AFRO-NETS> AFRICA: IRIN PlusNews Weekly Issue 74, 12 April 2002

[Leela McCullough <leela@usa.healthnet.org>]

AFRICA: IRIN PlusNews Weekly Issue 74, 12 April 2002
----------------------------------------------------

NEWS:

AFRICA: Film educates youth on HIV/AIDS
AFRICA: Older people increasingly infected - report
PAKISTAN: Focus on HIV/AIDS prevention
KENYA: Drug shortages 'critical' - MSF
SOUTHERN AFRICA: SA position tragic - US legislator

LINKS:

1. New condoms website
2. Webcast - US Senate hearing on Global AIDS
3. AMICALL
4. Massive Effort Campaign

CONFERENCES/RESEARCH:

1. Volunteer deadline for AIDS 2002, Barcelona, Spain
2. Regional meetings on HIV/AIDS, Human Rights and Law
3. International Young People's Conference on AIDS
4. Sex hormones and HAART
5. The 'Pill' linked to Aggressive HIV


AFRICA: Film educates youth on HIV/AIDS

An African film targeting young men is being used across Africa to 
educate youth about sexual health issues and HIV/AIDS.

Filmed in Zimbabwe, Yellow Card focuses on teenage pregnancy, which 
is often considered a girl?s problem, and explores what happens when 
a boy is held accountable for his actions.

Through the story of Tiyane, a young soccer player who becomes a 
teenage father, the movie tackles the issues of unplanned pregnancy, 
unsafe abortion and HIV/AIDS.

More details: 
http://www.irinnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=1267


AFRICA: Older people increasingly infected - report

There is evidence that older people are increasingly being infected 
by HIV/AIDS, according to a new UNAIDS report.

According to the report - "Impact of HIV/AIDS on older populations" - 
older women appear to have higher incidence of infection than older 
men, with the number of new cases among women having increased by 40 
percent during the past 5 years.

Despite 83 percent of all AIDS deaths occurring in sub-Saharan Af-
rica, very little was known about the epidemiology of HIV/AIDS among 
older people in this region, the report said.

More details: 
http://www.irinnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=1266


PAKISTAN: Focus on HIV/AIDS prevention

The HIV/AIDS epidemic threatening so many countries has not yet hit 
Pakistan, but the risk of transmission remains high, experts say.

Doctors and officials told IRIN that male and female sex workers, 
truck drivers, unscreened blood transfusions and needle sharing were 
the biggest dangers.

"Right now the prevalence of HIV is low, but there are a lot of risk 
factors which can contribute to a high prevalence rate," Syed Sharaf 
Ali Shah, director of the government's AIDS control programme in the 
southern province of Sindh, told IRIN. "It is an opportunity for us 
to act and prevent it now."

More details: 
http://www.irinnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=1265


KENYA: Drug shortages 'critical' - MSF

A severe shortage of two antiretrovirals (ARVs) produced by leading 
pharmaceutical company Bristol-Myers Squibb in Kenya could have 
critical repercussions for patients, says Medecines sans Frontieres 
(MSF).

Patients with no access to the drugs could put their health at risk 
by having their treatment interrupted because the drugs needed to be 
taken continuously, Daniel Berman of the MSF's Access to Essential 
Medecines Campaign, told PlusNews.

According to the Kenya Coalition for the Access to Essential Medi-
cines, a survey of seven district hospitals revealed that six of the 
hospitals were either completely out of stock of both drugs, or ex-
perienced irregular supply shortages.

More details: 
http://www.irinnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=1264


SOUTHERN AFRICA: SA position 'tragic' - US legislator

The South African government's position on HIV/AIDS was described as 
"tragic" by a key United States legislator on Monday.

Speaking during a tour of USAID projects in the Cape Town area, Con-
gressman Jim Kolbe, chair of the appropriations subcomittee with 
oversight on foreign operations, reportedly said USAID was currently 
injecting some US $54 million into South Africa.

A Sapa report quoted him as saying: "It is tragic that we have such a 
lack of leadership on the part of central government to deal with 
this problem, but we are getting services to where it is needed."

More details: 
http://www.irinnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=1263


LINKS:

1. Condoms website - This new website from the John Hopkins Centre 
for Communication Programmes is an update and expansion of the Con-
doms CD-ROM first published in 1999 by JHU/CCP's POPLINE Digital Ser-
vices. The website has ideas on designing condom promotion campaigns 
and putting together condom counselling information. You will also 
find calendars, flipcharts, kits and manuals, novelties, pamphlets, 
posters, research abstracts, and audio-visual materials from around 
the world. 
http://condoms.jhuccp.org/

2. View a webcast of the 11 April 2002 US Senate Health, Education, 
Labour, and Pensions Committee hearing on "Capacity to Care: In a 
World Living with AIDS".

