Photo: Abdi Hassan/IRIN

Abandoned houses due to drought in Hamure village, Qandala District, of the self-declared autonomous region of Puntland, northeastern Somalia (file photo): Thousands of people are in desperate need of assistance in Puntland

NAIROBI,  – Thousands of people affected by a severe drought in the self-declared autonomous region of Puntland, northeastern Somalia, are in desperate need of assistance, with officials describing the situation as “very critical”.

“We are at a critical stage and if help does not come within weeks the situation could develop into a catastrophe,” Abdullahi Abdirahman Ahmed, head of the Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management Agency of Puntland (HADMA), told IRIN.

He said a recent assessment by his agency showed that almost all of Puntland was affected by the drought.

“We saw livestock, including camels, dying by the roadside. Others were being abandoned by their owners because they were too weak,” he said.

He said the authorities had started water trucking to the worst-affected parts of the region.

“The government effort can only cover about 30 percent of those who need help,” he said, adding that Puntland did not have the capacity to mount the kind of operation needed. “The resources are simply not there.”

Ahmed said HADMA had informed the agencies of the severity of the situation. “This is not a situation like any we have seen and so I hope that agencies don’t treat it as business as usual.”

On my tour we did not see people dying but what we saw was close to it

Livestock dying

Haji Muse Ghelle, the governor of Bari region, one of the worst-affected areas, told IRIN some 30 percent of livestock in his region had died and the remaining animals were in very poor condition.

He said the Gu (long) rains had failed, leaving the barkads (water catchments) in the area dry. “Eighty percent of water comes from barkads and they are almost dry.”

Hundreds of families were moving from their villages in search of water and food, he said. Ghelle, who toured parts of his region from 25 August to 4 September, said he had found villages “totally abandoned… They are moving wherever they think they can find water and food.”

He said both people and the remaining livestock were weak and “could not last long without help”.

The priority should be to save the lives of the people and what is left of the livestock, the economic mainstay of the area. “On my tour we did not see people dying but what we saw was close to it.”

Said Waberi Mohamed, the district commissioner of Qandala, in Bari region, one of the hardest-hit areas, said some 13 settlements in the district, with 1,000 families (about 6,000 people), had been abandoned. He said the district was entirely dependent on barkads, which had run dry. “We are facing one of the worst water shortages I have ever seen,” he said.

Ahmed of HADMA said many nomadic families were moving to towns in search of assistance. He said the first priority was to deliver water to affected areas and to distribute food to those who had lost their livestock. “If something major is not done to intervene within the next few weeks, we will be facing a serious crisis,” he warned.

ah/mw source.www.irinnews.org

Story: Ekoue Blame , Lome

The Ecowas Bank for Investment and development , EBID , in its move to assist the private sector in the sub-region granted a loan estimated at 2.9 billion CFA francs to Access Oil Company of Burkina Faso operating in the distribution of petroleum products  and transportation.

Addressing the audience Mr Christian Narcisse Adovelande , President of EBID said “It is within this context that EBID loan has been provided to act as an incentive for the reinforcement of the capacities of Burkina Faso companies which are in charge of the distribution of petroleum products in order to improve and revitalize the supplies sector not only in Burkina Faso but also in Mali and Niger”.

“I also equally wish to remind the entry of private national economic investors in the distribution of  petroleum products due to the  measures adopted by the Burkinabe authorities to liberalize the petroleum sector. This is a vision which we at the Ecowas Bank for Investment and Development share”, he declared

Boureima Ouedraogo, Managing Director of Access Oil Petroleum company described EBID as “a catalyst in the creation of employment in the sub-region. we will use this loan in a good manner in order to deserve additional facilities from EBID”.

According to the bank this brings to 63 billion CFA francs the total financial contribution to Burkina Faso since the Bank starts operating in the Ecowas sub-region.

End

Photo: James Hall/PlusNews

Two-thirds of Swaziland’s people live in chronic poverty

MBABANE,  – Average life expectancy in Swaziland has plummeted from around 60 years in the 1990s to just over 30 years today. Few would deny that HIV/AIDS is largely to blame, but the reasons why the epidemic has devastated this tiny, southern African country more than any other are less clear.

“Foreign observers look at Swaziland and can’t figure out why the numbers [of HIV infections] remain so high,” said Harriet Kunene, of The AIDS Support Centre in the central commercial town, Manzini. “There are many factors, and they also explain why the problem is a long-term dilemma that doesn’t lend itself to short-term or easy fixes.”

Epidemiologists and those working at the coalface of the epidemic cite various historic and socio-economic factors that have combined in Swaziland to create ideal conditions for the spread of the virus.

A well-documented disdain of condom usage – one UN report found that 60 percent of Swazi men refuse to wear them – is one explanation for why 42 percent of pregnant women tested HIV positive in a 2008 antenatal survey.

