HIV/AIDS in Zambia (October

The University Of Zambia
School of Medicine

University of Zambia Medical Library

HIV/AIDS in Zambia: October - November 1998

"Norad Boosts AIDS Testing." By Bwalya Nodo Times of Zambia, November 24, 1998 The Norwegian Aid Development Agency (Norad) yesterday gave the Central Board of Health (CBH) over K562 million and laboratory equipment for conducting voluntary HIV tests. The funds released are part of the first phase of the K720 million voluntary counselling and testing (VCT) service in 21 provincial and district health centres countrywide under which 35,000 people are targetted for tests. The project will be controlled from the University Teaching Hospital (UTH) virology laboratory. Norwegian ambassador to Zambia Jon Lomoy and CBH acting director Ben Chirwa sealed the agreement in Lusaka. A Norwegian firm Bionor will be involved in supporting the project's management on training, supervision and coordination of the overall VCT projects in Zambia. Mr Lomoy said at the handover ceremony that HIV/AIDS was longer affecting individuals as societies bore the consequences in several ways adding it therefore required concerted efforts to minimise its effects. "We need to help people to change their attitudes to build on the positive signs. Voluntary testing and counselling will help people cope with the situation. We shall consider an extension beyond this pilot stage when you report back results of the project," Mr Lomoy said. Economic development could not be achieved if HIV/AIDS was not handled properly and it could affect the country's future. Dr Chirwa expressed gratitude at the gesture of Norad stating Zambia would work closely with Norway to find solutions in mitigating the HIV pandemic. Bionor managing director Birger Sorensen said his company would assist Zambians to acquire the technical know-how in handling HIV/AIDS issues. He explained that the laboratory machines handed over to CBH were of high quality and produced faultless results. With counselling to be done twice a day many people affected with HIV would be helped to overcome the worries and work towards contributing positively to their societies. And the demand for tuberculosis (TB) drugs has risen in Lusaka causing an artificial shortage in some health centres. Executive director of the community based TB organisation Webby Mwape said yesterday that there were no drugs in health centres in the eastern part of the capital city. The areas include Kamanga, Kaunda Square, Avondale, Chainda, Munali and several nearby farms. Mr Mwape said in an interview that in Chelston area alone over 410 patients were not taking the drugs and risked suffering from multi-drug resistant TB which is difficult to cure. But Dr Chirwa said it was amazing that centres should claim there was a shortage of drugs when the CBH had enough stocks. "This is a disaster. The patients can not afford to buy TB drugs, rafina and PZ which cost about K6,000. A patient has to continue buying this drug for eight weeks," Mr Mwape said.
"AIDS Dugeons Still Unbroken." By Bwalya Nodo The Daily Mail, November 24, 1998 The dungeons of HIV/AIDS stand unbroken. No signs of the disease of the century easing the grip on its victims. Statistics are apt. They reveal that the disease is even more extensive than was previously thought. Over 31 million people - more than 90 percent of them in developing countries, were confirmed HIV cases last year. And as many as 27 million people around the world, may be unaware of their sero-status. In the sub Saharan Africa region, HIV/AIDS is acting inferno like. Two thirds of the population is HIV positive. Infants: 90 per cent of them are infected. More than seven per cent of adult aged 15-49 are carrying the virus. Anticipatedly, increase in infant and child mortality, will reduce life expectancy to 40 per cent or less in many countries by 2010. Conversely, 16 per cent of children under 15 will be orphaned through AIDS by 2010. This fraction will account for 40 million children in total. It is not a search able fact. HIV/AIDS has had a devastating impact on individual lives households and communities at large. It has windowed away working age populations. Bred poverty and strained overtaxed health care systems. A cure not near in sight, the only option left, is strengthening of mechanisms to prevent, reduce the spread and minimise the impact of HIV/AIDS. Another is addressing special and economic intrigues that have a bearing on HIV/AIDS, and intensifying research on methods and treatment of the disease. The need to log full course and balloon information, as widely as possible, on the dreaded disease, cannot be ignored. Unfetted knowledge about HIV/AIDS, and issues of health concern, is required. Because well-informed people have the means to manoeuvre. And circumvent behavior that gender their lives. Young people in particular, as a reserve of resources for the future, need incisive and precise information to cushion their lives from the dangers of HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted disease (STDS), and unwanted pregnancies. According to the 1998 state of world population report, better communication about sexuality, gender relations and the avoidance of unwanted pregnancies, and STDS, is essential in improving proving young people's life options. The report says forming personal and social identifies in adolescence involves a testing of interests and opportunities, and is very sensitive to the response of other, especially peers. Educating young people in factual terms about effects of their behavioral choices, enables them to make responsible decisions. And choices too. Families are still the strongest influence on adolescent behavior and choices. The attitude of parent and the older generation are on a crux to clasp, in promoting healthy and equal relationship between sexes. But repugnant stereo-types still surround discussion of topics like sex. Most adolescent, the population report observes, would like to obtain advice and support from their parents. However, due to the parochial orientation, especially in the African setting, that is not a free-for-all topic, many parents feel uneasy to tongue-out teenage sexuality in the presence of their children. Maybe they are uncertain about what information to provide. And if the adolescents are not lucky to scoop out the right information from the right streams, they tumble into fractions problems. These include early and unwanted pregnancies, at a stage when they have neither the financial means nor sufficient "emotional absorbs" to cope with the demands of motherhood and other pressures. This dictates one move. Training of parents in helping adolescents deal with health and sexuality as well as other social issues. "The quality of the parental relationship is the best predictor of a later start to sexual activity and fewer partners. But parents and children in many different cultures, have problems in communication concerning sexual matters. "There are also different priorities. Teenager and service providers want to avoid pregnancy and other risk of sexual activity, while parents and grandparent, may see sexual activity itself as a problem," forks out the report, by the United Nations population fund (UNFPA). Counted in the report is the fact that early marriages and child-bearing in a time of rapid cultural change, is still a norm in a number of African countries. Health authorities and policy-makers recognise the risks of early marriages and early pregnancy. But the traditional "smile-screen" blinds the community to scientific reality. Many who are still stomped in myth and tradition, don't see it as a problems. Take the example of a school gild. At 16, she drops out of school. And the family is jawed in untold poverty. They cannot create new windows of opportunities to make up for the loss of formal cordoned education. At the same time, the family is wary of seeing their own "flesh and blood" offer herself to social mania in form of illicit sex with various partners, and get predisposed to HIV/AIDS and STDs. The ultimate is to force the poor girl into early marriage against her own will. Although parents, particularly mothers, have come to agree that adolescents need information about physiology and contraception, they would rather someone else took the task of educating their children. The "misfortune" is that grandmothers who served as "traditional oasis of information on issues of sexuality and the like to their grandchildren, are today a rare pearl.'' Not that they have gone into extinction. Two things: either grandmothers have drifted way from their grandchildren, or they are not in tune with modern family-planning, the benefits of prenatal care and attend delivery or the risk that could required emergency obstetric care. A point to note: while grandmothers may be authorities in the knowledge of menarche, traditional contraceptives and birth, they may not be well-grounded in modern family planning. To fill the vacuum of information, the world population report, notes that young women who also lack sex education in school, turn to peers and other female relatives they confidently lean on. The media also supplements their source of information. The report declares: "Oftentimes, what they learn is frequently wrong." The report reproves the growing estrangement between generations, more so the elongating distance between daughters and mothers. "Mother and daughter feel awkward discussing sexuality and reproduction. Young people show increasing doubt about the relevance of their grandparents' experience to their lives." Adolescents are freer discussing with fellow youth, male-female relationships. These discussions are nearly four times as frequent as casual talks with a parent. The world population report recommends that given the limitations of communication within families, family life and population education programmes are essential to address issues of adolescent sexual and reproductive behaviour. Such programmes are said to have been effective worldwide in diverse cultural settings. Thanks to UNFPA for funding the development and inclusion of population education in school curricula and programmes, to reach out-of-school youth in over 100 countries. The population report points out the programme need to reconcile the sometimes differing interest of youth and parent, promoting responsibility in sexual activity (including delaying it), and providing information that will protect the sexuality active. The report assures parents still wobbling in wrong opinions, of the value of sexual and reproductive health education for teenagers, which encourages responsible and ethical behavior. Here is proof: sixty five of 689 studies on family life and sexuality education in a scientific review, found no associated increase in sexual behaviour. Of the 53 studies which evaluate specific interventions, 21 found that youths, who had undergone such programmes, had higher levels of abstinence, later start of sexual activity, higher use if contraceptives, fewer sexual partners and reduced rates of unplanned pregnancy and STDs. So, contrary to popular belief, sex education, does not increase promiscuity. Involvement of the community, including parents and spiritual and community leaders in designing programme to reach the youth, is essential. Where there are changing traditional practices and relationships are dynamic, an inclusive approach can reveal issues vital to the community and generate trust and collaboration in dealing with them, Young people require a wide variety of approval to reach them with information about sexuality and critical issues which can make or break them. Schools, the community, parents and "all and sundry" should come to the cacoon and carpe out a brighter future for the youth, especially girls. Girls are more vulnerable to society entrenched injustices, which also push them to the edge of contracting HIV/AIDS. Since sexual and reproductive health and gender relations are closely linked to young people's broader breeds for education, jobs, health care and other opportunities, enabling adolescents to make responsible choices that ensure their safety and health, is key to their future. For the girls, she has been put though her paces for far too long. The in-docile attitude in society in the name of culture, has trapped the girls in a web of unfair pressures. Hence the shrills for mainstream society to open up communication as widely as possible on important life issues affecting the youth. Not only should the girl be at the centre of debate about responsible sexuality and role model, but boys too need to be clear about their role. They need to be initiated in the virtue that their virility cannot only be expressed in sexual relationships. An-all encompassing communication approach can rend apart, existing social imbalances and prejudices.