Witnesses include: 
- Elton John: Chairman - Elton John AIDS Foundation
- Sandy Thurman: President - International AIDS Trust
- Peter Mugyenyi: Director - Joint Clinical Research Center, Kampala,
  Uganda
- Alan Rosenfield: Dean - School of Public Health, Columbia Univer-
  sity
- Deborah Dortzbach: International Director - HIV/AIDS Programmes,
  World Relief International
  http://www.kaisernetwork.org/healthcast/help/11apr2002

3. The Alliance of Mayors and Municipal Leaders on HIV/AIDS in Africa 
(AMICAALL) website was launched this month to facilitate information 
dissemination and the sharing of experiences. The website is avail-
able in French and English. It includes information on AMICAALL 
strategy, the UN/AMICAALL Partnership Programme, country activities, 
Alliance contacts, documents and publications. For more information, 
please contact Milica Tomasevic <milica.tomasevic@undp.org>
http://www.amicaall.org

4. The first phase of the new MASSIVE EFFORT CAMPAIGN website was re-
cently launched. The site will soon be featuring:

- World reports, photos and interviews from World TB Day activities
  around the world. 
- Opportunities to lobby decision makers about the importance of con-
  trolling TB. 
- A means to involve others in a global campaign against AIDS, TB,
  malaria and other diseases of poverty. 
- Background on the new global campaign to mobilise society against
  diseases that keep people in poverty. http://www.MassiveEffort.org

CONFERENCES/RESEARCH:

1. The deadline for volunteers' applications for the XIV Interna-
tional AIDS Conference in Barcelona, Spain, has been extended to 30 
April. At this time, the Volunteers' Department has received nearly 
600 expressions of interest and more than 300 applications.

The following organisations are supporting the Volunteers Department: 
Spanish Red Cross, Projecte dels Noms, Voluntaris 2000, MDM, FAS-
Salut (Autonomous University Solidarity Foundation-Health), ACTUA 
Barcelona, Barnataris, Temple Law School (USA), ICV (International 
Conference Volunteers, Geneva), and INCAVOL (The Catalan Volunteering 
Institute).

For more information on the Volunteers' Programme, contact 
Blas Bayona <bbayona@aids2002.com>

2. The AIDS Law Unit of the Legal Assistance Centre in Windhoek, Na-
mibia, is planning to host a meeting of organisations in sub-Saharan 
Africa which work on HIV/AIDS, human rights and law with a view to 
providing a forum for sharing experiences and ideas, and to estab-
lishing a regional network of organisations working in this field. 
Organisations in the region which are interested in getting involved, 
should contact: Michaela <mfigueira@lac.org.na>

3. The first International Young People's Conference on AIDS in Af-
rica will be hosted by Africa Young AIDS Coalition (Afyoac) from 28 
May - 1 June 2002 in Mombasa, Kenya.

The conference will specifically bring together young researchers, 
educators, advocates, counsellors and policy makers. The conference 
will focus on the prevention needs of young people and look for ap-
propriate ways capable of bridging the existing communication, lan-
guage, and experience sharing gap between young HIV/AIDS activists in 
Africa.

For more information:

The Secretariat
Tel: +254-35-51512
Fax: +254-35-21834
Mobile: +254-72-741222
mailto:afyoac@hotmail.com

4. Less-than-normal levels of the hormone testosterone have been 
found in some men with HIV/AIDS. This deficit in testosterone can 
lead to depression, fatigue, low libido and difficulty maintaining 
muscle mass. Reports of low testosterone levels were not uncommon 
among HIV-positive men in the time before highly active antiretrovi-
ral therapy (HAART). Now that HAART is available, doctors in Spain 
recently conducted a study to measure levels of various sex hormones 
in male HAART users. They found links between certain classes of 
anti-HIV drugs and specific hormone levels.

More information: 
http://ww2.aegis.org/news/catie/2002/CATE-N20020402.html

5. In a study of 115 sex workers with HIV, those who were on hormonal 
contraceptives - primarily birth control pills or injectable proges-
terone - at the time of infection had a five- to seven-fold higher 
risk of becoming infected with multiple strains of HIV than those not 
on hormones. And having multiple strains of the virus leads to faster 
disease progression.

More information:
http://www.msnbc.com/news/716617.asp?0dm=C216H


[ENDS]

IRIN-SA
Tel: +27-11-880-4633
Fax: +27-11-447-5472
mailto:IRIN-SA@irin.org.za

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Copyright (c) UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 
2002

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