Student Center: Reading and resources of interest to college students in particular.
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Jaboya:Helping women to end sex-for-fish culture
KISUMU, 19 December 2011 (PlusNews) – For the past five years, Achieng*, a 35-year-old widow and mother of six, has sold fish on the Kenyan shores of Lake Victoria; like many women in the fish trade, Achieng often has to have sex with fishermen in order to get the best catch of the day, a system known in the local Luo language as ‘jaboya’.
“When you are a woman and you want to get into the business of selling fish, you must be ready to lose your pride and use your body for bargaining,” she told IRIN/PlusNews. “Being ready to give sex as and when it is needed by the fishermen… it guarantees your survival here on the beach.”
‘Jaboya’ has long been associated with the high levels of HIV infection in Kenya’s western Nyanza Province, where HIV prevalence is over 14.9 percent, double the national average of 7.4 percent. It is even higher among fishing communities. The Kenya HIV Prevention Response and Modes of Transmission Analysis 2009 reported that HIV prevalence among fishing communities stands at 30 percent, while an estimated 25 percent of all new infections in Nyanza are attributed to this group.
An estimated 27,000 women are involved in the fish trade in Nyanza either directly or indirectly, according to the Ministry of Fisheries.
Achieng says she is aware of the risks, but the immediate needs of her family override any concern she may have about contracting HIV.
“You know you can get HIV… but then you remember you have a family that needs to be provided for, and you say, let me die providing for them,” she said
According to Charles Okal, the provincial AIDS and sexually transmitted infections coordinator for Nyanza, while efforts to reach out to fishing communities with HIV prevention messages have begun to show results, the continued poverty of women means they remain vulnerable to ‘jaboya’.
“Fish trade that goes along with sex-for-fish continues to be one of the greatest challenges in the prevention of HIV in Nyanza… There are still challenges which involve the economic and social vulnerabilities of the women involved in the trade,” he said.
Economic empowerment
A recent donation of six boats to women’s groups in Nyanza by the US Peace Corps shows some of the ways ‘jaboya’ can be addressed; the women are able to fish for themselves, eliminating dependence on fishermen.
“When you have nothing, those who have something must tell you to bend over backwards for them. Now we have boats and we will no longer be at anybody’s mercy,” Millicent Onyango, one of the beneficiaries of the US Peace Corps’ “No Sex for Fish” project.
According to Okeyo Owuor, director of the Victoria Institute for Research on Environment and Development, which is part of the initiative, empowering women economically is key to ending the dangerous fish-for-sex trade. “These women need fish but they don’t own any boat. This means they have to play along with whoever has the boat and these are men who will demand for sex before giving any fish. But when you empower them to own the boat, then they have the ultimate power to say no to sexual demands,” he said.
“Six boats might look small but many such initiatives can make an impact in ending the sex-for-fish trade if replicated over time. It is important to start from somewhere,” he added.
Many of the women trading in fish across Lake Victoria’s landing sites have formed groups to help them save money to buy their own fishing equipment.
“We want to help ourselves by putting some of our savings aside so that when we have enough, we can buy our own boats and nets and help each other. So we will have nearly all women who are at the beaches own a boat either individually, or as a group,” said Lillian Rajula, the leader of one such group.
According to Nyanza AIDS coordinator Okal, economic programmes must go hand in hand with other HIV prevention methods like the promotion of voluntary medical male circumcision, condom use and behaviour change communication.
“Apart from the need to empower the women, behaviour change communication targeting men is important so that they look at the women as business partners and not sex partners; these kind of efforts are ongoing and are being embraced, albeit slowly,” he said.
*Not her real name
ko/kr/cb
Theme(s): Economy, Gender Issues, HIV/AIDS (PlusNews), Prevention – PlusNews,
Credit: Picture by Joanne Chui (http://www.flickr.com/photos/jo_photography/5455766518/)
[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]
Little Stuff That Closes Deals
Business Etiquette is More than Eating with the Right Fork
In the previous article, I discussed some little things that are often overlooked but are essential in making deals and are fundamental in career development and progression in the business world. I mentioned that even small and insignificant actions can remarkably influence the overall perception of an individual, and perception is, in most cases, a reality, unfortunately. I emphasized that attention to little stuff and nuances play essential roles in maintaining any business relationships in the long term. Today’s post is a continuation of last week’s discussion. Continue reading “Little Stuff That Closes Deals”
Al Jazeera English Shows Justice is for Sale for Kenya
Doha, Qatar, 12 December 2011:
Kenya’s judicial system is riddled with corruption, according to this week’s episode of the groundbreaking Al Jazeera English series, Africa Investigates, whichshows that a disturbing number of key players in the legal system can be bribed or bought.
