Estimated worldwide HIV infections: 61 903 615 at noon on Wednesday, March 30
Not so safe: Uganda, considered a beacon in Africa for its Aids-beating policies, is adopting sexual abstinence-only programmes financed by the United States that could undo its successes.
Human Rights Watch warns that the new policies, which promote abstinence until marriage rather than condom use, leave not only young unmarried people but also women married to unfaithful men without the knowledge they need to protect themselves from infection.
Research by Human Rights Watch has found that information on condoms, safer sex and the risks of HIV in marriage has been removed from primary schools, while some materialso used in secondary schools falsely suggest that condoms have microscopic holes that allow the HI-virus through.
Condoms have been widely available in recent years in Uganda and have helped keep HIV prevalence down to about 6%, after a big fall from an estimated 15% in 1992.
The infection rate dropped when President Yoweri Museveni’s government promoted openness about Aids and awareness of the dangers of HIV infection. But recently the president and his wife have spoken out against the use of condoms.
Human Rights Watch says Uganda is falling in with the US Christian right, which backs abstinence before marriage and believes that promoting condoms leads to promiscuity.
Source: Guardian Newspapers 2005
Rights group criticises emphasis on abstinence
Estimated worldwide HIV infections: 61 702 019 at noon on Wednesday March 16
On Thursday the European Commission pledged €15-million (R121-million) to Zimbabwe and €12-million (R97-million) to Colombia. In Zimbabwe, the new funds will aid displaced persons, those with HIV/Aids and vulnerable children. The EU has frozen much of its development aid to Zimbabwe as a protest against President Robert Mugabe’s authoritarian rule. ‘The European Commission is committed to providing humanitarian aid to the most vulnerable Zimbabweans, regardless of the political situation there,” said Louis Michel, commissioner for development.
Source: AP
Estimated worldwide HIV infections: 61 500 392 at noon on Wednesday March 2
Soaring costs: Namibia is feeling the pinch of providing treatment to civil servants living with HIV/Aids. Finance Minister Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila said the annual cost of the Public Service Employees’ Medical Aid Scheme had risen by more than US$21-million over the past year, owing to the high number of members needing anti-Aids drugs. In a recent speech to the National Assembly, the minister called for approval of more than $11-million to help keep the medical scheme afloat. — AllAfrica.com
Wife alert: Although education campaigns and condom use have brought down prevalence among other high-risk groups, the number of new HIV cases among married women in Cambodia is increasing. According to the radio programme The World, Cambodia has the highest number of HIV-positive adults in South-East Asia, given the size of its population. According to UNAids, married women now account for almost half of all new HIV infections. — Medicalnewstoday.com