Ndawo yam'

Worse than animals...well most animals

2011-11-10T11:12:00.000+02:00

Yes, African leadership is

Political, Religious, Financial, Spiritual, Traditional thewhole damn lot

Watching animal channel you learn a lot about animals. Youlearn how the lioness goes out and hunts for the pack. The hyenas hunt as agroup, birds go to the extent of chewing the food swallowing and then regurgitatingthe food directly into the digestive system of their young. A bitch (femaledog...just in case) will take the life out of you should you in anyway threatenher puppies. No one dare threaten the eagle’s young that just plain suicidal.
We have the exception of animals like the snake they don’t care much abouttheir young and the pig that cares about its young only when food is available.Food runs out that young one is the main meal.

The natural cycle of life is that the parent looks after andtends to the young. Parent goes out and fends for the family. Our continent hasparents true but because of disease, war and strife you will find that theparent to child ratio has changed significantly and you find more and morechildren without parents. These children tend to fend for themselves, whilst livingin traditional, communal, religious yes and political communities. Now whoseresponsibility are they? I am Bantu living in Bantu land and we in this regionboast of our Ubuntu (umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu :: I am because you are) now getthis, this region boasting of all that has the highest number of orphans due todisease and then we go Central and Western Africa war and strife made thoseorphans.

To put it politically, spiritually or whatever lly youchoose, these children are state property. Because their parents are gone thatdoes not mean no one has the responsibility to look after them. They sure asanything belong to the state when the state wants to tax them and demand ofanything from them but surprisingly they have no one listening to them whenthey need a parent. When it is time for tithes and offerings the church demandsthat of all its members but does it go out and minister true Christianity whichis love thy neighbour?

A dog knows how to tear down a threat to its young; ourcommunity knows how to prey on its young we have grown men sexually satisfyingthemselves at the expense of a poor girls’/boys’ only asset that poverty willnever take away from them, their body. The sentences these people get shouldthey be prosecuted at all are all slaps in the face of these children. They donot deter these perpetrators at all. And before the religious zealots out thereget all holy on me, there is nothing spiritual or morally wrong with a hungrychild watching their siblings stave and the whole world has abandoned them.Walk 10 steps in the shoes of those children before you condemn them to onehell or another. They are just hungry children.

Come rain come shine animals do not rest until their youngare fed. Dear leaders what species are you that you ignore the young of yourland. Half of you are treating one condition or another borne of yourselfishness; you eat too much you are obese and have a heart condition orrecovering from your second heart attack. There are children who stand by theroad and wave at your motorcade and they are malnourished they have not had adecent meal in days.
You have high blood pressure or treating one form on disease or another plainlybecause your stress levels are ridiculously high and this is because you havestole too much. That child by the way side needs a fraction of your dailyoverpriced lunch money to survive for the month.
You drive the latest car? Ordering another? Just bought a jet? One child walksa minimum of 7 km to get to the nearest health facility.

I do not begrudge anyone their success but I do think youare all very selfish and plainly put stupid. Morally you have failed the peoplewho need you the most. Being a leader means being a servant. Without thosepeople you call your parish, constituency or community what are you? And shameon you Christian leaders this is something you do not even need to be remindedof as followers of Christ He did show you the epitome of leadership servitudeup to the point of serving up His life and how are you living yours?
Political leaders should you be honest enough to take audit of the people whohave died well let’s just say of hunger during your tenure in office, how doesthat reflect on your obese self?

Do we just give up on him?

One of the most lucrative business lines in sub SaharanAfrica is nongovernmental organisations/ non profit organisations/ charities.Organisations that mainly exist outside the structure of the main government todo the work the government is failing to do. I will break it down further it ishaving a Dutch/ German/French/ British man come into my household and buy breadfor my siblings and I because my fatherhas refused to share with his children the bread he is feasting on.

We as a people are responsible for the many things that arewrong in our communities. Those children are our responsibility. I am soundinglike a broken record? Wait till they break into your house because they arehungry does that not bring the problem to your door step? We might not be ableto help them all, feed them all, educate them all but what we cannot do we canpush the people who can. We can talk about this. We can come up withinitiatives no matter how small and task those that can do more to do.
Let us do something anything so that 15 years from now we do not wake up withthe worst legacy ever.

If you can't feed a million..try one

2011-10-17T14:32:00.000+02:00

Following the worst drought in 50 years, the clock is now ticking for weak and starving children across East Africa. The famine is spreading and there are five areas in Southern Somalia which have now been declared in famine.

Join hands with UNICEF to help fight for the children in the horn of Africa.

