The issue of women continuing to be at higher risk of HIV infection than men has received considerable attention at a gathering of women's affairs ministers from Commonwealth countries underway in Uganda's capital, Kampala. Of the 53 Commonwealth member states, 38 are represented at the '8th Triennial Commonwealth Women's Affairs Ministers Meeting' (8WAMM), being held under the theme 'Financing Gender Equality for Development and Democracy'. United Nations statistics indicate that women and girls in Commonwealth countries make up a third of all HIV infections. In addition, women between the ages of 15 and 24 in sub-Saharan Africa - the region most prominently represented in the Commonwealth - are two and a half times more likely to be infected than men of the same age.
Values, Policies and Rights
This paper is a report on the development of a conceptual model delineating contexts and processes of HIV/AIDS stigma as reported by persons living with HIV/AIDS and nurses from African countries. It is part of a larger study to increase understanding of HIV/AIDS stigma.
It has been estimated that more than 80% of people in Africa use traditional medicine (TM). With the HIV/AIDS epidemic claiming many lives in Africa, the majority of people affected rely on TM mainly because it is relatively affordable and available to the poor populations who cannot afford orthodox medicine. Whereas orthodox medicine is practiced under stringent regulations and ethical guidelines emanating from The Nuremburg Code,1 African TM seems to be exempt from such scrutiny. Although recently there have been calls for TM to be incorporated into the health care system, less emphasis has been placed on ethical and regulatory issues. In this paper, an overview of the use of African TM in general, and for HIV/AIDS in particular, is given.
Governments in southern Africa are moving with zeal to address social challenges faced by women. The SADC member states view education for women and girls as a sticking point for achieving this cause. For this reason, an ambitious leap to put together the SADC gender protocol is on course.
The South African Human Rights Commission's public inquiry into health care services concluded the open hearings phase on 1 June 2007. The Commission put together a programme that created space for all who needed to be heard, on the right of everyone to access health care services as provided for in the Bill of Rights. Several organisations made submissions
The SAHRC embarked upon provincial assessments in all nine provinces in preparation for a national enquiry into the right to have access to health care. This report provides a synthesis of the findings and main themes emerging from those assessments.
An international order responsible for widespread inequalities and poverty prevents the realisation of the right to health. The affirmation of health as a human right and the definition of its relation to other human rights are essential to clarify the obligations of those involved in its realisation. This brochure discusses: the right to health and its implementation.
This article is an interview with Eveline Herfkens, executive coordinator of the Millennium Campaign, about the plight of Africa and the role of African governments in recreating poverty.She argues that too few governments in Africa have taken responsibility for themselves, for their future, and that donors have operated in a way that undermined accountability and responsibility, making African countries look more at what their donors want than what their own people want.
South Africa is likely to be the first country in the world to host an adolescent HIV vaccine trial. Adolescents may be enrolled in late 2007. In the development and review of adolescent HIV vaccine trial protocols there are many complexities to consider, and much work to be done if these important trials are to become a reality.
Citing a high rate of maternal deaths due to illegal, unsafe abortions, Mozambique policymakers are considering legalising the procedure. The country may eventually become one of only a handful in Africa where abortion is available on demand. The push for the new legislation, officially introduced earlier this year, has come from the Mozambican health ministry, arguing that unsafe abortion is the third leading cause of death among pregnant women in the country. Mozambique has one of the highest maternal death rates in the world.