'What use is one condom?'

Women are the key to battling the HIV/Aids pandemic, and improving their rights is one of the most effective ways of tackling the disease, charities such as ActionAid say.
Here, to mark World Aids Day on Saturday, Lihle Dlamini, a South African who is HIV positive, explains why it is so important that women speak up. Lihle became infected in her early twenties during a relationship with a boyfriend who had many partners.
He told her that he used condoms with the other women he slept with, but that he didn't want contraception to get in the way of the relationship he had with Lihle. "He told me I was safe," says Lihle, "and while I didn't trust him I didn't feel in the position to tell him what to do. That was the mistake."
It was several years later before the virus began to take hold. Lihle lost over a third of her bodyweight, and felt sick all the time. She decided it was time to be tested.

AIDS charity aims to get the African community involved in World AIDS Day

HIV and sexual health charity, Terrence Higgins Trust (THT) is calling for people from the African community to get involved in World AIDS Day on December1, either by attending an event, making a donation to support local HIV services, or wearing a red ribbon to raise awareness.World AIDS Day, which has been running every December since 1988, is dedicated to raising awareness of the disease. In the UK alone, more than 70,000 people are living with HIV and over 7,500 are diagnosed every year. THT is inviting people of all ages to come along to a World AIDS Day event called Take a lead - HIV is Everyone's Business on Saturday December 1. The event will start with a candle-lit vigil for anyone affected by HIV and AIDS. This will be a quiet space to remember those who have died with AIDS as well as celebrating the lives of those living with HIV. This will be followed by a talk from guest speaker, Her Excellency Mrs. Jane Rwabyomere from the Ugandan High Commission.

The event will also celebrate African culture and a variety of performances including dance, music, poetry and drama will take place on the night. Richard Lanek, African Health Promotion Manager at Terrence Higgins Trust said: “HIV has been around for 25 years now and many people have lost partners, family or friends. World AIDS Day is an opportunity for the community to remember those who have died and to celebrate the lives of those with HIV today. Even if they can’t attend we hope that local people will get involved in some way, perhaps donating to the cause or just wearing a red ribbon to raise awareness.”

World AIDS Day 2007: Keep the Promise

World AIDS Day is celebrated around the globe on 1 December, highlighting the progress made in the battle against the epidemic and brings into focus remaining challenges.The theme for World AIDS Day remains ''Stop AIDS: Keep the Promise''. This is an appeal to governments, policy makers and regional health authorities to ensure that they meet the many targets that have been set in the fight against HIV and AIDS, and especially the promise of universal access to HIV treatment, care, support and prevention services by 2010. This campaign will run until 2010, with a related theme chosen for World AIDS Day each year. The 2007 theme is Leadership , which highlights the need for innovation, vision and perseverance in the face of the AIDS challenge. The campaign calls on all sectors of society such as families, communities and civil society organisations - rather than just governments - to take the initiative and provide leadership on AIDS.

World AIDS Day event aims to decrease embarrassment of condoms

Paris has long been known as the city of love, but a submission at Colorado State University's condom concoction competition put a different slant on the idea.
A 3-foot tall replica of the Eiffel Tower, built entirely out of condoms, was one of about a dozen creations featured at the event, held as part of World AIDS Day activities at CSU this week.
The event, held for the first time this year, was designed to raise awareness about condom use and decrease embarrassment that might be associated with using them. "People need to stop and think when it comes to intercourse," freshman Laura KinCannon said. "They also need to stop and think about what's going on in the world with HIV/AIDS."

KinCannon and her friend, Carrie Reilly, designed a dress made of condoms, which Reilly modeled at the event. The dress, made of red, yellow and green condoms, resembled a traffic light, which the women said should serve as a reminder to stop and think before “doing anything.”
“We’re hoping to de-stigmatize condoms, to use them and to handle them,” said Shauna Deluca, coordinator for international education with CSU’s Office of International Programs. The office heads up World AIDS Day events on campus.
The event was a different way to teach students about condoms and encourage their use, Deluca said. “Sometimes you don’t want to be lectured at,” she said. Freshman Alicia Berry-Chaney struggled to put a condom on a banana while wearing goggles to simulate being drunk and in the dark. “It totally does something to bridge the gap of the awkwardness and weirdness (of using condoms),” she said. Freshman Austin Huber, who followed some friends to the event, called the art a way to “make it fun,” but said the educational component was valuable.

China to stop arresting women for carrying condoms

BEIJING -- Chinese police are to stop arresting women who carry condoms, traditionally seen as evidence of prostitution, in an effort to help curb the spread of AIDS, state press said Friday.
Despite efforts to stop the practice, women in China are still being sent to labor camps for prostitution offences merely because they were carrying condoms when detained by police, the report said, quoting an expert.
"We have investigated many education-through-labor camps and we have found that for those sentenced for prostitution, the sole evidence was that they possessed condoms," Xinhua quoted the unnamed expert as telling an AIDS conference here.

Grab your free condoms on World Aids Day

Officials of the Msunduzi Municipality will do their bit to mark World Aids Day on Saturday by handing out condoms at intersections in Pietermaritzburg.Mayor Zanele Hlatshwayo, her deputy, Mervin Dirks, Municipal Manager Rob Haswell, Speaker Alpha Shelembe and Chief Whip Sehla Ngubane would hand the condoms and snack bars with the slogan "Each of us matters, HIV and Aids can be prevented" on their wrappers to motorists and passers-by.Hlatshwayo said the manager of mayoral special projects and programmes, Sanelisiwe Ndlovu, came up with the idea of involving the council's leadership in the fight against HIV and Aids.

