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 Re: التهانى ل د. ندى على وللنساء فى زامبيا وأفريقيا بتدشين تقرير هيومان رايتس ووتش عن الايدز .. (Re: Khalid Kodi)
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تم إطلاق التقرير فى لاساكا أمس 17/12/2007 وسط حضور ممتاز من المؤسسات الرسمية والمستقله، ووسط حضور إعلامى كثيف.
Africa
Mail&Guardian
HRW slams Zambia over violence against women
Lusaka, Zambia
18 December 2007 03:21
Human Rights Watch (HRW) Tuesday accused Zambia's government of failing to stop escalating violence against women and prevention of access to antiretroviral (ARV) treatment for people living with HIV/Aids.
A researcher for the global human rights watchdog, Nada Ali, told reporters at a briefing that Zambia lacked specific legislation on violence against women despite the high number of cases reported in recent years.
She said most women in Zambia are scared to undergo HIV testing because of fear of disclosure of their status to their abusive partners who obstruct them from accessing treatment.
"Unless the Zambian government introduces legal and health system reform and removes barriers to HIV treatment that women face, gender-based abuses will continue to shatter the lives of countless Zambian women," Ali said.
In a report titled Hidden in the Mealie Meal: Gender-based abuses and women's HIV treatment in Zambia, HRW said 17% of Zambia's adult population is living with HIV and 57% of them are women.
Maize-based mealie meal, is Zambia's staple food.
"Healthcare facilities can play a key role in responding to violence and other abuses of women. Unfortunately, this is not happening in Zambia," Ali said.
The United Nations secretary general's special envoy on HIV/Aids in Africa, Elizabeth Mataka, urged women organisations in Zambia and other parts of the continent to begin pushing for the implementation of legal reforms to address the problem.
"Let us go beyond talking now. We need to push for implementation so that these problems can be addressed," Mataka said at the briefing.
HRW acknowledges that Zambia is one of the few African countries that have made an overall progress in scaling up HIV treatment by offering free life-saving ARV drugs.
"But ignoring these abuses will mean that Zambian government's goal of universal access to HIV treatment by 2010 will fail," Ali warned. - AFP
http://www.mg.co.za/articlepage.aspx?area=/breaking_new...=328024&referrer=RSS
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(عدل بواسطة Khalid Kodi on 12-19-2007, 07:32 AM)
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Re: التهانى ل د. ندى على وللنساء فى زامبيا وأفريقيا بتدشين تقرير هيومان رايتس ووتش عن الايدز .. (Re: Khalid Kodi)
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Human Rights Watch says domestic violence, poverty keep AIDS drugs from Zambia women
The Associated PressPublished: December 18, 2007
LUSAKA, Zambia: Domestic violence and poverty are preventing many Zambian women from accessing AIDS drugs, undermining the Zambian government's ambitious treatment program, Human Rights Watch said Tuesday.
The New York-based rights watchdog released a report focused on women's treatment in Zambia, based on interviews earlier this year with 83 women in the urban centers of Lusaka and the northern Copperbelt region, as well police, health counselors, and government and non-governmental organizations.
The government has made AIDS treatment drugs free and put more than 93,000 people on them with the help of international donors in Zambia, a southern African nation of 11.5 million that is still largely poor despite recent economic growth. About 16 percent of adults are HIV-positive here. In urban areas, the prevalence rate exceeds 20 percent, with HIV infection rates higher among women.
The report documented a variety of cases where HIV-positive women were prevented from taking AIDS drugs, or from adhering to their proper regimens.
"We would like to commend the way the Zambian government has actively dealt with HIV/AIDS treatment," Nada Ali, the author of the report, told journalists at a press conference. "However, for many Zambian women, receiving an HIV-positive diagnosis might still be equivalent to a death sentence."
Today in Africa & Middle East
Zuma defeats Mbeki to take leadership of African National CongressIsraeli airstrikes in Gaza kill at least 10 Palestinian militantsRice visits Iraq as Baghdad denounces Turkish military action
Stigma against HIV-positive people is still common in many parts of Zambia. In some cases, the fear of violence from their husbands prevented women from getting tested for HIV or beginning or adhering properly to their treatment, according to the report. Some women would hide their medication in flower pots or holes in the ground, or be forced to come up with lies to explain their absence when they went to health clinics, the report said, adding that health counselors are not trained to deal with issues surrounding violence against women.
In other cases, women were left without money for transportation or food after divorce or their husband's death due to property laws that favor men, and the practice of "property grabbing," in which a deceased man's family seizes his widow's property, often rendering her destitute. The result, the report says, is that many women are unable to go to health clinics or keep up a proper diet, which is necessary if AIDS drugs are to be effective.
Human Rights Watch urged the Zambian government to adopt legislation to prevent and deal with sexual and domestic violence, support efforts to change property law, modify health policies and ensure that health counselors can deal with the gender abuse issues, establish shelters for female victims of abuse and strengthen the government's Victim Support Unit.
Elizabeth Mataka, the United Nations special envoy for HIV/AIDS, said that while the report was timely, community-based programs specifically giving women and girls financial and legal options are more necessary than additional high-level policies on gender.
"Women's organizations must begin now to map out strategies that will address this problem," she said. "We need to move ... from talking to action. There has to be a change of mind-set at the community level."
International Herald Tribune
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Re: التهانى ل د. ندى على وللنساء فى زامبيا وأفريقيا بتدشين تقرير هيومان رايتس ووتش عن الايدز .. (Re: Khalid Kodi)
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Human Rights Watch says domestic violence, poverty keep AIDS drugs from Zambia women
U.S. newsMSNBC
By JOSEPH J. SCHATZ
updated 8:38 a.m. ET, Tues., Dec. 18, 2007
LUSAKA, Zambia - Domestic violence and poverty are preventing many Zambian women from accessing AIDS drugs, undermining the Zambian government's ambitious treatment program, Human Rights Watch said Tuesday.
The New York-based rights watchdog released a report focused on women's treatment in Zambia, based on interviews earlier this year with 83 women in the urban centers of Lusaka and the northern Copperbelt region, as well police, health counselors, and government and non-governmental organizations.
The government has made AIDS treatment drugs free and put more than 93,000 people on them with the help of international donors in Zambia, a southern African nation of 11.5 million that is still largely poor despite recent economic growth. About 16 percent of adults are HIV-positive here. In urban areas, the prevalence rate exceeds 20 percent, with HIV infection rates higher among women.
The report documented a variety of cases where HIV-positive women were prevented from taking AIDS drugs, or from adhering to their proper regimens.
"We would like to commend the way the Zambian government has actively dealt with HIV/AIDS treatment," Nada Ali, the author of the report, told journalists at a press conference. "However, for many Zambian women, receiving an HIV-positive diagnosis might still be equivalent to a death sentence."
Stigma against HIV-positive people is still common in many parts of Zambia. In some cases, the fear of violence from their husbands prevented women from getting tested for HIV or beginning or adhering properly to their treatment, according to the report. Some women would hide their medication in flower pots or holes in the ground, or be forced to come up with lies to explain their absence when they went to health clinics, the report said, adding that health counselors are not trained to deal with issues surrounding violence against women.
In other cases, women were left without money for transportation or food after divorce or their husband's death due to property laws that favor men, and the practice of "property grabbing," in which a deceased man's family seizes his widow's property, often rendering her destitute. The result, the report says, is that many women are unable to go to health clinics or keep up a proper diet, which is necessary if AIDS drugs are to be effective.
Human Rights Watch urged the Zambian government to adopt legislation to prevent and deal with sexual and domestic violence, support efforts to change property law, modify health policies and ensure that health counselors can deal with the gender abuse issues, establish shelters for female victims of abuse and strengthen the government's Victim Support Unit.
Elizabeth Mataka, the United Nations special envoy for HIV/AIDS, said that while the report was timely, community-based programs specifically giving women and girls financial and legal options are more necessary than additional high-level policies on gender.
