HIV Update International

Volume 1, Number 24
July 3, 2001


HIV/AIDS Record Continues to Improve in Uganda
Uganda, which once led the world in HIV/AIDS cases, is now categorized by UNAIDS as the only country in Africa to turn a major epidemic around. According to UNAIDS, Uganda, whose current prevalence rate is estimated at 8.3 percent, is performing better for adults living with HIV than Botswana (36 percent), Swaziland (25 percent), Zimbabwe (25 percent) and Lesotho (24 percent). [Xinhua, 7/2/01]

Behavior Changes Responsible for Uganda's Success
Uganda's success in reducing HIV prevalence from over 30 percent in the 1980s and early 1990 has been attributed largely to behavioral changes. With leadership and HIV education emphasizing behavioral changes, the percentage of Uganda teenagers abstaining from sex has increased significantly among both boys and girls between 1989 and 1995. The number of 15 year olds, for example, reporting that they never had sex rose from around 20 percent to 50 percent during this period. With an upward shift in the age of sexual initiation and fewer partners, more adolescents are avoiding risk behaviors for HIV. "The abstinence campaign in Uganda has had a significant impact on HIV infection, which has declined by 50 percent between 1992 and 2000, and the decline has been most marked in the 15- 24 age brackets," according to Edith G. Ssempala, Uganda's U.S. Ambassador. [UNAIDS, 1/12/01; Ssempala correspondence, 2/16/01]

South Africa Teens Faces HIV Epidemic
UNAIDS estimates that 16 percent of South Africans younger than 20 are infected. More than 60 percent of all new HIV infections in South Africa-- where 4.7 million people have HIV-- occur in those between 15 and 25, according to the group loveLife. If nothing changes, half the country's 15-year-old boys will die of AIDS in their lifetime, according to a U.N. study. But in a country where sex is rarely discussed and having lots of girlfriends and "flesh-on-flesh" sex is a point of pride, changing behavior is a challenge. Though teens know about AIDS, many remain reluctant to use condoms, said peer educators at a loveLife youth center in Orange Farm, a shanty town 30 miles south of Johannesburg. Surveys indicate most South Africans lose their virginity between the ages of 12 and 15. More than a third say their first sexual experience was coerced. Every third South African girl will give birth before she's 18. Pardon Mlambo, an unemployed 20-year-old whose 17-year-old girlfriend became pregnant six months ago, worries about AIDS, but has no plans to be tested. "I trust myself. I believe in myself. I won't get it anymore because now I'm using a condom," Mlambo said. [Associated Press, 6/27/01]

Kenya: Knowledge is High But Few Use Condoms
Despite the high HIV prevalence and widespread knowledge of HIV in Kenya, condom use remains low according to a new study. The study, Condom Use for HIV Prevention in Kenya, carried out by Population Services International (PSI), says that among those interviewed, only one-in-five men used a condom during their last sexual encounter and fewer than one-in-ten women have ever used a condom. In addition, it says, knowledge of condoms is high. Other highlights of the study indicate that one in every three men and one in every 10 women reported high-risk sexual behavior in the past 12 months. It says there are large differences between men and women in the practice of risky sex, particularly for married men and women. While few married women report multiple partnerships or payment for sex in the past year, many married men do so. It says women aged 15-19 years who are sexually active are at much higher risk of acquiring HIV than any other age group due to multiple partners and receiving money or gifts in return for sex. Other highlights: ·

Younger men, non-married men, and men living in the Coast Province have the highest rates of high-risk sexual behavior. For women, those who are younger, non-married, and who live in Nairobi or other urban areas do so. ·

A larger percentage of men and women who reported multiple sexual partners or payment for sex had an STD in the past 12 months. ·

The prevalence of STDs is higher among men who reported a non-marital/non- cohabiting partner at last sex. ·

Those who had last sex-with a non-marital partner do not perceive themselves to be at higher risk. ·

Between 1993 and 1998, there were significant increases in knowledge about condoms. ·

Condom use is highest among younger men and women and never married men and women. ·

While between one-quarter and one-half of non-married men used a condom at last sex, depending on partner type, fewer non-married women did so. Almost 95 million condoms were distributed in Kenya in 1998 by the government and the social marketing program. [Africa News, 6/28/01]

Russian HIV Infections Up 40,000 in 2000
Deputy Health Minister Gennadii Onishchenko said that Russia now has 115,000 registered HIV cases, 40,000 more than a year ago. He said that new infections are especially frequent among the young and that "today Russia is losing a generation" of young people as a result. [IPR Strategic Business Information Database, 7/2/01]

