News (Updated June 14, 2009)

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Calif. probes latest HIV case in porn industry

By MICHAEL R. BLOOD, Associated Press Writer Michael R. Blood, Associated Press Writer Fri Jun 12, 2:55 pm ET

LOS ANGELES – Health investigators have opened an investigation into the latest HIV case reported in California 's porn industry.

The state Division of Occupational Safety and Health is attempting to identify the actress who tested positive, as well as her employer. Spokesman Dean Fryer said Friday the state wants to ensure the filmmaker is using condoms and other safety measures to prevent the risk of new infections.

Los Angeles County heath officials say there have been 22 confirmed HIV cases in adult film industry performers since 2004.

South African AIDS activist Ngubane dies at 24

By CLARE NULLIS, Associated Press Writer Clare Nullis, Associated Press Writer Fri Jun 12, 9:25 am ET

CAPE TOWN , South Africa – South African health activist Thembi Ngubane, whose radio diaries of her struggle against the AIDS virus won her audiences and admiration around the world, has died of tuberculosis at 24.

Joe Richman, who produced the diaries and became her friend, said Ngubane had drug-resistant TB that was diagnosed too late to save her. She died Tuesday, leaving a 4-year-old daughter.

A memorial service was held Friday in her teeming Cape Town suburb of Khayelitsha, one of the areas worst affected by the dual AIDS-TB epidemic.

Ngubane fought a very public battle against HIV.

"Hi, this is Thembi," began the diaries. "Every morning when I wake up I run off to my drawer, take out the mirror and look at myself. Then I start to do my prayer. I say it every day every time when I am feeling angry."

"I say, 'Hello HIV, you trespasser. You are in my body, you have to obey their rules. you have to respect me and if you don't hurt me, I won't hurt you. You mind your business and I will mind mine and I will give you a ticket when your time comes," she said.

Ngubane was 19 when she was given a tape recorder to make an audio diary about living with HIV in a country where nearly one third of young women are infected with the virus. Few families have been left unscathed by the epidemic and yet the stigma remains so strong that many people are too scared to tell even their closest family and friends.

Ngubane carried the recorder with her for more than a year, revealing her first conversation with her mother about AIDS; a visit to the township clinic to get lifesaving drugs; telling her father about her status; playing with her daughter Onwabo.

U.S. National Public Radio aired the tapes in April 2006, on her 21st birthday. She subsequently went on a five-city tour in the United States , meeting former President Bill Clinton and speaking to students, lawmakers, doctors and celebrities. Her story was subsequently broadcast in Britain , Australia and Canada , moving an audience of more than 50 million people with her eloquence and honesty.

"Our parents struggled against apartheid, they wanted to be free. And it is the same with HIV/AIDS. This is the new struggle," she said. "Finding the courage to speak out in South Africa is the most important thing I have done," she said.

Like many South Africans, Ngubane suffered from the government's reticence to provide anti-retroviral drugs to people with the AIDS virus.

"My face was becoming like bones, I couldn't walk. Everything that was happening I thought would never happen to me," she commented before finally receiving the lifesaving drugs.

She seized the opportunity to be a contestant on Imagine Africa, an AIDS reality television show broadcast throughout Africa and she and her boyfriend Melikhaya helped with South African prevention programs.

She had several battles against TB — which thrives on the weakened immune systems of people with HIV. Richman said she developed a drug resistant strain and so failed to respond to TB treatment and her health deteriorated rapidly.

Khayelitsha has 1,500 cases of TB per 100,000 people — nearly four times the level classed as an emergency by the World Health Organization. Health workers detected 200 cases of the dangerous drug resistant strain last year, but many people died before they could be diagnosed. And for others, like Ngubane, the diagnosis came too late for treatment.

HIV rate among South African teens has dropped

By CLARE NULLIS, Associated Press Writer Clare Nullis, Associated Press Writer Tue Jun 9, 2009

CAPE TOWN , South Africa – The number of new HIV infections among South African teens has dropped significantly, prompting hope that national efforts to tackle the epidemic have finally turned a corner after years of denial and delay.

