| In the News |
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| LUSAKA, 23 November 2009 (PlusNews) - Abigail Mwanashimba has been looking after her five siblings since the age of eight, when her parents died of AIDS-related illnesses. She is now 19 years old, and without relatives to represent her at her lobola (bride price) negotiations, she was forced to hire traditional counsellors to organise the process of marriage according to the tribal customs. They did a bad job. |
| Zimbabwe ratifies SADC Protocol on Gender and Development |
| Harare, 20 November 2009-Zimbabwe ratified the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Protocol on Gender and Development, this month, becoming the second country after Namibia, to accede to this important regional instrument for advancing gender equality and women's rights. |
| Trying to give sex workers safer alternatives |
JOHANNESBURG-19 November 2009 (Plus News)-A plan by Malawi to offer prostitutes low-interest loans to start small businesses in return for abandoning sex work is generating controversy in a country where women are disproportionately affected by high rates of poverty and HIV.
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| Older people need help to raise the next generation |
| NAIROBI—19 November 2009-(Plus News)-When the working members of a household die from HIV-related illnesses in northern Tanzania, older dependants have to work longer hours to cope financially, according to recently published World Bank study. |
| Haimbili School advises tattooed students to take HIV test |
| Namibia, 17 November 2009-(Informante)- The School management of Haimbili Haufiku Senior Secondary School at Eenhana plans to advise students who were accused of sharing needles to tattoo their bodies to go for HIV/AIDS testing and counselling. |
| Countries have unprecedented success on TB proposals for Global Fund Round 9 |
| 17 November 2009-(STOP TB News)- The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria’s Board of Directors has approved 34 TB proposals, with the highest level of funding to date -- up to $US 1.5 billion over five years -- in Round 9. |
| Orphans grow up without cultural identity |
| LUSAKA — 17 November 2009-Abigail Mwanashimba has been looking after her five siblings since the age of eight, when her parents died of AIDS-related illnesses. She is now 19 years old, and without relatives to represent her at her lobola (bride price) negotiations, she was forced to hire traditional counsellors to organise the process of marriage according to the tribal customs. They did a bad job. |
| New infections on the rise |
| LUSAKA— 10 November 2009 -(Plus News)-An estimated 82,700 Zambians will become newly infected with HIV in 2009, up from just over 70,000 in 2007, according to new figures from the National AIDS Council. |
| Donors Retreating On AIDS |
| Washington, DC — 10 November 2009-(AfricaFocus)- "After almost a decade of progress in rolling out AIDS treatment we have seen substantial improvements, both for patients and public health. But recent funding cuts mean doctors and nurses are being forced to turn HIV patients away from clinics as if we were back in the 1990s before treatment was available" - Dr Tido von Schoen-Angerer, Director of MSF's Access to Essential Medicines Campaign. |
| Determined HIV positive student graduates |
WINDHOEK –(New Era)-10 November 2009-A very courageous student, Idhidhimika Victoria Noa, brought proceedings to a hush when she divulged, to a huge audience during the IOL graduation ceremony, that she has been living with AIDS for nearly six years. |
Global : AIDS funding at “dangerous turning point” |
JOHANNESBURG - 6 November 2009 (PlusNews) - Wavering international support for HIV/AIDS efforts is resulting in funding shortfalls that could wipe out a decade of progress in rolling out AIDS treatment, the international medical and humanitarian organization, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), has warned.
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A risky combination of alcohol and sex |
BOTSWANA - SELEBI-PHIKWE - 6 November 2009 (PlusNews) - On a recent Wednesday evening, Gillian Otsile, a volunteer at a local NGO, Men Sex and AIDS, approached a group of young men drinking cartons of traditional sorghum beer at a tavern in Selebi-Phikwe, a mining town in northeastern Botswana.
