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Aug 21st, 2005 - 02:55:16 |
IYPF
Preventing History From Repeating Itself
Ruth Ayisi
MAPUTO, Aug 10 (IPS) - For children in Mozambique who are orphaned by
AIDS, burying parents may simply signal the start of their battle
with
the pandemic. All too often, these orphans also find themselves
amongst those most at risk of contracting HIV.
”There are lots of dramatic stories,” said Beauty Jorge, a community
worker at Help Age International (HAI), during a conference that was
held recently in the capital, Maputo, to discuss support for the
elderly in caring for orphans. HAI is an umbrella group for
non-governmental organisations (NGOs) that assist impoverished older
persons.
Jorge told IPS how in Cachembe, a district of about 4,000 people in
the northern Tete province, HAI aid workers had tried to help a
15-year- old orphaned girl who came to live there when her
grandmother, who was looking after her, died.
”We built a house for her to live in as she had nowhere to go, and no
relatives that she knew who could take care of her,” she said.
However, the girl became pregnant this year and had to leave school.
”She told us that a trader gave her 10,000 meticais (less than 50
cents) and a petticoat in exchange for a sexual relationship with her
whenever he was in the neighbourhood. Since she became pregnant, the
trader stopped coming around,” said Jorge.
While community workers continue to visit the girl, they have been
unable to help her ascertain her HIV status. According to Jorge, the
nearest HIV testing service is a 60,000 meticias bus ride away, and
there are no funds to send the girl there. (The sum of 60,000
meticias
amounts to about 2.5 dollars.)
Unhappily, there is a strong chance that she may have contracted the
virus: adolescent girls are especially vulnerable to HIV infection in
Mozambique. The National Statistics Institute (INE) estimates that of
the 130,000 people aged 15 to 19 who are thought to be living with
HIV/AIDS, 100,000 are girls.
Moreover, HIV is on the increase amongst the youth: 500 new
infections
are believed to take place every day, mostly among young people.
Mozambique now has a prevalence rate of 15.6 percent amongst 15 to 49
year olds, compared to 14.9 percent last year - and 8.2 per cent
seven
years ago.
Government acknowledges that special emphasis needs to be placed on
assisting young people, especially orphans. According to INE, more
than 325,000 children and young people under the age of 18 will have
lost their mother, father or both parents to AIDS by the end of this
year.
”We know there is a real problem, and we are taking action,” Estrela
De Jesus Herculano, the head of the Department of Women and the
Family
in the Ministry of Women and Social Action, told IPS.
In many instances, financial need pushes children into situations
where they are more vulnerable to HIV: young women, for instance, may
feel that they have little choice but to prostitute themselves.
Nonetheless, officials are trying to prevent AIDS orphans from
engaging in risky sexual activity.
”Behaviour change is slow because people become used to certain
behaviours, so we can’t change things just like that. I’ve been
talking to my own daughter since she was 14 years about these
matters,” says Herculano.
However, ”We have come a long way over the past 10 years,” she adds.
In 2004, the Ministry of Women and Social Action, with support from
the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), established a system
that
allows all relevant branches of government to work together, to
ensure
the best possible response to problems confronting AIDS orphans and
other children at risk of contracting HIV.
Officials at national, provincial and district level, representing a
cross section of ministries, have joined forces to protect the
children against abuse, and to uphold their rights.
Government also set up an initiative called Youth Friendly Health
Services in 1999, to provide young people between the ages of 10 and
24 with health services that are affordable and accessible – and
which
are offered in a non-judgmental, friendly environment. The services
include voluntary, confidential testing and counseling for HIV,
condom
distribution, treatment of sexually-transmitted infections, family
planning, and education on HIV/AIDS and sex.
Peer educators play a key role in sharing information about sexual
and
reproductive health at the youth services.
”At first some parents thought we were trying to encourage
prostitution, but of course that is not so. Young people find it
easier to talk to their own age group and not to use the same health
services for reproductive health matters as their parents,” says
Herculano.
Along with the provision of health services, keeping AIDS orphans in
school is of central importance.
A difficult matter at the best of times, this becomes even more
problematic when the children are being cared for by elderly
relatives
who make their living as subsistence farmers. As the first concern of
these care givers is producing enough food, they may often put
children to work on their land. Alternatively, the children could be
sent out to do other forms of work, which opens the door to
exploitation and sexual abuse.
