After recent revelations that Bush, Rove and Cheney don't give a rat's
a.s about poor people and mock fundamentalist christians, you'd think
folks would get a clue as to just how cynical, manipulative and
hypocritical these guys are. See, e.g.,
http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Olbermann_video_Republicans_dupe_faithful_1013.html

Faith-based is just a way to assure more Africans die of AIDS. It
pushes abstinence only nonsense, it places a gag rule on issues around
sex workers, it fights against needle access programs. In short, Bush
is doing everything possible to assure that more people get infected
to further profit pharma companies through unilateral trade agreements
and other bullying tactics. This assures the ongoing rape of resources
while propping up the most corrupt regimes.

The end result? More suffering. More AIDS. More death.
George M. Carter

***
http://allafrica.com/stories/200610091523.html
Africa: New Battle Lines for HIV/Aids War Drawn
The Monitor (Kampala)

October 10, 2006
Posted to the web October 9, 2006

Kakaire A. Kirunda

"I am pregnant because my husband refused to buy condoms," said Sarah
while an equally expectant Janet blamed her pregnancy on the failure
of her husband to use condoms consistently.

For 19-year-old Sophie, the four-month pregnancy occurred because she
couldn't tell her boyfriend why they should use condoms. And for Ida,
they could simply not afford them. All the four women, whose names
have been changed to protect their identity, are HIV positive.

The quartet was part of a group recently involved in a study at
Nsambya Hospital, which investigated why women who enrolled on
Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) become pregnant despite repeated emphasis
on safe sex to avoid re-infection and spreading the virus.

This scenario presents serious challenges to the war against the Aids
pandemic whose prevalence rate in Uganda in the reproductive age group
of 15- 49 years, stands at 6.7 percent.

Statistics show that in sub-Saharan Africa, HIV infection rates are
highest among women of reproductive age in marital unions and nearly
60 percent of all people living with HIV/Aids are women.

It is because of the above scenario that the African Union (AU) has
come up with a continental policy framework for sexual and
reproductive health and rights, which was approved with a plan of
action on September 22, 2006 in Maputo, Mozambique.

Integrating sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services and HIV/Aids
services is one of the key points in the action plan. The plan was
endorsed in a special session during the conference of AU Ministers of
Health.

According to the AU, most people living with HIV/Aids, regardless of
gender or marital status, are in need of family planning (FP) services
and/or treatment of sexually transmitted co-infections (STIs).

Unwanted pregnancies and STIs are recurring risks to all persons with
active sex lives and are not confined to those uninfected with HIV.

A document by the AU, "Programme Approaches for the Linking of Sexual
and Reproductive Health and Rights and HIV/Aids Services' presented in
Maputo resounded the need for the SRH and HIV/Aids services
integration.

Statistics sourced from the Population Reference Bureau show that in
Uganda, the percentage of married women (15 - 49 age group) using
contraception stands at a miserable 20 percent.

It is because of such high unmet needs for contraception usage and
high HIV prevalence in a reproduction age group that there are calls
for integration of services.

The proposed key linkages that require putting in place or
strengthening include HIV and Family Planning, HIV and STIs (Sexually
Transmitted Infections) control, Prevention of Mother To Child
Transmission of HIV (PMTCT), Antenatal Care and Postnatal care.

The potential benefits of these linkages, according to the AU
technical document, would be; improved access to services, improved
quality of care, increased service utilisation, enhanced resource
maximisation, reduced stigma and improved equity.

The AU says research to date on the costs of integrating SRH and HIV
services indicates that integration creates cost savings.

Most studies have been conducted to assess the cost benefits of
introducing family planning services into PMTCT programs. There are
high numbers of HIV positive women with unmet contraceptive needs.

But according to projections, adding family planning services to PMTCT
programs in high prevalence countries can prevent 155,000 unintended
pregnancies in HIV positive women, 55,000 child deaths, and 32,000
child HIV infections.

The incorporation of family planning into HIV services is
cost-effective.

Family planning services are estimated to save $25 for every $1 spent
on PMTCT treatment.

Also it is estimated that family planning saves $193 per HIV infection
averted as compared to PMTCT services alone.

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Executive Director, Dr.
Thoraya Ahmed Obaid added her voice to the urgency of the matter of
service integration while addressing the Maputo session.

"We have no time to waste and you all know what HIV and Aids means to
each country of the region. Therefore it is essential that urgent
action is taken to link HIV/Aids efforts with sexual and reproductive
health," she said.

However as the AU notes in its document on the subject, there are
several hurdles to cross in order for integration to successfully
occur.

These include policy, infrastructure, provider, client, societal and
research barriers.

For instance in Uganda, a 2004 survey indicated that in some
facilities, family planning was only mentioned in the context of
PMTCT.