A report by the Human Sciences Research Council released Tuesday said that although young people continue to have multiple sexual partners — which drives South Africa's epidemic — they are increasingly heeding advice to use a condom.

"There is clearly light at the end of the tunnel," said Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi. "There is real light."

Motsoaledi, a respected medical doctor, became health minister last month. He must overcome the legacy of former President Thabo Mbeki, who denied the link between HIV and AIDS, and his health minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, who mistrusted conventional anti-AIDS drugs and promoted beetroot and lemon.

"Unfortunately we spent a lot of time fighting each other. I am quite sure that we are going to stop fighting each other and start fighting the disease," said Motsoaledi. "I am hoping that in the next few years the results will be much more encouraging than this," he said.

During nearly 10 years of neglect, new HIV infections reached a peak of 1,000, with nearly 1,000 deaths from AIDS every day. The council's report estimated that around 5.2 million South Africans were living with HIV last year — the highest number of any country in the world.

The report said that HIV prevalence in children between 2 and 14 fell from 5.6 percent in 2002 to 2.5 percent last year, mainly thanks to the spread of drugs to prevent women passing on the virus to their children.

Young women continue to bear the brunt of the epidemic; nearly one third of women aged 20 to 34 are infected with the virus, the report said. Infection rates peak later in men.

The survey of more than 23,000 people was entitled "A Turning Tide Among Teenagers?" In rare good news, it said that HIV incidence — the number of new infections — among teens was falling. For instance, incidence among 18-year-olds halved between 2005 and 2008 to 0.8 percent. In 20-year-olds it decreased from 2.2 percent to 1.7 percent.

Olive Shisana, head of the research council and one of the report's authors, said this was because of an increase in condom use among young males aged between 15 and 24, from 57 percent in 2002 to 87 percent in 2008. In females of the same age, there was also an increase of condom use, from 46 percent to 73 percent. Condom use among males aged 25 to 49 doubled and among women it tripled.

"Young men have made a decision that they are going to run around, but they are going to use a condom. They have made a decision that they will have a lot of sex with a lot of different people, but they are going ... to make sure they are protected," she said.

Every year the government distributes many millions of condoms free of charge as part of its anti-AIDS campaign and — to loud applause — health minister Motsoaledi indicated he would be willing to increase the condom budget further.

But on the downside, the survey showed that messages that young people should abstain, delay their first sexual encounter and have only one partner, were falling largely on deaf ears. This was the approach traditionally promoted by the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, which is the biggest foreign donor of South Africa 's anti-AIDS drive.

Funding from that plan paid for the survey, the third conducted since 2002.

It said the percentage of 15-59-year-old males who had more than one partner in the past year increased from 9.4 percent in 2002 to 19.3 percent in 2008.

It said there was an increase in the problem of teens having older partners who would buy them food, clothes and pay for transport. This is particularly risky because older men have a higher HIV rate than teenage boys, and often the teenage girls do not have the bargaining power to insist that they wear a condom.

Shisana said that in poor areas, girls came under pressure from their families to stay in such relationships despite the risk.

Even more worryingly, the survey showed a decrease in the proportion of people who understood about HIV prevention from 66.4 percent in 2005 to 44.8 percent in 2008. More people understood the need for condoms and the need to dispel previously widespread myths that sex with babies cured AIDS, but this was offset by a big increase in the people who thought there was no risk in having multiple partners.

Motsoaledi said the government would try to strengthen its AIDS prevention campaigns — long weakened because of bureaucracy and mixed messages in the health department.

"It is clear our work is well cut. We can't pretend that we don't know what to do," he said.

