HIV/AIDS is the Price Women Pay for Hunger

AFRICA: /RIGHTS/HEALTH/ /05/09/02 Sabanews

SHIMABALA, Zambia -- Eunice Mulenga trades sex for food, Inter Press Service (IPS) reports.

The 38-year-old is one of a growing number of women in ZAMBAIA who say they have little choice but to have sex with men so that they can feed hungry mouths at home.

The single mother of three is caught up in the double emergency faced by Southern African countries. There is a deadly famine stalking at least 13 million people. The region is also the epicentre of the global AIDS epidemic.

The high HIV/AIDS infection rate is exacerbating the food crisis, according to a recent Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) report. Where food is most scarce, the report warns, HIV prevalence is alarmingly high.

More and more women are resorting to bartering sex for food, often without the use of a condom. More women in her village are selling their bodies to men this year because there is not enough food, Mulenga told IPS./Sabanews/an

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Africa's Forgotten AIDs Orphans

AFRICA: /RIGHTS/HEALTH/ /05/09/02 Sabanews

JOHANNESBURG – Three quarters of the 13 million children in the world who have lost their mother or both parents to AIDS lives in sub-Saharan Africa.

MOZAMBIQUE is seeing a second generation of orphaned children, Inter Press Service (IPS) points out in a report. The first generation was orphaned by two decades of civil war that ended in the nineties.

Rural homesteads in UGANDA are populated with children living with ageing grandparents.

The good news is that attention is being given to the orphans as never before, observes IPS.

In SWAZILAND a programme called OrphanAID is identifying children at risk and providing them with caregivers in their community.

Father Larry McDonnell, who runs the Manzini Youth Centre that includes one of SWAZILAND's oldest orphanages, says there is a realisation that children should not be uprooted from their familiar surroundings.

All NGOs and national governments are determined not to overlook the children. /Sabanews/an

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New Media Bridges Communication Gaps for Activist Groups

AFRICA: /RIGHTS/ /05/09/02 Sabanews

LAVUMISA, SWAZILAND – Lavuvmisa, on the Swazi border with MOZAMBIQUE, is a busy border post. Unemployment is very high, and so is the HIV infection rate.

Opportunities for young women were non-existent, an Inter Press Service (IPS) report says.

Now, some of the women in the village have been provided jobs in a cyber café. The café does brisk business catering to the stream of people crossing the border every day.

The café has been funded by the Alliance of Mayors Initiative for Community Action on AIDS on the Local Level (AMICAALL), and tackles several causes. By providing economic independence, it has empowered women to say no to boyfriends and sometimes, male relatives who demand sex in exchange for financial support.

It is also a centre where up to date AIDS information is always available. There is plenty of literature and posters, and access to AIDS information web sites.

Information technology is being used by anti-AIDS and women’s organisations to achieve their goals and save lives. /Sabanews/an

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