....Pardon me for saying this but shame on the leaders of this land who have let this happen. This is a famine in as much as there are natural causes to this the human ones are making it very very hard to curb the natural ones. We must learn from our past and as we fight our political battles remember the millions who suffer as a result of political decisions beign made.
When children suffer get this OUR FUTURE SUFFERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WAYS TO DONATE

R60 could provide a child with life-saving food for a week

Make your secure online payment by clicking here.

Through a direct deposit into our NEDBANK account:
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Account number: 149 721 6230
Branch: Pretoria Corporate
Branch code: 160 445
SWIFT code: NEDSZAJJ (for international transfers)
Ref: Horn of Africa

By cheque or postal order (made payable to UNICEF South Africa) and posted to us at:
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By debit order: download your gift form here [PDF] to pledge your support every month.

Via Internet banking/Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT), using the banking details above.

By credit card (through our secure online facility).

Nutrition for life

2011-10-10T10:34:00.001+02:00

This week we have an article from the community Tilal Ibrahim writes for the blog from North Sudan.

Hamid, a 5-month-old baby, was in terrible condition when he arrived at Hamesh Koreb Health Center. The struggling infant was immediately checked by a doctor, who diagnosed Hamid as suffering from severe acute malnutrition and a serious case of diarrhea.

He was referred to the Samaritan’s Purse nutrition department for further medical care and attention. The nutrition team immediately went to work, giving Hamid life-saving medication to stop the diarrhea, and essential food to stabilize his acute malnutrition.

Hamid was started on a strict regimen of fortified milk and vitamins every three hours, day and night, until his status approved. After 10 days, he was able to ingest another fortified milk suppliment given once the infant reached a certain weight, which the nutrition staff gave him for another seven days.

Insaf, one of the nutritionists looking after his case, rejoiced as Hamid’s condition improved.

“He started playing, laughing and crying like a normal baby,” she said. “I feel happy when seeing his health improve. During these days I used to visit him many times even during the night.”

Hamid is the fourth child for his mother, Madina, who is only 22. The baby has scars throughout his belly from the family’s attempts to treat him through the local healers. When their efforts continued to fail and his conditioned worsened, they brought him to the hospital.

The Samaritan’s Purse nutrition program is currently serving 300 children in Hamesh Koreb (a town about 300 miles northeast of Khartoum) and surrounding villages. The work is done through a partnership with local government and UNICEF. The team works tirelessly to give kids like Hamid a second chance at life. Our staff are excited that the program is expanding into new villages in 2011.

-
Tilal Ibrahim

What I find interesting is how childrens' stories on this continent are the same. Different languages, cultures, religions but the problems the children on this continent face are the same. This is a story of hope but what of the million other Hamids who do not make it to the health center.
Did anyone else notice that Hamid's mother is 22. She is 22 and has four children. I would give anything to sit with her and just find out what her own dreams are and what she wishes for her children.

2011-09-30T14:44:00.000+02:00

Vimbiso

One year ago two sisters left their home in Chitungwiza, Zimbabwe in search of a better life. Aged 15 and 12 Vimbiso and her older sister made it from Chitungwiza by whatever means to the border in Beitbridge and crossed over into Musina in South Africa.

Vimbiso looking toward the car

Before I go on what drew my attention to this story was how bad was the situation at home that a parent can let a 12 year old girl go off with her sister to make a life for themselves. The girls in question told me that they lied to their parents as to where they are going but never the reason for going off. Granted the parents did not know they would end up across the border but the girls did get permission to go into the world and make a living at 12 and 15.

The journey from Chitungwiza to the border is fraught with many many dangers for adults now imagine two young girls. They are at the mercy of who so ever they put their trust in and in most cases these are bus drivers, long distance truck drivers and traffickers.

They clearly made it to the border and crossed the border meaning they went through the Zimbabwean border and also the South African borders as unaccompanied minors.

These girls are illegal migrants at this tender age. They do not have any documentation and hence they do try their best to fly under the radar and avoid detection by the authorities. They join the continously growing population of child migrants on the Musina streets.

When I first spoke to Vimbiso I had pried her out of the hands of a female guard who wanted to 'discipline' her for sniffing glue. The guard said it was her job on the line if Vimbiso was caught with the glue on the premises on her shift, true but man handlig a 13 year old girl to the point that she was topless during the scuffle is uncalled for. So I offered to escort Vimbiso off the premises so the guard's job would not be in danger.

As we walked off together I began asking her to give me the glue but she refused saying it wasn't hers and should she get back to 'base' without it there would be trouble for her. I did not push her to give me the packet but as we walked I offered her a packet of MnMs and from that unlikely connection she shared her story with me.

I asked her why she sniffed the glue (someone had told me they did this because they were hungry) she just said she did it because everyone else did it. I asked where she lived and she told me she slept at the post office. And food? They beg. School? No (There are a few centers in Musina offering free education for migrant children). I asked her if she could have one thing in the world what would she want and she said she would like to go back home.