"Women's organizations must begin now to map out strategies that will address this problem," she said. "We need to move ... from talking to action. There has to be a change of mind-set at the community level."
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22309173/
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Re: التهانى ل د. ندى على وللنساء فى زامبيا وأفريقيا بتدشين تقرير هيومان رايتس ووتش عن الايدز .. (Re: Khalid Kodi)
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Zambian women kept from HIV treatment
Published: Dec. 18, 2007 at 9:39 AM
Print story Email to a friend Font size:LUSAKA, Zambia, Dec. 18 (UPI) -- Poverty and abuse are preventing Zambian women from getting life-saving treatment for HIV, a Human Rights Watch report said Tuesday.
The 96-page report said Zambia's government had failed to combat violence, discrimination and insecure property rights, and that many women with HIV become impoverished and end up in abusive and dependent relationships, kept away from antiretroviral treatment.
"Addressing domestic violence, property grabbing and unequal distribution of property upon divorce is critical to ensuring that women in Zambia have equal access to antiretroviral medicine," said report author Nada Ali, a researcher in the group's Women's Rights Division. "Ignoring these abuses will mean that the Zambian government's goal of universal access to HIV treatment by 2010 will fail."
© 2007 United Press International. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Top_News/2007/12/18/zambia..._hiv_treatment/1541/
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Re: التهانى ل د. ندى على وللنساء فى زامبيا وأفريقيا بتدشين تقرير هيومان رايتس ووتش عن الايدز .. (Re: Khalid Kodi)
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HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
Zambia: Abuses Against Women Obstruct HIV Treatment
(Lusaka, December 18, 2007) – The Zambian government is failing to address the life-threatening obstacles facing Zambian
women living with HIV who experience domestic and gender-based violence, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.
Gender-based violence and insecure property rights are preventing Zambian women from accessing life-saving antiretroviral treatment.
While acknowledging the significant overall progress made by the Zambian government in scaling up HIV treatment generally, the 96-page report, “Hidden in the Mealie Meal: Gender-Based Abuses and Women’s HIV Treatment in Zambia,” documents how the government has fallen short of its international legal obligations to combat violence and discrimination against women. The report details abuses that obstruct women’s ability to start and adhere to HIV treatment regimens, including violence against women and insecure property rights that often force women into poverty and dependent, abusive relationships.
“Addressing domestic violence, property grabbing, and unequal distribution of property upon divorce is critical to ensuring that women in Zambia have equal access to antiretroviral medicine” said Nada Ali, researcher in the Women’s Rights Division of Human Rights Watch and author of the report. “Ignoring these abuses will mean that the Zambian government’s goal of universal access to HIV treatment by 2010 will fail.”
The report is based on interviews in Zambia’s Lusaka and Copperbelt provinces with dozens of women living with HIV, HIV counselors and other healthcare providers, government officials, donors, and the police. The report documents how domestic violence and fear of violence thwarted women’s ability to seek HIV information and testing, discouraged them from disclosing their HIV status to partners, delayed their pursuit of treatment, and caused them to miss clinic appointments and doses of medication.
“I fear to tell my husband [about my HIV status] because I fear that he can shout [at me] and divorce me,” Maria T. (not her real name), 45, told Human Rights Watch. “I hide the medicine, I put it on a plate, add mealie meal, so when he takes the lid off he [does not find the medication]. [When] I take the medicine…I have to make sure that he is outside. That is why I forgot to take medicine four times since I started treatment [seven months ago]. Last year he hit me around the back with his fist.”
The report documents how unequal distribution of property upon divorce and property grabbing by in-laws on the death of a spouse impede women’s HIV treatment. Under the customary laws of many ethnic groups in Zambia, women have lesser property rights than men, and are often left with nothing when widowed or divorced. Fear of losing homes, land, and other property binds some women in abusive marriages. Women who lost property told Human Rights Watch that they struggled to pay for transport to clinics for HIV treatment and counseling and to afford the food they need for treatment to succeed.
In Zambia, 17 percent of the adult population is living with HIV/AIDS, 57 percent of whom are women. Girls and women between ages 14 and 25 are four times more likely to be infected with HIV than their male counterparts. More than half of ever-married women respondents to the 2001-2002 Zambia Demographic and Health Survey (ZDHS) reported having been beaten or abused by their husbands. In November 2006, the Zambia chapter of the Young Women’s Christian Association reported that their shelter recorded 10 cases of rape of adult women in Lusaka every week. The ZDHS also found that a large majority of women (85 percent) and men (69 percent) believed that a husband is justified in beating his wife for at least one reason.
“Unless the Zambian government introduces legal and health system reform and removes the barriers to HIV treatment that women face, gender-based abuses will continue to shatter the lives of countless Zambian women in acute need of antiretroviral treatments and contribute to avoidable losses of health and lives,” said Ali.
Despite the potentially deadly effect of gender-based abuses on women’s HIV treatment, Zambia lacks specific legislation on violence against women. The only two shelters available for female survivors of gender-based violence are civil-society operated, and the Lusaka shelter is filled to capacity. Existing inheritance law is poorly enforced.
Zambia has made great strides in providing free antiretroviral medicine to more than half of those who need it. But the country’s healthcare system is ill-equipped to respond to gender-based violence. Healthcare facilities providing HIV treatment have no systems to detect or respond to abuses such as domestic violence, and there are currently no government protocols on how to address violence in HIV treatment programs. HIV treatment counselors rarely ask about violence in the home, though many said they would do so with proper training and support.
“Healthcare facilities can play a key role in responding to violence and other abuses against women,” said Ali. “Doing so not only helps women access and adhere to HIV treatment, it could also help end the abuse if it were part of a wider strategy to end violence and inequality between women and men. Unfortunately, this is not happening in Zambia.”
Human Rights Watch called on the Zambian government to act urgently to enact and enforce legislation on sexual and gender-based violence and to ensure that the new constitution fully protects women’s rights to equality.
The Zambian government should also establish systems to enable healthcare providers, including HIV treatment providers, to respond to gender-based abuses. At a minimum, the government should ensure that healthcare providers in the HIV sector receive adequate training, clear guidelines, and support to detect and respond to gender-based abuses. Donor agencies should support these reforms as a key component of effective treatment for women with HIV.
http://hrw.org/english/docs/2007/12/18/zambia17575.htm
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Re: التهانى ل د. ندى على وللنساء فى زامبيا وأفريقيا بتدشين تقرير هيومان رايتس ووتش عن الايدز .. (Re: Khalid Kodi)
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Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report
Global Challenges | Poverty, Violence Prevent Zambian Women From Accessing HIV/AIDS Treatment, Report Says
[Dec 20, 2007]
Poverty and violence are preventing HIV-positive women living in Zambia from accessing antiretroviral drugs and hindering the government's efforts to expand treatment access, according to a report released Tuesday by Human Rights Watch, the AP/International Herald Tribune reports.
The report was compiled from interviews with 83 women in urban areas of Lusaka and the northern Copperbelt region, as well as police, health counselors, and government and nongovernmental organizations. It documented several cases of HIV-positive women being prevented from taking antiretrovirals or adhering to their treatment regimens.
According to the report, many women are reluctant to receive HIV tests or to begin or adhere to HIV treatment regimens because they are concerned about violence from their husbands. The report also found that some women hide their medication and lie to explain their absence when they visit clinics. Many women also do not have money for transportation to clinics or for food after divorce or a husband's death. This leaves many HIV-positive women unable to maintain proper nutrition, which is necessary for antiretrovirals to be effective, according to the report. In addition, health workers are not trained to handle issues stemming from gender-based violence, the report found.
HRW in the report called on the Zambian government to pass legislation aimed at addressing gender-based violence. The group also urged the government to:
Support efforts to change property law;
Modify health policies;
Train health workers to handle issues associated with gender-based violence;
Establish shelters for women who have survived violence; and
Strengthen the government's Victim Support Unit.