"CBOH receives K535m for AIDS testing/counselling." By Brighton Phiri The Post, November 24, 1998 Norway yesterday handed over a US$267,698. 65 (about K535 million) cheque to the Central Board of Health (CBOH) as part payment of the grant meant for the introduction of a Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT) service in the country. Presenting the cheque, Norwegian ambassador to Zambia Jon Lomoy noted that Zambia needs to improve the health standard of its people if it has to develop its economy. "Without good health, there is no development. It is from this background that we have considered assisting Zambia in its health activities aimed at improving health status of its people," Lomoy said. CBOH management adviser Dr. Ben Chirwa said his board would work in conjuction with Norwegian Biotech-nology Company, Bionor and the local non-governmantal orgnaisations (NGOs) to make the VCT services more accessible to the wider proportion of the Zambian population through a phased decentralisation of HIV conselling and testing projet. According to Dr. Chirwa, Bionor's involvement is to support the project management of training, supervision and co-ordination of the VCT project activities in the country, apart from being the major supplier of the HIV test equipment. The company has since brought into the country, the Bionor HIV 1 and 2 test which is a manual laboratory test based on a new and innovative magnetic particle technology and works on the modified ELISA principle. "It is simple to use and highly reliable in its operation," Dr. Chirwa described the equipment. Norway is expected to spend US$1. 2 million on the project.
"Ng'angas Cash In on AIDS Victims." The Post, November 19, 1998 As HIV spreads at an alarming rate in Zimbabwe, a fresh warning has been issued to people living with the virus or the incurable AIDS to avoid traditional healers who claim to have a cure for the fatal condition. The warning came on Monday from the Zimbabwe National Traditional Healers Association (Zinatha), whose public relations officer, Peter Sibanda, said there had been a rise in the number of unfounded claims of cures by some members which, he said, were designed to swindle sufferers. He told the country's news agency, Ziana, on Monday that: "We have since started clinical trials to determine the sporadic claims by healers." According to Sibanda, "proof is demanded before one goes public about his/her healing powers, but only 11 n'angas (healers) are participating and to date only one is in phase two of the trials." During the trials, n'angas were not supposed to charge any fees, a condition which, he said, scared away many who preferred to practise without undergoing the trials. Sibanda applauded healers who have actively engaged in the search for a cure, even if none has so far been found. He said, however, that the association's efforts were being frustrated by the local medical ethics document which did not regard n'angas as medical practitioners. "The document is very cruel, it takes us to be savages. It is surprising because traditional healing has been in practice for over 500,000 years," said Sibanda. Zimbabwe has currently the highest HIV prevalence rate of 25 per cent among its population of 12.5 million. The country has of late been recording 700 AIDS-related deaths per week. And the United Nations Population Fund Resident Representative, Etta Tadesse, said in Zimbabwe on Monday that the gains made by Zimbabwe in reproductive health soon after independence are fast being eroded by poverty and HIV/AIDS. Tadesse said in an interview that governments and donor agencies had to make the scourge an investment priority and put more resources in the fight of the pandemic whose cure had not been found. She said the problem of reproductive health which was mostly evidenced in the country's rural population needed everybody's contribution and efforts instead of waiting for government initiatives alone. "As Africans, we also need to count some success stories in reproductive health issues, but to achieve that goal a concerted effort from everybody is essential," said Tadesse. The threat of HIV/AIDS in Zimbabwe, which is among the highest affected countries in Africa, is projected to leave more than 600,000 orphans by the year 2000. About 1.5 million people are reported to be living with HIV, the AIDS-causing virus, especially those in the 20-to-40 years age group who are the most reproductive.
"AIDS Stalking Africa's Struggling Economies." By DONALD G. McNEIL Jr.
New York Times, November 15, 1998
In nearby Zimbabwe, a personnel officer confesses that he has hired three people for each semiskilled job, expecting two to die in training. Half the executives at another company refuse promotions because an HIV test is required. In the mines, where one sick driller can cripple a whole crew, some South African shafts are reporting 25 percent HIV infection rates, and even higher rates of tuberculosis, which blooms in weakened immune systems. At the Chilanga Cement Factory in Zambia, 20 to 25 workers die each year from AIDS. Workers at the plant repaired a grinder.
As the AIDS epidemic sweeps the continent, the underpinnings of many already shaky economies are becoming riddled with cracks. As one economist put it, the problems right now are merely insidious, "but one day you'll wake up and they'll be catastrophic."
In Africa, the disease attacks educated urban professionals -- the backbone of economic expansion -- first. The loss of those people can rob the continent of much of its potential. The damage is immeasurable, economists say, because it appears in ways that cannot be seen -- businesses that will never be founded, ideas that will never be pitched, university departments that will never be created. In eastern and southern Africa, where the epidemic is worst, the economically strongest countries -- South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Uganda and Zambia -- have infection rates between 10 percent and 25 percent. Virtually all of those infected will die within 10 years. West Africa's strongest economies, like those of Nigeria, Ghana and the Ivory Coast, have lower, but still scary, infection rates.
AIDS here, spread mostly by heterosexual encounters, hits the economically productive hardest. "It's men who may come from poor areas, but now have social mobility, can travel, can afford prostitutes," said Wayne Myslik, chief consultant for Lifeworks, a South African AIDS-management consultancy, who has studied the problem at companies all over Africa.
A well-known 1987 study in Rwanda showed that a pregnant woman had a 9 percent chance of infection if her husband was a farmer, a 22 percent chance if he was a soldier, a 32 percent chance if he was a white-collar worker and a 38 percent chance if he was a government official.
Companies and governments may find ways to avoid bankruptcy, but the choices they make to survive will be cruel -- laying off the sick, sending others home to die. For Westerners used to a system in which insurers and governments pay for top-quality medical care, it is hard to grasp the kinds of cuts already being made here. Never mind $15,000 AIDS cocktails and costly cures for rare brain infections. Companies that once calmly paid for coffins, hearses and funeral meals for employees are now begrudging even that.
Accurately gauging the impact of the epidemic is difficult. Few companies know how many of their workers are infected. And no one admits having AIDS, so experts must guess how many of the deaths of young working people from tuberculosis, malaria and vague complaints like "bad chest" are really AIDS-related. But the indications are that the disease is devastating to family finances, widely variable in the damage it inflicts on individual companies and government health budgets, and -- so far, anyway -- surprisingly minor in its statistical effects on national economies. But because so many industries in Africa rely on cheap unskilled labor from the almost limitless pools of the unemployed, damage to overall economies may be relatively slight, economists said.
In one of the cruel ironies of epidemiology, the survivors may benefit economically, just as the survivors of the 14th-century bubonic plague did when wages skyrocketed and farmland became free. The damage at the family level is easy to grasp. The typical breadwinner in Africa has 10 dependents, and outside South Africa there are no welfare systems. Poor families are devastated even by a child's death, because the cost of medicine and a funeral means they often have to eat less, sell land or cattle, or take healthy children out of school. That returns a once-ambitious family directly into the hopeless cycle of poverty at its nadir -- illiterate, ill-nourished children hoeing small plots of corn to avoid starvation.
Health Systems: Strained Budgets Bring Rationing
The next greatest threat is to medical budgets, both public and private. Most African countries have annual health budgets of less than $6 per citizen. Zimbabwe, for example, allocated $3.68 per person in 1995, while the hospitalization of a privately insured AIDS patient that year cost $18,000. Faced with bankruptcy, governments respond by rationing. The $15,000-a-year protease-inhibitor "cocktails" that prolong so many American lives are out of the question -- the World Bank estimates that one patient's dosage would keep 400 children in school for a year. Most patients get the most common malaria drugs, TB drugs and antibiotics. When their immune systems are so weak that those stop working, they simply die. Even relatively rich South Africa says it cannot afford to offer $80 courses of AZT routinely to pregnant and nursing women to prevent transmission to their children.
Workers for corporations face similar rationing, but the more generous employers buy them more months of life. Worker health insurance is rare; far more common are clinics on the grounds of the mine, factory or farm. They offer as much as the company decides it can afford. Small companies cope by simply dismissing sick workers; rich ones cap their health benefits. Even Eskom, the South African power company known for its generous benefits, recently cut its medical benefits for HIV-infected employees from $18,000 a year to $2,600.