She is a girl who has supposedly been living hard for the past year on the streets of a border town. I do not believe that all her meals come from begging, I am inclined to believe that at one point or another she could have been in a position where prostitution would be an alternative source of income. This is me thinking I do not have facts and she did not say these things to me but having been in the town for a week I observed a lot of prostitution and the ladies walking the streets bars and brothels were aged between Vimbiso's 13 to their late 40s.

There are many Vimbiso's in this and other countries. Young girls who run away from home in search of greener pastures but they do not know how much the water bill of that green patch is and initially they try their hardest to pay the bill but the world is cruel the higher it gets the more they have to pay and hence they now have to sacrifice not only their bodies but their dignity as well.

Help is needed from two angles where the girsl come from and where they end up. The truth has to be told to the ones about to start the trip. In the areas they end up people must be given an understanding of the fears and situations these young girls are in and have.

The African continent is full like these girls who are not getting any education (the one that gets you a job) and in a few years when they have to be employed they are unemployable and open to more abuse.

Plans have been put in place to ensure Vimbiso and her sister go back home, but noone knows if they will stay.

Should you meet a Vimbiso this is her story talk to her and find out what she wants. What do you think shold be done to help such girls?

Open Letter to Navi Pillay

2011-07-13T10:15:00.002+02:00

As a Human Rights activist I have worked with and received protection and help from the many conventions that come under the United Nations. The conventions make it legal for us to campaign for the many causes we stand for they make them legal and they unite us in the many nations we work from.

It has been a source of comfort until this week. Senegal was ready to repatriate Hissene Habre and your office appealed against that.
Besides asking why my first question is where is the justice for the poor and the many souls he killed and tortured??
Why does the Convention Against Torture work to protect the perpetrator and never the victim?

We live and work on a continent where the poor, the voiceless and those with no title in the past or present do not know what justice is. They put up with abuses from every angle in their lives. The ones meant to protect them will not do so without some form of 'initiative'. The justice system somehow does not recognise you should you be nameless. You are born the looser and should nothing miraculous happen in your life be pretty certain you are going to die in that way. In as much as individuals work for the change of these situations change is very very far from coming.
Firstly because very few people are willing to say anything and when they say things start lobbying and advocating for change if they do not die they get frustrated. Frustration comes from brick wall after brick wall. The right intentions are there abut the support to end the fight somehow disappears in bureaucracy.

Hissene Habre has a history that is well known. The man butchered unknown numbers of people from 1982 - 1990. He carried out ethnic cleansing in 1984, 1987 and 1989. His secret police brought untold suffering to anyone who dared stand against him 200 000 recorded. He was a bloodthirsty tyrant and torturer history shows and Human Rights Watch has more than enough evidence.

For 17 years this man has lived in exile and under 'house arrest' and in some sort of comfort obviously and the whole world knows. It took Dakar donkey years to come up with some sort of legislature to try him and guess what THEY STILL HAVEN'T DONE ANYTHING.
Then they decide to extradite him on July 11 and your office campaigned against it and you won, obviously.

I am writing to ask for justice for the victims of this man's many crimes. I am writing for the restoration of fairness. I am writing for powers to be given to the powerless. I am writing for the giving of dignity to those that have been stripped of it by his 'human rights' which apparently did not count when he denied other people.

This man has to be tried. People like you should stop protecting him. Let justice prevail. Wipe the tears off the many orphans he created the widows and widowers whose lives he forever changed.
This is the human side to human rights defending.

In being politically correct you are rendering years and years of work lobbying and advocating worthless. There are people who need protection this man is not one of them. This continued support and protection being given to him is serving as an allowance for countless other tyrants to continue on their course of action now...knowing your office will plead their case when time come for them to face the music.

THIS NEEDS TO STOP!

20 Years of Children's rights between law and practice

2009-06-17T15:06:00.002+02:00

The Institute of Child Health, University College London held this conference from the 11th to the 12th of June. I was invited to speak at this conference. I would like to extend my thanks to the institute for giving African children this platform and to all the organisations that have supported me.

Child Rights: Entitlements or Luxuries? That which is mine but not mine.  

HIV/AIDS impacts heavily on the lives of all children that it affects all their rights - civil, political, economic, social and cultural. At the beginning of this fight practitioners looked at HIV as a health issue. The way the virus has developed and spread in Africa has lead to the violation of all the children's rights.

A person once said Human Rights are carefully constructed english words adorning thick books but do nothing for the person on the ground.
To an activist that is insulting to a person on the ground there can never be a truer word spoken. Human rights are guidelines and tools set to help different individuals internationally. But you find that in many situations the tool they are never gets to the intended person. Different situations make this so and I will explore reasons that create that divide between the tool and the intended receipient.