600,000 in China have HIV and Number Rising by 30%
More than 600,000 people in China are estimated to have HIV and the number is increasing by 30 percent annually, primarily because of an upsurge in infections among intravenous drug users, China's health minister says. While the prevalence of the HIV is still low-- just 0.5 percent of China's 1.27 billion population-the government has launched a five-year plan to reduce the increase to 10 percent annually, Zhang Wenkang said. The plan ranges from AIDS education for 15-year-olds and prevention messages from leading actors to vending machines for condoms and improved treatment including the possibility of cheap AIDS drugs. Five years ago, about 40 percent of China's HIV cases were the result of the illegal selling of blood, primarily in rural areas where dirty needles were often used, he said. The government took measures to crack down on illegal blood-buying and now the percentage of HIV cases from tainted blood is only 4 percent to 6 percent, he said. About 70 percent of HIV cases today are the result of intravenous drug use, Zhang said. About 10 percent of sufferers are infected as a result of heterosexual or homosexual relations, and a smaller percentage from mother-to-child transmission of the virus, he said. China's health minister said education efforts in the mass media will focus on prevention and cultivating healthy lifestyles by having fewer sex partners and avoiding drugs. Young people will be taught how to use condoms and condom vending machines will be installed in public places, he said. Blood used for transfusions during surgery will be tested. [Associated Press, 6/26/01]

Swiss Man Infected with HIV During Heart Operation
An 80-year-old man has been infected with HIV during a heart operation, the first such incident in Switzerland since 1996, the blood transfusion service said Monday. The virus was not detected in routine screening because the donor was infected only a few days before he gave blood, the service said. It takes about three weeks for the virus to show up in most tests. The 50-year-old donor gave blood on a regular basis and had no idea he was HIV positive, said Rudolf Schwabe, director of the Swiss Red Cross blood donation service. The 80-year-old man received several blood transfusions with red blood cells from the infected donor during major heart surgery early February. Schwabe said because of screening methods, the risk of contracting HIV through tainted blood was about a million to one. It was the first such infection since June 1996 and only the fourth since controls on blood donations were introduced in Switzerland in 1993. [Associated Press, 7/2/01]

Punishment For Spreading HIV Supported by Women's Group in Kenya
Kenya President Moi's proposal that those who knowingly infect others with HIV be hanged has received the support of the Federation of Women Lawyers. The group has asked Attorney-General Amos Wako was asked to incorporate President Moi's proposal on stiffer sentences for rapists and those who deliberately infected others with HIV in the Criminal Law Amendment Bill 2000. The women's rights organization also wants "adequate" legal deterrents for potential rapists. Executive Director Jane Kiragu described the Presidents suggestion as timely, adding that it provided the national fight against the HIV pandemic with renewed momentum. She said "it is our hope that the Attorney-General will make the necessary amendments to the Bill to reflect the President's latest call." The Permanent Secretary for Health, Prof. Julius Meme, said a person who deliberately infects another with HIV was no better than a murderer. He said the President's suggestion was timely as it would get some of the rapists out of the streets. However, the PS said behavior change was the only long-term solution to the problem. MP Beth Mugo also supported the President's proposal believing that those who deliberately infect others with HIV and rapists should be given capital punishment to deter others. [Africa News, 7/2/01]

One-in-Ten Young UK Women May Have Chlamydia
The UK Department of Health on Tuesday faced renewed calls to introduce national screening for chlamydia as a new study found that nearly 11 percent of sexually active young women may be infected. Doctors at the White Rose Surgery in the former mining town of Pontefract, West Yorkshire, invited women between the ages of 13 and 24 who were receiving contraceptive services or who were known to be pregnant to submit a urine specimen for PCR analysis. Their results, published in the British Journal of General Practice, show that of 283 women offered testing, 128 submitted a sample. Of those, 14, or 10.9 percent, tested positive for chlamydia. Half those infected were asymptomatic. First author Dr Caoimhin Tobin said that the rate of chlamydia infection was in line with preliminary results of studies in Portsmouth and Liverpool and underlines the need for a national screening program. Tobin pointed out that 60 percent of eligible women in his study chose not to submit a sample. "It is possible that acceptance rates would be higher with more publicity and information available as part of a nationwide campaign to promote the sexual health of young women." He added that chlamydia screening of young women was recommended by the Chief Medical Officer in 1998. [Reuters Health, 6/26/01]

Previous Editions of the HIV Update
Volume 2, Number 21, June 11, 2002