Report author Nada Ali commended the government's efforts to address HIV/AIDS but said that "for many Zambian women, receiving an HIV-positive diagnosis might still be equivalent to a death sentence." Elizabeth Mataka, United Nations special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, said that women's organizations "must begin now to map out strategies that will address this problem," adding, "We need to move ... from talking to action. There has to be a change of mind-set at the community level."
According to the AP/Herald Tribune, about 16% of Zambian adults are HIV-positive. In some urban areas, HIV prevalence is higher than 20%, with higher rates among women, the AP/Herald Tribune reports (AP/International Herald Tribune, 12/18).
The report is available online.
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=49508
Kaisernetwork.org
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Re: التهانى ل د. ندى على وللنساء فى زامبيا وأفريقيا بتدشين تقرير هيومان رايتس ووتش عن الايدز .. (Re: Khalid Kodi)
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Zambia: Thinking of Legal Protection for Women
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks
19 December 2007
Posted to the web 19 December 2007
Lusaka
The high level of gender-based violence in Zambia is preventing many women from accessing HIV/AIDS services, according to a new report by global watchdog Human Rights Watch.
The researchers warned that the ability of Zambian women to get HIV/AIDS counselling, testing and information has been "seriously impaired by the perceived and real control of men [particularly intimate partners] over their lives".
In the report, Hidden In The Mealie Meal: Gender-Based Abuses and Women's HIV Treatment in Zambia, the New-York based lobby group found that many women were taking life-prolonging antiretroviral (ARV) medication without informing their husbands, and were forced to resort to extreme measures to hide their medication.
"Some of the women testified that they dug holes in the ground or in flowerpots to hide ARVs. These women then retrieved the medicine - which they must take for the rest of their lives - twice every day and then hid it again," said the report, which documented various abuses that obstruct Zambian women's ability to start, and adhere to, HIV treatment regimens.
According to UNAIDS, about 1.6 million of the 11.7 million population are HIV positive, 57 percent of them women, but only 100,000 people are receiving ARVs from the government's free treatment programme.
Zambia, which has one of the world's highest HIV infection rates, has set ambitious targets for rapidly scaling up HIV/AIDS treatment as part of its commitment to ensuring universal access to AIDS treatment by 2010, but researchers say women's unequal status will greatly undermine the success of the programmes.
Ignoring gender issues
Nada Ali, author of Hidden In The Mealie Meal, told IRIN/PlusNews: "Government is paying little attention to the gender dimension of treatment, especially the impact of entrenched discrimination and gender-based violence and abuse. This must change if HIV treatment is to be provided equitably."
I fear to tell my husband [about my HIV status] because I fear that he can shout [at me] and divorce me. He uses bad language with me
A woman identified only as Maria T is quoted as saying in the report: "I fear to tell my husband [about my HIV status] because I fear that he can shout [at me] and divorce me. He uses bad language with me.
"I hide the medicine, I put it on a plate, add mealie meal [maizemeal], so when he takes the lid off he does not find it [the medication]. When I take the medicine I have to make sure that he is outside. That is why I forgot to take medicine four times since I started treatment. Last year he hit me around the back with his fist."
Elizabeth Mataka, a UN special envoy on HIV/AIDS in Africa, called for concerted efforts in addressing domestic violence, and stressed that women needed socio-economic empowerment to overcome the problem.
"It is indisputable that domestic violence is one of the serious drivers of the spread of HIV/AIDS in this country, and at its bedrock is the issue of poor empowerment and economic status of women," Mataka told IRIN/PlusNews.
Women are often the victims of unequal property distribution in divorces, and suffer property-grabbing by in-laws on the death of a spouse, which analysts say impedes their ability to lead decent lives or adhere to AIDS treatment.
Under the customary law of most of Zambia's 72 ethnic groups, women have lesser property rights than men, and the fear of losing homes, land and other property usually keeps women in abusive marriages.
"Time has come for concrete actions that will directly impact the lives of the women on the ground. There are no two ways about it: we just have to give our women enough resources for them to become independent of all abusive men," Mataka said.
Nelson Mwape, of the Zambian Chapter of the Young Women's Christian Association [YWCA], pointed out that of the 874 cases of domestic violence recorded by the YWCA since 2006, 427 have tested HIV positive.
"About 75 percent of all cases of abuse involve husbands and relatives, which is why we are now saying, 'no home is safe anymore for both women and children'."
Women's groups have charged that the Zambian government has not done enough to guarantee the rights of women: the country has no specific law criminalising gender-based violence, and the penal code does not cover marital rape or abuse.
Domestic violence
Elizabeth Simwanda, national coordinator of women entrepreneurship at the International Labour Organisation offices in Zambia, called for legislation that would reduce cases of domestic violence.
The lack of specific legislation on gender-based violence has contributed to high numbers of women being abused; it's easier to deal with these cases when you have the law in place
"We are very much interested to see government enact a specific law on gender violence, so that all culprits can face the wrath of the law. The lack of specific legislation on gender-based violence has contributed to high numbers of cases of women being abused; it's easier to deal with these cases when you have the law in place," Simwanda said.
The permanent secretary in the ministry of gender, Matondo Yeta, admitted that "our socio-cultural set-up does not favour reporting of cases of domestic violence. Victims are usually made to fear that by reporting, the situation might become worse for them; that they might lose their marriages or that their children might suffer."
The government has begun a process of incorporating all international human rights instruments to which Zambia is party into domestic legislation. "Government is also working on formulating specific legislation on gender-based violence and we hope it would be completed by the end of next year [2008]," Yeta told IRIN/PlusNews. "This will protect women against violence from men."
[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations ]
http://allafrica.com/stories/200712190675.html[/B.
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Re: التهانى ل د. ندى على وللنساء فى زامبيا وأفريقيا بتدشين تقرير هيومان رايتس ووتش عن الايدز .. (Re: Khalid Kodi)
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تعرف يا دكتور خالد
كم مرة فكرت اكتب عنك في جوانب عرفتها عنك عبر مدرسة السني الثانوية و كيف كنت انت و الشهيد طه يوسف عبيد و معتصم بيضاب تمثل حملة مشاعل الوعي.. و من جاني صداقتي و موجاورتي للعزيز ياسر كودي.. هذه النقطة الاخيرة لها اهمية انسانية تتمثل في ان آل كودي يحبون بعضهم و يعبرون عن ذلك في الوقت الكانت فيه القاعدة ان يبدو فيه جفوة بين الاخوة بان يمنع الكبير الصغير من ان يرافقه و بقية التفاصيل المعروفة.. قلت هذا لان البعض هنا يستغرب من علاقتكما انت و الريح و كذا مع العزيزة دكتورة ندي التي تمثل مفخرة لنا جميعا و ركن ناهض بحمل الحركة النسوية و الانسانية عامة,, عن معايشتي لنشاطاتكم في السني اتمني ان اعود قريبا مفصلا..
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Re: التهانى ل د. ندى على وللنساء فى زامبيا وأفريقيا بتدشين تقرير هيومان رايتس ووتش عن الايدز .. (Re: Khalid Kodi)
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الأعزاء أيمن تابر،
عسكورى، ابراهيم على، عادل إسحق،
لكم التحايا، وشككرا على المرور.
الأخت العزيزه منى خوجلى،
تحياتى وكل سنه وإنتى وأسرتك بخير،
وفى إنتظار عودة ندى للنقاش.
العزيز محمدين،
تحياتى ،
Quote: من خلال المتابعة الاعلامية يتضح ان التقرير قد احدث حراكأ
في موضوع انتشار الايدز في زامبيا .. |
تابعت وقرأت بعض الافادات فى التقرير... وهى "محبطه" ، وتثير الكثير من الاسئله.