Gay rights activist calls for march on Washington

By JENNIFER DOBNER, Associated Press Writer Jennifer Dobner, Associated Press Writer Sun Jun 7, 6:21 pm ET

SALT LAKE CITY – An activist who worked alongside slain gay rights leader Harvey Milk announced plans Sunday for a march on Washington this fall to demand that Congress establish equality and marriage rights for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

Cleve Jones said the march planned for Oct. 11 will coincide with National Coming Out Day and launch a new chapter in the gay rights movement. He made the announcement during a rally at the annual Utah Pride Festival.

"We seek nothing more and nothing less than equal protection in all matters governed by civil law in all 50 states," Jones said.

He stirred up a crowd of thousands just blocks from the Salt Lake City headquarters of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, part of a conservative coalition that worked last fall to pass California's Proposition 8, which overturned a court ruling legalizing gay marriage.

"I've got a message for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints," Jones shouted. "I've got two words from California ... I've got two words for the prophet ... Thank you. Thank you for uniting us. Thank you for galvanizing us."

Mormons were among the campaign's most vigorous volunteers and financial contributors, giving tens of millions of dollars to back Proposition 8, which Jones said has helped awaken and unite the gay rights movement in all 50 states.

Like many faiths, Mormons hold traditional marriage as a sacred institution. The church has been active in fighting marriage equality legislation across the U.S. since the 1990s and, in 2006, joined other faiths in asking Congress for a marriage amendment to the Constitution.

Gay marriage is legal in six states. A handful of others allow civil unions for same-sex couples and about 40 either bar the recognition of same-sex marriage or have explicitly defined marriage — through legislation or constitutional amendments — as between a man and a woman.

Jones was a protege of Milk, San Francisco 's first openly gay elected official, who was shot and killed by a fellow member of the Board of Supervisors in 1978. In the mid-80s Jones founded the NAMES Project, the AIDS memorial quilt that recognizes the more than 80,000 Americans who have died from HIV/AIDS.

In an interview Friday, he said a confluence of events — a new president, the success of the movie "Milk" and Proposition 8 — makes this the right time to intensify the fight for equality.

Since November, Jones said he has received hundreds of e-mails from Latter-day Saints who apologized and said they were uncomfortable or ashamed by the faith's fight against Proposition 8.

"It's unfortunate that a church and a people who experienced persecution in the past could not come to some accommodation that would allow them to maintain their faith without so vociferously seeking to deny other people their rights," Jones said.

Crisis threatens African competitiveness

Wed Jun 10, 11:25 AM

CAPE TOWN (AFP) - The world economic crisis threatens to reverse years of financial progress in Africa as poor infrastructure, access to finance and trade barriers hamper competitiveness, a report said on Wednesday.

Recent years had seen progress in developing Africa 's financial systems and increased economic stability, said the report by the World Economic Forum, produced jointly with the World Bank and African Development Bank.

"What we are concerned about is that the current crisis may reverse these favourable trends and undermine progress," said Marilou Jane Uy of the World Bank's Africa Finance and Private Sector Development department.

Africa 's economy grew by 5.2 percent in 2008, a figure expected to drop to one percent in 2009 as the global financial crisis hits commodity prices and rising protectionisim in wealthier countries affects demand.

Obiageli Katryn Ezekweli, vice president of the Africa region at the World Bank, said investing in infrastructure could cushion the impact of the crisis.

"The countries that will reap the most benefit and limit the adverse impact of the crisis would be those that sustain reforms, strengthen governance (and) modernize local capital markets," she added.

The report highlights prospects for improved growth in Africa , and investigates why some countries develop better than others.

It was released at the start of the World Economic Forum on Africa in Cape Town .

South Africa , the continent's largest economy, continued to pay the price for crime and violence and HIV/AIDS, poor education at primary level and in maths and science, and poor labour market flexibility, it said.

North and sub-Saharan Africa continued to be outperformed by South East Asia while North Africa was ahead of both Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa in the global competitiveness report.

HIV, the silent partner in emergencies

10 Jun 2009

Source: IRIN

NAIROBI , 10 June 2009 - Food aid and plastic sheeting are the marks of every disaster, but not always condoms and antiretrovirals, even though humanitarian agencies recognize the link between emergencies and the increased risk of HIV and AIDS.

