Men in ZAMBIA Feel Female Condoms Threaten Patriarchy

ZAMBIA: /RIGHTS/HEALTH/ /25/10/02 Sabanews

LUSAKA - Sonile Zulu is very comfortable using the female condom ‘Femidom' as it is popularly known, say an Inter Press Service (IPS) report.

She says she is irritated when women complain that the female condom is unreliable. They don’t know how to use it, she counters.

Then again many women in ZAMBIA shy away from Femidom, saying it is for sex workers, says the IPS report.

That’s not true. Femidom is the ultimate empowerment tool for women. It offers the same protection as the male condom.

It is both a contraceptive and a safeguard against sexually transmitted diseases and HIV, which can lead to AIDS.

Many Zambian men are against Femidom, because they do not want their women to exercise the right to protect themselves.

Given Malama, a banker, would like to see advertising companies market the female condom like they do the male condom. Make the adverts sexy, exciting and clever, she is quoted by IPS.

Lack of information in ZAMBIA is preventing Femidom from becoming popular, she insists. /Sabanews/an

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NGOs say Namibian Gov't Fails to Make Anti-Retroviral Drugs Available

NAMIBIA: /RIGHTS/HEALTH/ /25/10/02 Sabanews

WINDHOEK - Rights and AIDS support groups in NAMIBIA accuse the government of failure to make anti-retroviral drugs available to people living with HIV/AIDS, according to an Inter Press Service (IPS) report.

But Minister of Health and Social Services Dr. Libertine Amathila denies the government is applying delaying tactics in making the drugs available.

She says NAMIBIA has signed an agreement with the government of BRAZIL to supply anti-retroviral drugs to prevent HIV transmission from parent-to-child.

NAMIBIA is one of the hardest hit by the epidemic in Africa, says IPS. Last year alone, NAMIBIA recorded 30,000 AIDS-related deaths. But, AIDS support groups believe the figure is just the tip of the iceberg.

Only a few pharmacies in NAMIBIA stock anti-retroviral drugs, but they are very expensive.

Namibian health authorities also attribute the delays, to reach anti-retroviral drugs to more people, to lack of money, says IPS.

Lucy Steinitz, coordinator of Catholic AIDS Action, a Windhoek-based NGO, urges both the government and NGOs to work together to make drugs available. /Sabanews/an

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US President Bush Pushes Spending on No-Condom Education

UNITED STATES: /RIGHTS/HEALTH/ /25/10/02 Sabanews

NEW YORK – US President George W. Bush is trying to hike spending on abstinence programmes in schools by one-third, to 135 million dollars a year.

US students are taught that chastity is the only way to avoid pregnancy and HIV.

Whether this works is highly questionable, activists say in the report from Inter Press Service (IPS) news agency.

In the UNITED STATES last year 43 percent of girls and 49 percent of boys in high school had had sex at least once, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Young people ages 13-24 currently account for about 13 percent of all new HIV cases in the UNITED STATES, IPS reports.

Yet teachers at schools with abstinence grants are strictly forbidden from answering questions about birth control or condom use.

We don't talk about HIV/AIDS prevention except to say 'remain abstinent until marriage and once married, be monogamous with your spouse', a teacher in Texas recently told Human Rights Watch (HRW). /Sabanews/an

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