The first is the socio-political climate in Zimbabwe.
The political landscape divides the population into haves and have nots and we will explore what this means for children.  
Haves 
- access to GOOD education 
- access to information TV and internet 
- confident well versed - informed child 
- aware of their rights and can advocate for them and know how best to get them 
- the luxuries of their lives allow a right to be a right 
- they have the luxury to demand their rights 

Have nots 
- access to basic education 
- no internet or TV  
- often lacking in confidence  
- they often cannot afford to demand that which is not given 

 This is for any child imagine how it is when you factor in HIV and AIDS

The second factor is Culture and Religion

Culture and religion
The most disturbing thing about the influence of culture and religion on the access or lack of the rights of a child is that in the societies there their influence is so strong it is rarely if ever realised, and this leads to more abuse.

In Africa before formal education religion and culture are the education given to each child. The way of life as is is passed on to the children. As dynamic as our culture is there are practices that do not evolve, and you find a lot of these practices propel and support human rights abuses. The structure of African culture does not allow anyone to challenge the status quo.

Article 28 of the convention states that every child has the right to education. A child coming from a household with other siblings and whose primary care givers who are HIV positive, relinquishes all rights that they hold and take up survival at whatever cost in any way.

The video below shows you that in other children's lives child rights are indeed a luxury

Pain in My Heart

2008-08-16T15:36:00.001+02:00

Video used as part of Presentation. The whole powerpoint presentation is useless without me talking so I will find a way to combine the two. Many thanks to Hopewell Chin'ono your work has made an amazing difference in my own work.

Children and the Future of Africa - Noerine Kaleeba

2008-08-08T11:52:00.000+02:00

Today we know that African children infected and affected by HIV/AIDS are the ultimate developmental nightmare for a continent grappling with major socio-economic problems. According to UNAIDS, every day around the world, 2,000 infants contract HIV through their mothers—95% of these infants are Africans. Every day, 6,000 children lose one or both parents to AIDS—more than 90% of these children are Africans. Every day, 1600 children die of AIDS—90% of these children are Africans. Today, a child in Southern Africa has a 50% chance of dying from AIDS. Today in Africa, 95% of pregnant mothers do not have access to health programs that can significantly reduce the incidence of mother-to-child transmission of HIV. The worst is yet to come. According to UNAIDS, UNICEF, and USAID, by 2010 at least 20 million AIDS orphans will live in Africa.

Until then, large numbers of children orphaned by AIDS will become young adults. Whether these children are socialized, educated, clothed, or fed, they will assume their role in the society. Twenty million uneducated, street-hardened, weather-beaten, and ultimately bitter African children will present formidable challenges to our continent and the world.

February 2008

THE CHILDREN THAT ARE NOT.....................

2008-08-07T12:58:00.001+02:00

MUSINA - Zimbabwean children are being drawn to South Africa to run errands and perform piecemeal jobs for shoppers from their own country - who are heading south because of the unavailability of basic goods in their own country.
The South African border town of Musina has become a shopper's paradise for Zimbabweans; these days there appear to be more vehicles with Zimbabwean registration plates than there are with South African ones. The town is also a regional trucking hub. The collapse of Zimbabwe's economy, with annual inflation officially estimated at 2.2 million percent, has turned Musina into a boom town. "Don't worry mkoma [brother] I will look after your car, your small boy is here," a boy shouts to the Zimbabwean driver who has parked his car outside the supermarket. The 14-year-old Zimbabwean boy, who declined to be identified, told IRIN: "I do not charge a fixed amount - some give me R5 per car, some give me food, and some just drive away."Polite Mpofu, 15, who gathers with other children at a South African café frequented by truckers as night falls, earns money by loading and unloading goods from taxis and buses crossing the border. Barefoot and dressed in rags, he says travellers rely on his services. Talent Dube, 13, from Zvishavane, told IRIN his main business was collecting discarded water bottles in South Africa and then selling them in Zimbabwe, where they are in huge demand. "I make more money in South Africa, especially when I carry the 20 litres of fuel - I am paid R10. The Zimbabweans across the border pay in Zimbabwe dollars, which cannot buy anything," he said, waiting for a driver to leave the food promised to him. A security guard at a truck stop told IRIN that there appeared to be more children coming to South Africa since the disputed elections in Zimbabwe in March and June."Some of the children come in from Zimbabwe in the morning and return in the evening. They go through the border and no one seems to do anything to stop them from crossing," said the guard, who declined to be identified. "I am worried about the little girls who enter the parking lot for the trucks, one wonders what happens in the dark, the girls can be raped." Sally, 14, from Zimbabwe, earns money by running errands for street traders. She told IRIN that the South African police did not arrest or interrogate the younger children, although this was not the case with children in their late teens."We actually sleep next to the police houses at night, we are safer there,"she said. A 2007 report by Save the Children (UK): Children on the move - Protecting unaccompanied migrant children in South Africa and the region, said the main pull factors for most of the unaccompanied migrant children living in South Africa stemmed from the belief that they had a better chance of finding work or other income-earning opportunities and going to school than if they remained in their home country. - IRIN

God Help Us to do right by these children

Critics

2008-08-06T12:41:00.001+02:00

"It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes short again and again, who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause, who at best knows achievement and who at the worst if he fails at least fails while daring greatly so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.

