PHA-Exchange> PAMBAZUKA NEWS 124: [excerpts] HEALTH

[George Lessard (s)]

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5.HEALTH

AFRICA: CONFERENCE WILL PLOT RESPONSE TO HIV/AIDS
http://www.icasanairobi2003.org/index.php
The 13th International Conference on AIDS & STIs in Africa (ICASA) takes
place between 21-26 September in Nairobi, Kenya. The conference is a  
forum
where every two years African scientists, social leaders, political  
leaders
and communities come together to share experiences and updates on the
responses to the HIV/AIDS pandemic. The objectives are to: Review and
discuss updates on major advances in understanding the epidemic;  
Provide a
forum for critical analysis of various responses to the HIV/AIDS/STI
epidemic and discuss the extent to which these responses have impacted  
on
the course and status of the epidemic and; Outline and set effective
strategies and priorities for dealing with epidemics from an African  
point
of view. Click on the URL below to find out more about the conference.

AFRICA: UN STUDIES AIDS IMPACT ON AFRICA
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3115208.stm
The United Nations has launched an initiative to deal with the threat  
that
HIV/Aids poses to African states, where 70% of the world's HIV positive
people live. The 20 commissioners, mostly drawn from Africans in  
leadership
positions, are over the next two years supposed to devise policies to  
help
African governments cope with the impact of the virus.

BOTSWANA: COMMUNITY MOBILISING TOOL LAUNCHED
http://www.africapulse.org.za/ 
index.php?action=viewarticle&articleid=1516
Botswana's antiretroviral Aids therapy programme last week launched a  
tool
designed to teach Batswana about HIV/Aids and get more communities  
talking
about treating the disease.

ETHIOPIA: AIDS FIGHT HINDERED BY STIGMA, DISCRIMINATION, SAY NGOS
http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/interna.asp?idnews=20155
According to official statistics, there are 2.2 million HIV infected  
people
in Ethiopia, out of a population of 67 million. Ethiopia ranks third  
after
South Africa and Nigeria in sub-Saharan Africa in absolute numbers of  
people
living with HIV/AIDS. The United Nations agency, UNAids estimates that  
91
percent of reported AIDS cases are within the age group of 15 to 49, the
most economically active and productive age group in Ethiopia.

GREAT LAKES: ACTIVISTS LOBBY FOR CHEAPER HIV/AIDS DRUGS
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=36642
Delegates at a conference on HIV/AIDS in Africa's Great Lakes region are
exploring ways in which people living with the disease could gain  
greater
access to affordable anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs. The conference, the  
second
of its kind in the Great Lakes, brings together delegates from Burundi,  
the
Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda, as
well as representatives of the World Bank, UNAIDS, NGOs and the UK-based
Community Health and Information Network.

KENYA: ABORTION DEBATE SPLITS COUNTRY
http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/interna.asp?idnews=20160
The debate on abortion came to the fore early this year when a section  
of
women parliamentarians openly called for its legalisation. Health  
minister,
Charity Ngilu, has asked the government to spearhead public debate on
abortion. She said it was unfair that women did not have a free hand in
their reproductive health. "I personally feel the continued denial of  
women
to make free choice on their reproductive health life is wrong and the
policy should be reformed to allow that freedom," she was quoted as  
saying
by a local newspaper.

KENYA: FIRM TO PRODUCE GENERIC AIDS DRUGS
http://www.iol.co.za/ 
index.php?click_id=68&art_id=qw1063812241965B243&set_id=1
A Kenyan drugs company plans to start making anti-retroviral drugs to  
treat
Aids sufferers next month, becoming the first African company outside  
South
Africa to do so, the company said on Wednesday. Activists hope for a
breakthrough in fighting the epidemic by producing the life-prolonging  
drugs
in Africa, where only a tiny minority can afford the imported versions.

KENYA: STATE ACCUSED OF BETRAYAL ON AIDS MEDICINES
http://allafrica.com/stories/200309170146.html
The decision by the Government to ask Aids patients to pay for drugs at
public hospitals has been condemned. The move will deny the majority of  
more
than 200,000 people living with Aids access to the life-prolonging drugs
commonly called anti-retrovirals, the Kenya Network of Women with Aids
executive director, Ms Asunta Wagura, said.

LESOTHO: CULTURE UNDERMINES PREVENTION EFFORTS IN LESOTHO
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=36632
Social and cultural norms and traditions in Lesotho are hampering  
efforts to
combat the rising HIV/AIDS epidemic, government officials told IRIN.
Ignorance about HIV/AIDS has been a major stumbling block for efforts at
halting the spread of the disease, she said.

NIGERIA: CHOLERA KLLS 30 IN ZAMFARA
http://allafrica.com/stories/200309170304.html
No fewer than 30 people have been confirmed dead within the last month  
in
Gusau following an outbreak of cholera in the area. The UNICEF  
consultant at
the Gusau General Hospital, Dr. Sa'adu Idris, said the hospital has  
admitted
150 patients suffering from the illness in the last month.

UGANDA: LOCAL SCIENTISTS GET MALARIA DRUG
http://allafrica.com/stories/200309120230.html
Scientists have ascertained that a local herb that grows in most parts  
of
Uganda is effective in curing malaria, including strains that are  
resistant
to conventional drugs. Dr. Goretti Nambatya, the National  
Chemotherapeutics
Laboratory (NCTL) director said they identified the herb through  
countrywide
surveys in which they collected a variety of herbal concoctions.  
Scientists
are preparing for large-scale tests, based on World Health Organisation
guidelines.

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