“Many women tell us, even if their men begin by using a condom, by the end of the act it has slipped off or been removed, and they have no power to insist,” said Pholile Dlamini, who runs the Manzini office of the Alliance of Mayors Initiative for Community Action on AIDS at the Local Level (AMICAALL).

But other factors have also contributed to the grip HIV has on this country of less than one million people. “Swaziland is so small [just 17,363 sq km] it is easier for the virus to spread,” said Rudolph Maziya, AMICAALL’s national director.

“If a party is thrown in Johannesburg, a South African in Cape Town is not likely to attend. But when you have a party in Manzini, people from the farthest corners of the country show up; the social-sexual networks have always existed in Swaziland, and they made the spread of HIV easier.”

In 1993 Maziya worked on a report that accurately predicted the trend AIDS would take in the next decade. “It was rejected by parliament, and many health officials condemned it as alarmist. Meanwhile, HIV spread because no one could see it. With Ebola [haemorrhagic fever] or swine flu, symptoms are immediate; people don masks. With HIV, symptoms may take years to appear.”

Faith Dlamini, programme officer at the National Emergency Response Council on HIV and AIDS (NERCHA), which disburses government and donor funds to local AIDS organizations, pointed out that seasonal migration of workers was another driver of infection. “It is why AIDS is so high in the sugar belt, where there are many seasonal workers who leave their homes for months at a time – they find accommodation where they can, and also find lovers.”

Pholile Dlamini agreed. “Women tell us they just accept that their husbands have girlfriends when they are away, and there is nothing they can do about it except try to protect themselves when their husbands are at home. But they are not entirely successful – condoms are distributed free everywhere; people take them, but they don’t use them.”

With unemployment estimates ranging from 25 percent to 40 percent, and “underemployment” widespread among those who have jobs, Faith Dlamini said poverty was also driving the spread of HIV. “We are tracking women workers in the industrial areas. They are paid low wages and may have to turn to other methods to survive.”

Read more:

AIDS epidemic shows no sign of slowing

Poverty erodes treatment gains

Tackling low condom use dramatically

Women’s equality in theory, but not in practice

Engaging in sexual relationships with older men is one form of survival that carries a high HIV risk for young women, but polygamy is legal in Swaziland and many middle-aged and elderly men marry teenage girls as second or third wives. “For girls it may be the only way out of poverty, or to acquire cash, a cell phone, clothes and other luxuries they see in the media,” Pholile Dlamini commented.

Despite considerable efforts by government, NGOs and donors, Swaziland’s AIDS epidemic is proving resistant to quick fixes. In this highly traditional society, resistance to change is so firm that Maziya believes nothing short of a “social revolution” will provoke behaviour change and, even then, it will be years before those changes are reflected in lower prevalence figures.

“This is a long-term matter,” he said. “It is time we stopped treating AIDS in Swaziland as an emergency and see it as it is: a decades-long situation.”

jh/ks/he source.www.irinnews.org

Photo: Mercedes Sayagues/PlusNews

KAMPALA, – Condoms have been part of Uganda’s HIV prevention strategy since the 1980s, but a new study shows that only a quarter of sexually active Ugandans consistently use them.

According to a baseline survey on HIV/AIDS carried out by the Uganda Network for Law Ethics and HIV/AIDS (UGANET) in five districts, awareness of condoms is almost universal and 80 percent of people report that condoms are affordable and accessible; however, most people only use them in new or risky sexual relationships. In all, about 600 men and women between the ages of 20 and 39 were interviewed.

Twenty percent of people interviewed said they always used a condom with a new sexual partner; another 25 percent said they only used one when they had sex with people they did not trust. Although 60 percent of people have used a condom in the past, 28 percent of sexually active people said they seldom used one.

“I think the problem is persistent use; people know how to use them correctly but using them the third and fourth time becomes difficult,” said Sam Ocen, the national coordinator of Uganda Young Positives.

“With time, we gain trust with partners and stop using them,” said Nelson Amuite, a banker in the capital, Kampala. “It is usually once or twice when I have a new partner.”

Women who had continued their education beyond high school were more likely to use condoms, but the survey found that in general, women who buy condoms are considered to be sexually promiscuous.

With time, we gain trust with partners and stop using them.

Most people, the survey found, did not regard condoms as acceptable within marriage or other stable sexual relationships. Experts say this attitude is especially dangerous, as recent research shows that older people in stable relationships are now most likely to become infected with the virus.

“There is [a] need to popularize condoms and design strategies that directly address negative perceptions that are held about condom use, especially given the central role they play in prevention of HIV,” said Beatrice Were, the executive director UGANET.

A 2007 Ministry of Health study on health service provision in Uganda found that although condoms were available in nine out of ten facilities offering HIV and sexually transmitted infection (STI) services, they were discussed in only half of STI consultations and offered to just 22 percent of clients.