From a speech given in Paris at the Sorbonne in 1911

"Theodore Roosevelt"

Sub-Saharan Africa - HIV/AIDS Policy Fact Sheet July 2008...and my thoughts obviously

2008-08-05T11:18:00.004+02:00

http://www.kff.org/hivaids/upload/7391-071.pdf
I will summarize....67% of the people living with HIV, 70% of the new infections and 75% of HIV related deaths are found in this region which amazingly has 11 - 12% of the world's population! Forget malaria and everything else HIV is the leading cause of death in this region. South Africa has 5.7 million people living with the HI Virus...the highest number in the world and Swaziland small as it is has the highest prevalence in the world.
Women are infected more than men in this region.
Now get this of all the children living with HIV in the world 1.8 million live in this region which is 90% of the world's under 15 HIV +ve AND 11.6 million of the world’s 15.0 million AIDS orphans live in Sub- Saharan Africa.

Now if you have been reading my recent entries you will see that I am moving my work to these children. 11.6 million was the population of the whole of Zimbabwe in 2002 that gives you the scale of what that figure means. Now we know the risk of HIV infection and it's impact feeds on the violations of human rights including discrimination against women and marginalized groups such as sex workers and people who inject drugs which also begets further violations such as further discrimination and in some cases violence.

Now you have right now 11.6 million children living in areas where a lot of their human rights are a luxury. They do not know them as rights and access to them is well you can sum that up.
Sub Saharan Africa is sitting on a time bomb right now. These children need major help. They need access to education and facilities that equip them to be citizens who are able to build the region. Another thing we all usually over look is that these children need to be in a society where they get support, encouragement and love.

Life has been very hard for these children from a very early age and they have suffered discrimination at very early stages in their lives. Foster care in places like Zimbabwe is difficult and I feel this is where the communities step in. Just to love and nurture and to give time. This can be done by people already in the communities and the churches we have.

If we are too busy to do this we run the risk of having a lot of anti-social behaviour in our midst which starts that cycle of abuse that makes HIV feel at home. I believe support for these communities is a key point in the fight against HIV.

What HIV orphans really mean....

2008-07-31T17:55:00.000+02:00

You have a society where kids haven't been to school and therefore can't fulfill even basic jobs ... a society where a large proportion can have anti-social instincts because their lives will have been so hard. You have a generation of children who will be more vulnerable to exploitation and to disease because they won't have the same sense of self-worth....Mr. Stephen Lewis, UN special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa 2001

Sub-Saharan Africa - 2008 report on the global AIDS epidemic

2008-07-31T17:03:00.002+02:00

An estimated 1.9 million people were newly infected with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa in 2007, bringing to 22 million the number of people living with HIV. Two thirds (67%) of the global total of 32.9 million people with HIV live in this region, and three quarters (75%) of all AIDS deaths in 2007 occurred there.
Sub-Saharan Africa’s epidemics vary significantly from country to country in both scale and scope. Adult national HIV prevalence is below 2% in several countries of West and Central Africa, as well as in the horn of Africa, but in 2007 it exceeded 15% in seven southern African countries (Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia, and Zimbabwe), and was above 5% in seven other countries, mostly in Central and East Africa (Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Gabon, Malawi, Mozambique, Uganda, and the United Republic of Tanzania).