A cyber passport to safer sex

The world's first "safe sex passport" will be launched in the United States tomorrow to coincide with World Aids Day. Aimed at those who find love over the internet, the passport is a way of letting the users of dating and social networking sites find out whether the person they have their eye on has a clean sexual bill of health.
The passport's creator, Gonzalo Paternoster, said he was inspired to develop the product after meeting a man who contracted HIV after having intercourse with someone he met on the internet.
"I think the sexual relationship that two people can share is very powerful, and now it's become such a dangerous thing," says Paternoster.
"Unfortunately there are a lot of people with sexually transmitted diseases who don't even know it. In some cases they do know and they withhold that information. It's only fair to both parties that there is full disclosure of each person's health status."
The credit-card sized passport was developed by the company Paternoster founded, SSP BioAnalytics Inc.

Sexual health shock: Three in four young women do not have safe sex in casual relationships

Three in four young women do not have safe sex in casual relationships, a survey shows. This puts them at risk of infections which could affect their fertility, experts have warned. The poll found that three-quarters of women between 16 and 30 did not insist on a condom. But only 64 per cent of men in this age group admit to not always using one.
Meanwhile, one in four men and women polled wrongly believed that contraceptives such
as the Pill can protect them from sexually transmitted infections. They were often too
embarrassed or unconcerned to protect themselves against infections, including HIV, which can cause Aids. One in five admitted they were playing "fast and loose" by having unsafe sex even though they know they could contract the virus, found the poll, which was carried out by the TVcompany MTV Networks UK to mark World Aids Day tomorrow.

POPULATION: Sexing Up Safe Sex to Limit HIV Spread

Rajyashree Choudhuri, chief of the Institute of International Social Development (IISD), a non-governmental organisation (NGO), said the idea proceeded from formal surveys which showed that sex workers in Sonagachi, the largest red light area in the city, entertained more than five clients a day on average. "Many of them were married or had regular relationships too. So we encouraged them to have fewer clients or maybe a fixed number of loyal clients,’’ she told IPS. When the sex workers said they feared their earnings could drop, IISD workers advised them informally in group discussions to charge clients, but ‘’give them something extra through companionship and erotic pleasure without necessarily indulging in penetrative sex.’’ IISD fell back on techniques outlined in the ‘Kamasutra,’ India’s ancient treatise on sex, as well as the courtesan culture that flourished through the mediaeval period that made use of suggestive music and dance.

Choudhuri said IISD pilot surveys showed that the techniques actually worked in favour of fewer and more satisfied clients as well as better earnings. ‘’We found that many of them (sex workers) reported that the techniques helped them to reduce clientele and thereby the health risks from having multiple partners. IISD plans to run a comprehensive survey next year, involving a few hundred sex workers trying out the idea that ‘’many sexual postures with one partner are better than one posture with many partners,’’ before promoting their ‘Pleasure Project’ further. Other NGOs too have taken recourse to Kamasutra in promoting safer sex practices. I.S. Gilada, secretary of the People’s Health Organisation (PHO) that is based in the western metropolis of Mumbai, calls Kamasutra a ‘’prescription for HIV prevention.’’

"All over the world people only talk about condoms and about celibacy. Those who talk about monogamy are laughed away by others (because) say monogamy sounds like monotony! Sex is a pleasurable act in Indian culture but a sinful exercise in some other cultures."

Terrence Higgins Trust gives out chlamydia test kits to young people in Birmingham and Solihull

From 15 November 2007 HIV and sexual health charity Terrence Higgins Trust (THT) will be encouraging young people in Birmingham and Solihull to be tested for Chlamydia by handing out test kits across the region.

The charity is working with the Birmingham East and North Primary Care Trust on behalf of all Birmingham and Solihull NHS Trusts and hopes to get more people taking the test by targeting15-24 year olds at universities, colleges, shopping centres and workplaces.
Approximately one in ten young people have chlamydia but many don’t have any symptoms so it’s essential that the number of young people taking a test increases. If left untreated chlamydia can lead to serious health problems, including infertility.

The chlamydia test does not involve any examination and is done by the young person themselves, either by providing a urine sample or a self swab. Results are available within a week and can be texted directly to the young person’s mobile phone or emailed confidentially. For those who test positive and their sexual partners, antibiotics to treat the infection are provided free of charge. All treatment and follow up services are provided by Heart of Birmingham Primary Care Trust.

Terrence Higgins Trust gives out chlamydia test kits to young people in Birmingham and Solihull

From 15 November 2007 HIV and sexual health charity Terrence Higgins Trust (THT) will be encouraging young people in Birmingham and Solihull to be tested for Chlamydia by handing out test kits across the region.

The charity is working with the Birmingham East and North Primary Care Trust on behalf of all Birmingham and Solihull NHS Trusts and hopes to get more people taking the test by targeting15-24 year olds at universities, colleges, shopping centres and workplaces.
Approximately one in ten young people have chlamydia but many don’t have any symptoms so it’s essential that the number of young people taking a test increases. If left untreated chlamydia can lead to serious health problems, including infertility.

The chlamydia test does not involve any examination and is done by the young person themselves, either by providing a urine sample or a self swab. Results are available within a week and can be texted directly to the young person’s mobile phone or emailed confidentially. For those who test positive and their sexual partners, antibiotics to treat the infection are provided free of charge. All treatment and follow up services are provided by Heart of Birmingham Primary Care Trust.