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December 21, 2008)
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By ROBERT WIELAARD,
Associated Press Writer Robert
Wielaard, Associated Press Writer
– Wed Dec 17,
9:50 am ET
AP – The
empty seat of jailed Chinese dissident Hu Jia is seen during the 2008 Sakharov
Prize giving ceremony …
STRASBOURG, France – The
European Parliament gave a jailed Chinese dissident a one-minute standing
ovation on Wednesday as it honored him in absentia with its top human
rights award.
Hu Jia, who chronicled the harassment of
other activists in
Because Hu is in jail, the prize was
awarded at a ceremony at which his name was placed in front of an empty seat.
The 784-member assembly listened to a video message from Hu's wife, who thanked
the European Parliament for
its recognition of her 35-year-old husband.
The ceremony was attended by Elena Bonner,
the widow of Soviet-era dissident Andrei
Sakharov — for whom the award is named — and past award laureates.
The award signaled the EU assembly's dismay
with what it sees as the authoritarian and repressive nature of the Chinese
government.
"We, in the European Parliament, wish
to keep good relations with
Recent weeks have seen bitter exchanges
between
Even before the announcement last October
that Hu would be awarded the Sakharov prize,
Authorities in
Hu started out fighting for the rights of
HIV/AIDS patients in
By AUDRA ANG,
Associated Press Writer Audra
Ang, Associated Press Writer
– Thu Dec 18,
6:18 am ET
AP – In
this July 6, 2007 file photo, Hu Jia, right, and Zeng Jinyan, husband-and-wife
activists, pose for …
Zeng
Jinyan said she was told of the
restriction during a telephone call Thursday from the Beijing
Municipal Prison, where her husband, Hu Jia, is being held on a sedition charge.
"State security police told the prison
to cancel my visit that had been scheduled for next Monday," Zeng
said in an online posting. "No one is allowed to see him."
No reason was given for the change of
plans, she said.
A man who answered the telephone at the
prison said he was "unclear" about Hu's case and his visiting
hours. Like many Chinese officials, he refused to give his name.
The move comes a day after Hu was honored
in
Because Hu, 35, is in prison, his name was
placed in front of an empty seat. He received a minute-long standing
ovation from the parliament.
Initially an advocate for the rights of
HIV/AIDS patients, Hu expanded his focus to cover other human
rights issues, using the Internet and telephone to publicize the
harassment and arrests of other dissidents.
Hu's charge of sedition stems from police
accusations that he had planned to work with foreigners to disturb the Olympic
Games in August.
The award signals the EU assembly's dismay
with what it sees as the authoritarian and repressive nature of the Chinese
government.
Zeng said she hopes to use the prize
money to start a foundation to support the families of other activists.
She said the idea had been a longtime wish
of Hu, who meticulously chronicled the harassment of activists and their loved
ones by authorities in
"He has often said he would like to
set up a support network ... to provide moral support for the families, to ease
their mental and life pressures so that they can be strong enough to face the
pressure from authorities," Zeng said in a video message played during
Wednesday's award ceremony.
It was one of the rare occasions she has
been publicly seen since Hu's arrest.
It's not immediately clear how Zeng will go
about setting up the support group. She has been under strict surveillance since
Hu was whisked away by security agents who swarmed the couple's apartment in the
"
Her phone is monitored and often
disconnected. Plainclothes security agents dog her movements.
Zeng, a waiflike 25-year-old with a heart
condition, has herself become a fierce human rights advocate, using her blog to
bring attention to abuses. In 2007, she was named by Time magazine as one of the
world's 100 most influential people.
By NINIEK
KARMINI,Associated Press Writer AP - Wednesday, December 17
John Manangsang, one of the biggest
supporters of the controversial clause in a new health bill being considered,
said the provincial parliament in Papua would wrap up deliberations on the issue
by the week's end.
But lawmakers were considering removing the
section of the bill that supports the implantation of small computer chips
beneath the skin of some HIV/AIDS patients _ part of extreme efforts to monitor
the disease _ because of a public outcry, he said.
Local health workers and AIDS activists
have called the tagging plan "abhorrent," arguing that the best way to
tackle Papua's spiraling epidemic was through increased spending on sexual
education and condom use.
"It's a violation of human
rights," said Papua's Deputy Governor, Alex Hasegem.
