New campaign to fight Bolton's teen pregnancy problems

Teenagers are being educated about the dangers of sex and alcohol in a new scheme being run in the borough's schools.
Play Hard Party Safe is aimed at final year high school pupils and sixth formers.
It has been launched to help address Bolton's problems with teenage pregnancy.
The borough's figures are way above the national average - in England and Wales 41.3 under 18s per 1,000 fell pregnant in 2005. In Bolton that figure was is 51.9 per 1,000.
Jayne Littler, teenage pregnancy co-ordinator, said: "This is a new scheme which we are running in a number of schools in December.
"If successful we will be rolling it out to all schools before the end of the academic year. The sessions are interactive and young people find out about sexually transmitted infections, safe sex and how to say no to sex.

"Young people take part in a series of activities including putting together a jigsaw to find out more about these issues. We also talk about how to deal with someone who is very drunk, and the safety issues surrounding having too much to drink. A condom demonstration is also given, but we do not hand these out to the pupils."
The sessions are run by trained youth workers, teachers and other professionals who work with young people. The programme is run jointly by Bolton Primary Care Trust and Bolton Council.

China launches first major safe sex TV campaign

BEIJING (Reuters) - China rolled out its first major television campaign on Thursday to promote condom use to fight the spread of HIV/AIDS, now mostly being transmitted by sex in the world's most populous country.
The short public service announcements will mainly be shown on screens in buses, trains and planes, on the Internet, in entertainment venues, and on some state television channels.
They will target the young and China's huge floating population of migrant workers, using celebrities including Hong Kong action film star Jackie Chan and Chinese folk singer Peng Liyuan, wife of rising political star Xi Jinping. "It marks a new era in talking frankly and candidly about these issues, which used to be avoided," said UNDP country director Subinay Nandy.
"This initiative is very timely and is very valid for the epidemic situation in China today," he told a news conference. China will have an estimated 50,000 new HIV infections in 2007, compared with 70,000 in 2005, according to a report by the State Council (Cabinet) and the United Nations last week.
That means the country will have about 700,000 people living with HIV/AIDS this year, up from an earlier estimate of 650,000.

India-migrants make Surkhet hotbed for AIDS [ 2007-12-4 ]

Surkhet, Dec. 3: Surkhet in mid-west Nepal has become the hotbed district for HIV and AIDS. Almost 60 per cent of the people go to India for work and they come back with the virus which are transmitted to their wives and community.Dev Prasad Gautam, section secretary at the Nepal Red Cross Society, said there could be at least 500 to 600 people in Surkhet living with HIV and AIDS.Going to India is a compulsion for many. The agriculture production is barely sufficient for four to five months and to make a living for the remaining of the year. When they go to India they often come into contact of commercial sex workers (CSWs) putting them at risk of contraction.One such youths, Bal Kumar Shakya said he visited CSWs while in India. �I made the mistake of not using condom even if the woman insisted," he said. He is the first person in the district to come out openly about his situation.Almost all those infected are through sexual contacts as there are no case of injecting drug users, he said. Most of the people living with HIV/AIDS are of the productive age group of 29 to 45.Looking at the prevalence of HIV, the NRCS has started voluntary testing and Counseling (VCT) Centre, Gautam said. The centre has registered more than 100 cases of HIV and AIDS in two months it was started. Many more are yet to come for the testing.School students have been mobilised at the community level to motivate people, especially those who come from India and their families, for voluntary testing. The testing is free of cost.

Do you think schools and parents are teaching kids enough about safe sex?

No, because there's too many young tarts having babies.Simmone Hasler, 18, Rokeby
No. Sex ed is boring so no one pays attention to it.Kana Cantrell, 16, Rokeby
Yes, I think so.Whitney Garth, 19, Clifton Beach
It varies. Some families do and some don't.Ted Cooper, 58, South Arm
I don't think it's as much about safe sex as it is about responsibility - being responsible for their actions.Kara Johnston, 27, Fern Tree
The ex-federal government's baby bonus is the issue - not education. Blame the Liberal government.Jamil Mahfoud, 30, Geilston Bay
No, definitely not. More needs to be done.Ty Watson, 20, Clarendon Vale
It's not really the school's place - the parents should be teaching their kids about safe sex.Howard Thomas, 66, Geeveston
I don't think they are. Maybe they should start educating at a younger age as sex is portrayed through the media so much.Jay Smith, 18, Lindisfarne

Uganda: HIV/Aids Fight - All the Men Please Stand Up

THE United Nations Women's Fund (UNIFEM), estimates that of the 38.6 million adults living with HIV/AIDS by the end of 2002, 19.2 million (nearly 50%) were women. It adds that the rate of new infections among women is increasing faster than those among men.
This indicates a rise in incidence or prevalence among women due to biological, social and economic factors. It is not surprising when some people think that putting the HIV/AIDS prevention agenda into practice should be the women's responsibility.

The time has come for men to also take responsibility in HIV/AIDS prevention. The effect of HIV on women increases the burden of care that women carry. That burden is heavier than it should be due to lack of education, economic advantages and adequate health care for women in many societies.