"The employees didn't scream," said Liz Thebe, Eskom's AIDS-education administrator. Since South Africa's press is unsophisticated about AIDS, protease-inhibitor "cocktails" are seldom mentioned and few people are aware of them. Only a handful of Eskom workers, most of them white, take them, Ms. Thebe said. Others, who have heard that such treatment involves 60 pills a day and harsh side effects, simply declined. Some "prefer to go to traditional healers," she said.
Insurance companies react to the disease's heavy toll by writing policies that require repeated blood tests. If a country outlaws such requirements, they stop doing business there. In dirt-poor Malawi, Myslik said, there are only two insurers left: the state-owned National Insurance Co., which is insolvent, and Old Mutual, which insures only expatriate workers, not Malawians.
The Companies: Some Cut Costs, Others Stress Help
The third-greatest economic damage done by AIDS is to corporate profits. Few companies will talk about AIDS in their work force and some hide the problem even from their shareholders, so analyses of losses are relatively rare. At Indeni, Zambia's only oil refinery, AIDS costs doubled from 1991 to 1993 and surpassed the company's meager profits the next year. A study of Botswana Diamond Valuing Co., whose 525 highly trained sorters pick diamonds off conveyor belts full of mine gravel, estimated that AIDS cost it $237 per employee, or 6 percent of profits, in 1994. The Botswana Meat Commission, which slaughters the country's beef, its second-biggest export after diamonds, was losing $268 per employee, or 8 percent of profits. At Muhoroni Sugar, a huge sugar plantation in Kenya, costs in 1994 were only $49 per employee, but they were expected to double while the company kept losing money. (To keep this in perspective, one must remember how low wages are in Africa. A typical Muhoroni worker earned about $1,200 a year.)
AIDS bleeds profits from companies in many ways: medical and death expenses, funeral payments, the costs of recruiting and training new employees; work hours lost because employees are off sick. Interestingly, in companies that keep statistics, more work-hours are lost to funeral attendance than to illness. Since most Africans are buried in their rural home villages, attending a relative's funeral means asking for up to a week off.
"In my tradition, I can have three or four mothers," said Mulenga Kapwepwe, an executive at Project Concern, an AIDS-monitoring group here, explaining that Africans consider aunts, uncles and cousins to be immediate family. "Before the epidemic, things were loose -- I could go bury anyone in my extended family. Now companies are tightening up." And there are the potentially huge costs of accidents. "I had a guy collapse at the airport the other day," said an executive who spoke on condition his company not be named. "What if he'd been driving his truck and hit a 727?"
With brutally hard-nosed management, some companies can contain costs. Although 20 to 25 of the 900 employees of Chilanga Cement die each year, the effect on the bottom line is "almost negligible," said chief executive Patrick Gorman. The disease does not even rate a mention in the annual report.
The Lusaka-area company, which owns Zambia's biggest cement plant, was sold by the government to Britain's Commonwealth Development Corp. in 1994. Most of its deaths are among laborers, who are easily replaced, and the company is laying men off anyway, Gorman said. "To put it callously, it's achieving what we want," he said. "Natural wastage is letting us reach our manning levels."
Absenteeism for funerals had increased 15-fold between 1992 and 1995, but "we've stamped on that," he added. A worker may leave only for the funeral of a wife, parent or child without losing the day's pay. White-collar deaths are "surprisingly low," Gorman said, though he had to hire back a marketing director because the two successors he hired have both died.
At the company's on-site clinic, costs are "down to about $15 per head per annum," he said. "We draw the line at AZT and all these high-powered expensive drugs."
Mourners waited as a gravedigger at a cemetery near Lusaka, Zambia, finished his work at the funeral of a 34-year-old Zambian man who died of what his father described as ``fits.'' Many Zambian companies pay funeral expenses for their workers. For each worker who died, the company used to pay for the coffin, hearse, buses for mourners, food for the funeral meal and a cash grant to the family. "When I first got here, I tried to do away with the whole thing and ended up in a three-month firefight with the union," Gorman said. Ultimately, they settled for a grant worth about $200.
At the other end of the spectrum in Zambia is Barclay's Bank, the country's biggest. Its employees are overwhelmingly white-collar and high school or college graduates. With subsidiaries across Africa, Barclay's is widely admired for its AIDS plans, of which Zambia's was the first. The bank has never calculated exactly how much the disease costs it, said Bright Nyirenda, who started the program. But its startling wake-up call came in the late 1980s when it was legal to give blood tests to job applicants: eight of the 10 interviewed in the small city of Kabwe proved HIV-positive. Meanwhile, inside the company's ranks, "young men ready for promotion were dying," said Sylvester Mubengwa, Nyirenda's successor as health and safety manager.
Between 1987 and 1992, the bank's annual mortality rate rose from 0.4 percent to 2.23 percent. In the United States about 0.25 percent is typical. It has since leveled off a bit lower, with 85 percent of the deaths AIDS-related. Making matters worse, many are middle managers. The typical death comes after six years of service; the bank lost eight supervisory or managerial rank employees last year and 11 in 1996. Others who have been hard-hit are the secretaries to those men. "The managers travel a lot, and so are ... exposed to temptation," said Nyirenda, straining to speak delicately. "Back at work, they prevail over their juniors, and get favors from them. With secretaries, it can turn out quite viciously." The bank has a sexual-harassment policy, he said, but workers in impoverished Zambia are desperate to keep their jobs. Because the bank pays relatively well, it can fill its depleted ranks by raiding other companies. Small firms cannot compete for executive talent.
Barclay's does not merely offer health lectures and free condoms, as some companies do. "It's bank policy to show compassion," Mubengwa said, sitting under a poster of the Barclay's eagle with a red AIDS ribbon on its wing. When an employee begins to show signs of sickness -- slackening concentration, growing absenteeism -- Mubengwa tries to work out a plan that eases the work burden, oversees medical care and suggests disability retirement. Employees are prodded to prolong their lives by living in healthy ways -- quitting smoking, taking vitamins, avoiding new infections. However, as is frequently the case here, the employees often deny they are sick, refuse HIV tests and try to work until they die. In a legacy of mining-based economies, African companies typically pay two to four times annual salary to the family of a worker who dies on the job, while disability retirements are pittances.
The Economies: Loss So Far Slight, but Potential Fades
Perhaps surprisingly enough, the least catastrophic damage from the epidemic is at the macroeconomic level. Most of the 610 million people in Africa south of the Sahara are subsistence farmers, herders or fishermen. Those with formal jobs are usually laborers, crop pickers or miners. Although they suffer and die, the economy marches on indifferently. There are so many desperate job-seekers that they are quickly replaced.
Mead Over, a World Bank economist, estimates that in Africa's 10 worst-hit countries, through the year 2025, the disease will reduce growth of gross domestic product per capita by only 0.3 percent. Although total GDP goes down when the sick do not grow crops or produce goods, he explained, so many people die that those who are left own greater slices of the economic pie. And he is quick to point out that an 0.3 percent drop in growth is significant in countries struggling to grow even 1 percent a year. Some economists almost apologetically compare AIDS in Africa to the 14th century's Black Death. That great scythe of bubonic plague killed nearly a third of Europe's people in three years, but from a cold-bloodedly financial point of view, the survivors did nicely. With labor scarce, wages climbed, and "a lot of people suddenly had a lot more land," Over said. And, as Alan Whiteside, an economist at the University of Natal, in South Africa, noted, many African economies are shrinking, while governments are selling state enterprises and trimming public payrolls. "Being cynical about it," he said, "They think, 'If you're going to lose people anyway, do you mind how they go?"'
The impact of deaths in the civil service has yet to be calculated. Business in Africa is intertwined with government, which usually owns the telephone system and electric company. Infection rates in the civil service are high -- in South Africa, as many as one in seven are thought to be infected. In some countries, civil servants, who have job security, may legally be home sick for a year before being replaced. That is a crisis in the making, said Whiteside. "You can't run a company without electricity," he said. "If the power company loses its technicians, you can't generate electricity." Although most companies have been slow to respond, or are still in denial, a few prescient ones saw the problem coming. That did not always help.
Jenny Rogers runs South Africa's best-known AIDS program for the Billiton aluminum company in the province of KwaZulu-Natal. It hands out condoms and brochures in every bathroom, gives health lectures and aggressively treats workers for venereal diseases, which increase the risk of HIV infection. Mrs. Rogers even took a whole museum exhibit on AIDS from Pretoria to Richards Bay, the little city around the smelters, and found friendly HIV-infected guides to take 20,000 visitors through and talk to them about their fears of the disease. In a way, she was lucky. AIDS came late to South Africa because anti-apartheid sanctions kept the borders closed -- though not airtight -- until 1990. She might have had time to head off the disease.
But, she said, "for years, the unions blocked it." "There was a belief that the disease didn't exist, because no one had seen it. And some feeling that it was a plot by the old government or the United States to keep the black population down by getting people to use condoms. And there were objections that condoms aren't part of African culture. And there are traditional practices here that spread the disease -- such as when a man dies, his wives become his brother's property so the land isn't split up, and he is expected to sleep with them." She slowly overcame a lot of that resistance, she said. Shop stewards now double as AIDS educators, and the company hands out so many condoms that at one point employees were taking an average of 6.2 per day each. "I think I'm supporting a lot of small entrepreneurs," she said, laughing.