Recent epidemiological trends
Most epidemics in sub-Saharan Africa appear to have stabilized, although often at very high levels, particularly in southern Africa. Additionally, in a growing number of countries, adult HIV prevalence appears to be falling. For the region as a whole, women are disproportionately affected in comparison with men, with especially stark differences between the sexes in HIV prevalence among young people.
In southern Africa, reductions in HIV prevalence are especially striking in Zimbabwe, where HIV prevalence in pregnant women attending antenatal clinics fell from 26% in 2002 to 18% in 2006. In Botswana, a drop in HIV prevalence among pregnant 15–19-year-olds (from 25% in 2001 to 18% in 2006) suggests that the rate of new infections could be slowing. The epidemics in Malawi and Zambia also appear to have stabilized, amid some evidence of favourable behaviour changes and signs of declining HIV prevalence among women using antenatal services in some urban areas.
HIV data from antenatal clinics in South Africa suggest that the country’s epidemic might be stabilizing, but there is no evidence yet of major changes in HIV-related behaviour. The estimated 5.7 million South Africans living with HIV in 2007 make this the largest HIV epidemic in the world. Meanwhile, the 26% HIV prevalence found in adults in Swaziland in 2006 is the highest prevalence ever documented in a national population-based survey anywhere in the world.
In Lesotho and parts of Mozambique, HIV prevalence among pregnant women is increasing. In some of the provinces in the central and southern zones of the country, adult HIV prevalence has reached or exceeded 20%, while infections continue to increase among young people (ages 15–24).
HIV prevalences in the comparatively smaller epidemics in East Africa have either reached a plateau or are receding. After dropping dramatically in the 1990s, adult national HIV prevalence in Uganda has stabilized at 5.4%. However, there are signs of a possible resurgence in sexual risk-taking that could cause the epidemic to grow again. For example, the proportion of adult men and women who say they had sex with a person who was not a spouse and did not live with the respondent has grown since 1995 (from 12% to 16% for women and 29% to 36% for men). Most of the comparatively smaller HIV epidemics in West Africa are stable or are declining—as is the case for Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, and Mali. In Côte d’Ivoire, HIV prevalence among pregnant women in urban areas fell from 10% in 2001 to 6.9% in 2005. The largest epidemic in West Africa—in Nigeria, the continent’s most populous country—appears to have stabilized at 3.1%, according to HIV infection trends among women attending antenatal clinics.
Main modes of HIV transmission
Heterosexual intercourse remains the epidemic’s driving force in sub-Saharan Africa. The high rate of sexual transmission has also given rise to the world’s largest population of children living with HIV. However, recent epidemiological evidence has revealed the region’s epidemic to be more diverse than previously thought.
Heterosexual intercourse related to serodiscordant couples
According to Demographic and Health Surveys in five African countries (Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, and the United Republic of Tanzania), two thirds of HIVinfected couples were serodiscordant, that is only one partner was infected. Condom use was found to be rare: in Burkina Faso, for example, almost 90% of the surveyed cohabiting couples said they did not use a condom the last time they had sex.
A separate, community-based study in Uganda has shown that, among serodiscordant heterosexual couples, the uninfected partner has an estimated 8% annual chance of contracting HIV. Strikingly, in about 30% – 40% of the serodiscordant couples surveyed, the infected partner was female. Indeed, it appears that more than half of the surveyed HIV-infected women who were married or cohabiting had been infected by someone other than their current partner.
Sex work
Sex work is an important factor in many of West Africa’s HIV epidemics. More than one third (35%) of female sex workers surveyed in 2006 in Mali were living with HIV, and infection levels exceeding 20% have been documented among sex workers in Senegal and Burkina Faso. Sex work plays an important, but less central, role in HIV transmission in southern Africa, where exceptionally high background prevalence results in substantial HIV transmission during sexual intercourse unrelated to sex work.
Injecting drug use
Injecting drug use is a factor to some extent in several of the HIV epidemics in East and southern Africa, including Mauritius, where the use of contaminated injecting equipment is the main cause of HIV infection. In various studies, about half of the injecting drug users tested in the Kenyan cities of Mombassa (50%) and Nairobi (53%) were HIV positive.
Sex between men
Several recent studies suggest that unprotected anal sex between men is probably a more important factor in the epidemics in sub-Saharan Africa than is commonly thought. In Zambia, one in three (33%) surveyed men who have sex with men tested HIV-positive. In the Kenyan port city of Mombasa, 43% of men who said they had sex only with other men were found to be living with HIV. HIV prevalence of 22% was found among the 463 men who have sex with men who participated in a study in Dakar, Senegal.

HIV drugs 'add 13 years of life'