ولا أدرى فى إذا ماكانت بعض أنماط السلوك السلبى والعدائى الذى تعانى منها زامبيا حصريا على زامبيا أو ان الدول الافريقة الاخرى تشترك مع زامبيا فى بعض هذه الانماط، وأيضا إذا ماكان مردود هذا التقرير سيتعدى زامبيا الى الدول الأفريقية الأخرى وماهى الاليات؟؟
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Re: التهانى ل د. ندى على وللنساء فى زامبيا وأفريقيا بتدشين تقرير هيومان رايتس ووتش عن الايدز .. (Re: Khalid Kodi)
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الأخ العزيز نصار،
كل سنه وأنت والأسره بألف خير،
Quote: تعرف يا دكتور خالد
كم مرة فكرت اكتب عنك في جوانب عرفتها عنك عبر مدرسة السني الثانوية و كيف كنت انت و الشهيد طه يوسف عبيد و معتصم بيضاب تمثل حملة مشاعل الوعي.. و من جاني صداقتي و موجاورتي للعزيز ياسر كودي.. هذه النقطة الاخيرة لها اهمية انسانية تتمثل في ان آل كودي يحبون بعضهم و يعبرون عن ذلك في الوقت الكانت فيه القاعدة ان يبدو فيه جفوة بين الاخوة بان يمنع الكبير الصغير من ان يرافقه و بقية التفاصيل المعروفة.. قلت هذا لان البعض هنا يستغرب من علاقتكما انت و الريح و كذا مع العزيزة دكتورة ندي التي تمثل مفخرة لنا جميعا و ركن ناهض بحمل الحركة النسوية و الانسانية عامة,, عن معايشتي لنشاطاتكم في السني اتمني ان اعود قريبا مفصلا.. |
أولا الحمد لله انو عصام جبر الله مشغول بخروف العيد والا كان داقرنا فى الدكتوراه الملح دى.
ولأن الدنيا عيد "مافى داعى لتقليب المواجع"....
شكرا للمرور ولكلماتك الطيبه، والحق لكى يرى هذا التقرير وغيره النور فقد تعاركت ندى مع النوم لشهور طوال...فلها كل التقدير..
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Re: التهانى ل د. ندى على وللنساء فى زامبيا وأفريقيا بتدشين تقرير هيومان رايتس ووتش عن الايدز .. (Re: Khalid Kodi)
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ZAMBIA: Fear of violence blocks access to HIV/AIDS services
Photo: Manoocher Deghati/IRIN
Women's unequal status will greatly undermine the success of the HIV/AIDS programme
LUSAKA, 19 December 2007 (PlusNews) - The high level of gender-based violence in Zambia is preventing many women from accessing HIV/AIDS services, according to a new report by global watchdog Human Rights Watch.
The researchers warned that the ability of Zambian women to get HIV/AIDS counselling, testing and information has been "seriously impaired by the perceived and real control of men [particularly intimate partners] over their lives".
In the report, Hidden In The Mealie Meal: Gender-Based Abuses and Women's HIV Treatment in Zambia, the New-York based lobby group found that many women were taking life-prolonging antiretroviral (ARV) medication without informing their husbands, and were forced to resort to extreme measures to hide their medication.
"Some of the women testified that they dug holes in the ground or in flowerpots to hide ARVs. These women then retrieved the medicine - which they must take for the rest of their lives - twice every day and then hid it again," said the report, which documented various abuses that obstruct Zambian women's ability to start, and adhere to, HIV treatment regimens.
According to UNAIDS, about 1.6 million of the 11.7 million population are HIV positive, 57 percent of them women, but only 100,000 people are receiving ARVs from the government's free treatment programme.
Zambia, which has one of the world's highest HIV infection rates, has set ambitious targets for rapidly scaling up HIV/AIDS treatment as part of its commitment to ensuring universal access to AIDS treatment by 2010, but researchers say women's unequal status will greatly undermine the success of the programmes.
Nada Ali, author of Hidden In The Mealie Meal, told IRIN/PlusNews: "Government is paying little attention to the gender dimension of treatment, especially the impact of entrenched discrimination and gender-based violence and abuse. This must change if HIV treatment is to be provided equitably."
Hiding the medicine
I hide the medicine, I put it on a plate, add mealie meal, so when he take the lid off he does not find it.
A woman identified only as Maria T is quoted as saying in the report: "I fear to tell my husband [about my HIV status] because I fear that he can shout [at me] and divorce me. He uses bad language with me.
"I hide the medicine, I put it on a plate, add mealie meal [maizemeal], so when he takes the lid off he does not find it [the medication]. When I take the medicine I have to make sure that he is outside. That is why I forgot to take medicine four times since I started treatment. Last year he hit me around the back with his fist."
Elizabeth Mataka, a UN special envoy on HIV/AIDS in Africa, called for concerted efforts in addressing domestic violence, and stressed that women needed socio-economic empowerment to overcome the problem.
"It is indisputable that domestic violence is one of the serious drivers of the spread of HIV/AIDS in this country, and at its bedrock is the issue of poor empowerment and economic status of women," Mataka told IRIN/PlusNews.
Women are often the victims of unequal property distribution in divorces, and suffer property-grabbing by in-laws on the death of a spouse, which analysts say impedes their ability to lead decent lives or adhere to AIDS treatment.
Under the customary law of most of Zambia's 72 ethnic groups, women have lesser property rights than men, and the fear of losing homes, land and other property usually keeps women in abusive marriages.
Photo: Manoocher Deghati/IRIN
Women have lesser property rights than women
"Time has come for concrete actions that will directly impact the lives of the women on the ground. There are no two ways about it: we just have to give our women enough resources for them to become independent of all abusive men," Mataka said.
Nelson Mwape, of the Zambian Chapter of the Young Women's Christian Association [YWCA], pointed out that of the 874 cases of domestic violence recorded by the YWCA since 2006, 427 have tested HIV positive.
"About 75 percent of all cases of abuse involve husbands and relatives, which is why we are now saying, 'no home is safe anymore for both women and children'."
Not enough legal protection
Women's groups have charged that the Zambian government has not done enough to guarantee the rights of women: the country has no specific law criminalising gender-based violence, and the penal code does not cover marital rape or abuse.
Elizabeth Simwanda, national coordinator of women entrepreneurship at the International Labour Organisation offices in Zambia, called for legislation that would reduce cases of domestic violence.
"We are very much interested to see government enact a specific law on gender violence, so that all culprits can face the wrath of the law. The lack of specific legislation on gender-based violence has contributed to high numbers of cases of women being abused; it's easier to deal with these cases when you have the law in place," Simwanda said.
The permanent secretary in the ministry of gender, Matondo Yeta, admitted that "our socio-cultural set-up does not favour reporting of cases of domestic violence. Victims are usually made to fear that by reporting, the situation might become worse for them; that they might lose their marriages or that their children might suffer."
The government has begun a process of incorporating all international human rights instruments to which Zambia is party into domestic legislation. "Government is also working on formulating specific legislation on gender-based violence and we hope it would be completed by the end of next year [2008]," Yeta told IRIN/PlusNews. "This will protect women against violence from men."
nm/kn/he
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75941
Theme(s): (IRIN) HIV/AIDS (PlusNews)
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Re: التهانى ل د. ندى على وللنساء فى زامبيا وأفريقيا بتدشين تقرير هيومان رايتس ووتش عن الايدز .. (Re: Khalid Kodi)
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ZAMBIA: Thinking of legal protection for women
Photo: Manoocher Deghati/IRIN
A women's burden
LUSAKA , 19 December 2007 (IRIN) - The high level of gender-based violence in Zambia is preventing many women from accessing HIV/AIDS services, according to a new report by global watchdog Human Rights Watch.
The researchers warned that the ability of Zambian women to get HIV/AIDS counselling, testing and information has been "seriously impaired by the perceived and real control of men [particularly intimate partners] over their lives".
In the report, Hidden In The Mealie Meal: Gender-Based Abuses and Women's HIV Treatment in Zambia, the New-York based lobby group found that many women were taking life-prolonging antiretroviral (ARV) medication without informing their husbands, and were forced to resort to extreme measures to hide their medication.
