Your daily Selection of IRIN Africa PlusNews reports, 6/7/2006

[Guest guest]

U N I T E D N A T I O N S

Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

Integrated Regional Information Network (IRIN) - 1995-2005 ten years serving the

humanitarian community

[These reports do not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

CONTENT:

1 - KYRGYZSTAN: World Bank and government pledge to battle HIV/AIDS

2 - THAILAND: Increased HIV/AIDS awareness needed - UNAIDS

1 - KYRGYZSTAN: World Bank and government pledge to battle HIV/AIDS

BISHKEK, 7 June (PLUSNEWS) - The World Bank's regional project to control

HIV/AIDS in Central Asia and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has

signed an agreement to fight the epidemic in the Central Asian country.

" We need to strengthen national coordination mechanisms on fighting AIDS and

this agreement will help us to do so, " Tilek Meimanaliev, head of the World

Bank's Central Asia Regional AIDS Control Project, said last week in the Kyrgyz

capital, Bishkek.

The World Bank official said that thanks to the agreement, AIDS centres in the

region would be provided with necessary medical equipment, as well as assistance

with regard to epidemiological surveillance and training of paramedics.

" HIV/AIDS does not have borders and therefore there needs to be an

inter-regional approach to this menacing disease, " Sezin Sinanoglu, acting head

of UNDP's mission, said.

UNDP has been working in Kyrgyzstan on HIV/AIDS prevention among vulnerable

groups and assisting in the development of national strategies since 1997.

There are 916 registered cases of HIV/AIDS in the country, according to the

Kyrgyz AIDS centre, with the majority of them in the south.

The main mode of transmission - some 80 percent of all registered cases - is

through injecting drug use, the centre said, adding that almost 50 people had

died since 1996 because of AIDS. However, experts claim the real figure is 10

times that number.

" A lack of monitoring and assessment systems, as well as stigma attached to

[HIV] patients are major problems which means we cannot know the exact number of

HIV-infected people, " Meimanaliev added. [ENDS]

2 - THAILAND: Increased HIV/AIDS awareness needed - UNAIDS

BANGKOK, 7 June (PLUSNEWS) - An overwhelming majority - 85 percent - of Thai

youth do not consider HIV an issue they need to be personally concerned with,

after nearly a decade without any mass public awareness campaigns on HIV/AIDS,

according to a UN official.

" Public information, which was once ubiquitous, has dropped off the radar

screen, " Brenny, Country Coordinator of the Joint United Nations

Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) in Thailand, said on Wednesday at the launch of

the UNAIDS 2006 report in the Thai capital, Bangkok. " There is a strong

recognition that prevention programming needs to be ramped up, " he added.

Despite the UNAIDS report saying Thailand has made encouraging progress in

reducing the spread of the deadly virus, Brenner highlighted that there is a

need for greater awareness and public information.

The report indicates that premarital sex has become more commonplace among young

Thais. Around 70 percent of all new cases of sexually transmitted infections

(STIs) in Thailand are detected among the younger generation, indicating that

they are engaging in risky behaviour that could expose them to HIV/AIDS.

" Thailand must revive its flagging HIV/AIDS awareness programmes to reach out to

a new generation of young people, who currently see the virus as a problem

largely affecting their elders, " the UNAIDS official warned. " They are clearly

vulnerable to infection with HIV, " he maintained.

In the global battle against HIV/AIDS, the Southeast Asian country's pragmatic

response to the virus has long been considered a role model for other countries

to follow. As the virus spread rapidly through the nation's large commercial sex

industry in the early 1990s, Bangkok adopted a 100 percent condom use programme,

which aimed to ensure full condom use in all paid sexual encounters.

The campaign had political backing from the then prime minister and prominent

social activist, Meechai Viravaidya, also known as " Mr Condom " , who spearheaded

high-profile mass education campaigns to inform the Thai public about the

dangers of the virus and the main modes of transmission.

The annual number of new infections dropped from 140,000 a year at its peak, to

around 20,000 a year currently, in this country of 65 million.

But in the wake of the 1997 Asian financial crisis, Thailand's budget for

HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention was cut dramatically. Since then, most new

resources have been shifted towards care and treatment of those already

infected.

Thaksin Shinawatra, Thailand's prime minister since 2001, has also done little

to use his considerable clout and public media savvy to raise HIV awareness,

critics claim. They add that he is focusing his administration's efforts instead

on general health and on combating under age drinking and drug use.

Bangkok's " phenomenal achievement " in turning back the tide of new infections in

the country in the early 1990s, lulled Thai politicians into a sense of

complacency, analysts argue. Progress in fighting the disease convinced

politicians that the job of raising public awareness was done and that the

nation could move on to the care and treatment of those already infected.

But Bangkok's goal to reduce the number of new infections - to around 10,000 a

year by 2010 - will require fresh efforts at raising public awareness, the

UNAIDS spokesman said.

AK/SC/JL

[ENDS]

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use. IRIN is a project of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian

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Subscriber: AIDS treatments

[Guest guest]

U N I T E D N A T I O N S

Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

Integrated Regional Information Network (IRIN) - 1995-2005 ten years serving the

humanitarian community

[These reports do not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

CONTENT:

1 - KYRGYZSTAN: World Bank and government pledge to battle HIV/AIDS

2 - THAILAND: Increased HIV/AIDS awareness needed - UNAIDS

1 - KYRGYZSTAN: World Bank and government pledge to battle HIV/AIDS

BISHKEK, 7 June (PLUSNEWS) - The World Bank's regional project to control

HIV/AIDS in Central Asia and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has

signed an agreement to fight the epidemic in the Central Asian country.

