, orphaned and forced to leave school to care for sick parents. The global generosity towards tsunami victims was inspiring, but it has dried up for Zimbabwean children, who are facing a deadly crisis every day of their lives," said UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy in Johannesburg on Thursday.

Despite having the world's fourth highest rate of HIV infection, and the greatest rise in child mortality in any nation, Zimbabweans were receiving just a fraction of donor funding compared to other countries in the region, UNICEF noted.

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ZAMBIA: Govt scales up TB programme

The Zambian government aims to scale up the country's tuberculosis (TB) control programme to achieve a cure rate of 80 percent.

"We have exceeded the 70 percent WHO [World Health Organisation cure rate] target. We are being realistic in targeting 80 percent," Health Minister Brian Chituwo told PlusNews. "The TB cure rate in Zambia has improved from 64 percent to 73 percent in the past year."

In 2004 Zambia had 58,000 diagnosed cases of TB. Chituwo linked the increase in the number of TB patients, from 12,000 cases in 1986, to the prevalence of HIV. Lusaka, the capital, the Copperbelt region and Southern province accounted for 80 percent of the country's TB cases.

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SWAZILAND: Elderly bear burden of orphan crisis

Ninety percent blind in both eyes, Babe (Father in SiSwati) Simelane, who estimates he is 72 years old, could make out only the roughest outline of his son's face when he died from an AIDS related illness last year, leaving two young sons.

His age and poor eyesight have made it difficult for Simelane, a widower, to support his grandchildren.

"Mandla took care of me; he brought in the harvests. Now he is dead. The boys - at least they get fed at school," said Simelane. He lives in the mountainous northern Hhohho region, where ample rainfall and a network of flowing rivers make the lush area vastly different to the drought-affected south and east.

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SOUTHERN AFRICA: New thinking needed on impact of HIV/AIDS on agriculture

The impact of HIV/AIDS on agriculture in Southern Africa is now well recognised. But a new report is calling for a rethink of current views on the effects of the epidemic, with more concrete and specific regional responses.

Despite current thinking on the effects of the epidemic on farming, which has mainly been based on qualitative methods, the study found that most quantitative household-level studies gave "a less catastrophic assessment of the impacts of rising AIDS-related mortality on the agricultural sector".

According to the report, to be presented next month at an international conference on 'HIV/AIDS and Food and Nutrition Security' in South Africa, it has been generally accepted that the loss of productive family members would have an adverse impact on household agricultural production.

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TOGO: Fighting to keep ARV drugs within population's grasp

Augustin Dokla has been at the forefront of the fight against HIV/AIDS ever since he was diagnosed as HIV-positive 10 years ago. Now he is setting his sights on keeping the supply of cheap antiretroviral drugs (ARV) in Togo from drying up.

India, the world's fourth-largest pharmaceutical manufacturer and a key producer and exporter of generic ARV drugs, has proposed amendments to its patent laws, which would stop it providing affordable life-prolonging drugs to people living with AIDS in developing countries, including Togo.

The Indian parliament is trying to tackle implementation of the World Trade Organisation's (WTO) agreement regulating patents on medicines. But according to AIDS activists, 50 percent of Indians and 30 percent of Africans who are HIV-positive use the cheaper versions of branded ARVs, made and marketed by the world's biggest democracy.

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ETHIOPIA: Nationwide HIV/AIDS hotline launched

A new HIV/AIDS hotline was launched in Ethiopia on Thursday to provide accurate information, counselling and free referrals to callers from across the country.

"We are now receiving 1,800 calls on average every day since the hotline became available nationwide on 10 March," Gashaw Mengistu, the coordinator of the facility, told PlusNews from the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.

He said a campaign would be launched to promote the hotline on radio and television, which would hopefully encourage many more people to use the service.

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COTE D IVOIRE: Doctor concerned by high HIV prevalence rate in forgotten northeast

Olivier Oura is the only trained doctor available to Ivorians living with HIV/AIDS around Bondoukou, and he's worried that poor security and communication in this northeastern corner of Cote d'Ivoire may have landed it with the country's highest HIV prevalence rate.

"Look - in 2002, Bondoukou region had a prevalence rate of 11 percent - that's the second highest in the country and substantially higher than the capital, Abidjan, which was 7.4 percent," Oura told PlusNews, flicking on a computer and pulling up a screen of data.

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AFRICA: Youth meet to discuss ways of fighting HIV/AIDS

An Africa-wide youth organisation is holding a five-day conference in the Rwandan capital, Kigali, to draw up a plan of action for the continent's youth to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS.

"Our mission is to initiate, consolidate and strengthen the capacity and response of African youth to effectively confront HIV/AIDS," Michael Karangwa, executive secretary of the Pan-African Youth Organisation Against HIV/AIDS (PAYA), said when the conference opened on Monday.

Participants from at least 20 African nations are taking part in the conference, which hopes to rally support from key donors for its programmes.

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[ENDS]

Recent AFRICA Reports

Caring for abandoned HIV-positive babies, 25/Mar/05

IRIN PlusNews Weekly Issue 226, 25 March 2005, 25/Mar/05

HIV/AIDS adds new dimension to TB threat, 24/Mar/05

HIV complicates fight against TB, 23/Mar/05

New Indian patent law could threaten ARV access, 22/Mar/05

Links

AIDS Media Center

Le portail d'informations générales de la Côte d’Ivoire

VIH Internet

Sida Info Services

Aides

PlusNews does not take responsibility for info in links supplied.

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