Nonetheless, it may all be too late. The infection rate in surrounding KwaZulu-Natal is now 30 percent, higher even than in Zimbabwe or Botswana, Africa's worst-hit countries. Those deaths are yet to come.
"Help People Change, Community Leaders Urged." Times of Zambia, November 9, 1998 Community leaders have been urged to assist in educating people change their sexual behaviour to avoid contracting HIV/AIDS which affects the development of Zambia. Mrs Rose Zulu of Family Health Trust said at the weekend that the HIV/AIDS problem was badly affecting production and development of Zambia with 300 adults getting infected in Zambia on a daily basis. She was giving an overview of HIV/AIDS to participants of the Rural Women and Orphans Development Care Association (Ruwedeca) workshop on skills building for young people at Chalimbana farmers training centre in Chongwe. Mrs Zulu said at least 26 per cent of HIV infections take place in Lusaka. "Government is losing many skilled workers between the ages of 19 and 49 affecting development. We need education on HIV/AIDS in remote rural areas by organising workshops for elders at parents teachers associations (PTA) meetings," she said. She advised parents not force children into marriage without the partners undergoing HIV/AIDS tests. Earlier Family Health Trust senior programmes officer Priscilla Chitomfwa told Ruwedeca to plan their activities and make project proposals at the right time to assist them solicit funds from donors and other well-wishers. She said every organisation had a budget which gets exhausted each year and can only be assisted financially if they approached such organisations at the right time with project proposals. Meanwhile, Mrs Chitomfwa has called for honest, commitment and sacrifice by all volunteers in Ruwedeca to service orphans and the needy people in their areas. She told the workshop attended by Community Development deputy permanent secretary Klemens Banda and district social welfare officer Monica Walasa not to expect any payments for joining the association for it was a voluntary oriented organisation.
"HIV/AIDS Patients Shedding Off Cocoons." The Sunday Mail, November 1, 1998 The initial devastating impact on society of the dreaded HIV/AIDS seems to be wearing off. Although the incurable disease continues to claim many lives, many people are now accepting the fact that it a health problem they have to live with. And as DORIS NKUNTA reports, many people, including those living with the disease, are uniting their efforts to help ease the impact. More and more people living with HIV/AIDS are shedding off their cocoon of shame, fear and despair to return into the mainstream of society. They want to be accepted and treated as normal persons. Society too is gradually coming to terms with the fact that the disease is real and cannot be wished away. It is being accepted too that there is no cure yet. And while medical experts continue to strive to find a cure, many people living with disease would not like to be disillusioned by some claims that the cure is around the bend. Many are ready for a long wait. "If someone came to me today and to say he has found the HIV/AIDS cure, I would refuse because I am convinced that there is no cure and it will take a long time for it to be found. May be when I am dead and buried," said Feruzi Karoye who lives with the disease. Karoye, a Tanzanian, was among 56 representatives from 20 African countries attending an HIV/AIDS conference in Lusaka recently. The different nationals, united as ambassadors of hope, decided to convene in Zambia to discuss their successes and failures during their many missions in African countries. The conference organised by Network of African People Living with HIV/AIDS (NAP) and funded by United National Development Programme(UNDP). NAP president David Chipanta said the ambassadors of hope travel to various countries once or twice a month to interact with their counterparts and find better ways of sensitising people. Response has been positive from most African countries. Even Nigeria which had been dormant is now active. Facilitator Major Rubaramira Ruranga of Uganda said when he and his colleagues first visited Nigeria to publicly discuss the disease, the Nigerian government refused to allow the team use the studios because some Nigerians did not want the campaign team to leave any AIDS in the studios. After consultations, Ruranga said his group managed to cast their programme and were invited a month later. Ruranga has lived with HIV for 13 years. ``It is actually more. Only that it has been 13 years since I knew of it. It may probably even be 15 years," he said. He said he has never fallen ill to a point where he is bedridden but does get simple ailments like any other person. He said he was proud to mention that Uganda had come to terms with the disease by recognising the importance of accepting it. "Almost every family has lost a relative to HIV/AIDS', he said. He is grateful to Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni for directing, in 1986, that HIV/AIDS be fought openly because it was everyone's concern. "My president's activism has brought Uganda where it is now as the spread of HIV/AIDS has decreased," he proudly said. On their second trip to Nigeria, Ruranga and his counterparts had meetings with various quarters of society including the church and senior government officials. Karoye learnt he was HIV positive in 1992. He never fell ill but what prompted him was feeling constantly fatigued and the death of his third child. He also had a problems with his appendix. "This has been a long time problem". When he went for an operation he asked his doctor to carry out an HIV test since he suspected he could be positive. "I have always had an interest in the disease and always feeling tired gave me a feeling that I could have it. I was actually convinced when my third child was born with complications and died 41 days later," he said. He narrated that when his wife was expecting their third child, she did not have any complications and was as "fit as a fiddle". Before his doctor told him the result of the test, Kayore was reminded whether he was sure of what he was doing as he did not under go any counselling before taking the decision. "When I asked my doctor to take the test I thought I would take whatever the result would be but when I was told that I was HIV positive, I was devastated," he said. The doctor advised Kayore not to tell his wife but to asked her to visit the clinic with him. "That night I did not sleep, I cried and wondered how my wife would take it," he said. The dreaded day arrived the Kayores went to the clinic where the doctor told Mrs Kayore of her husband's status. What was her reaction? "My wife broke down and on seeing her cry, I too began to cry," he said. Having two children, 12 and 7, the Kayores are grateful and have come to terms with their health. Kayore said if he and his wife ever want a daughter, they would adopt one. Kayore has also joined the cause as a counselor. Kayore said manages to keep relatively healthy by drinking a lot of water, eating a balanced diet and taking a lot of rest. He said rest was important because people with HIV/AIDS constantly felt tired. And Femi Nzegwu, representing Dakar-based Regional Project on HIV and Development at the conference, said HIV/AIDS had become an African problem which needed greater effort to counter. She noted that in the United States, the disease was no longer amongst the top ten deadly diseases. She said unless Africa began show progress in combating the disease, donors could be reluctant to fund projects to do with HIV/AIDS. "Africans have been challenged to re-design the way they interact with one another," Nzegwe said. She also suggested that NAP should also generate its own resources so that it decides on how best to use the money. She also suggested that members must think of contributing to a fund that would help their children in future. The participants also called for a more influential voice on the Global Network of people living with HIV/AIDS (GNP). The GNP has 12 board members of which two are Africans. Most of them complained that Africans on the GNP board did not have much of a say and had decisions imposed on them. Winston Zulu, a former member of the GNP board, said it was not even necessary for Africa to be on the board because there is nothing significant that had been achieved so far. He said NAP had made an impact and what was needed was mere collaboration with the GNP. But Ruranga who too was once a board a member, said it was necessary to be on the board because Africa would lose out if it stayed out. A majority of other conference participants also agreed that Africa must continue being a member of GNP. This difference in opinion did not, however, divert the participants from the main goal of the conference. The need to encourage people living with HIV/AIDS was agreed on unanimously. It was with great hope, that the participants concluded the deliberations.
"Member of Parliament Calls on Women in Rural Areas to Play a Leading Role in the Prevention of HIV/AIDS." Times of Zambia, October 22, 1998 Member of Parliament for Milanzi in Katete, Chimwala Phiri, has called on women in rural areas to play a leading role in the prevention of HIV/AIDS. Mr Phiri made the call during the opening of a three-day trainers of trainers workshop for women clubs at Kafumbwe in Chief Kawaza's area. He said women should use associations such as clubs to disseminate information on the dangers of HIV/AIDS and prevention of the disease. Mr Phiri noted that HIV/AIDS would remain a major health problem for as long as Government and non-governmental organisations did not find solutions to poverty, illiteracy and hunger. He also called on women clubs to educate the public on the importance of family planning. Mr Phiri said women clubs in the area had been given K8m from the constituency development fund for various activities including HIV/AIDS prevention campaigns.
"Clergyman Cites Causes of HIV/AIDS Pandemic." Times of Zambia, October 22, 1998 The Kafubu Block mission church has cited negligence as the cause of the prevalence of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Bishop of the church Weluzani Jere has also expressed concern about the manner condoms were being disposed of in Ndola rural. He said the rate at which people were dying from HIV/AIDS had reached an alarming proportion. Bishop Jere said that at his Kafubu Block mission he was stuck with many orphans some of whom had lost both parents while others had lost one parent from the same disease. He disagreed with the use of condoms because that could mean encouraging sin. Bishop Jere also called on all churches to get involved in the promotion of HIV/AIDS education. "Those who cannot get out and reach the people they should support those who have a calling," he noted. On the disposal of condoms the bishop said he was appalled by the way they were thrown about carelessly. He suggested that all used condoms should be thrown in pit latrines or buried to stop children picking them and using them as balloons. Bishop Jere also observed that most people afflicted with AIDS had fled to rural areas where they were spreading the disease among unsuspecting villagers.
