GLOBAL: IRIN/PlusNews Weekly Issue 416, 5 December 2008
JOHANNESBURG, 5 December 2008 (PlusNews) - CONTENTS:
AFRICA: Will criminalising HIV transmission work?
GLOBAL: Planes, trains and travel bans
KENYA: Insecurity in northeast halts HIV activities
KENYA: Where only HIV-positive people get beyond the velvet rope
MOZAMBIQUE: Proposed law a mixed bag for people with HIV
SWAZILAND: Vincent Mdluli, "HIV has ended more romances than anything else"
WEST AFRICA: HIV law "a double-edged sword"
ZIMBABWE: "He begged for forgiveness and I did just that"
PAKISTAN: Survey shows high HIV levels in Gujrat
GLOBAL: Tailor prevention programmes, says UNAIDS
TANZANIA: The downside of an economic boom
PHILIPPINES: Rebel reproductive health law
SOUTH AFRICA: Global Fund money gets stuck with health department
SWAZILAND: ARV programme needs to double
AFRICA: Facing facts means prioritising prevention
GLOBAL: Overworked and under-protected
KENYA: Testing for mother and child saves lives
Events/Resources
1. Concurrent Sexual Partnerships Amongst Young Adults in South Africa, Centre for AIDS Development, Research and Evaluation (CADRE)
2. Contested Innocence: Sexual Agency in Public and Private Space, Institute for Social Development Studies, 16-18 April - Hanoi, Vietnam
Vacancies
1. HIV/AIDS Project Officer, World Vision - Yambio, Sudan
2. Palliative and Home-Based Care Advisor, International Centre for AIDS Care and Treatment Programmes (ICAP) - Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
AFRICA: Will criminalising HIV transmission work?
Countries in sub-Saharan Africa are looking at a new way of preventing HIV infections: criminal charges. But experts argue that applying criminal law to HIV transmission will achieve neither criminal justice nor curb the spread of the virus; rather, it will increase discrimination against people living with HIV, and undermine public health and human rights.
full report
GLOBAL: Planes, trains and travel bans
In 2002, illicit arms dealer Aleksic Jovan flew more than 200 tons of weapons in war-torn Liberia, contributing to a conflict estimated to have killed about 250,000 people. Years ago, Linda Kisuna’s husband contracted a sexually transmitted disease. What do they have in common? Both Jovan and Kisuna's husband have been denied entry to countries across the world.
full report
KENYA: Insecurity in northeast halts HIV activities
Recent fighting and an increased security presence along the Kenya-Somalia border have brought HIV/AIDS campaigns to a virtual standstill in Kenya's northeastern region, according to local health workers.
full report
KENYA: Where only HIV-positive people get beyond the velvet rope
The party at a popular restaurant in Nairobi, the Kenyan capital, looks ordinary, but the people attending it - all of whom are HIV-positive - are enjoying a rare opportunity to socialise without feeling like an outsider.
full report
MOZAMBIQUE: Proposed law a mixed bag for people with HIV
Sixty years after the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and on the 20th anniversary of World AIDS Day, people living with HIV in Mozambique are still experiencing frequent human rights abuses.
full report
SWAZILAND: Vincent Mdluli, "HIV has ended more romances than anything else"
Vincent Mdluli, 24, lives in Manzini, Swaziland, and works as a carpenter's assistant. He told IRIN/PlusNews what happened when he found out his girlfriend was HIV positive, and how the discovery changed his life.
full report
WEST AFRICA: HIV law "a double-edged sword"
West Africa has the dubious distinction of having the most HIV legislation in sub-Saharan Africa: over 10 countries in the region have developed HIV laws, often with provisions that have sometimes been described as "terrifying", and a danger to HIV-positive people.
full report
ZIMBABWE: "He begged for forgiveness and I did just that"
The story of Samuel and Stella Malunga* is one of love and forgiveness in a time of HIV and AIDS. They met and fell in love while studying law at a university in neighbouring South Africa. Samuel graduated two years before Stella and returned to Zimbabwe but kept their relationship going until she was able to join him in 2000.
full report
PAKISTAN: Survey shows high HIV levels in Gujrat
An ongoing investigation into the large number of HIV cases in the small town of Jalalpur Jattan in Pakistan's northern Gujrat district, in Punjab Province, is expected to shed light on patterns of infection in the region and influence the future direction of the country's HIV policy.
full report
GLOBAL: Tailor prevention programmes, says UNAIDS
As the global financial crisis raises the spectre of cutbacks in AIDS funding, countries need to start being more strategic about how they spend their AIDS budgets.