"Some of the women testified that they dug holes in the ground or in flowerpots to hide ARVs. These women then retrieved the medicine - which they must take for the rest of their lives - twice every day and then hid it again," said the report, which documented various abuses that obstruct Zambian women's ability to start, and adhere to, HIV treatment regimens.
According to UNAIDS, about 1.6 million of the 11.7 million population are HIV positive, 57 percent of them women, but only 100,000 people are receiving ARVs from the government's free treatment programme.
Zambia, which has one of the world's highest HIV infection rates, has set ambitious targets for rapidly scaling up HIV/AIDS treatment as part of its commitment to ensuring universal access to AIDS treatment by 2010, but researchers say women's unequal status will greatly undermine the success of the programmes.
Ignoring gender issues
Nada Ali, author of Hidden In The Mealie Meal, told IRIN/PlusNews: "Government is paying little attention to the gender dimension of treatment, especially the impact of entrenched discrimination and gender-based violence and abuse. This must change if HIV treatment is to be provided equitably."
I fear to tell my husband [about my HIV status] because I fear that he can shout [at me] and divorce me. He uses bad language with me
A woman identified only as Maria T is quoted as saying in the report: "I fear to tell my husband [about my HIV status] because I fear that he can shout [at me] and divorce me. He uses bad language with me.
"I hide the medicine, I put it on a plate, add mealie meal [maizemeal], so when he takes the lid off he does not find it [the medication]. When I take the medicine I have to make sure that he is outside. That is why I forgot to take medicine four times since I started treatment. Last year he hit me around the back with his fist."
Elizabeth Mataka, a UN special envoy on HIV/AIDS in Africa, called for concerted efforts in addressing domestic violence, and stressed that women needed socio-economic empowerment to overcome the problem.
"It is indisputable that domestic violence is one of the serious drivers of the spread of HIV/AIDS in this country, and at its bedrock is the issue of poor empowerment and economic status of women," Mataka told IRIN/PlusNews.
Women are often the victims of unequal property distribution in divorces, and suffer property-grabbing by in-laws on the death of a spouse, which analysts say impedes their ability to lead decent lives or adhere to AIDS treatment.
Under the customary law of most of Zambia's 72 ethnic groups, women have lesser property rights than men, and the fear of losing homes, land and other property usually keeps women in abusive marriages.
"Time has come for concrete actions that will directly impact the lives of the women on the ground. There are no two ways about it: we just have to give our women enough resources for them to become independent of all abusive men," Mataka said.
Nelson Mwape, of the Zambian Chapter of the Young Women's Christian Association [YWCA], pointed out that of the 874 cases of domestic violence recorded by the YWCA since 2006, 427 have tested HIV positive.
"About 75 percent of all cases of abuse involve husbands and relatives, which is why we are now saying, 'no home is safe anymore for both women and children'."
Women's groups have charged that the Zambian government has not done enough to guarantee the rights of women: the country has no specific law criminalising gender-based violence, and the penal code does not cover marital rape or abuse.
Domestic violence
Elizabeth Simwanda, national coordinator of women entrepreneurship at the International Labour Organisation offices in Zambia, called for legislation that would reduce cases of domestic violence.
The lack of specific legislation on gender-based violence has contributed to high numbers of women being abused; it's easier to deal with these cases when you have the law in place
"We are very much interested to see government enact a specific law on gender violence, so that all culprits can face the wrath of the law. The lack of specific legislation on gender-based violence has contributed to high numbers of cases of women being abused; it's easier to deal with these cases when you have the law in place," Simwanda said.
The permanent secretary in the ministry of gender, Matondo Yeta, admitted that "our socio-cultural set-up does not favour reporting of cases of domestic violence. Victims are usually made to fear that by reporting, the situation might become worse for them; that they might lose their marriages or that their children might suffer."
The government has begun a process of incorporating all international human rights instruments to which Zambia is party into domestic legislation. "Government is also working on formulating specific legislation on gender-based violence and we hope it would be completed by the end of next year [2008]," Yeta told IRIN/PlusNews. "This will protect women against violence from men."
nm/kn/he
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75942
Theme(s): (IRIN) Gender Issues, (IRIN) HIV/AIDS (PlusNews)
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Re: التهانى ل د. ندى على وللنساء فى زامبيا وأفريقيا بتدشين تقرير هيومان رايتس ووتش عن الايدز .. (Re: Khalid Kodi)
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Zambia: Abuses Against Women Obstruct HIV Treatment
The Zambian government is failing to address the life-threatening obstacles facing Zambian women living with HIV who
experience domestic and gender-based violence, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Gender-based violence and insecure property rights are preventing Zambian women from accessing life-saving antiretroviral treatment.
While acknowledging the significant overall progress made by the Zambian government in scaling up HIV treatment generally, the 96-page report, "Hidden in the Mealie Meal: Gender-Based Abuses and Women's HIV Treatment in Zambia," documents how the government has fallen short of its international legal obligations to combat violence and discrimination against women. The report details abuses that obstruct women's ability to start and adhere to HIV treatment regimens, including violence against women and insecure property rights that often force women into poverty and dependent, abusive relationships.
"Addressing domestic violence, property grabbing, and unequal distribution of property upon divorce is critical to ensuring that women in Zambia have equal access to antiretroviral medicine" said Nada Ali, researcher in the Women's Rights Division of Human Rights Watch and author of the report. "Ignoring these abuses will mean that the Zambian government's goal of universal access to HIV treatment by 2010 will fail."
The report is based on interviews in Zambia's Lusaka and Copperbelt provinces with dozens of women living with HIV, HIV counselors and other healthcare providers, government officials, donors, and the police. The report documents how domestic violence and fear of violence thwarted women's ability to seek HIV information and testing, discouraged them from disclosing their HIV status to partners, delayed their pursuit of treatment, and caused them to miss clinic appointments and doses of medication.
"I fear to tell my husband [about my HIV status] because I fear that he can shout [at me] and divorce me," Maria T. (not her real name), 45, told Human Rights Watch. "I hide the medicine, I put it on a plate, add mealie meal, so when he takes the lid off he [does not find the medication]. [When] I take the medicine I have to make sure that he is outside. That is why I forgot to take medicine four times since I started treatment [seven months ago]. Last year he hit me around the back with his fist."
The report documents how unequal distribution of property upon divorce and property grabbing by in-laws on the death of a spouse impede women's HIV treatment. Under the customary laws of many ethnic groups in Zambia, women have lesser property rights than men, and are often left with nothing when widowed or divorced. Fear of losing homes, land, and other property binds some women in abusive marriages. Women who lost property told Human Rights Watch that they struggled to pay for transport to clinics for HIV treatment and counseling and to afford the food they need for treatment to succeed.
In Zambia, 17 percent of the adult population is living with HIV/AIDS, 57 percent of whom are women. Girls and women between ages 14 and 25 are four times more likely to be infected with HIV than their male counterparts. More than half of ever-married women respondents to the 2001-2002 Zambia Demographic and Health Survey (ZDHS) reported having been beaten or abused by their husbands. In November 2006, the Zambia chapter of the Young Women's Christian Association reported that their shelter recorded 10 cases of rape of adult women in Lusaka every week. The ZDHS also found that a large majority of women (85 percent) and men (69 percent) believed that a husband is justified in beating his wife for at least one reason.
"Unless the Zambian government introduces legal and health system reform and removes the barriers to HIV treatment that women face, gender-based abuses will continue to shatter the lives of countless Zambian women in acute need of antiretroviral treatments and contribute to avoidable losses of health and lives," said Ali.
Despite the potentially deadly effect of gender-based abuses on women's HIV treatment, Zambia lacks specific legislation on violence against women. The only two shelters available for female survivors of gender-based violence are civil-society operated, and the Lusaka shelter is filled to capacity. Existing inheritance law is poorly enforced.
