Politics and Policy

First Lady Laura Bush To Visit Haiti To Highlight U.S. HIV/AIDS Programs

[Mar 06, 2008]

First lady Laura Bush is scheduled to visit Haiti and Mexico from March 13-14 to highlight U.S. efforts to promote health care issues, including HIV/AIDS, in the region, VOA News reports (VOA News, 3/5).

White House spokesperson Dana Perino announced the trip on Wednesday, AFP/Yahoo! News reports. In Haiti, Bush will visit a USAID education program and an HIV/AIDS clinic. According to AFP/Yahoo! News, Haiti receives assistance from the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (AFP/Yahoo! News, 3/5). According to UNAIDS, the number of people living with HIV/AIDS in Haiti is estimated at about 270,000, CaribWorldNews.com reports (CaribWorldNews.com, 3/6).

In Mexico, Bush is scheduled to attend the launch of a U.S.-Mexico partnership for breast cancer awareness and research. An official in Bush's office declined to say whether she would meet with leaders from either country (AFP/Yahoo! News, 3/5).

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Across The Nation

Illinois House Rejects Legislation That Would Have Repealed Act Requiring Students To Report Their HIV Status

[Mar 06, 2008]

The Illinois House on Tuesday voted 62-43 to reject a bill (HB 4314) that would have repealed a state act requiring students to report their HIV-positive status to school principals, the Springfield State Journal Register reports. Under the act, called the Communicable Disease Prevention Act, principals are permitted to disclose the identities of HIV-positive students to school nurses and the students' teachers. In addition, principals can disclose students' identities to people who, under federal or state law, are required to determine the students' placement or education program.

"As a parent, I want the school officials to have every bit of information that they can have in order to ensure public safety for all the kids," Rep. David Reis (R), who voted against the bill, said, adding, "If we want to do some bills to help to promote HIV testing, then let's do that. If my son is playing on the basketball court with another boy (who is HIV-positive) who has a bloody nose, we want to be able to in a polite way make sure the other kids don't get infected with HIV. We're talking about a lifelong virus that could be preventable if that principal knew that the child was HIV-positive."

Ann Hilton Fisher, executive director of the AIDS Legal Council of Chicago, said that lawmakers should make efforts to improve their awareness about HIV/AIDS. "HIV is not spread through playground accidents or bloody noses," Fisher said, "It just does not happen that way. Other diseases like hepatitis can be spread that way. Schools have been required since 1995 to use universal precautions in all such accidents."

Rep. Sara Feigenholtz (D), who sponsored the bill, said that she will try to revive the bill and provide lawmakers with education about the importance of repealing the act. "I don't think people have a full understanding of what youth is faced with and the stigma that still remains around HIV and the need to protect people's privacy around health issues," Feigenholtz said (Sexton, Springfield State Journal Register, 3/5).

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Global Challenges

Uganda MPs Assess HIV/AIDS Situation in Country's Northern Region, Effects of Conflict

[Mar 06, 2008]

A group of 22 members of Uganda's Parliament last week visited five districts in the northern part of the country to assess the HIV/AIDS situation and how 20 years of conflict in the region has affected the spread of the disease, The Monitor/AllAfrica.com reports.

Elioda Tumwesigye, chair of the parliamentary committee, said that people in the region "need serious attention on HIV/AIDS and more sensitization" about the disease. According to The Monitor/AllAfrica.com, the conflict and economic situation in the region has forced girls and women into commercial sex work, increasing the spread of HIV. MP Chris Baryomunsi noted that HIV prevalence is estimated at 8.5% in the central part of the region. The MPs said they were surprised by the HIV situation in the region and the lack of access to antiretroviral drugs.

The committee visited the Lira district's AIDS Information Center, which provides HIV tests to students in the region. MP Rebecca Amuge, who represents Lira, said men in the region are "reluctant" to receive HIV tests, adding that women are more likely to be tested. The reluctance of men in the region to be tested also has affected the HIV situation in the area because "one partner will know her [HIV] status and the other doesn't," leading to increased HIV transmission between sex partners, Amuge said.

In addition to Lira, the MPs visited the districts of Amuru, Apac, Gulu and Oyam (Mahfoodh, The Monitor/AllAfrica.com, 3/5).