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Aids Programme May Be Reducing Deaths |
SOUTH AFRICA - Cape Town - 6 November 2009 (BusinessDay) - The government's AIDS treatment programme may have begun to put the brakes on SA's rising death rate, a senior official of the Department of Health told Parliament yesterday. |
Time to talk about sex and HIV |
LESOTHO – MASERU - 3 November 2009 (PlusNews) - Having more than one sexual relationship at the same time is driving the spread of HIV in small landlocked Lesotho. The health sector has long suspected this, but a new report by the National AIDS Commission (NAC), in partnership with UNAIDS and the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, has confirmed it.
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| White House announces end to HIV travel ban |
United States – 3 November 2009 – (Washington Post) - President Obama called the 22-year ban on travel and immigration by HIV-positive individuals a decision "rooted in fear rather than fact" and announced the end of the rule-making process lifting the ban.
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Task-Shifting Brings Rapid Scale-Up of Art Rollout |
MOZAMBIQUE – 3 November 2009 (allafrica.com) - The use of mid-level health workers rather than doctors to prescribe antiretroviral treatment (ART), a strategy called task-shifting, has enabled Mozambique to triple the number of facilities providing medication within six months, according to a new study. |
World Aids Day to Mark Massive Mobilisation Campaign |
South Africa - Pretoria – 30 October 2009 – (BuaNews) - President Jacob Zuma wants to use this year's World AIDS Day to mark the beginning of a massive mobilisation campaign by government against HIV and AIDS. |
Using DOTS for TB, HIV and other chronic diseases |
NAIROBI - 30 October 2009 (PlusNews) - Malawi's successful use of a well-known tuberculosis (TB) treatment system to scale up antiretroviral treatment (ART) for HIV could improve chronic disease management in other African nations, experts say.
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Thandi Xaba, 'If You Feel Good About Life It Helps You Stay Healthy' |
SWAZILAND – Mbabane - Thandi Xaba, 23, an aspiring actress living with HIV, belongs to an itinerant theatrical group in Swaziland who perform plays dealing with HIV/AIDS, often spiced with humour to engage the rural audience who sit beneath trees to watch the shows. |
Nearly one in three people with HIV do not know: EU |
BRUSSELS- 28 October 2009 (AFP) – Almost one in three people infected with the virus that causes AIDS do not know they have the disease, increasing the risk of infection, the European Commission warned Monday. |
Participants Kick Against HIV/Aids Mandatory Tests Before Marriage |
GHANA – Accra – 28 October 2009 (Public Agenda) - Participants at a day's national seminar on the HIV-AIDS disease have expressed resentment at the insistence on "mandatory test" by some churches before allowing their members to marry. |
Life insurance for HIV-positive people, at a price |
SOUTH AFRICA – JOHANNESBURG - 28 October 2009 (PlusNews) - The availability of antiretroviral (ARV) treatment and legislation prohibiting discrimination have helped turn HIV/AIDS into just another chronic disease, but an HIV-positive status can still be an obstacle to getting a loan or buying insurance.
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| HIV positive rapist jailed 45 years |
| ZIMABBWE - BINDURA - 27 October 2009 - (The Herald) - An HIV-positive social worker has been slapped with a 45-year jail term for raping three sisters — aged 10, 14 and 16 — and infecting them with the virus that causes AIDS. |
HIV-positive inmates speak out |
SOUTH AFRICA - DURBAN, 22 October 2009 (PlusNews) - Just over three years ago, a group of HIV-infected inmates at Westville Correctional Centre, near the South African port city of Durban, won a High Court battle that forced the government to provide them with life-prolonging antiretroviral (ARV) treatment.
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No to HIV Stigma |
ZIMBABWE - Harare – The Herald - 22 October 2009 - Religious leaders have been urged to develop suitable approaches that do not stigmatise HIV positive followers within the church. |
Controversy over calls to legalise sex work |
| SWAZILAND – MBABANE - 22 October 2009 (PlusNews) - A search for ways to curb the spread of HIV in Swaziland has led to a public debate on legalizing sex work, which |