Premiering on 14 December 2011, Kenya: Justice For Sale shows that poor Kenyans are being priced out of the justice system in a country where bribery has become the norm. According to a recent report by Transparency International, nearly ten per cent of all bribes find their way to the judiciary.
In 2003 a radical shakeup of the judiciary saw 23 judges and 82 magistrates sacked over high-profile corruption allegations. More reforms are promised but, as this final episode in the current series of Africa Investigateswill reveal, so far little has changed within the Kenyan judiciary’s culture of corruption.
Kenya: Justice For Sale screens daily from Wednesday, 14 December 2011, at the following times GMT: Wednesday: 22:30; Thursday: 09:30; Friday: 03:30; Saturday: 16:30; Sunday: 22:30; Monday: 09:30; Tuesday: 03:30; Wednesday: 16:30.
About Africa Investigates
Africa Investigates is a groundbreaking new series that puts flesh on Al Jazeera’s ambition to give voice to the voiceless.
To be an African investigative journalist can mean to face the risk of arrest, intimidation and even death. 23 journalists have been killed in Africa in 2011, according to The International News Safety Institute, so Al Jazeera English implementedstrict security protocols on the series, often running to more than 40 pages per film.
Executive producer Ron McCullagh says investigative journalists across Africa live with “a level of fear few journalists in the West would endure – the constant threat of arrest on jumped up charges, intimidation, death threats, the real threat of death itself; all part of the business of minding other people’s business in the interest of the public good… No reporter in the West faces such challenges. The work of these journalists represents the very best of our trade.”
For more information, visit http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/africainvestigates/.
You can watch and embed the series’ promo from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3im4HpdiWWQ.
[youtube]3im4HpdiWWQ[/youtube]
ABOUT AL JAZEERA ENGLISH
Al Jazeera English broadcasts live from Doha to more than 250 million households in over 130 countries.
Since its launch in 2006, Al Jazeera English has been recognized for its distinguished reporting and programming, being named “Best 24 Hour News Programme” at the annual Monte-Carlo Television Festival and Best News Channel three years running at the UK’s Freesat Awards. The channel has also received awards from The Royal Television Society, Amnesty International and YouTube and has received nominations for international Emmy awards in both the News and Current Affairs categories. In the past two years Al Jazeera English has received the Royal Television Society Awards as the 2009 and 2010 News Channel of the Year.
Al Jazeera English is screened across Africa, including:
· Angola (Zap TV, Channel 147)
· Botswana (MABC TV)
· Gambia (Gambia Radio and Television Services)
· Ghana (Infinity TV, Channel – 105; Metro TV; Multimedia; Skyy Digital TV; Smart TV; TV-3 Network; and WICENET)
· Kenya (Citizen TV; Freeview: GBS, Channel – 47 [Nairobi analogue], Channel – 15 [Nairobi digital]; Channel – 55 [Kisumu analogue]; Kiss TV; Nation TV; Star Africa; Stella; and Zuku, Channel – 511.)
· Madagascar (TVF, Channel – 4)
· Mauritius (London Satellite Systems)
· Malawi (Malawi TV)
· Morocco (Telecom)
· Mozambique (TIM, Soico TV)
· Namibia (Namibian Broadcasting Corporation)
· Nigeria (Delta Cable: Disc Broadcasting; HITV; Infinity TV – Channel – 105; Multimesh CAN; My TV; Star Africa; and Suburban Broadband)
· Rwanda (Star Africa)
· Sierra Leone (Microtel TV; Channel – 7)
· South Africa (Bay TV; Cape Town TV; DStv, Channel – 406; Soweto TV; and Top TV, Channel – 401)
· Tanzania (Coconut Digital, Channel – UHF 474, 514, 538 mhz; ITV)
· Uganda (Nation TV; Pearl Digital TV; and Smart TV)
· Zambia (CBC TV, Channel UHF 60; Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation)
Alternatively, you can watch online at http://watchaljazeera.com.
Greater Local Ownership of HIV Research Needed in Africa
ADDIS ABABA, 9 December 2011 (PlusNews) – Unless African governments increase their funding for and engagement in HIV research, the continent cannot hope to attain equal status in determining its research agenda and priorities, speakers said at the 16th International Conference on AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) in Africa.
“In most low-income or poor countries, health research is donor-driven, with insignificant local budgets compared to the 2 percent annual budget recommended by WHO [World Health Organization],” said Dr Beyene Petros, chair of the Ethiopian Bioethics Initiative.
Donor-driven funding often means that research starts and ends on the say-so of funders, rather than being based on a country’s needs. Beyene noted a Dutch grant of approximately US$13 million to the Ethiopian government to investigate capacity development in HIV/AIDS research for eight years.
When the grant ended in 2002, the Ethiopian government applied for a renewal. It was denied, leaving scientists, who had been hoping to launch a local vaccine initiative, at a loss. The Dutch government instead decided to fund family planning and HIV prevention activities in the country.