"The High Price of Homosexuality." By Joe Chilaizya Times of Zambia, October 20, 1998 It took just one ill-timed, ill-conceived, ill-advised statement uttered in probably less than one minute to invalidate former president Kenneth Kaunda's claim to 74.5 years of wisdom. It would appear that 27 years at the helm of this nation are not enough to have taught him how to choose worthy causes to espouse. As President Frederick Chiluba said at last Sunday's national day of thanksgiving and rededication service at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross, Alfred Mthakati Zulu can be forgiven for his current excess that appears to be an off-shoot of poverty, but the former president, whose son succumbed to AIDS, must know from having led government for so long how much it costs the tax payer to deliver health care to those afflicted by sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). It is so easy to say that one's sexual orientation is nobody else's business, but who pays for the consequences in the end? There is an insipid message being sent through by Alfred Zulu, KK and company that it is "bigoted" to assume to tell anyone how they ought to live. Reproductive rights activists tell us that no one can dictate what you can or cannot do with your body or sex life or even the unborn child inside you. But is sex between two consenting adults really no one else's business? Is sex between two or more willing adults still a private matter these days? Not if we, the tax payers, must end up paying for the consequences of that so-called private act! People must now wake up to the fact that most of what we do in the privacy of our bedroom these days affects many, many, others. The worst part of the whole problem is that it affects national coffers. The acceptance of the gay culture in this country will unnecessarily raise the AIDS, malnutrition and malaria laden cost of health care. Someone always pays for promiscuity and it is not always the active participants who pay the most. Usually, it is the children, innocent spouses, haemophiliacs and naive teenagers. In USA, for instance, the government pays $100,000 (about K200m) for the support of every teenager who has a child per year and available statistics indicate that 1.2m teenage girls get pregnant every year. In Zambia, we may not have a very elaborate support system but can you imagine how much it costs individual families to support another mouth on already overstretched incomes? No one even bothers to quantify how much that child will cost to keep in good health and put through school for both the family and the tax payer. When it comes to the cost of managing AIDS related complexes (ARCs) the bill is too staggering for the Ministry of Health to manage from tax revenues. A one week course to bring streptococcal meningitis, an ARC, under control costs more than K250,000. The afflicted patient will have cost the Government not less than K2.5m at the end of the process if it does not end in fatality. Most hospitals do not have the kind of money it takes to even stock drugs for such AIDS-related complexes. Doctors merely write out a prescription knowing well that the patient cannot even afford the medicine. With anguish in the hearts, doctors send the patients home to go and die, unleashing a wave of emotional toil and pain on the family. ll this pain for something that started off as a "private act" between two consenting adults! ondom manufacturers must stop this "It's my life" nonsense. If Zambians like Alfred Zulu and KK do not want us involved in their sex lives why should we be spending valuable tax-payers' Kwachas on their diseases? ust how can they logically demand the collective right to continue a sexual activity that is destroying millions of lives and then turn around and demand that society care and pay for victims of their own behaviour? hy should society pay for AIDS and other STDs when we had nothing to do with it? According to a research by eminent medical scholars Edward Artnak and James Cerda published in the Current Concepts in Gastroenterology, the male homosexual is responsible for a majority of a new wave of STDs. Centres for Disease Control all over the world report that 50 per cent of new cases of syphilis occur in the homosexual population. Talking about syphilis, an 18-year-old girl had sex with 16 men, then had sex with other women, who had sex with other men and the cycle went on and on and on. She contracted syphilis in the process and the number of traceable sexual contacts finally added up to 1,660! When a husband, for instance, has sex with a prostitute then transmits the HIV virus which causes AIDS to his wife, can he say his private decision to have sex with a prostitute is personal and private? The average Zambian prostitute has had no less than 500 sex partners. If one has sex with her, he has effectively slept with all the 500-plus partners and their other partners in crime. A promiscuous husband consequently invites no less than 12 000 other men into bed with his wife at home. Is 12000 private or public? The morality of an average gay person is also of very grave concern. Gay writers themselves declare that morals in their community are low on the list of priorities. "Many gays reject morality, offering anyone a variety of reasons, rational and emotional for doing so. But there is a simpler darker reason why they choose to live without morality. "Urban gays appear agreed that everyone has the right to behave just as he pleases. As a matter of fact, it all boiled down to a single axiom: 'I can do whatever I want, and you can go to perdition (hell)'. In the gay press, this doctrine has hardened into stone," write homosexual authors Kirk and Madsen. The last thing Zambia needs in the throes of an AIDS emergency is an absence of Biblical morality. The media on the other hand has not been much help in this regard. Sex on TV, our electronic baby-sitter, or in movies is in 94 per cent of the sample cases, between two unmarried people. The media is in effect telling our children that sex outside marriage is okay and sex is just another pastime without consequences. Our kids will have watched 90,000 scenes of sex or suggested sex between the ages of eight and 18 - 70,000 of which are pre-marital or extra-marital. Parents and the church have been silent accomplices to this crime. Doctors have not been any help either. Instead of outrightly coming out in the open against destructive lifestyles, they offer so-called non-judgemental medical advice. Can doctors merely treat a homosexual's diseases and say nothing at all about the behaviour that causes them? The bottom line is this: Sex is no longer a private act when sexually promiscuous people want us to pay for the cure of their own wilfully chosen diseases. And we the people utterly refuse to pay for homosexual consequences. If this nation accepts the gay culture, it will reap the whirlwind of God's judgement (Proverbs 16:4, Revelations 2:20-23). Community Development Deputy Minister, Elizabeth ...
"The Issue of Condoms with Children." By Miriam Zimba Times of Zambia, October 17, 1998 When Mrs Liza Chanda (not real name) found condoms in her teenage son's wardrobe, she knew it was time to open up and discuss sex with him. Not to embarrass him, she asked her husband to approach the boy. "My husband went in his room and pretended he was looking for something and 'accidentally' dropped the condoms startling the boy who was lying on the bed," she narrates. As expected, he denied they were his, insisting they were for a friend but his father shut him up. "My husband then had a fatherly chat with him explaining about the changes in his body and how important sex is, but pointing out that it could wait until marriage." Of course, not all parents are brave enough to even discuss such an issue especially after finding condoms in the boys' bedroom. The reaction is usually that of spanking the son which does not solve the problem. The sobering prevalence of AIDS has made sex awareness among teenagers a matter of life and death. The teenager of today requires a whole host of information on sex in comparison to our parents who lived in the permissive 60s when there were no incurable sexually transmitted diseases. Most teenagers, however, are afraid of openly discussing sex with their parents because they do not want to raise suspicion but rather they want to maintain the 'perfect kid' face. Some parents on the other hand find it difficult to broach the topic especially with the older children. "I normally bring up the topic when we are watching television with the children and there is a love scene. I will ask them what they think of the scene and we open up the subject on sex," says Mrs Veronica Chinama, a marriage counsellor and secretary at Simba School in Ndola. It also depends on how close one is to the children and in Mrs Chinama's case, she and the children are very close making it easier. Although most schools have introduced sex education in their curriculum, parents can also find time to discuss the topic with the children based on sound moral values. According to a study conducted on sex and the teenagers, most of the youngsters indulge in sex due to peer pressure where they want to feel they are part of the gang, while others do it under the influence of alcohol and drugs. For most boys, it is merely to prove their masculinity. Children should as a start be told the consequences of having unprotected sex, that it can for instance lead to pregnancies and worst of all sexually transmitted diseases which include incurable ones like AIDS. Parents can warn the children on the dangers of alcohol and drugs as they lead to lowered inhibitions and making wrong choices. Three teenagers I talked to from Ndola's Modern High School believe it is better to wait for sex until marriage. Judith Musonda, a grade 12 pupil says she often discusses sex issues with her mother. She normally brings up the topic by asking her how women fall pregnant. Fortunately for her, she is close to her mother and it is not difficult to talk about it. Douglas Mwansa, also in Grade 12 however says it all depends on how one was raised up because for some homes, it is taboo to talk about sex . But he says, with the prevalence of AIDS, it is important for parents to discuss sex. Brian Chimfwembe, a prefect moans that parents are sometimes too judgmental and always conclude the worst when they see their son with a girl. A peer educator at Hope Humana in Ndola Davies Bwalya, emphasises the need for parents to be open with their children . "We adults think the kids don't know, but they do, and if they do why not talk about it instead of waiting for a crisis," he wonders. "Parents for a start can talk about the changes they notice in their children , how the son's voice has grown big, how their daughter's hips and breasts have enlarged," he says. And remember to make the chat friendly and humorous as most children shudder at the thought of a serious heavy talk, especially on an uncomfortable topic like sex. Most important, talk about it because in this case, silence is shame, it can be destructive.
