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IRIN PlusNews Weekly Issue 201, 1 October 2004NEWS: SOUTH AFRICA: Countering the impact of child abuse The prevalence of sexual violence, particularly among children, has led an NGO in South Africa's KwaZulu-Natal province to focus on informing children about their rights and what to do in case of abuse. Operation Bobbi Bear has been working near Amanzimtoti on the Natal South Coast to break the silence surrounding the sexual abuse of children. More details ETHIOPIA: Q/A with WHO Assistant Director-General Jack Chow is the Assistant Director-General of the World Health Organisation (WHO). During a recent visit to Ethiopia he highlighted the combined global threat from HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis, two of the world's leading killers, claiming 13,000 lives a day. In a PlusNews interview he spoke about moves to combine TB and HIV treatment, and the economic effects of both diseases. More details COTE D IVOIRE: Civil war hinders planned expansion of AIDS treatment Cote d'Ivoire will fail to reach its target of extending antiretroviral (ARV) therapy to 63,000 HIV-positive people by the end of 2005, since hospitals and health centres have been destroyed by fighting in the west of the country and medical staff have fled the rebel-held north, UNAIDS country adviser Mamoudou Diallo said. "There are so many things to do in this country that the time allowed seems too short to meet the target. We won't make it," he told PlusNews. More details GABON: Number of new HIV infections fell in 2003 The number of people volunteering to have themselves tested for HIV in Gabon increased sharply last year, but there was a decrease in the number of new HIV infections detected, according to a series of survey results published this week. Doctor Gabriel Malonga Mouelet, head of the National Programme to Fight AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Diseases (PNLS/IST), said the surveys showed a 26 percent decline in the number of people testing positive for HIV last year. "The PLNS has seen a fall in the number of people testing positive. If this tendency is confirmed, we would be right in thinking that preventive actions are beginning to bear fruit," Malonga Mouelet told PlusNews. More details HAYDEN'S DIARY 1. Things better left unsaid on the bus Dear Diary The high rate of crime in South Africa has not only forced me to appreciate the country's public transport system, but has also made me realise that our huge population, with its vast cultural differences and post apartheid angst, really still has one common enemy ... HIV and AIDS. While some might argue that our diversity and traditions are what makes all South Africans so unique, these ancient beliefs, however, have done very little to assist in the battle against the spread of the virus. The basis for this theory comes from things I've been privy to on the very transport system I have come to despise so much. More details [ENDS] |
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