Impact of HIV/AIDS not yet felt

After 27 years of civil war, the focus on HIV/AIDS is relatively "new" in Angola and the impact of the epidemic has not yet been fully calculated. But now that the war is over, the country could be faced with a major disaster if immediate measures are not taken to prevent the spread of the virus, the International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC) said in its annual appeal. A situation analysis to determine the magnitude of the epidemic was recently carried out by the Angola Red Cross Society (ACRS). The analysis also looked at how NGOs could scale up HIV/AIDS activities in specific districts. According to UNAIDS, the adult HIV/AIDS prevalence rate in Angola is at 5.5 percent. The conflict in the country has affected the delivery of essential health services and made it difficult to monitor the epidemiological trends of most diseases. "This could probably explain why the statistics are still very low," the IFRC said. But the high incidence of teenage pregnancies reported in Angola was a clear indication that youth were engaging in unprotected sex. Poverty also forced young women into commercial sex work, the IFRC noted. "The HIV/AIDS pandemic will be further worsened by the return of refugees from neighbouring countries with very high prevalence rates," the IFRC warned. Increased population movements within the country would also contribute to the rising prevalence rate. Despite the government's development of a national strategic plan, their response was still "disjointed" and most NGOs and AIDS service organisations did not have the capacity for "meaningful intervention". The report said: "Several organisations are carrying out some activities, albeit uncoordinated and on a small scale compared to the magnitude of the problem." The ACRS was implementing HIV/AIDS activities in nine provinces focusing mainly on prevention of HIV/AIDS transmission. Up to 246 activists have so far been trained to disseminate HIV/AIDS information targeting the police and the army, students, commercial sex workers, and long distance drivers. The information is disseminated through drama, pamphlets and talks.