"North - West Goes Easy on Condoms." Times of Zambia, October 12, 1998 The demand of condoms in the North- Western Province has reduced because of a strong belief that a circumcised person cannot be infected with sexually transmitted diseases (STD). Speaking in an interview with the Times, Society for Family Health (SFH) area sales and marketing manager for the Copperbelt and Northern region Ms Jennifer Kanchela said, sales of condoms had been very low. She discovered this after she toured North - Western Province sales outlets and villagers which proved that Luvales, Lundas and Chokwes shunned condoms because they believe that when they are circumcised they are safe from all other STDs. Ms Kanchela said that the tradition of circumcising males in the North - Western Province has brainwashed men who feel that they are clean people. "Women said that there is no STD and AIDS in the rural areas. They do not want to use condoms as a form of family planning because they believe that STD and AIDS are diseases from the big cities,"Ms Kanchela said. She pointed out that AIDS was not only found in the city but that it was every where. She urged all STD and AIDS activists to work together and educate the people in North - Western Province about the transmission of STDs and AIDS. She added that she was very concerned with North- Western Province because it was the only province which had showed a decline in sales of condoms. In another event, Ms Kanchela said that SFH has reduced the maximum packet which contained four condoms to three condoms. This is because SFH has researched that couples in Zambia are not sexually active to use all four condoms in a day or night. "We have introduced a packet of three because we feel that is the correct number of condoms that can be used up in a night or day," said Ms Kanchela.: The demand of condoms in the North- Western Province has reduced because of a strong belief that a circumcised person cannot be infected with sexually transmitted diseases (STD). Speaking in an interview with the Times, Society for Family Health (SFH) area sales and marketing manager for the Copperbelt and Northern region Ms Jennifer Kanchela said, sales of condoms had been very low. She discovered this after she toured North - Western Province sales outlets and villagers which proved that Luvales, Lundas and Chokwes shunned condoms because they believe that when they are circumcised they are safe from all other STDs.
Ms Kanchela said that the tradition of circumcising males in the North - Western Province has brainwashed men who feel that they are clean people. "Women said that there is no STD and AIDS in the rural areas. They do not want to use condoms as a form of family planning because they believe that STD and AIDS are diseases from the big cities,"Ms Kanchela said. She pointed out that AIDS was not only found in the city but that it was every where. She urged all STD and AIDS activists to work together and educate the people in North - Western Province about the transmission of STDs and AIDS. She added that she was very concerned with North- Western Province because it was the only province which had showed a decline in sales of condoms.
In another event, Ms Kanchela said that SFH has reduced the maximum packet which contained four condoms to three condoms. This is because SFH has researched that couples in Zambia are not sexually active to use all four condoms in a day or night. "We have introduced a packet of three because we feel that is the correct number of condoms that can be used up in a night or day," said Ms Kanchela.
"New Orphan Prevalence Estimates for Zambia." By Douglas Webb Health-L, October 12, 1998 Just in case network readers had not seen these new estimates, I think they are worth having. They are taken from Susan Hunter and John Williamson's document 'Children on the Brink: strategies to support children isolated by HIV/AIDS' produced for USAID. They used the latest modelling techniques to come up with figures. further info can be got from Susan Hunter. Zambia: for year 2000: population of children aged under 15: 4,828,272 maternal and double orphans from all causes: 745,492 maternal/double orphans as % of children aged under 15: 15.44% % of maternal/double orphans from AIDS: 78.4% paternal orphans from AIDS: 911,157 paternal orphans as % of children aged under 15: 18.87% total orphans from all causes: 1,656,649 total orphans as % of children aged under 15: 34.31% This figure of 34.3% of children orphaned by the year 2000 is the highest estimate out of the 23 countries in the study! Sobering statistics.
"AIDS Victims Must Live Positively, Says Activist." By George Malunga The Daily Mail, October 12, 1998 A Livingstone man on Friday disclosed he was HIV positive and declared his intention to use his life as a living testimony when educating others about the dangers of AIDS. Mr Ronnie Chibweza made the declaration during a workshop on the formation of AIDS support groups in the Southern Province held at Tunya Lodge in Livingstone. Mr Chibweza said it was pointless to continue living in a husk for the rest of his life, saying his life could be more meaningful if it was used to save others. Mr Chibweza, 40, has three children and is currently on separation with his wife. He said being HIV positive did not mean that one had committed a crime but that misfortunes came in one's life. He added that there was nothing which HIV victims did that other people did not do. He discovered that he was HIV-positive in 1996 but said his life had improved because he now knows what the problems is and he has learnt to accept it. "I have accepted the condition that I am in, and it has helped me to lead a more positive life." Mr Chibweza commended the Roman Catholic Sisters whom he said had been giving him a lot of encouragement and material support since he is unemployed. He believes there is nothing wrong about belonging to the group of AIDS victims. Mr Chibweza now belongs to SETC AIDS Centre in Livingstone which has eight active members and he is currently the only one who has gone public at the centre. The workshop organised by Network of Zambia People living with HIV/AIDS was meant to develop self-confidence in victims and give them courage to reach-out to others. The Workshop, conducted by Mr David Chipanta and Mr Winstone Zulu, both HIV-positive activists, had 30 participants drawn from Kalomo, Choma, Monze and Livingstone. NZT national chairman, Mr Zulu disclosed that the organisation had a membership of about one million in the country. Mr Zulu said NZT wanted to organise people with HIV/AIDS, pull resources and skills, build confidence and teach those infected about the dangers of re-infection. Speaking earlier, Mr Chipanta disclosed that plans were under way to establish counselling centres at every hospital and health centres so that HIV/AIDS victims could easily be accessed with the help of medical staff. He said all infections in HIV victims were manageable though AIDS was incurable. He advised participants to practice safe or protected sex to avoid re-infection and infecting other people.
"AIDS Worries Mambo." By Reuben Phiri The Post, October 12, 1998 Worried by the increase in HIV/AIDS, Church of God Archbishop John Mambo has urged Pentecostal churches not to shun efforts to fight the pandemic simply because there are other denominations involved, particularly the Muslims. In an interview in Lusaka on Friday night during a candlelit walk against the deadly disease organised by Youth Alive, a non-governmental organisation, Archbishop Mambo said the struggle cut across religious barriers. "I have noticed that our friends from the Pentecostal churches tend to avoid such gatherings because we have other religions involved. This should not be the case," he said. "The whole march will end up at a Catholic church but I was invited here to grace the occasion. There is no Catholic Bishop here." Archbishop Mambo said the fight against HIV/AIDS required concerted efforts particularly from the youths who he said were the future leaders. "The church is prepared to cooperate with any institution that will approach it to help find a solution to curb the disease," he said. Religious affairs minister at State House Reverend Peter Chintala, officially flagging off the walk, also said the youths were the most infected with HIV/AIDS in the country. "It is for this reason that you the youths should be part of the solution," Rev. Chintala said. "We hope we can have more of such gatherings to demonstrate the commitment we have in fighting the disease." The walk was flagged off from the Freedom Statue and proceeded to St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Kabwata where an inter-denominational prayer service was conducted.