Zambia has made great strides in providing free antiretroviral medicine to more than half of those who need it. But the country's healthcare system is ill-equipped to respond to gender-based violence. Healthcare facilities providing HIV treatment have no systems to detect or respond to abuses such as domestic violence, and there are currently no government protocols on how to address violence in HIV treatment programs. HIV treatment counselors rarely ask about violence in the home, though many said they would do so with proper training and support.
"Healthcare facilities can play a key role in responding to violence and other abuses against women," said Ali. "Doing so not only helps women access and adhere to HIV treatment, it could also help end the abuse if it were part of a wider strategy to end violence and inequality between women and men. Unfortunately, this is not happening in Zambia."
Human Rights Watch called on the Zambian government to act urgently to enact and enforce legislation on sexual and gender-based violence and to ensure that the new constitution fully protects women's rights to equality.
The Zambian government should also establish systems to enable healthcare providers, including HIV treatment providers, to respond to gender-based abuses. At a minimum, the government should ensure that healthcare providers in the HIV sector receive adequate training, clear guidelines, and support to detect and respond to gender-based abuses. Donor agencies should support these reforms as a key component of effective treatment for women with HIV.
http://www.stayhealthynews.com/AIDSandHIV/id_104540/
وأيضا:
http://allafrica.com/sustainable/resources/00011453.html
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Re: التهانى ل د. ندى على وللنساء فى زامبيا وأفريقيا بتدشين تقرير هيومان رايتس ووتش عن الايدز .. (Re: Khalid Kodi)
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فخورة انا بك يادكتورة
52
في افريقيا ليس من حق المراة ان تطلب الكشف قبل الزواج فقرار الزواج اساسا في يد وليهاقبل ان يكون قرارهاا (الاغلبية العظمى في بلادي من النساء يزوجن (بضم الباء ولا يتزوجن بمحض ارادتهن)
المراة اكثر عرضة بيولوجيا للا اصابة بالايدذ من الرجل وذلك بنسبة 3:1 فالفيروس يتركز بصورة اكثر في السائل المنوي ثم ان التكوين الجسماني للمراة يجعلها اكثر عرضه للايدذ اكثر من الرجل وذلك لان المهبل يكون اكثر عرضة للتهتك وحدوث جروح اثناء الجماع وايضاً المراة اكثر عرضه لانها لا تستطيع ان تطالب بحقها الطبيعي في حماية نفسها من الايدذ اذا شكت ان زوجها قد يكون مصابا
تعاني المراة في افريقيا من المجتمع الذكوري ..الفقر...الجهل...الانظمة الفاسدة ...القهر
52% من النساء المصابات بالايدز في الدول العربية وشمال افريقيا انتقل اليهن من ازواجهن ولا يكتشفن هذا الا بعد وفاة الزوج او من يحن قلبه ويخبرها وهو في فراش الموت .. وفي افريقيا لا يجدن العون من اهليهن وغاليا يتم طردهن من قبل اهل الزوج ....(رأيت هذا اثناء عملي في برنامج الامم المتحدة لمكافحة الايدذ في السودان 2003-2004 عندما كنا نستجدي عمر البشير حتى يعترف ان هنالك ايدذ في السودان حتى نستطيع ان نعمل فالايدذ مثل غرغرينة السكري يكثر وينتعش عندما يغطى ... واخيراً اعترف الرجل وبطانته عندما عرفوا انه سوف تكون هنالك 3 مليون دولار سوف تدخل خزينة الدولة من الصندوق العالمي لمكافحة الايدذ ).
التحية للمناضلة الهادئة الجسورة ..الرفيقة ندى
منال
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Re: التهانى ل د. ندى على وللنساء فى زامبيا وأفريقيا بتدشين تقرير هيومان رايتس ووتش عن الايدز .. (Re: Khalid Kodi)
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Poverty, Violence Prevent Zambian Women from Accessing HIV/AIDS Treatment
12/21/2007
Poverty and violence are preventing HIV-positive women living in Zambia from accessing antiretroviral drugs and hindering the government's efforts to expand treatment access, according to a report released Tuesday by Human Rights Watch (HRW).
The report was compiled from interviews with 83 women in urban areas of Lusaka and the northern Copperbelt region, as well as police, health counselors, and government and non-governmental organizations. It documented several cases of HIV-positive women being prevented from taking antiretrovirals or adhering to their treatment regimens.
According to the report, many women are reluctant to receive HIV tests or to begin or adhere to HIV treatment regimens because they are concerned about violence from their husbands.
The report also found that some women hide their medication and lie to explain their absence when they visit clinics.
Many women also do not have money for transportation to clinics or for food after divorce or a husband's death. This leaves many HIV-positive women unable to maintain proper nutrition, which is necessary for antiretrovirals to be effective, according to the report.
In addition, health workers are not trained to handle issues stemming from gender-based violence, the report found.
HRW in the report called on the Zambian government to pass legislation aimed at addressing gender-based violence. The group also urged the government to:
Support efforts to change property law;
Modify health policies;
Train health workers to handle issues associated with gender-based violence;
Establish shelters for women who have survived violence;
Strengthen the government's Victim Support Unit.
Report author Nada Ali commended the government's efforts to address HIV/AIDS but said that "for many Zambian women, receiving an HIV-positive diagnosis might still be equivalent to a death sentence."
Elizabeth Mataka, United Nations special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, said that women's organizations "must begin now to map out strategies that will address this problem," adding, "We need to move ... from talking to action. There has to be a change of mind-set at the community level."
According to the AP/Herald Tribune, about 16 per cent of Zambian adults are HIV-positive. In some urban areas, HIV prevalence is higher than 20 per cent, with higher rates among women.
Source: Kaiser Network, 20/12/2007
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http://www.ippf.org/en/News/Intl+news/Poverty+Violence+...IVAIDS+Treatment.htm
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Re: التهانى ل د. ندى على وللنساء فى زامبيا وأفريقيا بتدشين تقرير هيومان رايتس ووتش عن الايدز .. (Re: Khalid Kodi)
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Poverty, Violence Prevent Zambian Women From Accessing HIV/AIDS Treatment, Report Says
December 20, 2007
Poverty and violence are preventing HIV-positive women living in Zambia from accessing antiretroviral drugs and hindering the government's efforts to expand treatment access, according to a report released Tuesday by Human Rights Watch, the AP/International Herald Tribune reports.
The report was compiled from interviews with 83 women in urban areas of Lusaka and the northern Copperbelt region, as well as police, health counselors, and government and nongovernmental organizations. It documented several cases of HIV-positive women being prevented from taking antiretrovirals or adhering to their treatment regimens.
According to the report, many women are reluctant to receive HIV tests or to begin or adhere to HIV treatment regimens because they are concerned about violence from their husbands. The report also found that some women hide their medication and lie to explain their absence when they visit clinics. Many women also do not have money for transportation to clinics or for food after divorce or a husband's death. This leaves many HIV-positive women unable to maintain proper nutrition, which is necessary for antiretrovirals to be effective, according to the report. In addition, health workers are not trained to handle issues stemming from gender-based violence, the report found.
HRW in the report called on the Zambian government to pass legislation aimed at addressing gender-based violence. The group also urged the government to:
Support efforts to change property law;
Modify health policies;
Train health workers to handle issues associated with gender-based violence;
Establish shelters for women who have survived violence; and
Strengthen the government's Victim Support Unit.
Report author Nada Ali commended the government's efforts to address HIV/AIDS but said that "for many Zambian women, receiving an HIV-positive diagnosis might still be equivalent to a death sentence." Elizabeth Mataka, United Nations special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, said that women's organizations "must begin now to map out strategies that will address this problem," adding, "We need to move ... from talking to action. There has to be a change of mind-set at the community level."
According to the AP/Herald Tribune, about 16% of Zambian adults are HIV-positive. In some urban areas, HIV prevalence is higher than 20%, with higher rates among women, the AP/Herald Tribune reports (AP/International Herald Tribune, 12/18).
