Proposed New Law For HIV-positive Schoolchildren in KENYA

KENYA: RIGHTS/HEALTH/ /26/07/02 Sabanews

NAIROBI -- David Odhiambo is one of the smartest students in the private Hekima School in Nairobi. He recently won an essay writing competition for schools all over KENYA.

David is an orphan who was born HIV-positive, says Inter Press Service (IPS) in a report. He lives in the Nyumbani Children’s Home. The home for AIDS orphans has 83 residents, 47 boys and 37 girls.

Thirty four children like David study at the Hekima School. The school is only one of two schools, both private, that admit HIV-positive children in KENYA’s capital city.

KENYA has nearly one million AIDS orphans. The government is planning to introduce legislation that authorises penal action against schools that reject HIV-positive children. According to IPS, the Kenyan government hopes to put the new law in place by the end of the year. /Sabanews/an

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NGOs Lead the Fight Against AIDS

SWAZILAND: /HEALTH/RIGHTS/ /26/07/02 Sabanews

MBABANE -- Non-government organisations are leading the fight in SWAZILAND against HIV/AIDS.

''Government is doing nothing. It doesn’t even have an AIDS policy,” says Hannie Dlamini, president of the SWAZILAND AIDS Support Organisation.

One-third of SWAZILAND’s adult population is HIV-positive. At the Matsapha Industrial Estate and other business centres, companies are reporting that up to half their workforce is infected by the HIV virus.

SWAZILAND is losing foreign aid for HIV/AIDS programmes to its neighbours, SOUTH AFRICA, MOZAMBIQUE, BOTSWANA AND NAMIBIA.

NGOs like the SWAZILAND AIDS Support Organisation have stepped in with education, testing, counselling, nutritional advice and some medication.

The AIDS Support Centre has increased its education and counselling activities, and is spreading awareness of AIDS prevention into the furthest rural areas of SWAZILAND. /Sabanews/an

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Focus in CHILE on Reproductive Rights of HIV Patients

CHILE: /RIGHTS/HEALTH/ /26/07/02 Sabanews

SANTIAGO – CHILE is progressing towards protecting the reproductive rights of female HIV-carriers, according to a report by Inter Press Service (IPS).

Vivo Positivo is the largest Chilean federation of people with HIV/AIDS and volunteers, linking 30 NGOs across CHILE.

Three of the groups are made up exclusively of female HIV-carriers.

''All of our groups are seeking to resolve problems, such as the right to use the female condom, and the right to gynecological care. We also help address the problems of children with HIV,'' Erica Espinoza, 27, secretary of Voz de Mujer, told IPS.

Women are now starting to consider the possibility of having children. There are women who would like, by taking all the precautions, to have an HIV-negative child. /Sabanews/an

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