These trends have prompted HAI to assist the elderly with income
generating projects, so that they feel free to send AIDS orphans to
school. To date, the NGO has helped some 200,000 elderly persons in
Tete province and the southern province of Gaza, where poverty,
drought and HIV/AIDS had placed families in desperate straits.
HAI conducts campaigns in communities to make people aware of the
need
for orphaned children to continue their education. In addition, it
works closely with local government to make sure that orphaned and
vulnerable children are exempt from paying school registration fees
and from having to wear school uniforms. The group also provides the
children with basic school materials.
The Canadian International Development Agency recently announced
funding of almost one million U.S. dollars for a UNICEF programme
which aims to ensure that all children are enrolled in school, that
they are reached by health services – and that they have access to
clean water and sanitation.
Furthermore, the United Nations World Food Programme has provided
food
to households with orphans, ”which is also another way of stopping
young people and children going on the streets for survival,” says
Herculano.
Fifty-six-year-old Jorge, herself the grandmother of AIDS orphans,
agrees that school attendance plays a crucial role in ensuring that
orphaned children do not follow in their parents’ footsteps. Two of
her 11 grandchildren, girls aged 13 and 11 years, could not afford to
go to school for two years after their parents died of AIDS-related
diseases. Now they live with her – and have returned to school.
- I was very worried about them being out of school and what they
could get up to,” says Jorge. ”I told them they could play with their
friends but they must be careful and be at home at 6pm. I told them
that their parents died of AIDS. They needed to know.” (END/2005)
Aug 19th, 2005 - 21:30:54 |
Cam
HIV/AIDS Advocacy e-course announcement
For any questions, comments or concerns, please contact Mila Gorokhovich-lyudmila@youthaidscoalition.org
Dear friends,
As part of Global Youth Coalition on HIV/AIDS (GYCA) capacity building initiatives, we will be facilitating an Advocacy e-course from September 6 to 27 of 2005. Priority for this first pilot course will be for GYCA regional focal points, but there will be several spaces for other young people. The course will be repeated in December 2005 and in the months leading up to the International AIDS Conference in Toronto in 2006 so for those who cannot take the e-course in September, can do so in the following months.
Other e-courses are also planned for the upcoming months.
This course is a peer-to-peer training to educate young people about effective political advocacy methodology. The course will train young people to hold their governments accountable to commitments made at the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS in June 2000. The course focuses around the following areas:
1) To create an action plan for research on government commitments to date
2) Establish solutions based on needs with a focus on youth-adult collaboration
3) Learn how to approach government officials and present those solutions effectively
4) Learn how to monitor and evaluate their work
5) Follow up activity by facilitators with course participants
The course will take four weeks and at least 4-6 hours/week. Participants are expected to be dedicated and committed to the course. Participants will end the course with an action plan and will be expected to follow up on it. The course is solely for people who are actively interested in learning about approaching their governments and taking action towards accountability. Additionally, participants will be encouraged to share their experiences about youth-government collaboration and learn about new approaches to enhance it.
Criteria for a certificate of course completion is as follows:
* Submit answers to weekly questions by the end of each week in order to complete their final project plan.
* Check discussion board frequently (every other day) and look out for mention of their name and requests for them to contribute to the discussion.
* Meaningfully contribute to the discussion board at least once for each discussion topic (there will be three topics assigned per week)
* Final Project plan should be completed and satisfactory (all questions answered fully and coherently)
It is crucial that if you are considering applying, you must be devoted to follow up post-course on a weekly basis. You will be obligated to communicate with a facilitator about the progress of implementing the information you learned. One of the outcomes of GYCA's political advocacy strategy will be a document that will hopefully be launched at a side event during the UNGASS +5 review in New York next June 2006. Follow up action after the course by participants could potentially be included in this document if you follow the guidelines and the course. Therefore, please take this seriously!
Consider these points:
Will you be travelling at any point during September to areas with no internet access?
Are you involved with time-consuming community projects?
Do you have serious work commitments that might prevent you from mobilizing for political advocacy work?
Do you have internet access for less than 6 hours per week?
If you answered yes to one or more of the questions above, you will know that you are not eligible to take the course. The deadline for submission is Wednesday, August 24, 2006. Participants will be selected by Monday, August 31.
For any questions, comments or concerns, please contact Mila - lyudmila@youthaidscoalition.org
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