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Botswana National Youth Council Launches Campaign Aimed at Reducing HIV/AIDS

[Mar 06, 2008]

The Botswana National Youth Council on Saturday launched a campaign that aims to reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS among youth in the country, Botswana's Mmegi reports. According to Mmegi, the campaign -- modeled after the World AIDS Day theme of "Stop AIDS, Keep the Promise"-- will include public lectures, debates, seminars and panel discussions.

The National AIDS Coordinating Agency has committed over 800,000 pulas -- or about $124,000 -- for BNYC to develop and expand its campaign to cover most villages in the country, Mmegi reports. The campaign will be launched in villages throughout Botswana, including Hukuntsi, Hunhukwe, Kang, Kavimba, Khwai, Mababe, Mabutsane and Sankonyo.

Officially launching the campaign, Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture Moeng Pheto said the theme of the campaign encourages youth to take personal responsibility and commit to healthy lifestyles to avoid contracting HIV. "This includes providing leadership, testing for HIV, upholding such prevention measures as abstinence, faithfulness and using a condom," Pheto said. He added that despite gains made in addressing the disease, young people should realize that Botswana continues to have a very high HIV prevalence. However, Pheto said the country appears to be "witnessing a decline in overall HIV prevalence among pregnant women at antenatal clinics from 37.4% in 2003 to 32.4% in 2006" (Setshogo, Mmegi, 3/4).

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Organizations Hold Conference To Discuss HIV/AIDS-Related Issues Among Women in Pakistan

[Mar 06, 2008]

The All Pakistan Women's Association in collaboration with the United Nations Development Fund for Women and the United Nations Population Fund on Monday launched a two-day workshop to discuss HIV/AIDS-related issues among women in the country, the Daily Times reports. According to workshop participants, women in the country should receive improved HIV/AIDS education because they are at an increased risk of the disease, often due to the behavior of their male sex partners. Other topics discussed at the workshop included:

Women's vulnerability to HIV/AIDS because of biological and socioeconomic factors, such as poor hygiene, low literacy rates, less mobility, limited access to health facilities and lack of decision-making powers;

Sex education and negotiation of safer sex to prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission; and

Injection drug use, often among male partners.

Ayesha Khan of the National AIDS Control Program said that immigrants who are exposed to HIV through unprotected sex with people abroad often return home and transmit the virus to their spouses.

UNIFEM gender adviser Meagen Baldwin said it is a common misconception that HIV/AIDS cannot be transmitted to a married woman. "Most of the HIV-positive women are infected from heterosexual sex or through their marital partners," she said. According to Baldwin, Pakistan's family planning policies focus on birth control or birth spacing but little on safer-sex practices. UNFPA Representative France Douney said poverty and lack of economic opportunities have increased Pakistani women's vulnerability to the disease. "The information regarding HIV/AIDS should be included into family planning policy, and health workers should be trained to guide others about prevention of sexually transmitted infections," Douney said.

National AIDS Control Program Representative Hassan Abbas Zaheer said that there are 4,000 registered HIV/AIDS cases in Pakistan but that more accurate estimates total 80,000, with 15,000 cases occurring among women (Khalid, Daily Times, 3/4).

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Opinion

Newspapers Publish Opinion Pieces Addressing HIV/AIDS in Black Community

[Mar 06, 2008]

Two newspapers recently published opinion pieces addressing HIV/AIDS in the black community. Summaries appear below.

Warren Bolton, Columbia State: If blacks do not "get real about combating" HIV/AIDS, "an already terrible crisis will worsen," Bolton, associate editor for the State, writes in an opinion piece. Although there is a "dire need for more government funding for [HIV/AIDS] treatment and education, all citizens, black people particularly, must take responsibility for themselves and help battle this public health crisis," Bolton writes. He concludes that it is "time" the black community speaks "up and put[s] this disease on the run" (Bolton, Columbia State, 3/6).

Nelson Adams and Mohammad Akhter, Marysville Appeal-Democrat: Although President Bush "should be applauded for his efforts" to address HIV/AIDS in Africa through the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, he is "overlooking a growing public health crisis" among blacks in the U.S., Adams and Akhter -- president and executive director, respectively, of the National Medical Association -- write in an Appeal-Democrat opinion piece. According to the authors, Bush could "gain a significant head start" in addressing the disease among blacks by developing a national HIV/AIDS strategy, appointing a leader to address the epidemic and devoting more resources to black communities with high HIV/AIDS rates. They add that Bush and Congress "should take action now" to address HIV/AIDS among blacks "before treatment costs increase to astronomical levels" (Adams/Akhter, Marysville Appeal-Democrat, 3/1).

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