2008-07-25T11:38:00.000+02:00

Life expectancy for people with HIV has increased by an average of 13 years since the late 1990s thanks to better HIV treatment, a study says.
Researchers said it meant HIV was now effectively a chronic condition like diabetes, rather than a fatal disease, the Lancet reported.
The team, involving Bristol University staff, looked at over 43,000 patients.
The study found a person now diagnosed at 20 years old could expect to live for another 49 years.
But the Antiretroviral Therapy Cohort Collaboration, which includes scientists from across Europe and Northern America, warned this was still short of the life expectancy for the wider population which stands at about 80.
These advances have transformed HIV from being a fatal disease, which was the reality for patients before the advent of combination treatment, into a long-term chronic condition
Professor Jonathan Sterne, lead researcher
Antiretroviral treatment for HIV consists of drugs which work against the infection itself by slowing down the replication of the virus in the body.
This method of therapy was introduced in the 1990s, but has since become more effective and better tolerated.
The researchers looked at life expectancy during three time periods after the introduction of the drugs - 1996-9, 2000-2 and 2003-5 - in high income countries.
Just over 2,000 patients died during the study periods.
They found that while patients aged 20 diagnosed in the 1990s could expect to live another 36 years, that had increased by 13 years by 2003-5.
During the middle time period, life expectancy stood at an extra 41 years.
Success
Lead researcher Professor Jonathan Sterne said: "These advances have transformed HIV from being a fatal disease, which was the reality for patients before the advent of combination treatment, into a long-term chronic condition."
He added the development was a "testament" to the success of the anti-HIV drugs.
But the researchers warned those diagnosed later in the course of the infection had a much shorter life expectancy.
Marc Thompson, deputy head of health promotion at the Terrence Higgins Trust, said: "HIV medication has become much more effective since the early days.
"There has been great progress, but research needs to continue, especially for those who have developed resistance to some drugs and are running out of options."
But he added the study also highlighted the need for early diagnosis, pointing out an estimated a third of people with HIV do not know they have it.
Deborah Jack, of the National Aids Trust, said: "Hopefully, this study will encourage more people to come forward for testing but we need to better educate doctors about the signs and symptoms to look for.
"Society also needs to catch-up with the fact that HIV is a long-term condition that thousands of people in the UK are living with everyday.
"HIV is not deserved of the fear or stigma that still surrounds it."

Amazing how this is not so in the motherland.

The Child Rights that are not

2008-07-24T14:43:00.002+02:00

Last night I gave a talk titled Holding up half the sky - pain in my heart. It was a very difficult talk to work on very emotional and I needed so much emotional support preparing and presenting it. I would like to thank all my friends who came and the new friends I made. The people who traveled from so far off from York to come and listen I am so humbled that you might honour me so.

Robert Half once said "When one teaches, two learn"
My talk followed the lives of two HIV positive Zimbabweans living in Zimbabwe with the current socio-economic conditions. I will post the video for those who would like to see. I will ignore the life of the gentleman in the video and focus on Angeline and her daugther Beauty. Angeline a single mother HIV positive had noone to look after her when she was really ill. She looked to her 10 year old daughter Beauty.

Beauty as the strong african girl she is rose to the challenge. In certain circles it is admirable to some it is amazing but at the end of the night I was a whole list of Human Right abuses no one is talking about. So I will talk about them. In writing this I refer a lot to the Convention of the Rights of the Child which makes particular referance to the State. I will ask you at this time to bear in mind that the government of Zimbabwe is currently unable to provide a lot of what it signed up to but I would like to draw you to Article 24 of the same convention which says '1. States Parties recognize the right of the child to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health and to facilities for the treatment of illness and rehabilitation of health. States Parties shall strive to ensure that no child is deprived of his or her right of access to such health care services.
2. States Parties shall pursue full implementation of this right and, in particular, shall take appropriate measures:
(a) To diminish infant and child mortality;
(b) To ensure the provision of necessary medical assistance and health care to all children with emphasis on the development of primary health care;
(c) To combat disease and malnutrition, including within the framework of primary health care, through, inter alia, the application of readily available technology and through the provision of adequate nutritious foods and clean drinking-water, taking into consideration the dangers and risks of environmental pollution;
(d) To ensure appropriate pre-natal and post-natal health care for mothers;
(e) To ensure that all segments of society, in particular parents and children, are informed, have access to education and are supported in the use of basic knowledge of child health and nutrition, the advantages of breastfeeding, hygiene and environmental sanitation and the prevention of accidents;
(f) To develop preventive health care, guidance for parents and family planning education and services.
3. States Parties shall take all effective and appropriate measures with a view to abolishing traditional practices prejudicial to the health of children.
4. States Parties undertake to promote and encourage international co-operation with a view to achieving progressively the full realization of the right recognized in the present article. In this regard, particular account shall be taken of the needs of developing countries. '
Those needs have been met by aid and development agencies.

The convention of the rights of the child states in Article 3 that 'In all actions concerning children, whether undertaken by public or private social welfare institutions, courts of law, administrative authorities or legislative bodies, the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration.'

When you look at Beauty legally she is a child but in every other aspect she is no longer a child. Looking at her situation what is within her best interests? Are those interests I think are best for her realistic in her own world? Let's Explore.

