Severe shortages of health staff are compromising the quality and availability of HIV/AIDS care across southern Africa. There is wide acknowledgement of the human resource crisis, but little action on the ground. MSF is urging governments to develop and implement emergency plans to retain and recruit health care workers that include measures to raise pay and improve working conditions.
Equity and HIV/AIDS
Health worker shortage limits access to HIV/AIDS treatment in Southern Africa
Medecins Sans Frontiers, 24 May 2007
Knowledge about safe motherhood and HIV/AIDS among school pupils in a rural area in Tanzania
Mushi DL, Mpembeni RM, Jahn A: BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth 7:5, 24 April 2007
The majority of adolescents in Africa experience pregnancy, childbirth and enter motherhood without adequate information about maternal health issues. Information about these issues could help them reduce their pregnancy related health risks. Existing studies have concentrated on adolescents' knowledge of other areas of reproductive health, but little is known about their awareness and knowledge of safe motherhood issues. We sought to bridge this gap by assessing the knowledge of school pupils regarding safe motherhood in Mtwara Region, Tanzania.
New $30 Billion US AIDS money will mean life for millions Worldwide
PRNewswire, 30 May 2007
AIDS Healthcare Foundation endorsed President Bush's efforts to support cost-effective and sustainable programs that provide life-saving Anti-retroviral HIV and AIDS treatment and care globally. The Presidential Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) is a $15 billion dollar, five-year global AIDS treatment plan the President first proposed in 2003.
Swaziland: New HIV and AIDS support programme unveiled for truckers
Integrated Regional Information Network (IRIN), 1 June 2007
Swaziland's truck drivers are twice as likely to be HIV-positive than other citizens and are finally to get the programmes required to provide them with treatment and support, a conference was told this week. At the Federation of Swaziland Employers (FSE) conference held in Manzini, 35km east of the capital, Mbabane, it was announced that a comprehensive set of initiatives were to be put in place to test, counsel and treat HIV-positive transportation workers after studies showed "truckers as a group have an HIV infection rate double that of the general population," Khosi Hlatshwayo, coordinator of the FSE’s Business Council HIV/AIDS initiative, said.
UN Secretary General Appoints Elizabeth Mataka of Botswana as special envoy for AIDS in Africa
UN 21 May 2007
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today appointed Elizabeth Mataka, a national of Botswana and a resident of Zambia, as his Special Envoy for AIDS in Africa. Ms. Mataka, a social worker by training, has been working in the field of HIV/AIDS for the past 16 years. She has been involved in many different aspects of responding to the AIDS epidemic, including programmes on HIV prevention, clinical treatment for opportunistic infections, care and support at community and national levels.
Further details: /newsletter/id/32300
WHO and UNAIDS issue new guidance on HIV testing and counselling in health facilities
World Health Organisation and UNAIDS, 30 May 2007
WHO and UNAIDS have issued new guidance on informed, voluntary HIV testing and counselling in the world's health facilities, with a view to significantly increasing access to HIV treatment, care, support and prevention services. The new guidance focuses on provider-initiated HIV testing and counselling (recommended by health care providers in health facilities), essential to promoting earlier diagnosis of HIV infection, which in turn can maximize the potential benefits of life-extending treatment and care, and allow people with HIV to receive information and tools to prevent HIV transmission to others.
WHO/UNAIDS: Expanded Testing Guidelines should recognise reality
Human Rights Watch, 30 May 2007
Expanding access to HIV testing is critical in the fight against AIDS, but new WHO/UNAIDS guidelines pay only lip service to the conditions that will make testing successful, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch was responding to the release of new WHO/UNAIDS guidelines on provider-initiated HIV testing and counseling. The guidelines appropriately rule out mandatory or coercive testing and call for expanded, health facility-based testing in countries with an “enabling environment” in place and with “adequate resources” available for HIV prevention, treatment and care. But Human Rights Watch warned that few of the most affected countries have such resources and environments in place.
ARASA Regional HIV/AIDS and Human Rights Report
ARASA
2006 marks the tenth anniversary of the development of the International Guidelines on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights. To celebrate this occasion, the AIDS and Rights Alliance for Southern Africa (ARASA) has conducted research to evaluate the extent to which the International Guidelines have been used and implemented in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region. This report details the findings of that research. It focuses on the guidelines dealing with: • Structures and partnerships to support a multi-sectoral response; • A protective legal and policy framework; • Access to treatment; and • Access to legal services.
ART alone cannot halt the AIDS epidemic in Africa
id21 Health, October 2006
It has been hoped that antiretroviral therapy (ART) could be used to combat AIDS on a wide-scale in developing countries. However as treatment allows patients to live longer, healthier lives, they are likely to be sexually active for longer. This could allow the disease to spread more rapidly unless communities receive counselling and practise safe sex. ART has been very effective treatment in the developed world. The drugs not only improve health and prolong the life, but patients are also less likely to infect other people because the drugs decrease their viral load. If ART can prevent the transmission of AIDS it could be a useful tool for fighting the AIDS epidemic in Africa. Imperial College London, UK, carried out a study, using mathematical modelling, to determine the effect widespread ART could have in Africa.
Botswana: HIV/AIDS, gender issues get low media coverage
Mmegi/The Reporter, 12 March 2007
A Gender Baseline Study has revealed that gender is not well integrated into HIV/AIDS coverage. Speaking at the launch of the HIV/AIDS and Gender Baseline Study findings and Media Action Plan (MAP) at the Maharaja Conference Centre in Gaborone last week, Communications, Science and Technology minister, Pelonomi Venson-Moitoi, noted that cross generational sex, gender- based violence and gender power relations, which are significant drivers of the epidemic, received less than six percent each of the total coverage while cultural practices received no coverage during the study's monitoring period.