08:40 26.10.2008 | All news from "AIDS/HIV"
Africa: Daily HIV/Aids Report
Chinese HIV/AIDS, Human-Rights Advocate Hu Jia Wins E.U. Award
[Oct 24, 2008]
Chinese HIV/AIDS and human-rights advocate Hu Jia was awarded the European Parliament's Sakharov Prize on Thursday for his work in the fight against the disease, as well as for his efforts to address civil rights and environmental issues, AFP/Yahoo! Asia News reports (AFP/Yahoo! Asia News, 10/23.) Hu currently is serving a prison sentence for allegedly attempting to subvert state power and was one of the 197 nominees for the 2008 Nobel Peace Prize (, 10/6).
According to Reuters, Hu began his work among people living with HIV/AIDS and "emerged as one of China's most vocal advocates of democratic rights, religious freedom and of self-determination for Tibet" (Brunnstrom, Reuters, 10/23). Hu in 2000 began advocating for improved treatment for HIV-positive people in China, as well as children who had lost one or both parents to AIDS-related deaths. According o the Washington Post, he focused on Henan province, where blood selling practices in the 1990s led to the spread of the virus (Eunjung Cha, Washington Post, 10/24).
Lawmakers Daniel Cohn-Bendit and Monica Frassoni said, "Awarding the Sakharov to Hu Jia is a reflection of this very spirit of this prize, which supports free thought and honors human-rights defenders fighting repression" (AFP/Yahoo! Asia News, 10/23). European Parliament President Hans-Gert Poettering added that Hu is "one of the real defenders of human rights in the People's Republic of China" and that by awarding him the Sakharov Prize, the "European Parliament is sending out a signal of clear support to all those who support human rights in China" (Ames, AP/Google.com, 10/23). Gao Yaojie, a prominent HIV/AIDS advocate in China, said, "We didn't do anything wrong. The only thing we did was to help HIV-positive people. But we were always under great pressure from the government" (Yardley, New York Times, 10/24).
The annual E.U. prize is named after Soviet Union advocate and dissident Andrei Sakharov and was first awarded in 1988. The formal award ceremony -- which includes a monetary prize of $64,280 -- will take place on Dec. 17 in Strasbourg, France (Reuters, 10/23).
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Caribbean Needs To Increase Efforts Against HIV/AIDS, U.N. Official Says
[Oct 24, 2008]
Increased efforts are needed to bolster HIV/AIDS prevention, care, treatment and education in the Caribbean, Karen Sealy, head of the UNAIDS Caribbean office, said recently at the seventh annual United States Chiefs of Mission Conference on HIV/AIDS, the Caribbean Media Corporation reports. Sealy said that 38 people in the region die from AIDS-related causes daily and that 55 new HIV cases occur each day in the Caribbean, adding that high-risk groups include commercial sex workers and men who have sex with men. An increase in HIV/AIDS cases also is being recorded among drug users, Sealy said, adding that "perhaps the category that we have not identified is that of prisoners." In addition, she said, "We know that the spread of HIV in the Caribbean is in fact being fueled by serious gaps in gender equality," adding, "All the countries of the Americas which have homosexuality as a crime are now located in the Caribbean region."
Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Patrick Manning said that "one of the true successes" of the country's efforts to curb the spread of HIV/AIDS is the decrease in mother-to-child transmissions because of the no-cost antiretroviral drugs provided to all pregnant women who receive treatment at government clinics. Manning said that many of the people living with HIV/AIDS in Trinidad and Tobago are able to live "a high quality of life" because of the country's health care program but added that more work needs to be done to address the spread of HIV.
According to the Caribbean Media Corporation, the Caribbean has the second highest HIV/AIDS prevalence rate worldwide after sub-Saharan Africa (Caribbean Media Corporation, 10/22). UNAIDS figures show that an estimated 230,000 people are living with HIV/AIDS in the region and that 14,000 AIDS-related deaths were recorded last year (Kaiser Family Foundation fact sheet, July 2008).
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Program Provides Teachers in Papua New Guinea With HIV/AIDS Training
[Oct 24, 2008]
Primary public school teachers in Papua New Guinea's capital of Port Moresby recently completed a two-week workshop aimed at providing them with the skills to teach young people about HIV/AIDS prevention, Papua New Guinea's Post-Courier reports. The program was run by the country's Education Department and UNAIDS and focused on a life-skills approach to HIV prevention. During the sessions, teachers were trained on providing students with the skills and behaviors that will enable them to avoid contracting HIV, Joe Anang of UNAIDS said. According to Anang, this approach is based on the fact that many young people find decisions about sexual relationships difficult to make despite having knowledge about how to live healthy lifestyles, the Post-Courier reports. This makes youth vulnerable to HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, Anang said.
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