Beauty at age 10 is looking after her terminally ill mother. She has no protective clothing whatsoever in all the work she does. She bathes her mother. Changes and washes linen when need be. In any other society Angeline should be taken to a hospice but this is in Zimbabwe 2007 that is a luxury mother and daughter cannot consider. If she must look after an ailing person a young child must be presented with protective clothing. Some training on how to protect herself from contamination would go a long way.
Article 17 of the CRC says: 'States Parties recognize the important function performed by the mass media and shall ensure that the child has access to information and material from a diversity of national and international sources, especially those aimed at the promotion of his or her social, spiritual and moral well-being and physical and mental health. '

Beauty cooks for her mother and siblings forget the fact that at 10 she is the sole supporter of 4 individuals an adult included. They survive on Sadza and sugar beans. These two foods give her nothing but starch. Different organisations in Zimbabwe are giving food. It is very admirable and I along with a lot of people in Zimbabwe am very grateful for that. Sadza is top on any family's food list and families will go all out to get it. Would it be possible to add more variety to the food. Instead of a 50kg bag of beans how about cutting that to 25kg investing in a CBO and aiding them to have a community vegetable patch to aide people like beauty.
My point in this is if you take to helping why not do it in such a way that if qualitative instead of quantitative. I am also of the opinion that a qualitative approach creates a self sustaining community not always waiting for hand outs.
Article 24:2 c points out that 'States Parties shall pursue full implementation of this right and, in particular, shall take appropriate measures:(c) To combat disease and malnutrition, including within the framework of primary health care, through, inter alia, the application of readily available technology and through the provision of adequate nutritious foods and clean drinking-water, taking into consideration the dangers and risks of environmental pollution '

Beauty is still in school that is something to be grateful for. She lives in a semi urban area. Children in rural Zimbabwe usually get to school so tired from walking long distances to school. Beauty gets to school tired from the morning chores then the walk. Her breakfast is whatever she can salvage from the previous night's meal. Now we have her in school tired and severly malnourished what benefit are those few hours in school? Is it of any benefit to her to go to school? In addition to her right to education Beauty has the right Article 28: 1(e) to have someone 'Take measures to encourage regular attendance at schools and the reduction of drop-out rates. ' Her right to education right is being met but how effective and real is it? A lot of aspects of her life have to change to make the education right real.

Beauty is in primary school now and will be going to secondary school. Some one has to pay for that. With the death of her mother and absence of a guardian what line does she take in her life? She has no resources available to her to earn a living. She has noone to turn to. Noone to look after.

Alicia keys in Africa : journey to the motherland Part 1

2008-07-18T14:58:00.001+02:00

Alicia keys in Africa : journey to the motherland Part 2

2008-07-18T14:57:00.005+02:00

Alicia keys in Africa : journey to the motherland Part 3

2008-07-18T14:57:00.003+02:00

Alicia keys in Africa : journey to the motherland Part 4

2008-07-18T14:57:00.001+02:00

Alicia keys in Africa : journey to the motherland Part 5

2008-07-18T14:56:00.003+02:00

Alicia keys in Africa : journey to the motherland Part 6

2008-07-18T14:56:00.001+02:00

Sharon Speaks at Child Participation Seminar...

2008-07-17T13:26:00.002+02:00

http://docs.google.com/Presentation?docid=dct62w4m_2656rtvdd7&hl=en

Sharon doing what she does best....

2008-07-17T13:17:00.002+02:00

Talking...

Sharon on BBC Radio York

2008-07-17T13:15:00.002+02:00

This Sunday 20 July 2008 Breakfast Show talking about HIV and AIDS in Zimbabwe....
http://www.bbc.co.uk/northyorkshire/local_radio/

What do you see in the mirror?

2008-07-17T13:09:00.002+02:00

I spent the weekend with an interesting group of people. Zimbabweans who have left home and lived all over the world. Absorbed so much of the world they have seen, speak the languages of the world and quiet frankly they fit into any world they find themselves in. Good? Bad? Wonderful to be all that but when I take my shoes off I want to see Sharon. I want all the masks off all the fanciness off n jes be me. I like that grounds me...what do u see in the mirror at the end of the day?

Ndinokudai amai vangu

2008-07-11T11:55:00.005+02:00

I have found a force stronger than any weight of depression. A force that scatters the clouds in any situation. A force that dares and scares the word impossible. It is you mhamha. You have fought wars for me the whole world dared not fight. You stood where men could not stand for me. You trod where lions dare not go for the sake of me. You moved mountains to make a way for me.
Bulelani mama wani. Nakurata ma and may the heavens alwaise stay open for you and rain down more blessings than you can hold in ur heart and love only then can you give more to more people and be loved by all because that is your place in the sun...basking in the love of many.

Audius Mtawarira-Hold On [Shona Version]

2008-07-11T11:55:00.001+02:00

For my mother

Ndinotenda...

2008-07-10T14:51:00.003+02:00

You never give yourself enough credit so I will.... You have been very significant in the person I am today. I shall forever be grateful to you both. May God bless you ever so much for who you are and who I have become because He allowed me to meet you...