The report is available online.
http://www.thebody.com/content/art44471.html
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Re: التهانى ل د. ندى على وللنساء فى زامبيا وأفريقيا بتدشين تقرير هيومان رايتس ووتش عن الايدز .. (Re: Khalid Kodi)
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Zambian women 'denied access to Aids drugs'
21/12/2007
A new report from Human Rights Watch has cautioned that many Zambian women are being prevented from accessing lifesaving Aids drugs.
The New York-based rights watchdog issued the warning after interviewing 83 women in Lusaka and Copperbelt and also consulting local police, health counsellors, government officials and NGOs.
Despite antiretroviral drugs being made available free-of-charge on the Zambian national health system - due in large part to international sponsorship - the study found that many women find it impossible to access the drugs.
The two main reasons for this are reportedly fear of domestic violence should their husbands discover their HIV status, and financial destitution that leaves them unable to afford the transportation costs to local clinics.
Zambia's harsh divorce laws largely favour men over women, while the practice of 'property grabbing' after a man's death afford his family the right to seize property owned by his widow - often leaving her destitute.
"Women's organisations must begin now to map out strategies that will address this problem," the International Herald Tribune quoted Elizabeth Mataka, UN special envoy for HIV/Aids, as saying. "We need to move ... from talking to action. There has to be a change of mind-set at the community level."
Human Rights Watch estimates that 17 per cent of the Zambian adult population is HIV-positive, of whom over half are women.
http://www.soschildrensvillages.org.uk/charity-news/zam...ss-to-aids-drugs.htm
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Re: التهانى ل د. ندى على وللنساء فى زامبيا وأفريقيا بتدشين تقرير هيومان رايتس ووتش عن الايدز .. (Re: Khalid Kodi)
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Women's access to VCT, ART and other HIV services
By Doctor Mannasseh Phiri
Sunday December 23, 2007 Print Article
The BBC World Service Radio carried a brief news item in their African news last Tuesday afternoon referring to gender-based violence in Zambia.
It said something to the effect that Human Rights Watch had called on the Zambian government to address the issue of stiffening the laws against gender violence.
Apparently the call had been made after a recent survey of Zambian women, carried out by the New York based human rights watchdog Human Rights Watch, which revealed that gender violence (and the consequent fear of such violence among women) is quite commonplace in our country.
This is probably not very new news because it is something we have heard a lot about particularly in the recent weeks of activism drawing attention to gender violence.
I was just surprised that gender violence against women in Zambia had made it to the international news. My interest in the story was heightened even more when, towards the end of the radio news item, I heard that gender violence is so widespread that some of our women are afraid to go for VCT, for fear of being beaten up by their husbands or male partners.
The next day one of our daily papers, the Zambia Daily Mail, carried the same story on its second page and gave a little more detail which thankfully clarified the story for me. It said that a Dr Nada Ali, a researcher in the Women’s Division of Human Rights Watch, had called on the government of Zambia to “make an effort to resolve the link between gender violence and women’s access to antiretroviral therapy (ART)”.
Dr Ali had some research in Zambia which had showed a direct relationship between violence against women and adherence to the taking of antiretroviral drugs. According to her findings, violence against women not only impedes women’s access to anti retroviral therapy (ART); but can also negatively affect adherence to ART, because battered HIV positive women already on ART were more likely to miss doses of their treatment.
This affects their response to treatment which to be effective, demands strict adherence to the taking of the drugs as regularly as required. If adherence is poor, the response to the ART is also poor and people can get sick and may die.
Dr Ali was speaking at an event in Lusaka on Tuesday last week, where she launched her research report entitled “Gender Based Abuses and Women’s HIV Treatment in Zambia”, based on research carried out in parts of Zambia (Lusaka, Chongwe, Kafue, Ndola, and Kitwe) earlier in 2007.
The Zambia Daily Mail reports Dr Ali as saying, “Violence obstructs treatment. It must be addressed to ensure that as many women as possible have access to ARVs”. Although Zambia has done relatively well in the area of providing free ARVs and ART in general, access to these services was still a problem, especially for women and children. Zambia’s rollout of ARVs and ART would not be of much help if these most needy groups did not have adequate access.
The publishing of Dr Ali’s research findings is very welcome because it brings to the fore something which many have felt and known to be lurking in the background of HIV and AIDS in Zambia – fuelling our epidemic and driving it forward.
It probably represents the first time that the link between violence against women and lack of, or poor access to HIV services has been backed up by formal conclusive research. It is something that we have observed and known to exist, and have pointed out frequently for (sometimes with examples) in these pages.
Health care providers working in the area of prevention of mother to child HIV transmission have long pointed out and bemoaned how the lack of involvement of male partners and husbands in these programmes has impeded success and wide reach.
They tell many stories of pregnant women who refuse to take an HIV test (or have the test taken but do not return for results and further services) because of the fear, threats of violence or suffered actual violence, from their husbands and male partners.
Other HIV care providers also tell many stories of women who refuse to have blood taken for HIV testing because their husbands or partners have not granted them permission to do so, or have threatened violence if they did so without their express permission.
Many providers have found this difficult to understand and have marveled at the type of hold that male members of our communities have on women.
This is quite frustrating for health personnel involved, especially when all symptoms present point to possible HIV infection and confirmation thereof would lead to effective and definitive management and treatment of the woman’s condition.
Health workers have often questioned how possible it is that adult women of voting age should still require the consent of their male partners to have this particular blood test done on them – when they do not require any consent for all other medical tests, examinations or procedures.
Even more surprising is that there is no legal basis. There is no law that requires that an adult Zambian should obtain the consent of another adult Zambian for a medical test!
There is no legal basis for this blatant infringement of the basic freedoms and human rights of women. It is an area that Zambia needs to urgently address – as we address violence against women in general. Violence is not always physical.
Dr Ali’s call for the government to address gender based violence against women and how it affects their access to HIV and AIDS services took my mind back to something I have raised before once or twice in this series of articles.
This is the issue of the provision of, and access to, HIV and AIDS services for the majority of our women who spend the bulk of their time at home in the suburbs, townships, shanties and villages – raising children, looking for food, cooking it, drawing water, cleaning, washing, and generally keeping the household body and soul together.
When I have raised the issue before, it was following an uplifting presentation and discussion I had a few years ago, with a group Catholic women in the northern town of Chingola. It was an occasion I shall remember for a long time least of all because it was a stark reminder for me of how we have continued to neglect the health needs (especially the HIV and AIDS care needs) of the housewife.
I wrote then that we needed to reexamine our HIV services provision to address the needs of the Zambian housewife in her home in the community. I said that the assumption that the Zambian housewife will access HIV and AIDS services when she attends her nearest health centre to seek health services needed to be re-visited because it assumed that all women will attend the health centre at some time. It totally neglects those that do not go to the clinic or health centre.
In my view, we in HIV and AIDS prevention, education and treatment were not making full use of the opportunities provided by the ubiquitous women’s community organizations existing through church based women’s organizations which are very active everywhere in Zambia. The group of Catholic women in Chingola had taken the initiative to ask me to travel there and speak to them about issues in women’s health (including HIV and AIDS) that they were concerned about.
There were no formal HIV and AIDS services for women at home that they could have turned to for help. To the best of my knowledge there are still none today, specifically for housewives and women at home.
I wrote about this again in connection with HIV and AIDS services in the workplace. I saluted the fact that workplace programmes were being taken to workers in industry, agriculture, commerce, mining and all other sectors where Zambians work. They have penetrated urban and rural workplaces with remarkable reach and results.
I said that while this was laudable, the Zambian workplace is populated mainly by men, and it was left to them to extend the awareness, information and other services they received to their spouses at home. I noted how some of these workplace programmes invited men to ‘invite’ their wives to programmes that catered for women and sometimes children as well in the form of “Family Days” and “Couples Days” at the workplaces.
I pointed out that the numbers of all employees in formal employment and targeted by workplace programmes could never exceed the number of workers in the largest workplace – the household. Yet there were no programmes aimed at taking HIV and AIDS information, awareness, education, VCT and ART to this particular workplace.
