SOUTH AFRICA: World Cup poses risks for out-of-school kids

Photo:�Mujahid Safodien

JOHANNESBURG, 8 June 2010 (PlusNews) – As South African children look forward to a mid-year school holiday that will last longer than the usual winter break because of the FIFA World Cup, parents and caregivers are faced with the dilemma of how to keep them safe during the five weeks of festivities.

“The length of the holiday is about the length of the December school holiday, but more parents are likely to be working at this time,” said Janet Prest Talbot of the Children’s Rights Centre, an NGO based in the port city of Durban. Children left to their own devices were at greater risk of abuse and sexual experimentation, she said.

President Jacob Zuma has warned parents about an expected rise in child trafficking during the�World Cup. “Children wandering alone in shopping malls and football stadiums will be vulnerable to people with evil intentions,” he said at the launch of a new Children’s Act, which came into effect in April and makes the trafficking of minors a crime.

Government is gearing up to counter the potential threat with anti-human trafficking task teams in the host cities, but Prest Talbot described the risk of trafficking as “the tip of the iceberg”. “The biggest risk [of child abuse] is often on your doorstep � from neighbours or family members,” she told IRIN/PlusNews.

Many South African children whose parents are unemployed or who have been orphaned rely on school feeding programmes for their main meal of the day, but the schemes will be suspended during the holiday.

We are very worried, but not about trafficking or the safety of children at stadiums; we’re worried about what’s happening to children in their homes

Joan van Niekerk, national coordinator of Childline South Africa, said that the money spent on printing glossy pamphlets about the dangers of human trafficking could have been better spent on ensuring children did not go hungry while schools were closed. “We are very worried, but not about trafficking or the safety of children at stadiums,” she said.

“We�re worried about what�s happening to children in their homes. If children are hungry, they�re going to go out there looking for food.”

Making a holiday plan

The Children’s Rights Centre is providing training andinformation to parents and communities about how to plan activities that will keep children occupied and off the streets during the holiday.

A number of other NGOs are hosting holiday camps for children in low-income areas that will include HIV/AIDS education, sports and other activities.

Grassroot Soccer, an international initiative that trains football players, coaches and volunteers to educate young people about HIV, will be running 47 “Skillz Holiday” camps around the country, each of which will cater to 100 children.

“I think everybody recognizes [that the holiday puts] an extra burden on caregivers and parents,” said Matt Streng, programmes director of Grassroot Soccer in South Africa. “We’re trying to reduce that burden to allow young people to engage in constructive activities.”

But the number of children who will be able to attend such camps is a small fraction of those who will be out of school, and Grace Matlhape, CEO of the national HIV/AIDS youth programme, loveLife, worries that many will gravitate towards the fan parks and public viewing areas, where alcohol will be available.

“Any school holiday is a period of greater vulnerability for young people, but with the World Cup being there, there are some other elements,” she said.

While the alcohol-fuelled atmosphere at the fan parks could increase the likelihood of young people engaging in risky behaviour, Matlhape predicted that many others would “tolerate all kinds of risk” as a result of feeling marginalized from the festivities.

LoveLife is trying to respond to both possibilities by encouraging young people to watch the games on the big-screen TVs that will be installed at their youth centres around the country. “It will allow them to participate, and we’re using that as a platform for our HIV/AIDS programme,” Matlhape said.

Resources misdirected

Most of the teenagers IRIN/PlusNews spoke to at a loveLife centre in Orange Farm, a township on the outskirts of Johannesburg, said they would avoid the local fan park and watch games at home with friends and family.

“Fan parks are a little bit dangerous,” said Miranda, 18.

A couple of the teenagers confessed they would use the World Cup as an excuse to slip out of the house and go to parties. They added that being under-age was no barrier to buying alcohol. “They won’t ask how old you are,” said Themba, 17.

According to van Niekirk of Childline, some provinces are allowing liquor outlets to remain open around the clock during the World Cup. “I really believe we have put resources into the wrong place,” she told IRIN/PlusNews.

“We need less police protecting soccer players and more police protecting communities and children in communities.”

ks/he source.irinnews

AFRICA: Testing an ARV-containing vaginal ring

Photo:�International Partnership for Microbicides

NAIROBI, 9 June 2010 (PlusNews) – Researchers have begun a clinical trial to test the safety and acceptability of a vaginal ring containing an antiretroviral (ARV) drug to prevent HIV transmission during sex.

