IRIN PlusNews HIV/AIDS Briefs, 21 August 2001

CONTENTS: SOUTH AFRICA: Aids activist group takes government to court SOUTH AFRICA: Sexual Education starts too late in schools TANZANIA: CDC donates HIV testing equipment SOUTH AFRICA: TAC takes government to court The South African AIDS activist group the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), launched an application in the Pretoria High Court on Tuesday demanding that the government institute a comprehensive programme across the county to reduce mother-to-child HIV transmission (MTCT). The application is supported by more than 250 doctors and rights groups. Speaking at a press conference, TAC National Secretary Mark Heywood said that legal action to try and enforce the rights of doctors to prescribe Nevirapine and the right of women to accept it, was inevitable as more than 150 children were born with HIV/AIDS every day. In a statement released after the press conference, TAC said that the government could stop infection in half of these children if it implemented a MTCT prevention programme. The group said the government could create a programme to save more than 20,000 children a year at a cost of about US $30 per pregnancy and the total cost would be less than one percent of the health care budget. In the application, the TAC set out that the state must make Nevirapine available to pregnant women with HIV/AIDS and should implement and outline clear time-frames for a national programme, including voluntary counselling and testing and antiretroviral therapy. The group said that the government had failed to act on behalf of poor and vulnerable people and continued to ignore its legal obligations towards women and children. SOUTH AFRICA: Sexual Education starts too late in schools An estimated 15 to 20 percent of South African children are infected with the HIV/AIDS virus by the time they enter high school, according to a SAPA report. Parliamentarian Dr Albertina Luthuli, attending a conference on sexuality education in Midrand, north of Johannesburg, questioned the nature of sex education at schools in South Africa where it forms part of the curriculum only at high or secondary schools only. Pupils start their first year of high school at around the age of 15, long after they have been vulnerable to infection. Meanwhile, Education Minister Kader Asmal called for sexuality education to focus on more than merely the anatomical and physical aspects of sexual development. He was reported as saying that relationships, emotional, gender and health issues were essential to prepare children to make their own life choices on sexuality and should be included in sex education. He also told the conference that although teenage pregnancies were on the decline, numbers remained high and for many girls pregnancies signalled the end of formal education. The minister added that sexual harassment in schools had become all too common with many girls forced to leave or change schools after being abused. TANZANIA: CDC donates HIV testing equipment The US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has donated equipment to Tanzania for HIV testing and laboratory operations, reported the Tomric News Agency on Tuesday. The equipment, worth US $340,000 can carry out 300,000 rapid tests and people can get their results in less than 30 minutes. The Charge d’ Affaires of the US Embassy in Dar Es Salaam, Wanda Nesbitt, handed over the equipment to the Ministry of Health late last week. Speaking at the handing over ceremony, Nesbitt was reported as saying that the high quality screening tests for HIV played a critical role in prevention and care efforts in the country. The Ministry of Health said that due to lack of resources, HIV/AIDS cases had increased and over 90 percent of those who had been infected were not aware of it.