" We need to strengthen national coordination mechanisms on fighting AIDS and

this agreement will help us to do so, " Tilek Meimanaliev, head of the World

Bank's Central Asia Regional AIDS Control Project, said last week in the Kyrgyz

capital, Bishkek.

The World Bank official said that thanks to the agreement, AIDS centres in the

region would be provided with necessary medical equipment, as well as assistance

with regard to epidemiological surveillance and training of paramedics.

" HIV/AIDS does not have borders and therefore there needs to be an

inter-regional approach to this menacing disease, " Sezin Sinanoglu, acting head

of UNDP's mission, said.

UNDP has been working in Kyrgyzstan on HIV/AIDS prevention among vulnerable

groups and assisting in the development of national strategies since 1997.

There are 916 registered cases of HIV/AIDS in the country, according to the

Kyrgyz AIDS centre, with the majority of them in the south.

The main mode of transmission - some 80 percent of all registered cases - is

through injecting drug use, the centre said, adding that almost 50 people had

died since 1996 because of AIDS. However, experts claim the real figure is 10

times that number.

" A lack of monitoring and assessment systems, as well as stigma attached to

[HIV] patients are major problems which means we cannot know the exact number of

HIV-infected people, " Meimanaliev added. [ENDS]

2 - THAILAND: Increased HIV/AIDS awareness needed - UNAIDS

BANGKOK, 7 June (PLUSNEWS) - An overwhelming majority - 85 percent - of Thai

youth do not consider HIV an issue they need to be personally concerned with,

after nearly a decade without any mass public awareness campaigns on HIV/AIDS,

according to a UN official.

" Public information, which was once ubiquitous, has dropped off the radar

screen, " Brenny, Country Coordinator of the Joint United Nations

Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) in Thailand, said on Wednesday at the launch of

the UNAIDS 2006 report in the Thai capital, Bangkok. " There is a strong

recognition that prevention programming needs to be ramped up, " he added.

Despite the UNAIDS report saying Thailand has made encouraging progress in

reducing the spread of the deadly virus, Brenner highlighted that there is a

need for greater awareness and public information.

The report indicates that premarital sex has become more commonplace among young

Thais. Around 70 percent of all new cases of sexually transmitted infections

(STIs) in Thailand are detected among the younger generation, indicating that

they are engaging in risky behaviour that could expose them to HIV/AIDS.

" Thailand must revive its flagging HIV/AIDS awareness programmes to reach out to

a new generation of young people, who currently see the virus as a problem

largely affecting their elders, " the UNAIDS official warned. " They are clearly

vulnerable to infection with HIV, " he maintained.

In the global battle against HIV/AIDS, the Southeast Asian country's pragmatic

response to the virus has long been considered a role model for other countries

to follow. As the virus spread rapidly through the nation's large commercial sex

industry in the early 1990s, Bangkok adopted a 100 percent condom use programme,

which aimed to ensure full condom use in all paid sexual encounters.

The campaign had political backing from the then prime minister and prominent

social activist, Meechai Viravaidya, also known as " Mr Condom " , who spearheaded

high-profile mass education campaigns to inform the Thai public about the

dangers of the virus and the main modes of transmission.

The annual number of new infections dropped from 140,000 a year at its peak, to

around 20,000 a year currently, in this country of 65 million.

But in the wake of the 1997 Asian financial crisis, Thailand's budget for

HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention was cut dramatically. Since then, most new

resources have been shifted towards care and treatment of those already

infected.

Thaksin Shinawatra, Thailand's prime minister since 2001, has also done little

to use his considerable clout and public media savvy to raise HIV awareness,

critics claim. They add that he is focusing his administration's efforts instead

on general health and on combating under age drinking and drug use.

Bangkok's " phenomenal achievement " in turning back the tide of new infections in

the country in the early 1990s, lulled Thai politicians into a sense of

complacency, analysts argue. Progress in fighting the disease convinced

politicians that the job of raising public awareness was done and that the

nation could move on to the care and treatment of those already infected.

But Bangkok's goal to reduce the number of new infections - to around 10,000 a

year by 2010 - will require fresh efforts at raising public awareness, the

UNAIDS spokesman said.

AK/SC/JL

[ENDS]

This is non-reply e-mail. Please do not hesitate to contact us at

Mail@....

Principal donors: IRIN is generously supported by Australia, Canada, Denmark,

ECHO, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and

the United States of America. For more information, go to:

http://www.IRINnews.org/donors

[This item comes to you via IRIN, a UN humanitarian news and information

service, but may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations or its

agencies. All IRIN material may be reposted or reprinted free-of-charge; refer

to the copyright page (Http://www.irinnews.org/copyright ) for conditions of

use. IRIN is a project of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian

Affairs.]

PLUSNEWS

Tel: +27 11 895-1900

Fax: +27 11 784-6759

Email: Mail@...

To make changes to or cancel your subscription visit:

http://www.irinnews.org/subscriptions

Subscriber: AIDS treatments