"Often HIV prevention is not prioritized, especially in sudden-onset emergencies, but actually HIV prevention is a life-saving issue requiring prioritization in the emergency response," said Mumtaz Mia, UNAIDS regional humanitarian response advisor for East and Southern Africa .

Research indicates http://www.odi.org.uk/resources/download/2645.pdf that the relationship between HIV and emergencies is complex, but experts agree that humanitarian crises deepen vulnerability.

High-risk situations

"Recent studies in Haiti , Kenya and Mozambique found an increase in consensual and transactional sex, which is likely to be unprotected, given the frequent unavailability of condoms - an aspect which, clearly, can increase the risk of HIV transmission," said Mia.

Unsurprisingly, research by the British think-tank, the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) http://wwww.odi.org, found that consensual sex was a natural response to the boredom of camp life, or as a way of seeking solace; transactional sex was equally prevalent as an attempt to benefit from a bad situation.

The meeting and mingling of people, and the erosion of social controls, is one consequence of displacement that humanitarian workers are increasingly recognizing.

Sari Seppänen, a programme officer with UNAIDS, noticed that after the outbreak of political violence in Kenya in 2007, young displaced people gravitated to one another. "In one instance, a large group of youth was grouped together in one part of the camp separate from their parents, which created quite an opportunity for sexual networking," she said.

James Wanyama, national programme officer with UNAIDS in Uganda, said HIV risk was exacerbated by the lack of access to condoms as a result of a breakdown in supply services during the protracted conflict in northern Uganda.

"The displacement of people into highly congested camps, increased idleness, coupled with poverty, leads to risky sexual behaviour," he said. "There was a breakdown in the community social norms that protected women, girls and other young people from risky behaviour; this was also associated with rape and other forms of gender-based violence."

Need to follow existing guidelines

According to Seppänen, humanitarian workers need to be trained in the guidelines for handling HIV prevention in emergencies as laid out by the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC), a mechanism for coordinating humanitarian assistance by key UN and non-UN partners [www.aidsandemergencies.org.]

Among the prevention interventions the IASC recommends are: safe blood transfusion services; regular supplies of condoms; management of sexually transmitted infections; education in HIV risk reduction; provision of reproductive health services; availability of prevention of mother-to-child transmission services; creation of measures to prevent and effectively respond to sexual violence, and life-skills training for young people so they can avoid risky casual sex or transactional sex.

"People in shelters often receive hygiene or cooking kits that could include condoms," the authors of a recent ODI briefing paper, HIV in Emergencies: One Size Does Not Fit All, suggested.

"The growth of transactional sex, combined with the influx of groups such as truck drivers, humanitarian workers and military personnel, can increase the risk of HIV transmission, especially where condoms are unavailable," they pointed out.

"Ways to counteract this coping strategy need to be explored ... such as timely, targeted micro-credit schemes, as well as more HIV prevention campaigns for high-risk groups."

Better contingency planning

Too often, Seppänen said, the response to HIV in humanitarian emergencies is knee-jerk, leading organizations to make on-the-spot decisions that may be flawed.

UNAIDS' Mia commented: "HIV can only be managed in emergencies if the response is better coordinated, and HIV is properly integrated into the mainstream emergency response from preparedness to recovery."

"For HIV to be effectively addressed in humanitarian response, it has to be within the framework of the national AIDS response, with the leadership and coordination mechanisms set up for the AIDS response," she noted. "The engagement and leadership of national AIDS authorities, in partnership with civil society, is therefore vital."

A 2007 study, Estimates of HIV burden in Emergencies http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=2569202, found that 10 of the 15 countries with the largest number of people living with HIV in 2005 were affected by humanitarian crises or major conflict between 2002 and 2006.

The study also estimated that 1.8 million people living with HIV in 2006 were affected by emergencies, representing 5.4 percent of the global number of people infected with the virus.

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