That was couple of years ago. To date, I still have not heard of “workplace” HIV and AIDS programmes for housewives. Research has shown that women – especially those who are young and in marriages - form the most vulnerable group as far as new HIV infections. Yet there is such a paucity of HIV prevention programmes aimed specifically at this important group.
Mrs Elizabeth Mataka, United Nations Secretary General’s Special Envoy for HIV and AIDS in Africa is quoted in the Zambia Daily Mail news item as bemoaning the lack f involvement of the community in the HIV response in Zambia. She refers to it as “the missing link” and I agree entirely with her.
This is indeed the missing link. We know which sector of our society is most vulnerable. We know which gender is affected with the most infections. We know in which group the highest rate of new infections is taking place in. We know who is not able to freely access VCT - and subsequently not able to access ART – because of violence or the fear of it. We know who is not able to access empowering HIV information, awareness and education.
We know all these things yet we make no conscious effort to take services where these vulnerable are mostly found – in the community and in the house holds. We know women are the most vulnerable yet we make no conscious effort to address legislation, societal structures, cultural practices and traditions, accepted ‘norms’ and all other factors that increase and worsen their vulnerability.
How can we hope to ever make inroads into reducing HIV infections if we make no efforts to address the areas where infections are taking place?
Even more importantly, where is the voice of the women’s movement and other civil society in these issues? How are we going to improve women’s access to HIV services, VCT and ART if we do not design and fund specific programmes for them?
Why are there no women’s HIV NGO’s addressing the specific HIV needs of our women? Why are there so many men biased HV and AIDS workplace programmes and none addressing women in the largest workplace in Zambia – the home?
[email protected]
http://www.postzambia.com/post-read_article.php?articleId=35490
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Re: التهانى ل د. ندى على وللنساء فى زامبيا وأفريقيا بتدشين تقرير هيومان رايتس ووتش عن الايدز .. (Re: Khalid Kodi)
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Poverty, violence hindering Zimbia's HIV treatment campaign.
December 21, 2007
Poverty and violence are preventing HIV-positive women living in Zambia from accessing antiretroviral drugs and hindering the government's efforts to expand treatment access, according to a report released Tuesday by Human Rights Watch.
The report was compiled from interviews with 83 women in urban areas of Lusaka and the northern Copperbelt region, as well as police, health counsellors, and government and nongovernmental organisations. It documented several cases of HIV-positive women being prevented from taking antiretrovirals or adhering to their treatment regimens.
According to the report, many women are reluctant to receive HIV tests or to begin or adhere to HIV treatment regimens because they are concerned about violence from their husbands. The report also found that some women hide their medication and lie to explain their absence when they visit clinics.
Many women also do not have money for transportation to clinics or for food after divorce or a husband's death. This leaves many HIV-positive women unable to maintain proper nutrition, which is necessary for antiretrovirals to be effective, according to the report. In addition, health workers are not trained to handle issues stemming from gender-based violence, the report found.
HRW in the report called on the Zambian government to pass legislation aimed at addressing gender-based violence. The group also urged the government to: Support efforts to change property law;Modify health policies;Train health workers to handle issues associated with gender-based violence;Establish shelters for women who have survived violence; and Strengthen the government's Victim Support Unit.
Report author Nada Ali commended the government's efforts to address HIV and Aids but said that "for many Zambian women, receiving an HIV-positive diagnosis might still be equivalent to a death sentence."
Elizabeth Mataka, United Nations special envoy for HIV and Aids in Africa, said that women's organisations "must begin now to map out strategies that will address this problem," adding, "We need to move ... from talking to action. There has to be a change of mind-set at the community level."
According to the AP/Herald Tribune, about 16 percent of Zambian adults are HIV-positive. In some urban areas, HIV prevalence is higher than 20 percent, with higher rates among women, the AP/Herald Tribune reports.
The report is available online.
http://www.iolhivaids.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=1610&fArticleId=4181171
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Re: التهانى ل د. ندى على وللنساء فى زامبيا وأفريقيا بتدشين تقرير هيومان رايتس ووتش عن الايدز .. (Re: Khalid Kodi)
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الاخ ملاسي
شكرا لك و تحياتى للاخت هندة
الاخ حيدر حسن ميرغنى شكرا لك
الاخ العزيز محمدين محمد اسحق
لك التحية و التقدير
و النضال مستمر
العنف ضد النساء و التمييز ازاء حقوق الملكية (للاراضى) لا يعيقا جهود وقف زحف المرض فحسب، بل يقلّصا فرص استفادة المصايات بالايدز للاستفادة من برامج العلاج المجانى التى توفرها الدولة فى زامبيا بدعم المانحين
العزيزات صباح و امنة و اشراقة، لكن الشكر و التحايا
الاعزاء كوستاوى و عادل عثمان، لكما الشكر، و شكرا للصورة يا عادل.
الاعزاء ايمن و عسكوري، لكما الشكر. و كم حزنت لوفاة البروفسور كدودوة يا ايمن.
الاستاذ ابراهيم على ابراهيم، شكرا لك و عيد سعيد لك و للاسرة
العزيز عادل اسحق، شكرا لك
الاخ العزيز نصار
سلامات
و كما كتبت
| Quote: آل كودي يحبون بعضهم و يعبرون عن ذلك |
و فى انتظار كتابتك عن مدرسة السنى، و عن اصدقائك من ال كودى خاصة الريح لاننا نحاول التخلص منه هذه الايام .
العزيزة ماجدة
شكرا لك و تحايا لماما جارة
العزيز ابوبكر
شكرا لك و تحايا كثيرة
اساسى،
سلامات
ياجماعة اساسى ده تم هكر حسابه فى سودانيز اونلاين؟ بالاضافة لما كتبه هنا، شايفاه كاتب فى مكان اخر ان كاتبته المفضّلة امنة مختار؟ و كمان كما كتب خالد، فالصورة فى بروفايله ما بعد حداثية!
العزيزة منال،
تحايا كثيرة و شكرا لكلماتك الطيبة. جميل ان اعرف انك عملت فى برنامج مكافحى الايدز فى السودان، رغم العراقيل الكثيرة، فهناك حوجة لعمل مكثف فى مجال الوقاية و غيرها، و على الاقل وزيرة الصحة وضعت الايدز ضمن اولويات عمل وزارتها. و كما كتب الاخ الدكتور محمد القاضىـ هناك حوجة لعمل ابحاث مماثلة فى السودان.
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Re: التهانى ل د. ندى على وللنساء فى زامبيا وأفريقيا بتدشين تقرير هيومان رايتس ووتش عن الايدز .. (Re: Khalid Kodi)
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الاخ العزيز الصادق
سلامات و شكرا لمساهمتك هنا
العزيز محمدين محمد اسحق
تحايا و سلام
و كل عام و انت بكل خير
الاخ العزيز بكرى عبدالله
سعدت كثبرا لمقابلتك بعد كل هذه السنوات
امنيات طيبة بالعام السعيد
و طبعا رفعت معنوياتى بحكاية "فى بداية مشوار حياتك الاكاديمية" دى
بعد شوية حاتكتب انى فى بداية حياتى بصورة عامّة
بالطبع على مستوى المعرفة مازال امامى الكثير لاتعلمه
الاخت العزيزة نادية
مرحبا بعودتك و شكرا لك
الاخ دينق
كل سنة و انت طيب
و شكرا لكلماتك الطيبة
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Khalid Kodi
Hussein Mallasi
حيدر حسن ميرغني
محمدين محمد اسحق
Sabah Hussein
AMNA MUKHTAR
Ishraga Mustafa
Kostawi
Adil Osman
Aymen Tabir
Asskouri
kamalabas
Muna Khugali
نصار
ماجدة عوض خوجلى
abubakr
اساسي
Rawia
Siham Elmugammar
أحمد أمين
nada ali
AnwarKing
الصادق اسماعيل
bakri abdalla
Deng
فيس بوك
تويتر
انستقرام
يوتيوب
بنتيريست