"Monkeys the Origin of AIDS?" By Masautso Chipako Times of Zambia, October 10, 1998 Researchers in AIDS/HIV continue to pile figures, though getting no closer to the cure. Amidst the cure-search scientists continue to disagree on the specific place and people the disease originated from. First, Americans say Africans. In turn, some researchers and Africans themselves say America. The following excerpts show the intensity of the debate over the decade and half. Scientists recently verified the earliest known case of AIDS, an African man who died in 1959. The discovery suggests the virus first infected people during the 1940s or early 1950s. In a study published in the February 5 issue of Nature, researchers looked for signs of HIV in 1, 213 blood samples gathered between 1959 and 1982 in Africa, where the virus is believed to have originated. One sample from a Bantu man who lived in Kinshasa, Congo (then called Leopoldville) clearly contained HIV genetic fragments. The scientist compared the 1959 HIV genetic fragments with genes from current versions of HIV, of which there are 10 distinct sub-types, lettered A through J. The researchers found that the 39-year-old HIV sample was an ancestor of sub-type B and D. Sub-type B is the dominant strain in the United States and Europe, while sub-type D is most common in Africa. More than 30m people worldwide are infected with HIV. Before the discovery of the 1959 sample, the earliest uncontested cases of AIDS were in the late 1960s among members of a Norwegian family. Adapted from Network, spring issue 1998. The short history of AIDS in Africa, and of knowledge and research about it, is very troubled. The first reports that the continent might have a serious problem with the disease appeared in the Western scientific literature only in late 1983 and early 1984, well after alarm had begun to spread in the United States and other developed countries about a syndrome that appeared to infect primarily homosexual men, hemophiliacs, intravenous drug abusers, and Haitian immigrants. In fact, the first known African cases of AIDS were identified two years earlier among well-to-do Africans visiting or living in Europe, whose symptoms were similar to those of Haitians with the disease. But investigations soon revealed substantial numbers of people with AIDS or seemingly related afflictions and symptoms in such cities as Kinshasa and Kigali, the capitals of Democratic Republic of Congo) and Rwanda respectively. And once more information was available for comparison, it became clear that 'slim disease,' a wasting, life threatening illness that had begun to sweep through Uganda, and to a lesser extent Tanzania, during the early 1980s was probably AIDS. Eventually, more than 80 per cent of prostitutes in Nairobi tested positive for HIV; indeed, the rapid spread of the virus among that high-risk group in Kenya's booming capital has been compared to the earlier situation among homosexual men in San Francisco. . . Yet at first, the attempts to analyse and understand AIDS in Africa came across to some people (especially to sensitive African political leaders) as an effort to assign responsibility for an international fashion, to stigmatise Africans for their social behaviour. Indeed, certain researchers hypothesised at one stage that HIV had actually originated in Africa, having mutated from a virus commonly found among African green monkeys, also known as vervets. How it was thought to spread to humans was never entirely clear, although one theory implicated bites from pet monkeys and the exposure to blood and internal secretions that might occur during preparation of monkeys for smoking or other forms of cooking in some societies. Beneath the science lurked the implication of some bizarre and improper form of contact between humans and animals in Africa. Excerpt from Africa: The people and politics of an emerging continent by Sandford J. Ungar. Supported by evidence unearthed by other American doctors and scientists, notably Dr Robert Strecker and Alan Cantwell jr (Author of the book, Aids and the doctors of death ), Felder says the HIV virus was deliberately set and engineered by U.S germ-warfare scientists at Fort Detrick. "The Aids virus genes are not homologus with the genes of the green monkey and they are not compatible with human genes. They don't match up, so the virus neither came from the green monkey nor from man," Felder says emphatically. "We know beyond a shadow of doubt that the Aids virus came from a combination of cattle and sheep viruses and was genetically engineered in a laboratory. Dr Robert Gallo (who claimed he first discovered the Aids virus but later recanted under pressure) knows this. How long will they be able to keep up with the lie?" Felder asks. He continues: "AIDS is the first retrovirus to infect humans in the history of mankind. This is like saying some fish disease, after infecting fish for more than 500 million years, all of a sudden, jumps out of the ocean and infects mankind. That is impossible. Viruses don't jump species barriers. "My friend, take it from me, the AIDS virus cannot infect the African green monkey. The white conspirators of the American scientific community take us all for a bunch of fools. If a particular animal gave us a disease, that animal should be infected with that disease if we were to inject the disease into an animal of the same species. But that hasn't happened to the African green monkey. So what are you saying? I know of some of the things we did in the US army lab from 1962 to 1965. I know my handwriting when I see it. Tell the world to look at the AIDS virus again. It is pure American invention." African-American US Biochemist Dr Jack Felder as quoted in The New African magazine, May 1994. "The subject turns to Africa, where AIDS is most prevalent and probably began. Gallo and nearly all others in the field believe the virus began around the rural areas near Lake Victoria. The virus probably passed from African green monkeys into man when hunters ate the animals or, less likely, when monkeys bit their human predators. "Who really knows," Gallo says blithely. "Maybe there's some ritual monkey blood�who knows? They do a lot of funny things in Africa, like when they stick out their lips or when they put things through their noses." According to Gallo, Belgian missionaries reported illnesses resembling AIDS as many as 25 years ago, but those are reports soon passed. Tribes were more isolated from one another then, and such a disease was unlikely to go far. The virus began its spread with the change in African demographics and sexual habits. "Tribes began to be less isolated," Gallo says. "There was more social and sexual contacts between tribes, and people began moving more to the cities. There's been a rise in prostitution and promiscuity. The infection rate in places like Democratic Republic of Congo and Kenya is astronomical. And not just Africans. Haiti was supposedly a hotbed of the killer virus, too. So it was black people in general. I don't need a laboratory to smell sour milk and bad eggs. The lines about tribes intermingling and people moving from country to the city and a little prostitution on the side described every modern civilisation on earth. So how come Aids started in Africa and not, say, Japan? Ah yes, the dreaded green monkeys. The only time I've heard of people eating monkeys was in a Steven Spielberg movie. Even if these Africans had eaten monkeys � although we only have Dr Gallo's word to go on here � green monkey meat just doesn't figure to metastacise into a killer disease which is sexually transmitted. I've heard that a certain percentage of the homosexual community in New York and elsewhere in the United States used the island of Haiti and pre-pubescent, virginal boys there in a private bacchanal that would have put Caligula to shame. �Ralph Wiley in his book Why Black People Tend To shout. "One of the most baffling enigmas of Aids is the fact that the disease spread primarily among homosexual and bisexual men in the U.S. and Europe but became a largely heterosexual infection in Africa. The scientists discovered that the prostitutes were more often infected by a strain resembling those types found in Africa. By the year 2000 AIDS could become the largest epidemic of the century, eclipsing the influenza scourge of 1918. That disaster killed 20 million people, or 1 percent of the world's population � more than twice the number of soldiers who died in World War 1. "This epidemic is of historic scale," says June Osborne of the US AIDS commission, "but the response has been far short of historic." But perhaps the far astounding findings are obtained by a "prophecy" on the international website which reveals that "AIDS came about, initially, as punishment for the sin of bestiality between man and monkeys. When man had unnatural sex with monkeys and it proceeded to other unnatural relations such as homosexuality and today it is widespread even touching the innocent."
"Two Million Zambians Expected to Die of AIDS in 2010." African National Congress Daily News Briefing Online, October 8, 1998Peter Chintala, deputy minister for religious affairs in Zambia, warned Wednesday that about 20 percent of people in the country will die from AIDS in the next 10 years, with at least 2 million dead by the year 2010. He said that the deaths would leave 1 million orphans. Furthermore, over 25,000 children contract HIV from their mothers in the country annually. Speaking at a meeting on HIV/AIDS sponsored by Zambian churches, Chintala called on Zambian youths that to try and prevent the sexual transmission of HIV and to use the "God-given gift" of sex appropriately.
"Condoms Is Not the Answer to AIDS scourge." Times of Zambia, October 9, 1998 Encouraging people to use condoms is not a solution to the HIV/AIDS pandemic which, according to medical statistics, will claim 20 per cent of Zambia's adult population by the year 2010, a reverend has said. Rev Raymond Mpezere, Bishop of the Catholic diocese of Livingstone and also director for health in the Zambia Episcopal Conference, told Zana yesterday that the solution to the AIDS scourge lay in converting people's hearts together with their attitudes to sex and not in encouraging them to use condoms. Rev Mpezere is one of the delegates attending the Lusaka inter-faith networking group conference on HIV/AIDS taking place at Lusaka's Andrews Motel. He said telling people to use condoms as a way to curb the killer disease was like merely cutting grass and not completely uprooting it. It is really saddening to learn that by the year 2010, 2,000,000 Zambians would be infected. The long-term solution lies in the conversion of the human heart and not promotion of condoms, he said. He explained that when the attitude to sex was changed, people could not contract the virus regardless of whatever condition and circumstance they would find themselves in at any particular moment. He challenged religious groups to preach their message thoroughly so as to change and convert the human heart. He charged that AIDS was very widespread because religious groups had not done their work-Zana.
"Family Planning Key, Says Doc." Times of Zambia, October 9, 1998 Petauke district in Eastern Province has the highest statistics of traditional sex-stimulants usage in Zambia, a reproductive health educator has said. Prisca Chitomfwa, a senior programme officer with the Family Health Trust (FHT) made the revelation yesterday when she presented a paper entitled providing youths with life skills to the interfaith conference on HIV/AIDS which closed yesterday at Lusaka's Andrews Motel. Ms Chitomfwa said a survey she and a colleague a Ms Chalowandya, also of FHT, undertook in 1995 showed that the use of sex stimulants was highest in Petauke. She said in rural areas the use of sex stimulants was more common among the youths because they got a lot of sex counsel from their elders who told them that a woman was meant to be a sex tool and was not expected to "starve" her husband sexually. Ms Chitomfwa said it was necessary that youths be equipped with life skills as they were the future leaders whose HIV-infection rates were high. She said life skills like creative thinking, coping with emotions and stress, decision making, problem solving and communication skills were critical for the survival of youths in a world fraught with the deadly HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. A medical officer has described family planning as crucial in the control of communicable diseases and good health among children. Eddie Sikasula, executive director for Kabwe Urban District Health Management Board (KUDHMB) said in Kabwe yesterday that Zambians should take family planning seriously if they wanted healthy children. Dr Sikasula was speaking at Mahatma Gandhi memorial clinic during the launching of Prolact, a vaginal spermicide tablet which dissolves to create a barrier that blocks the sperms from entering the womb. He told about 100 women and men that due to social and economic problems in Zambia, it would benefit many families if parents learnt modern family planning methods. "Control the size of your family. Well spaced children will grow in good health and get better education because parents will spend the little resources on them," he said. He said couples could either use Prolact tablets, female condom known as Care or Maximum condom for men. Society for Family Health acting area manager for Central Province, Brian Mwansa appealed to Government to ensure family planning devices were available in all health centres. Mr Mwansa said Prolact was safe to mothers for family planning. He said Zambia could become a healthy nation if there was proper child spacing in many homes. He challenged the media to help spread information on the importance of family planning. -Zana
"AIDS: Minister Calls For Commitment" Times of Zambia, October 5, 1998 Government has called for renewed commitment in the fight against the HIV/AIDS pandemic which is increasing rapidly in the rural areas. Deputy Minister of Health Ernest Mwansa said in Lusaka though the number of infections had stabilised in urban areas, there was a sharp increase of infections in the rural parts of Zambia. He was speaking at the launching of a joint project aimed at combatting the spread of AIDS by Kara Counselling and the Rotary Club of Lusaka Central. Mr Mwansa warned that there would soon be a sharp decline in Zambia's population if people did not change their attitudes and behaviour. "Unless something is done in a hurry our future as a people is very bleak. It may not be long from now when we shall notice a sharp decline in our population growth," he said. Deputy Minister of Education Betram Mmembe commended Kara Counselling for helping people living with the virus to be positive about their status. And Rotary Club of Lusaka Central president Hugo Mubashi said all stakeholders should take part in the fight against AIDS. He said the Rotary Club would continue supporting efforts to control the spread of the deadly disease.-Zana.