full report
TANZANIA: The downside of an economic boom
For two months of the year, James Lusago can count on a steady income from working in the rice fields of Pawaga, in the southwestern Tanzanian region of Iringa. But there's a dangerous side effect to this temporary economic freedom: lonely and far from family and friends, he spends part of his salary on sex.
full report
PHILIPPINES: Rebel reproductive health law
The bustling northern Philippine city of Olongapo has defied the politically influential Roman Catholic Church by passing its own reproductive health code advocating sex education for high school students and the mass distribution of condoms, among other things.
full report
SOUTH AFRICA: Global Fund money gets stuck with health department
South Africa's Department of Health has failed to channel US$3.9 million in donor money to 13 HIV/AIDS organisations, leaving them underfunded.
full report
SWAZILAND: ARV programme needs to double
The release of revised projections indicating that twice as many HIV-positive Swazis are in need of life-prolonging antiretroviral (ARV) drugs than was previously thought has highlighted the urgent need for government to iron out problems in its treatment programme.
full report
AFRICA: Facing facts means prioritising prevention
Great advances have been made in reaching more Africans with life-prolonging antiretroviral (ARV) treatment, but prevention efforts are lagging, according to speakers at the opening of the 15th International Conference on AIDS and STIs in Africa (ICASA) taking place in Dakar, Senegal, this week.
full report
GLOBAL: Overworked and under-protected
While healthcare workers in sub-Saharan Africa struggle to deal with unmanageable workloads resulting from HIV/AIDS, a new study has found that their needs are being neglected.
full report
KENYA: Testing for mother and child saves lives
Maurine Kamau* lost her first child immediately after birth but did not discover why the baby had died until she fell pregnant a second time and tested positive for HIV at the Nazareth Mission Hospital, on the outskirts of Nairobi, capital of Kenya.
full report
Events/Resources
1. Concurrent Sexual Partnerships Amongst Young Adults in South Africa, Centre for AIDS Development, Research and Evaluation (CADRE)
This report looks at the issue of concurrent sexual relationships amongst heterosexual youth between the ages of 20 and 30, exploring implications for HIV/AIDS communication and offering recommendations and key message concepts. Based on an analysis of the data, the report offers some key recommendations for prevention and communication.
To download the report, go to www.cadre.org.za
2. Contested Innocence: Sexual Agency in Public and Private Space, Institute for Social Development Studies, 16-18 April - Hanoi, Vietnam
The event will focus on socio-cultural analyses of issues surrounding sexual agency in public and private spaces including mass media representations of sex, religion and sexuality, as well as reproductive health and HIV/AIDS.
For more information, go to www.iasscs.org
Vacancies
1. HIV/AIDS Project Officer, World Vision - Yambio, Sudan
Responsibilities:
- Liaise and collaborate with both local and international partners including the South Sudan AIDS Commission, Ministry of Health
- Participate in the development of training materials and components, and facilitate training and workshop seminars as needed
- With support from the regional manager, provide technical oversight, accountability and ensure timely implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of all relevant HIV/AIDS activities at the field level
- Organise and assist external consultants with research surveys and assessments conducted at the field level; provide input and feedback on final research reports
- Account for expenditures at the field level and develop monthly budget forecasts
Requirements:
- Master's degree in Social Science or Public Health
- Experience living or working in South Sudan or other post-conflict settings
- Willingness to work in multi-cultural, complex emergency environment with limited resources and infrastructure
- Excellent computer skills
- Proven record in the drafting of reports and proposals
Application deadline: 12 December
For more information and to apply, please visit www.wvi.org
2. Palliative and Home Based Care Advisor, International Centre for AIDS Care and Treatment Programmes (ICAP) - Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Responsibilities:
- Provide strategic and technical guidance in the design, planning and implementation of palliative care
- Work with key national partners as well as the Tanzanian government and Ministry of Health
- Play a leadership role in intensifying the focus on comprehensive palliative care, including pain management and symptom control in Tanzania while working to significantly scale up access to pain management services for people living with HIV
Requirements:
- Nursing or medical degree, Master's degree in Public Health or Social Sciences desirable
- At least three years management experience in palliative care
- Clinical and programmatic experience in pain management and symptom control for persons living with HIV/AIDS
- Building and working with teams essential – as is strong writing and communications skills
- Ability to work independently with strong problem-solving skills
- Computer literacy with Word, Excel, Powerpoint
- Fluency in English essential, Kiswahili recommended
Application deadline: 2 January
To apply, submit your cover letter and CV to [email protected], with “ICAP Tanzania Palliative Care Position” in the subject line
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