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IRIN PlusNews Weekly Issue 263, 9 December 2005
[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]
NEWS:
AFRICA: Effective AIDS response needs more than abstinence
ZIMBABWE: Prevention campaigns successful as HIV rate drops
AFRICA: Gays call on govts not to ignore them
NIGERIA: Funding agencies demand greater accountability
NIGERIA: Global Fund grant threatened
NIGERIA: MSF research highlights treatment threat
AFRICA: Interview with Dr Jim Yong Kim, WHO HIV/AIDS director
SENEGAL: Students increasingly a target of HIV-prevention campaigns
SWAZILAND: HIV positive Swazis take govt to task over ARV supply
AFRICA: Private sector makes AIDS its business
CONFERENCES/ EVENTS/ RESEARCH/ RESOURCES:
JOB OPPORTUNITIES:
AFRICA: Effective AIDS response needs more than abstinence
Globally the United States might be spending more money than ever before on HIV/AIDS, but their prevention policies are having a disastrous effect on existing efforts, activists warned at the International Conference on AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Diseases in Africa (ICASA), held in Abuja, Nigeria.
Fifteen developing countries will benefit from the five-year US $15 billion programme, but there are moral strings attached to the financial aid, and some aspects of prevention are being undermined, according to an analysis of US spending on AIDS over the past three years by the Centre for Health and Gender Equity (CHANGE).
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ZIMBABWE: Prevention campaigns successful as HIV rate drops
Zimbabwe has become the first southern African country to register a decline in HIV prevalence, according to the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).
A review of recent epidemiological and behavioural data in 'Evidence for HIV decline in Zimbabwe', released by UNAIDS on Wednesday, said the incidence of new HIV infections had also declined.
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AFRICA: Gays call on govts not to ignore them
Gay activists at an international conference on AIDS in Africa have called on governments to acknowledge the existence and specific needs of the gay community in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
"According to all the surveys done on the African continent, AIDS programmes for MSM [men who have sex with men] are inadequate or even non-existent," said a representative of Alliance Rights Nigeria (ARN), a Nigerian gay rights organisation.
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NIGERIA: Funding agencies demand greater accountability
Amid fears of dwindling HIV/AIDS funding, donor agencies have called for increased accountability and transparency by African governments in the fight against the pandemic.
"We cannot ignore the issues of accountability and performance measurement," Kingsley Moghalu, head of global partnerships at the Global Fund said during a leadership forum meeting at ICASA underway in Nigeria this week.
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NIGERIA: Global Fund grant threatened
Anxiety is mounting in Nigeria's HIV/AIDS community amid reports that the Global Fund secretariat has recommended to its board not to extend funding of Nigeria's grant into phase II.
Nigeria’s Treatment Action Movement (TAM) described the development as a "big shame" for the country where "the need for HIV treatment scale up is so acute".
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NIGERIA: MSF research highlights treatment threat
The lack of free AIDS treatment in Nigeria is increasing the risk of treatment failure, according to new research by the medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF).
The research done in Nigeria's economic capital, Lagos, among patients who had to pay for their treatment, revealed that 44 percent had multiple treatment interruptions or took insufficient dosages due to a lack of money.
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AFRICA: Interview with Dr Jim Yong Kim, WHO HIV/AIDS director
The World Health Organization (WHO) is going to fall short of its ambitious '3 by 5' target - three million people in the developing world on AIDS treatment by 2005. But rather than failure, WHO’s HIV/AIDS director Dr Jim Yong Kim believes that significant gains have been made in the roll out of antiretrovirals (ARVs) in the most unexpected of countries, and important lessons learnt.
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SENEGAL: Students increasingly a target of HIV-prevention campaigns
Ibrahim Thioye was confident as he stood in line last week to be tested for HIV.
"No fear or apprehension whatsoever," the university law student said as he queued with scores of fellow scholars to get tested in response to a call by student volunteers known as the 'Leo Club'.
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SWAZILAND: HIV positive Swazis take govt to task over ARV supply
A group of HIV positive Swazis is considering taking the government to court for an alleged erratic supply of antiretrovirals (ARVs), but officials insist that the lack of drugs is a matter of perception, rather than reality.
"Government should prepare itself for a lawsuit," said Hannie Dlamini, secretary of a five-man committee tasked by the group to challenge government on the country's ARV distribution.
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AFRICA: Private sector makes AIDS its business
After years of failing to mount an adequate response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic, African businesses are finally getting their houses in order.
The Pan African Business Coalition (PABC) was launched on Monday at ICASA in Abuja, Nigeria, and is expected to mobilise the private sector to adopt more effective HIV/AIDS programmes.
More details
[ENDS]
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| Links |
· AIDS Media Center
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· The Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis & Malaria
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· International Community of Women Living with HIV/AIDS
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· AEGIS
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· International HIV/AIDS Alliance
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PlusNews does not take responsibility for info in links supplied.
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