"Children Up Against AIDS." By Charles Chisala Times of Zambia, October 5, 1998 IF you are one of those Thomases who doubt the power of children you should have been at Hope Humana in Ndola last Saturday. You surely would have swallowed your doubts. The children, through drama, made it clear that without their active involvement the fight against the HIV/AIDS pandemic would be futile. They have now taken up arms to join the war. "We have suffered for too long from the effects of HIV/AIDS. Now is our time to fight for our rights. We will show you our power, and you will feel it!" the children declared. The message was loud and clear. In shrill, tearful voices the children vented their innocent anger and justified indignation at a society that appears to be indifferent to their plight. They sounded their war cry at the primary and basic schools drama festival on HIV/AIDS organised by Hope Humana, a project under the Development Aid from People to People (DAPP). The event drew 10 drama groups from Ndola primary and basic schools which had been short-listed from the initial 27. The schools included Chifubu A, Masala, Dola Hill, Pamodzi, Ndola basic and Tug Argan. The most incisive message came from second prize winners Chifubu A 's two upcoming 13-year old actors Don Mwale and Evaristo Bwalya featuring as Mr Death and AIDS respectively. Clad in a black rob depicting his title and his mouth dripping with what looked like human blood, Mr Death sauntered onto the stage to announce how evil was, to thunderous applause from the audience."I am Mr Death, I have no brother and I have no sister. I will strike anyone who plays with me. If you want to prove that I am evil ask Mr AIDS, he will tell you," Mr Death tells his hushed audience in terror inspiring tones. Enter Mr AIDS (Evaristo Bwalya) drapped in scarlet from head to toe. In equally sharp tones he affirms what his brother Mr Death has just said: "Yes I, Mr AIDS, confirm that Mr Death's declaration is true. I strike those who are careless with sex and Mr Death finishes them off." Mr AIDS further warns those who want to keep clear of him and his brother Mr Death to refrain from careless sex. Standing on the stage side by side the two made quite a fearsome pair. In another production by the same school young Mwale (Mr Death) returns to the stage as�an illiterate, old father. As he hobbles onto the stage Bwalya sends the audience into a frenzy of laughter with his bald head and distorted features. Walking with a slight stoop in his tartered clothes you could be forgiven if you mistook him for a diminutive village old man. The boy is a born actor. In the play the father (Mwale) conspires with his wife's relatives to force his teenaged son (Isle Phiri) to succeed his late uncle who died of HIV/AIDS barely a few days ago. By the time he died the man had been reduced to a skinned skeleton with literally no flesh left on his bones. But with no-one to support him and after threats of death from his own father the boy reluctantly marries his uncle's widow who also soon becomes bed-ridden, melting away from a mysterious illness. As it becomes clear that she will die the same way as husband alarm grips the boy, his parents and the rest of the village. A witchfinder is quickly brought in to find out what this new killer, which is threatening the whole village is. The diviner, in usual fashion, blames witchcraft and offers to heal her. He leaves the family with an array of herbal concoctions for the woman's medication. But her condition does not improve and death lingers over her bed. The distressed village realises through a roving medical team that what has struck their community is HIV/AIDS which no witchfinder can ever stop. But it is already too late. The woman dies while the boy, now a widower, is diagnosed with the deadly infection. "All we can offer you is education to ensure that this killer does not finish you all," consoles a young doctor. He warns the villagers that if they did not refrain from casual sex the disease would wipe them out. What was amazing was the professionalism with which the children presented the play. They could easily have outshined some of the mediocre performances we watch on television by some local senior theatre groups. The mourning for the dead aunt, which climaxed the play, seemed so real that a few people in the audience unconsciously dropped a couple of tears of grief. Best actor Evaristo Bwalya (Mr AIDS) shed real tears and repeatedly blew his nose on stage while the others were keening so tearfully for the departed HIV/AIDS victim that you would think the funeral was real. It was a heart-rending scene. Chifubu A primary school drama group director Mwaka Mulwanda, a teacher and herself an actress, must have done a tremendous amount of hardwork to drill the young ones. They observed internationally accepted standard stage etiquette to the letter, which drew nods of envy from some theatre pundits who had come to observe the event. It was an event worth attending. As representative of the British Council, one of the sponsors of the event, Irene Chella said it was a cause worth spending money on. "HIV/AIDS is not a problem for some sections of society only. It affects everyone and the British Council is ready to help to hold events like this one," Ms Chella said. Organiser Thomas Kabwe Chaongopa said the festival would be an annual event and Hope Humana planned to increase the number of participating teams to include secondary schools. He said Hope Humana had decided to involve children, especially those aged between 13 and 15 because they were the window of society who suffered the worst effects of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Pamodzi primary school scooped the first prize while third went to Ndola Middle Basic school. Bwalya (Mr AIDS) from Chifubu A was vote d best actor and Mika Matanda (Ndeke) best actress.
"AIDS Scourge Has Advantages." By Mike Moono Times of Zambia, October 1, 1998 When I was first asked the question I thought it was ridiculous, outrageous even. How could there be advantages . . . about AIDS/HIV! But after giving the question a second thought I decided there was merit in it. Information available appears to emphasise so far only the devastating aspects of the scourge. But you have to think hard to see through the maze. For instance, society's attitude to death caused by HIV/AIDS has changed whereby there is a positive finality about it. In the past, wills were taboo because it was believed death was something that was not discussed. Now a will is the easiest of all because of the time it takes before death occurs. The victim is able to think and reflect on it over a long period. There is plenty of time to write the will. Those afflicted by HIV/AIDS often find solace in God and religion. Before that many had little time for it. The moral attitude of people has changed. Whereas in the past you never gave a thought what you ate or who you went to bed with there is now self-restraint, thanks to the various education campaigners. Food plays a big role in whether the virus is reactive now or later. Sex has taken the biggest chunk of the blame. Yet is inevitable part of the human society's reproductive process and relaxation. The HIV/AIDS scourge has boosted the sympathetic and natural rubber industry through the manufacture of condoms and related products. New protective apparatus and gadgets have come on the market adding to the expansion of research information. In Zambia a condom sales company short over its target of K26m sales in 1997. Resources have been mobilised globally to try and find a cure. For Africa the development has helped to narrow the gap between the traditional healer�till now despised� and the Western trained expert. They may not use the same methods of tackling HIV/AIDS but they are tackling and sharing experiences. The patients too are having a choice without feeling guilty about it. The rich who have fallen victim are releasing money to researchers who, as is often the case, may discover another virus to combat the HIV and ensure better methods of maintaining and prolonging life. Nations are for once cooperating instead of talking war and trade barriers. In the SADC region soon member countries are to sign an HIV/AIDS code aimed compelling industry and other employment agencies to take measures aimed at alleviating suffering among victims. At a family level drinking habits have changed from heavy to mild. Individuals fear the temptation that goes with much alcohol intake. This has led to people to be more rational in making decisions than before. The cost of the medical care when taken ill entails that those who are in employment have it at the back of their mind to save for the time when the virus strikes. The pandemic has offered employment opportunities to both skilled and non-skilled labour in various countries. There has been movement of expertise from development to developing countries engaged in one form of activity or another. Those are involved mainly in advisory services, counselling and information. Locals have been engaged to translate the aim of donor countries and financing bodies like the World Bank into reality on the prevention of HIV/AIDS. Seminars and conferences on HIV/AIDS have provided the hotel industry with business. New teaching and information dissemination methods have been the production of the community video telling the story of victims. Literacy campaigners have improved communities; understanding and galvanised action against a common cause. In Zambia a project is underway to investment in medicines that would be affordable to the majority of the people suffering from HIV/AIDS. A formula dubbed the K-Punch has been developed by researchers and is now open for investors to try out, says one of the researchers Dr Francis Khama. Our overriding objective is to try as much as possible to have cheap and affordable medicines for our people. This new drug, the K-Punch could be manufactured on the same basis as fansida, which is a combination of two separate old drugs, Sulfadoxine and Sulfadoxine and Pyrimethamine discovered long time ago." So like cash earnings from war and pain of childbirth the HIV/AIDS pademinc has had advantages.

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