“[Vaginal rings] are designed to provide sustainable protection for a month or longer,” said Dr Zeda Rosenberg, chief executive officer of the�International Partnership for Microbicides (IPM), the manufacturers of the ring.

“Vaginal rings are quite popular in the US and Europe for both contraception and hormone delivery because they are discreet, durable and long-lasting,” she told a press conference at the�Women Deliver Conference 2010 in Washington DC via webcast on 8 June.

The clinical trial – IPM 015 – will involve 280 volunteers from across the African continent who will be randomly assigned to use either the ARV-containing ring or a placebo, which will be replaced once a month for three months. Women in South Africa have already begun volunteering for the trial.

Each flexible silicone ring slowly releases 25mg of the ARV drug dapivirine over the course of 28 days, potentially providing sustained protection against HIV. IPM said the vaginal ring would be easy to distribute, making it well suited for use in developing countries.

The ring has already been tested in four clinical trials among women in Europe, with another trial ongoing, and has been shown to be safe. If the IPM 015 trial confirms the safety and acceptability of the product among women in Africa, a subsequent phase to test the ability of dapivirine rings to prevent HIV infection will begin in Africa in 2011, with results due in 2015.

Prevention approaches incorporating ARVs are thought to be among the most promising against HIV. However, scientists have�warned that regular HIV testing would have to be an integral part of any prevention programme using ARVs to prevent the risk of participants developing drug-resistance.

kr/he source.irinnews

BY DICKENS WASONGA

By Dickens Wasonga.

Lake Victoria which globally supports a rich fisheries resource estimated at 1 million metric tons annually, and a standing stock biomass of 2.12 million metric tons is likely to suffer irreversible ecological damage if urgent action is not taken to improve its environmental management, fisheries experts have warned.

During a meeting held in Kisumu city in Kenya which was attended by a high powered team of fisheries experts drawn from the Lake Victoria Fisheries Organization and top ministry officials from Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, it emerged that the Lake was facing a myriad of environmental and fishery related threats.

Kenya’s permanent secretary in the ministry of fisheries development Prof. M. Ntiba while making his official speech noted that over the years, Lake Victoria which also� supports a fisher population of 196,500 regionally has been plagued with massive water weeds infestation and sporadic toxic algal blooms; uncontrolled influx of pollution and nutrients from the hinterlands.

The PS said increased sedimentation and Lake level changes associated with poor land use and climate change;reduced levels of dissolved oxygen in the water; increased use of illegal fishing gears and methods which results to over exploitation of immature fish were amongst the thorny issues that needs to be addressed urgently by countries benefitting from the Lake.

In an effort to help enhance management of the Lake environment and its living resources, Kenya’s ministry of fisheries development on Friday launched a Vessel worth Ksh.57m which will now be used by scientists drawn from Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute KMFRI to provide necessary research and monitoring support.

It is the mandate of KMFRI to undertake research in all spheres of fisheries, acquaculture, aquatic ecology and environmental monitoring.� It also provides scientific data and information,new and adoptive technologies and innovations for the sustainable exploitation,management and conservation of fisheries resources and aquatic environment.

On the larger scale� the research out put from KMFRI should support the national development strategies and programs on archieving food security, reduced poverty levels and increased job opportunities for Kenyans.

The new Vessel will be a crucial tool for KMFRI to undertake research and monitor all fisheries and environmental parameters on the world’s second largest fresh water lake.

The funds to buy the Vessel-MV UVUMBUZI- A kiswahili word which means discovery, was provided by the European Union which is also supporting the Lake Victoria Fisheries Implementation Plan and the Lake Victoria Fisheries Organization.

It is a specialized research vessel set to revolutionize the way research has been conducted on Lake Victoria which also generates a substantial income to the region in terms of export of fish to different international markets.

THe IFMP project which is ending this year was targetting to boost the capacity of both human resource and infrastructure and will remain a clear land mark of development in the Lake Basin,in particular, in supporting fisheries research and develpment agenda for Lake Victoria in Kenya and her two sister states of Uganda and Tanzania.

According to the Kenya’s minister for fisheries development Dr. Paul Otuoma, several fish processing plants have been forced to close down due to dwindling fish stocks in the Lake.

He said as a result many Kenyans especially those living along the shores of Lake Victoria have been rendered jobless.� He said the trend was now worrying the government which was losing a substantial amounts of money from the fisheries.