May11-2

News (Updated May 8, 2011)

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Tutu hails South Africa 's turnaround on AIDS

(AFP) – 4 May, 2011

ROBBEN ISLAND, South Africa — Nobel laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu on Tuesday hailed South Africa's turnaround on AIDS, going from denialism to the roll-out of the world's largest treatment programme.

"It is like a breath of fresh air," said Tutu on the apartheid-era prison Robben Island , where the UNAIDS High Level Commission on HIV Prevention was meeting.

"For many many years, we were gravely embarrassed in most of our international gatherings because of what we were doing or not doing in this country," Tutu said.

Under former president Thabo Mbeki , South Africa 's government had openly questioned the causes of AIDS. His health minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang had promoted garlic and beetroot instead of medication.

But now one million people are receiving anti-AIDS drugs in South Africa , which has the world's most HIV infections, affecting 5.6 million of the 50-million population, according to UN estimates.

The country has also rolled out massive testing and prevention drives, including male circumcision and testing in schools.

The meeting at Robben Island was meant to be a symbolic passing of the torch from an older generation of activists to younger people who were brought to meet Tutu and others fighting to stop the disease.

Albinos in Tanzania murdered or raped as AIDS "cure"

May 5, 2011

By Fumbuka Ng'wanakilala

DAR ES SALAAM (Reuters) - Hundreds of albinos are thought to have been killed for black magic purposes in Tanzania and albino girls are being raped because of a belief they offer a cure for AIDS, a Canadian rights group said on Thursday.

At least 63 albinos, including children, are known to have been killed, mostly in the remote northwest of the country.

"We believe there are hundreds and hundreds of killings in Tanzania , but only a small number are being reported to the police," Peter Ash, founder and director of Under The Same Sun (UTSS), told Reuters.

"There is belief that if you have relations with a girl with albinism, you will cure AIDS. So there are many girls with albinism who are being raped in this country because of this belief, which is a false belief."

Around 1.4 million Tanzanians among a population of 40.7 million have the HIV virus that leads to AIDS.

Albino hunters kill their victims and harvest their blood, hair, genitals and other body parts for potions that witchdoctors say bring luck in love, life and business.

"(It is believed) a person with albinism is a curse. They are from the devil, they are not human, they do not die, they simply disappear," said Ash.

Ernest Kimaya, head of the Tanzania Albino society and a sufferer of the pigment disorder, said social stigma prevented many girls from reporting rape, making it difficult to say how many albinos had been sexually abused.

"These things are taking place underground. Even the albino killings started quietly, before the atrocities were finally exposed in public," Kimaya told Reuters.

Activists last week reported three murders of teenage albino boys from the same family in northern Tanzania , who were poisoned and their bones later robbed from their graves.

The Tanzanian government says it is determined to halt the macabre killings, but has been widely criticised for inaction.

SOMALIA : Stigma, insecurity hold back HIV fight in Mogadishu

03 May 2011

MOGADISHU, 3 May 2011 (IRIN) - Residents of Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, are understandably more concerned with dodging bullets than avoiding HIV, but this lack of knowledge means widespread ignorance about HIV prevention, while people who are HIV-positive are often ostracized by their communities.

Today, Nasteho Farah Elmi is an active member of an organization for people living with HIV/AIDS, but six years ago, when her family found out she was HIV-positive, they sent her away.

"When my relatives found out... they gave me 50,000 Somali shillings [US$1.80] because they didn't have any idea about the disease; they thought it could even be transmitted by looking at me," Elmi told IRIN/PlusNews. "Moving from Afgoye [southern Somalia ] to Mogadishu was strange because I didn't know where to live.

"By Allah's mercy I formed a Somali civil society organization named SOPHA [Ururka Faya-dhawrka Soomaaliyeed], which has supported me," she added. "Now I am married a man who has HIV too and we continue to live together here in Mogadishu ."

According to local civil society organizations in Mogadishu , more than 300 HIV-positive individuals are registered and receiving care and support, including food supplements from the UN World Food Programme.

"Five places are testing [for HIV] in Mogadishu ... people are referred for psycho-social support after they are diagnosed," said Mohamed Sa'id, social director of the local NGO, South Central People Living with HIV. "Our members include civil servants, soldiers and so on, but they are not known because if anyone knew them, we are afraid they will be discriminated against."

But it is particularly hard to work in areas of Mogadishu controlled by the Islamist insurgent group, Al-Shabab.

"We [SOPHA] have two centres; a treatment centre in Marka, in Lower Shabelle region and our head office is in Mogadishu 's government-controlled areas," said Elmi. "In Al-Shabab-controlled areas, we can't hold workshops because they already prohibited international aid organizations to operate in areas they control in south-central Somalia . For this reason, we hold the workshops in the government areas."

According to Dahabo Abdi, a local journalist, the result is precious little HIV knowledge in the city. "The people of Mogadishu do not receive enough awareness, except sometimes radio stations speak about it," she said.

"We are not like [the self-declared republic of] Somaliland, where I have seen in the media that the people are discussing HIV/AIDS in public," said Osman Libah, deputy health minister of Somalia 's Transitional Federal Government.

Nevertheless, Elmi remains optimistic that the limited work going on in Mogadishu is having some impact on the attitudes of the city's residents.

"Several years ago, people never welcomed us because of the stigma they have about the disease, but nowadays it seems that things are changing."

Feds take action against bogus STD cures

(AP) – 4 May, 2011

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal health officials are cracking down on bogus pills and supplements that their makers claim will cure or prevent sexually transmitted diseases like HIV, herpes and genital warts.

The Food and Drug Administration announced Tuesday that it has sent warning letters to a dozen companies selling non-prescription products with names like Medavir, Herpaflor and C-Cure. The agency said none of the products have been proven to treat any disease.

"These products are dangerous because they are targeted to patients with serious conditions, where treatment options proven to be safe and effective are available," said Deborah Autor, FDA's director of drug compliance, in a statement.

FDA scientists warned that patients could waste time taking them and delay seeking medical care. Most of the products are sold over the Internet, though some may be available at drugstores.

"Health scams that endanger the public health will not be tolerated," said Richard Cleland, assistant director for advertising at the Federal Trade Commission. The FTC and FDA both oversee advertising of health care products and announced Tuesday's action together.

A website for Medavir, made by Medavir Medical Advances, claims that the product "has been proven effective in several official university research studies — including an official FDA trial."

But the FDA has never approved any non-prescription products for sexually transmitted disease, according to federal officials. Drugs are available for herpes, chlamydia, HIV and other diseases, but only via prescription. The viruses that cause herpes and HIV are incurable, though symptoms can be managed with medication.

A website for Arenvy Laboratories' ImmuneGlory solution claims the product "strengthens your immune system so that herpes or cold sores have nowhere to hide." Calls placed to both companies were not immediately returned.

The companies cited by the FDA will have 15 days to take their products off the market. If they do not, the agency can take legal action, including seizing the products and taking company officials to court.

Federal law requires all products that claim to treat a disease to undergo federal scientific review. Dietary supplements that make health claims are required to bear the disclaimer: "This statement has not been evaluated by the FDA."

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