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Dangerous passes shows the potential spread of HIV
The creative HIV/AIDS prevention campaign Scrutinize – which shows cartoon TV commercials to highlight risky behaviour – has drawn on the popularity of soccer and soccer terms for new ads during the 2010 World Cup.
The first animert “Dangerous Passes” shows how HIV can spread without people being aware of the sexual history of their partners.
“The action is hot, as the ball is passed from toyboy (a man who sleeps with older women) to losgabi (a woman who is easily persuaded to have sex), who then passes it to sejabana (a man with many partners), who kicks it on to washesha (a man who frequently changes partners).
“Washesha passes the ball to the Minister of Finance (an older man who gives money to a younger partner in exchange for sex), who moves it on to young love (a young man who propositions a younger woman).
“Young love lines up to score … but wait! Suddenly Ninja HIV (whom viewers will recognise from previous Scrutinize animerts) appears from undercover to shibobo the style of all the players, and reveal how HIV has moved from one to the other,” says Scrutinize project manager Bronwyn Pearce, of Johns Hopkins Health and Education in South Africa.
“It’s generally considered cool to play the field, and fortunate to score – but that should only be the case on the field. Off the field, the danger is that the ‘playa’ may be infected with HIV. ”
Three new Red Card animerts will also be screened. In Red Card Phuza Protocol, for example, a man who plies a woman with alcohol is handed a Red Card by the barman.
Pearce says: “What is very important to note, however, is that the red cards are not aimed at the people receiving them, but rather at their actions which contribute to the spread of HIV, such as intergenerational and transactional sex, and alcohol abuse.”
Cal Bruns, founder and CEO of creative agency Matchboxology, which produces the Scrutinize animerts, says: “The play on football themes makes them particularly timely and relevant right now, what with the world’s biggest football tournament on our doorstep, and the messages they convey are clear and entertaining to watch.”
Combat human trafficking but decriminalise sex work, researchers say
Human trafficking is a gross human rights violation but the scale of this problem, particularly during the World Cup, is often exaggerated researchers state in a report released this month.
No emperical evidence exists to prove that trafficking escalates during big sporting events, say Marlise Richter and Tamlyn Monson from Wits University’s Forced Migration Studies Programme.
“Germany’s experiences during the 2006 Soccer World Cup contradict claims that trafficking volumes will rise during the 2010 Event in South Africa,” they say.
Research conducted after the 2006 World Cup exposed five cases of human trafficking, nothing like the 40 000 cases that were predicted.
Most reports on human trafficking – moving people against their will so that they may be exploited – are based on claims and estimates, they say.
They warn that undue emphasis on human trafficking can detract attention from other human rights violations and labour exploitation, and be to the detriment of policy development in areas like cross-border migration and sex work.
Sex work and human trafficking demand different responses since they are different phenomena, the researchers say – supporting the call to combat human trafficking but also to decriminalise sex work.
One million branded condoms for hotels and B&Bs during World Cup
The SA Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS has ambitious “2010 special projects” for the World Cup which were launched in Soweto this week.
The first is to get condoms out to soccer fans. During the Wolrd Cup SABCOHA and members of the Federated Hospitality Association of Southern Africa (FEDHASA) will distribute more than one million condoms into guests’ rooms at hotels and B&Bs.
Southern Suns hotels on its own will hand out half a million condoms, and the Department of Health has supplied one million condoms.
Partners in this initiative like Cape Town Tourism have branded their condoms with messages like Play It Safe in Cape Town.
SABCOHA CEO Brad Mears said: “With soccer fever running high, it is hard not to feel excited about the opportunities that this huge event will bring to our country.
“However, we should not lose sight of some of the more serious social challenges that the country will face during this time too.”
Keeping children safe during the long holiday is one of the challenges and for this reason, SABCOHA and its partners have organised supervised day camps in five provinces.
The camps will be held in Mdantsane, Eastern Cape; Mitchell’s Plain, Western Cape; Chaneng Village, North West; Chesterville, KwaZulu-Natal; and Soweto, Gauteng for 19 days, from 14 June to 9 July.
About 1500 children from 6 to 13 years old are expected to attend the camps.
Soul City, Dance4Life, the South African Rugby Legends Association and PlaySoccer will provide activities for the “Camp I Am” programmes.
HIV/AIDS prevention messages will also be a priority.
Children will also get involved in documenting their view of the World Cup using multimedia platforms.
Operation Hope, the leading US non-profit social investment banking and financial literacy empowerment organisation, will offer financial literacy games to children as well as do adult financial literacy training in the communities.
Community groups be help prepare meals and raise funds through these services, and four of the camps will be held at schools. Major companies are helping to sponsor the holiday programmes.
HIV organisations want green light to hand out condoms at World Cup events
FIFA needs to support the HIV prevention efforts of South African HIV/AIDS activists, major organisations affiliated to the SA National AIDS Council stated today.
The organisations expressed concern about the blockages around condom access and health promotion with only days to go before kick off.
They want FIFA to support the distribution of condoms at Fan Fests in all cities, and to allow the promotion of all condoms including CHOICE, Trust and Lovers Plus.
Activists appealed to FIFA to promote condom use and HIV testing and to make sure that fans had easy access to information, such as details for the AIDS Helpline (0800-012-322).
“We wish for the success of the World Cup. But we also wish for an HIV free generation and that FIFA would join hands with local AIDS organisations to exploit the opportunity that the World Cup presents to greatly strengthen and deepen our response to HIV/AIDS. It is not yet too late. But it soon will be,” the organisations declared.
The statement was issued by the AIDS Consortium, Community Media Trust, Johns Hopkins Health and Education in South Africa (Brothers for Life), National Religious Association for Social Development, Peri-Natal HIV Research Unit, Reproductive Health Research Unit (RHRU), Right to Care, SA HIV Clinicians Society, Section 27, Society for Family Health, Sonke Gender Justice Network (Sonke), Soul City, Treatment Action Campaign.
Mark Heywood, SANAC deputy chairperson, endorsed the statement.
In Namibia 100 activists marched, handed in a petition against forced sterilisation
The ministry is presently being sued in the Windhoek High Court for the alleged forced sterilisation of six women in state medical facilities.
Human rights groups claim that 40 out of 230 women they interviewed early in 2008 claimed they were sterilised without consent -and that a further 15 women have come forward after they alerted in the ministry about this.
The Legal Assistance Centre is claiming damages for the women on two grounds:
the alleged sterilisations without their consent by medical practitioners employed at state hospitals, or alternatively on the grounds of breach of duty of care that medical professionals owed each of the plaintiffs; and
*the sterilisation constituted a wrongful and unlawful practice of discrimination against each of the women due to their HIV-positive status, and is thus in breach of their basic human rights
Acting for the LAC, senior counsel Dave Smuts, told the court that “one common thread” between all the cases were that the women were living with HIV and the outdated notion was that women with the virus should not have children.
Dr Matti Kimberg, a gynaecologist and obstetrician, is providing expert evidence on the invasive nature and consequences of the procedures on the plaintiffs, he said.
The alleged forced sterilisation procedures constitute a profound invasion of his clients’ rights to dignity and personality, Smuts said.
The first plaintiff said the nurse only informed her when she was being taken to theatre for a C-section that “the doctor will remove her uterus “because all HIV-positive people must have it removed”.
The woman was given a forms to sign. The plaintiff’s lawyers will argue that the women did not understand the procedure or were coerced, and that the “informed consent” process was not followed correctly.
The hearing is expected to continue in the High Court.