Appeal on safe sex after diseases rise

People were last night urged to heed the safe sex message after a study revealed a shock increase in cases of sexually transmitted infections across Ulster.
Research released annually by the Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre, Northern Ireland (CDSCNI) also shows that an outbreak of syphilis which began in early 2001 continues unabated.
Consultant epidemiologist Dr Neil Irvine said the figures show people are " continuing to ignore the basic advice".
The research looks at STI cases in 2006 and found startling increases in the main infections including syphilis, gonorrhoea, chlamydia and genital herpes.
The only positive news, on today's World Aids Day, was a slight drop in the number of new cases of HIV on the year before.
Among the key findings were 43 new cases of syphilis - up 13% on the 38 reported in 2005.

'We need to be more open about sex'

Better sex education in schools and condom advertising targeted at young people are key to tackling the nation’s sex disease epidemic, according to an expert.
 
A recent report by the Health Protection Agency (HPA) found that diagnoses of HIV and other Sexually Transmitted Illnesses (STIs) were increasing.
 
The results for NHS South East Coast, the Strategic Health Authority covering Kent, Surrey and Sussex, reflect the national trends with an increase in HIV diagnoses, particularly among gay men.
 
The number of people being treated for HIV in 2006 had risen to 3, 246 from 2,942 in the previous year, it found.
 
A rising number of heterosexual men, particularly those from black ethnic minority communities, are being diagnosed with HIV, the HPA said.
 
The sexual health of young adults has worsened with the report showing increases in sexually transmitted herpes and warts viruses.
 
In Kent one in 10 young people screened through the National Chlamydia Screening Programme last year tested positive for the infection, the county’s Teenage Pregnancy Service said.
 
Ruth Herron, who is the project manager of the service, is leading the drive to halve teen pregnancy rates in the county by 2010.

Condoms 'should top Christmas list'

A packet of condoms should be at the top of everyone's Christmas wish list, according to one charity. Oxfam is offering the unusual gift as one of five "Positive Pressies" launched this year as part of a new campaign to tackle HIV and Aids.
The campaign, launched to tie in with World Aids Day, will help to directly tackle the spread of HIV by encouraging safe sex and providing condoms.
Anyone who orders one of these gifts will receive information about their present, while the gift itself will go to individuals or communities in the developing world.
The presents, which are all featured in Oxfam's Unwrapped catalogue, will help communities affected by the disease by distributing condoms and hygiene products and providing education, training and counselling.
Georgia Stokes, Oxfam Campaigner in the Midlands said: "By buying these presents from Oxfam Unwrapped people are giving the priceless gift of safe sex, and a longer, healthier life to many thousands of people in the developing world.

Condom campaign doesn't legalize free sex: AIDS council

Chairwoman of the National AIDS Council Nafsiah Mboi has clarified that an aggressive condom-use campaign does not endorse promiscuity.
Speaking at the official launch of National Condom Week in Senayan, Central Jakarta, on Saturday, Nafsiah warned against a common misconception: "National Condom Week doesn't legalize free sex ... we do not approve of this. But if we already have youths who are sexually active, what we're doing now is merely giving them a means of protection," Nafsiah said, adding that the number of HIV infections had recently spiked among the 15 to 24 age group.

Brazil to Dispense Condoms in Schools

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AP) — Brazil's government announced plans to put condom-dispensing machines in public schools to help teenagers reduce the spread of AIDS.
The health and education ministries and the United Nations sponsored a nationwide contest for students to design the dispenser. Three potential models were selected on Friday, the government news agency Agencia Brasil said.
Condom machines are to be installed in 100 public schools in 2008, officials said.
The head of the National Program of Sexually Transmitted Diseases, Mariangela Simao, said part of the project is educational and aims not to "banalize" the use of condoms. She said 100,000 schools were involved with the anti-AIDS program.

World AIDS Day raises awareness

Jakarta (1 December) - Saturday was World AIDS Day. The United Nations says 33 million people are infected with the HIV virus which can cause the disease. New figures indicate that Indonesia currently has the world's highest rate of increase in new cases. Indonesia's first ever campaign against HIV/AIDS, which will encourage the use of condoms, was launched on Saturday.China, which for many years viewed the virus as a foreign affliction, also marked World AIDS Day. Earlier this week, the Chinese government announced that it would open a centre for research into the disease.

Global leaders call for action on World AIDS Day

PARIS (AFP) — Activists and global leaders used World AIDS Day Saturday to warn against complacency in fighting the disease and called on governments to fill a multi-billion-dollar funding gap.
"We have made tangible and remarkable progress on all these fronts. But we must do more," United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said in a message for World AIDS Day.
The highlight of events across the globe was a concert in Johannesburg organised by Nelson Mandela's 46664 AIDS campaign group, named after his prison number from his 27 years in jail during South Africa's apartheid regime.

An estimated 50,000 people attended the concert of local and foreign artists, ranging from Peter Gabriel to Ludacris, broadcast to millions around the world.
Mandela himself put in a rare appearance, and the crowd erupted in screams before falling silent as the 89-year-old urged people to stand up and take the fight against AIDS into their own hands. "It is still alarming that for every person who receives treatment there are four others who are newly infected," said the Nobel laureate, after slowly walking to the podium with the aid of his wife and a walking stick.