But Papua, the country's easternmost and
poorest province with a population of about 2 million, has been hardest hit. Its
case rate of almost 61 per 100,000 is 15 times the national average, according
to internationally funded research, which blames lack of knowledge about
sexually transmitted diseases.
Thu Dec 18,
12:16 pm ET
KUALA
LUMPUR
Najib said there were 3,452 new HIV cases
in 2008, compared to 6,756 in 2003, thanks to a national program to stem
infections.
"
However, Najib expressed concern over the
increase in HIV infections
among women through normal sexual intercourse, saying their numbers rose from
5.02 percent in 1997 to 16.3 percent last year.
by Mynardo Macaraig
Mynardo
Macaraig Wed Dec 17,
12:13 pm ET
MANILA
While the government puts the number of
HIV/AIDS cases at 8,600, Ruiz believes the number is much higher.
"The true number is probably fast
approaching 10,000," said Ruiz, who sits on the board of trustees of
Positive Action Foundation Philippines
Inc.
He said local and foreign health experts
used to say the
"Now, they have changed it to 'hidden
and growing'," said Ruiz, 44, who was diagnosed with AIDS in 1993.
While the foundation acts as a support
group for HIV/AIDS sufferers in the
United Nations data, based on government
figures, shows that last year there were 8,600 people suffering from HIV/AIDS in
the Philippines despite the country's thriving sex industry and vast army of
some eight million overseas workers.
In
Soe Nyunt-u, the World
Health Organisation's (WHO) representative in the
In October, there were 59 new cases
detected, he told AFP.
He said the number of cases detected
annually has also spiked to 454 in the first 10 months of this year, from 309 in
2006 and 342 last year.
"This is just the tip of the
iceberg," he said.
"The real number could be much higher
than this," Nyunt-u said, adding that many cases still go unreported.
"What is alarming is that infections
are now being found outside of the traditional high-risk groups: sex workers,
drug users, men who have sex with men, and Filipinos
returning from working overseas," Ruiz said.
Transmission among sex workers and other
risk groups is going down "but it is in the general population that it is
increasing," he said, citing the threat particularly among the young.
So far, health officials have found 481
people aged 15-24 who were infected, with 50 children below the age of 15 also
infected. The children were all born of mothers with the disease, said Ruiz.
"There really needs to be a greater
government focus on education and prevention programmes before it
explodes," Ruiz said adding the programmes should not be confined to
schools but feature at the workplace as well.
"The Department of Education has not
done any firm HIV/AIDS
programme yet, maybe because in the past there were no students and very few
young people being diagnosed," Ruiz said.
Had HIV/AIDS education been carried out in
high school, then perhaps many of the young people now infected would have
avoided the disease, he said.
Ironically, the
"There is a fairly established,
organised civil society with many non-government organisations who work with the
Department of Health to
reach these marginalised groups," particularly sex workers, said Massimo
Ghidinelli, a special WHO adviser on HIV/AIDS.
There are some obstacles: the Catholic
Church has opposed sex education among children and the promotion of
condoms -- two things that would help prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS.
This makes it unlikely that the
"Each country has its own cultural
set-up. It doesn't mean there can't be proper intervention," he said.
Source: IRIN
KARACHI, 18 December 2008- Like thousands of Pakistanis, Fida moved to Saudi
Arabia in search of a better life 10 years ago. He found work as a labourer in
the coastal city of
He visited prostitutes in
Jeddah as well as in
All legal migrant workers
in
The doctor did not
actually show Fida the test results, but he was sufficiently convinced to pack
his bags and leave for
Fida had married a girl
from his tribal family in 2005. After he learned of his HIV-positive status, his
wife was tested and discovered that she was also positive.
He has told his immediate
family about his status and that of his wife, but not his in-laws because he is
afraid it would create a tribal rift. "I have also decided not to have
children, and my wife agrees. At this point, our priority is to stay
healthy."
According to government
estimates, 1.7 million Pakistanis, mostly young men employed as labourers, are
working in the
In the office of New
Light AIDS Control Society, a non-governmental organisation that supports people
living with HIV in
"In KSA (
Brother Khushi Lal, who
runs New Light, said the threat of a lethal injection was a common scare tactic
used by the authorities in the Gulf region to intimidate migrant workers with
HIV-positive test results.