The field of HIV research – largely donor-driven – is vibrant in eastern and southern Africa. But “West Africa, in particular, is characterized by an absence in of clinical trials of potential HIV vaccines, and or microbicides, and a lack of data on drug-resistant tuberculosis,” said Dr Souleymane Mboup, of Senegal’s Cheikh Anta Diop University.
Prof Nelson Sewankambo, principal of the College of Health Sciences at Uganda’s Makerere University, said heavy donor involvement in local research can actually harm existing national institutions, which may lose strategic direction and become retarded by the loss of key staff to research projects and distortion of institutional structures and governance.
“Inequities in collaboration can lead to lack of transparency in the decision-making process, as well as disputes over publication rights, ownership of data, specimens and equipment,” Sewankambo said.
Speakers also noted that inadequate community engagement was common when partnerships were skewed in favour of the donor priorities. “There ought to be distributive justice and fair partnerships between sponsors, investigators, subjects, communities and countries,” said Cameroonian writer Prof Godfrey Tangwa, of the University of Yaounde.
Sewankambo noted that in the past, weak local institutions had allowed ethical violations in research projects, such as the use of placebos in studies on mother-to-child HIV transmission.
“Even when these issues were pointed out, the debate began in the North. Where were we Africans when these wrongs were going on? It is not enough for us to blame countries in the North for the state of health research – we need to look at what we in the South are not doing right in government funding of research and in negotiation of research partnerships,” he said.
Sewankambo noted that there was a need to build new, more equitable partnership models and expand local capacity to sustain research activities once donor-funded projects ended.
The involvement of policy-makers is key to ensuring that research is turned into evidence-based policy, said Anne Cockroft, of Canada’s Global Health Research Initiative (GHRI). She pointed out that there was often a gap in “knowledge translation” between researchers and policy-makers, leading to poor decisions being taken.
“[HIV] prevention research results have to be translated into policies and action, and research users and decision-makers need skills to evaluate findings and prioritise for action,” she said, adding that outside interests and funding often led to externally driven policy decisions, while poor understanding of research led to policies based partly on evidence, or based on poor evidence.
GHRI has been working with parliamentarians in Botswana to expand their ability to make decisions based on evidence after many said they experienced difficulties in interpreting scientific evidence.
There has been some progress in the past few decades. Wen Kilama, managing trustee of the African Malaria Network Trust, said partnerships have largely moved on from “colonial style” research, in which Africans had little or no say in research conducted in their countries, and African scientists are now more involved in priority-setting and actual research.
“The Ugandan government has created an enabling environment for research and recently came up with a law which led to the creation of the Uganda National Health Research Organization, which, if managed properly, has the potential to greatly improve the way research is conducted in the country,” Sewankambo said.
Kenya and Tanzania have similar bodies, and African scientists have created several networks to strengthen research capacity, but regulation has lagged behind the development of research capability.
The East Africa Consortium for Clinical Research has been established, but it has yet to develop a regional policy to guide the regulation of health research and clinical trials, and remains largely donor-dependent in the development of health research policy.
Ethiopia’s Beyene pointed out that “Unless we strengthen our own research capacity, dependence on donors will be perpetuated.”
kr/he
Theme (s): Care/Treatment – PlusNews, HIV/AIDS (PlusNews),
[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]
HIV-positive Women in Africa Still Confused About Infant-feeding Choices
ADDIS ABABA, 9 December 2011 (PlusNews) – The latest guidelines on infant-feeding options for HIV-positive mothers in Africa have not been disseminated in many countries, leaving women dangerously confused about the best nutritional path to protect their children from contracting the virus, a new report shows.
The UN World Health Organization’s (WHO) 2010 guidelines recommend exclusive breastfeeding with an antiretroviral (ARV) treatment intervention for the first six months of a child’s life to reduce transmission, and continued breastfeeding – with complementary feeding – until the child is at least a year old. Alternatively – where it is acceptable, feasible, affordable, sustainable and safe – WHO recommends complete avoidance of all breastfeeding.
For HIV-positive mothers in most sub-Saharan African nations, exclusive breastfeeding is the most practical option. According to a large African study, Kesho Bora, giving HIV-positive mothers a combination of three ARVs during pregnancy, delivery and breastfeeding cuts HIV infections in infants by 43 percent by the age of 12 months and reduces transmissions during breastfeeding by 54 percent compared with WHO’s 2006 recommendations, where ARV drug regimens ended at delivery.
“The six months of exclusive breastfeeding is what is crucial for mothers to understand – that not doing it is what raises the child’s HIV risk; but we are finding that while many countries have officially adopted the WHO guidelines, they have not trickled down, and health centres, policy-makers and communities are still unclear on what advice to give mothers,” said Aditi Sharma, of the International Treatment Preparedness Coalition (ITPC), and coordinator of a report, The Long Walk: Ensuring comprehensive care for women and families to end vertical transmission.