Uganda has long relied on the Abstinence, Be faithful and use a Condom, or “ABC” HIV prevention model, which has been credited with lowering the country’s HIV prevalence from over 20 percent in the 1980s to a low of 6 percent in 2000.

In response to a recent upswing in HIV prevalence, the Uganda AIDS Commission has announced its intention to craft a new national prevention strategy to target the most at risk populations; one of the first such campaigns aims to encourage married people to remain faithful to their spouses.

en/kr/cb source.www.irinnews.org

Photo: Lynn Maung/IRIN

Myo Myint Oo working on a chair in Yangon. Job prospects are far and few between for the blind in Myanmar

YANGON,  – Myanmar has one of the highest rates of blindness in Asia, yet the country has scant resources to help visually impaired people, medical researchers and aid workers say.

The World Health Organization (WHO) in 2008 identified avoidable blindness as an emerging health issue in the country, while aid organizations say it is a major public health concern in impoverished rural areas.

Researchers and aid workers say there is a lack of eye care services and resources in Myanmar.

According to the Vision Myanmar Programme, a training and research project run by the South Australian Institute of Ophthalmology, there are only 200 eye surgeons or ophthalmologists for Myanmar’s population of over 50 million. Most are in Yangon and Mandalay. Outside of these two cities, there is one ophthalmologist for every half a million people, it said.

“Of course there is a shortage of doctors… There simply aren’t enough surgeons,” the programme’s founder, Henry Newland, told IRIN from Adelaide, Australia.

The Vision Myanmar Programme started a four-year programme in 2008, primarily funded by AusAID, to provide training for eye surgeons, as well as provide equipment and facility upgrades.

In 2005, the programme conducted a population-based blindness survey of over 2,000 people in rural villages in central Myanmar and identified a blindness prevalence rate of 8.1 percent among people over 40, which it said is the highest published rate in the world.

And according to 2001 figures published by WHO, Myanmar had a blindness prevalence rate of 0.9 percent of its population, among the highest in the region. Thailand had a blindness prevalence rate of 0.3 percent, while India’s was 0.7 percent.

I want to stand on my own feet … But how can I, when nobody wants to employ a blind person like me?

Avoidable blindness

Most of Myanmar’s visually impaired people suffer from avoidable blindness, which can either be treated or prevented. Cataracts are the leading cause of blindness, followed by glaucoma, while Vitamin A deficiency causes blindness in children.

“Eighty percent of these cases are avoidable by either preventive measures or curative measures, surgery,” said Newland.

Hoping to make a living, Myo Myint Oo studied cane weaving for several years. Despite his efforts, the blind 39-year-old has been unable to find anyone to employ him.

Unable to feed or shelter himself, Myo Myint Oo is forced to rely on the government-run School for the Blind (Kyimyindine) in Yangon, where he learnt the cane craft.

“I want to stand on my own feet … But how can I, when nobody wants to employ a blind person like me?” he said.

Photo: Lynn Maung/IRIN

Massage and cane crafting are common occupations for the blind. Here girls learn the art of massage

Stigmatized

Like other disabled groups, blind people in Myanmar are stigmatized as unproductive members of society and find it difficult to live independent lives.

“Visually impaired people are still being isolated and excluded from society, “Maung Maung Tar, the principal of the school, told IRIN, adding that there was a need to change attitudes to the affliction.

Myanmar has a policy of inclusive education, which means disabled students, including those who are blind, are allowed to attend classes in mainstream schools.

However, there are challenges to implementing the policy, since schools lack the required resources and facilities.

“The schools should be equipped with teaching materials in Braille, and teachers who know how to teach the blind by using Braille,” said Thein Lwin, the general secretary of the Myanmar Christian Fellowship of the Blind (MCFB) NGO, which runs two schools for the blind.

Despite official policy, mainstream schools are not properly equipped to cater for blind students, meaning that most children are forced to attend specialist schools. However, there are just seven state and NGO-run schools for blind children in the whole country, where over 700 blind and visually impaired students receive a formal or vocational education.

Few options

Although a small percentage of blind students strive for as much education as possible, most do not finish high school.

“There are almost no job opportunities for blind graduates, which discourages them from pursuing higher formal education,” said Aung Ko Myint, secretary-general of the Myanmar National Association of the Blind (MNAB).

“So, most of the blind prefer vocational education to formal education,” he said.

In an effort to help the blind find jobs, organizations provide vocational training. But there are commonly just two types of vocational training on offer – cane craft and massage – leaving blind people with few career options, experts complain.

“We should create different kinds of vocational courses (for the blind) so they can get more choices,” said the MCFB’s Thein Lwin.

lm/ey/ds/cb source.www.irinnews.org