"Foreign workers in
the Gulf region cannot buy ARV drugs there because they are not allowed,"
he told IRIN/PlusNews. "A lot of people get their tests in
To avoid detection in the
regular medical check-ups, many HIV-positive workers resort to either sending a
brother or friend in their place, or paying a bribe. "It's all a matter of
500 to 1,000 Riyals [US$133 to $266], bribe the officials and you walk
away." Lal said.
Mazhar Anjum, a
transgender man, fell ill while working as a housekeeper at the Hilton hotel in
"They know it would
mean instant deportation if they are found positive." Anjum went for an HIV
test after returning to
According to Lal, many
migrant workers are deported from Gulf countries after testing positive for HIV
or hepatitis without even being informed of their condition. "They do know
they have some infection, but they don't know anything about it, and once they
are back home they end up infecting their spouses or partners," he said.
"The governments
there think they are getting rid of the disease; the fact however remains that
they are ultimately playing with human lives."
The UAE is currently
reviewing its policy of deporting HIV-infected migrants and considering a draft
law that would make it illegal for employers to discriminate against people
based on their HIV status.
Fida was very ill and
depressed when he first came to New Light, and although his health has improved
since he started taking free antiretroviral (ARV) drugs, his financial
circumstances still put a strain on him, said Lal.
"Like many
HIV-positive people he has found the strength to live, thanks to medical
advancements, yet it's the society around us that rejects these
individuals."
Source: IRIN
She talked to IRIN/PlusNews
on the sidelines of an HIV/AIDS awareness event in Kibera, a sprawling slum
outside the capital,
"In February 2005,
after I had been bedridden for about three months, friends took me to the MSF
[international medical NGO, Médecins Sans Frontières] clinic in my Gatwekera
village in Kibera, where an HIV test turned out positive.
"I was started on ARV
[antiretroviral] medicines after they found my CD4 count [a measure of
immune-system strength] quite low. Within a month, I was up and about from long
days of lying idle in bed.
"At the MSF clinic I
learned quite a lot about HIV/AIDS and how to live positively. Staff there
introduced me to a post-test club, where I met other people who had tested HIV
positive.
"This helped me
greatly cope with stigma and discrimination from relatives and friends who
shunned me when they learned of my condition. I made many friends who understood
my predicament.
"Now I have turned
into a health educator with the same [MSF] clinic. I am trained in basic
HIV/AIDS information and treatment literacy. I go out to people in the slum and
attend meetings or gatherings, like this one today. I give talks where I tell
people that HIV/AIDS is real, and one can avoid contracting the virus.
"I own up to my
status and urge people to seek voluntary counselling and testing (VCT). I tell
the people I talk to: 'The earlier you know, the better', because immunity is
still high and one can benefit from various vital tips that include nutrition
advice that may postpone the onset of taking ARVs.
"Being on ARVs is a
life-long sentence. It is a burden, as one has to religiously take the medicines
at prescribed doses and times, and there are side effects. I, for example,
recently had to change my treatment regimen after suffering from lipodystrophy
[fat redistribution] in the buttocks. Some side effects can be very stressing
and uncomfortable.
"Today, I am
encouraged to see youths enter the VCT tent. Seeing fellow PLWHAs [people living
with HIV/AIDS] play and make merry is motivating. I am neither leaving empty
handed - I have carried away these two cartons of condoms. I have to lead by
example and promote safe sex that I 'preach' about in my health talks.
"I need the
protection during sex with my date. Both of us are HIV [positive] and we have to
protect against reinfection in the upcoming long holidays. 'Hii ni dose yangu ya
Christmas [This is my lot for Christmas]!'
"I was married before
and we had three children, all girls, but we divorced about 10 years ago. My
new-found love lost his wife to AIDS and he has his own family. We are not
living together though, and he is yet to go public on his [HIV] condition.
"Stigma in the
community is slowly decreasing. Now my friends, neighbours and relatives, who
never wanted to associate with me when I turned HIV positive, are coming back to
me. I talk to them on HIV and even advise some who have been infected on where
to seek assistance.
"There are
challenges, however. Life is hard, bringing up a family without a solid
financial base. I get some little allowances from MSF once in a while, and I am
learning tailoring while I sell boiled maize on the side to make a living.
"It is a tough life
for a mother with HIV, but my faith in God and talking to people keeps me
going."