Based on new research by community health workers from Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Ethiopia and Nigeria, the report – launched at the 16th International Conference on AIDS and STIs in Africa (ICASA) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia – found that prevention of mother-to-child transmission programmes were focused too narrowly on the provision of ARVs to HIV-positive pregnant women, rather than more comprehensive approaches that involved family planning, maternal healthcare and exclusive breastfeeding.
Confusion
“Nutritional counselling doesn’t exist in rural areas,” the report quoted one Cameroonian woman as saying. “Health personnel are not trained and women do not know how to care for their children.”
In Cote d’Ivoire, the report found that national guidelines did not meet the most recent WHO recommendations on infant feeding.
Although the Nigerian government had revised guidelines to comply with the WHO, consensus did not exist in support of the recommendations, and some clinicians and researchers continued to oppose breastfeeding because they believed it deliberately exposed babies to possible HIV infection. Several focus group participants indicated they assumed that replacement feeding was preferable to breastfeeding, and that it had been recommended by health practitioners.
“The guidance on infant-feeding options needs to urgently get into the curriculum and training of health workers and other people who support community healthcare, such as traditional birth attendants,” said Sharma, adding that efforts needed to be made to support mothers to exclusively breastfeed their children.
“It is not enough to issue guidelines – in places where women may complain of insufficient breast milk or inadequate nutrition, they need nutritional support to ensure they can continue to exclusively breastfeed,” she added.
Conference speakers said community health systems were crucial to the success of prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission services, as community health workers and traditional birth attendants were often the first port of call for a confused mother. Community health systems can also be used to engage men – frequently absent from ante-natal visits – in their wives’ experiences.
Supporting partners
Beatrice Ochieng, author of a study on infant feeding choices in poor settings in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, noted that just 23 percent of 357 women in the study discussed their chosen feeding option with their partners. “There is a need to support partner involvement through partner counselling and testing, during antenatal and postnatal care,” she said.
According to Ncumisa Vika, who works with the Elizabeth Glaser Paediatric AIDS Foundation (EGPAF) in South Africa, male involvement in reproductive health services, including PMTCT, remains low, creating challenges and barriers around disclosure of HIV-positive status to a partner, psychosocial support, adherence to treatment, and infant-feeding decisions. In 2010, in collaboration with community health organizations in South Africa’s Tshwane District, EGPAF was able to send invitation letters to the partners of all HIV-positive women who attended antenatal clinics, which boosted male participation in reproductive and family health matters.
Overall, ITPC’s Sharma said, there was a need for more comprehensive delivery prevention of mother-to-child services in Africa. “Countries must ensure that policy filters down to the women in all aspects of PMTCT – from HIV prevention for women to family planning, to the best ARV prophylaxis option to proper infant feeding to proper healthcare for the mother, child and family,” she said. “It is the only way we can achieve the 2015 targets of reducing vertical transmission by 90 percent.”
kr/mw
Theme (s): HIV/AIDS (PlusNews),
[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]
Provided by PLUS NEWS
Cheetahs vs. Hippos for Africa’s future
TED Talks
Ghanaian economist Prof. George Ayittey unleashes a torrent of controlled anger toward corrupt leaders in Africa — and calls on the “Cheetah generation” to take back the continent.
Please enjoy. Then contribute to the discussion. The space below is yours.
[youtube]ZnepHUYFqgg[/youtube]
Talent is not Enough
There’s one thing you may believe or ,at least, give some credence to as you read this post, and it’s that some people are born with unusual aptitude, supernatural skill, God-given dexterity, superb giftedness, rare talent and many more ways we describe it. Tiger Woods has a talent for golf, Beyonce has IT for music and dance, Lebron James was born to play basket ball, Angelina Jolie is a talented actress, the Argentine Lionel Messi has a God-given propensity for scoring goals, Chris Rock has a unique flair to usher the crowd into a state of awe, TD Jades has to gift to make to audience cry, and the list goes on.
I don’t want to be an absolutist on this talent argument, but when any of the folks above is comprehensively examined, the talent argument does not pass the beyond reasonable doubt court room scenario. Ascribing it all to talent is not only an intellectually fraud exercise, it subjects a particular field to circus status reserved for individuals lucky enough to be born with this God-given potential.
Talent is not Enough
Whether talent really exists or not, which is a subject beyond this post, it cannot explain why some people are genius, awesome, amazing, and some are just okay. When you look at any of the ‘amazing’ artists, athletes, managers, and so forth, the talent explanation may make sense while they are on stage, but try to dig deeper into their life, Continue reading “Talent is not Enough”