Spring time in Belgium

Dear friends! Chers amis! Hola amigos!
At last summer has come following the spell from spring. I must admit that spring was so welcoming bacause it was a huge relief from the blistering winter cold! It was like the rebirth of another life with nice sunnshine, flowers sprouting and trees looking lifely with green leaves.
Smiles could ne seen on all faces as they radiated life, but such memories of springt time in Belgium will soon be erased by summer memories! We shall vividly remember the short skirts for ladies and shorts for men during spring!

Have fun! Au plaisir! Vamos amigos!

Tim Adair: HIV status and age at first marriage among Women in Cameroon

Recent research has highlighted the risk of HIV infection for married teenage women compared
with their unmarried counterparts (Bruce and Clark, 2003; Clark, 2004). This study examines for
post-adolescent women age 20-29 in Cameroon whether a relationship exists between HIV status
and age at first marriage, or the length of time between first sex and first marriage. Multivariate
analysis using the nationally representative sample from the 2004 Cameroon Demographic and
Health Survey shows that late-marrying women and those with a longer period of premarital sex
have the highest risk of contracting HIV. Although, overall, women in urban areas marry later
than their rural counterparts, the positive relationship between HIV risk and age at marriage is
stronger in rural areas. For late-marrying women, living in households with higher wealth status
and having a larger number of lifetime sexual partners contribute to higher HIV risk. Given that
age at first marriage and the gap between first marriage and first sex have increased in recent
years, focusing preventive efforts on late-marrying women will be important in reducing HIV
prevalence among females.

http://hivinsite.ucsf.edu/global?page=cr09-cm-00#S22X

African synergy for the fight against HIV/AIDS and suffering: work on HIV/AIDS

In line with its goals and objectives, "African Synergy against AIDS and Suffering"intends to contribute, along with other public, private, national and international stakeholders, to the fight against HIV/AIDS and Suffering which hinder the development of the populations of Africa. The concrete and efficient actions that African Synergy wants to undertake are hinged on the determination of First Ladies and the spirit of solidarity and human concern that prevails among scientists and other individuals and corporate bodies of goodwill. The dynamism generated by African Synergy is shown through actions to be taken at the national, regional and international levels. More at http://www.synergiesafricaines.org/prog_us.php?idm=13

African synergy for the fight against HIV/AIDS and suffering

AFRICAN SYNERGY is a non-governmental organisation comprising First Ladies from Africa and other continents who accept to adhere to its statute, natural or legal persons of goodwill and scientists who contribute to the achievement of the goals and objectives of AFRICAN SYNERGY, including former First Ladies of Africa and from other continents, on their request.



Our authorities make tremendous efforts to come out with solutions to overcome these problems. I would like here to pay them a respectful homage. Also, I sincerely thank the medical staff which has the huge task of taking care of the patients. In the domain of the fight against AIDS, Cameroon government’s plan, through the National AIDS Control Committee during the recent years focused on information, prevention and treatment, in order to overturn the spread of the disease.
Emphasis is put on:

• Sensitisation and educative intensive campaigns
• Creation of HIV treatment centres
• Reducing the cost of antiretroviral drugs
• Better care during blood transfusion

Further information at http://www.synergiesafricaines.org/present_us.php?idm=1

Application for Round 10 HIV/AIDS

Cameroon has applied for Round 10 for HIV/AIDS estimated at US$42,576,721. This was approved by the Board of the Global Fund, but the grant has not been signed yet. The original proposal can be downloaded in pdf format at http://portfolio.theglobalfund.org/Country/Index/CMR?lang=en

Cameroon grant portfolio from the Global Fund

Grant type	Round	Grant title and number	Principal Recipient	Signed grant agreement amount	Status	Performance rating
	HIV/AIDS	3	Scaling up Treatment and Care of People Living with HIV/AIDS CMR-304-G01-H	Ministry of Public Health of the Republic of Cameroon	US$ 31,297,365	Phase I
	Malaria	3	Scaling up Malaria Prevention CMR-304-G02-M	Ministry of Public Health of the Republic of Cameroon	US$ 31,781,187	Phase II
	Tuberculosis	3	Scaling up Tuberculosis Treatment and Care CMR-304-G03-T	Ministry of Public Health of the Republic of Cameroon	US$ 5,804,961	Phase II
	HIV/AIDS	4	Civil Society Mobilization for the Fight Against AIDS CMR-404-G04-H	CARE International in Cameroon	US$ 16,194,089	Phase II

HIV/AIDS: The figures

HIV/AIDS

Estimated number of people receiving ARV therapy
76,228

Estimated number of people needing ARV therapy (WHO 2010 guidelines)
270,000

Orphans due to AIDS
300,000

People living with HIV
540,000

Adult HIV prevalence (%)
5.1

Estimated number of people needing ARV therapy (WHO 2006 guidelines)
190,000

AIDS-related deaths
39,000

http://portfolio.theglobalfund.org/Country/Index/CMR?lang=en

Coping with mother to child transmission of HIV/AIDS

Cameroon has led the way in Africa in decentralizing its AIDS response. Now almost all health districts are equipped to prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission (PMTCT). While coverage of treatment to prevent babies from getting HIV reached almost 34% of pregnant women living with HIV in 2009, a vast improvement from the 18 % of 2008, the country still has a long way to go. While health districts have reached almost their maximum level of PMTCT coverage the problem is that many women do not go to hospitals and clinics to give birth. Pregnant women in rural and marginalized communities will have their children at home with a midwife. So, the next step would be to implement strategies to reach out to vulnerable women.

However, ramping up HIV coverage has had other benefits. The resources which have gone to HIV treatment have also helped improve the capacity of health systems in general. We see that ameliorating the management of HIV has helped increase the professionalism of our laboratories and medical staff.”

UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé has championed the prevention of mother to child HIV transmission. He has made the eradication of babies born with HIV a top priority. “It is not acceptable that in countries like France or the US practically no pregnant HIV positive women give birth to babies with HIV, but in places like Cameroon, still far too many babies are born with HIV,” said Mr Sidibé. “This kind of inequality is intolerable. We know we can stop mother to child transmission of HIV, so we must continue to redouble our efforts to overcome this injustice.”

He visited the HIV treatment centre and maternity ward at Yaoundé’s central hospital in May 2010 and praised the efforts Cameroon has made to eradicate the transmission of HIV from mother to child. But he called on the leadership to continue to expand prevention measures and become a model of PMTCT in Africa.

Epidemiological Fact Sheet on HIV and AIDS, 2009

HIV AND AIDS ESTIMATES (2009)

Number of people living with HIV

610,000 [540,000 - 670,000]

Adults aged 15 to 49 prevalence rate

5.3% [4.9% - 5.8%]

Adults aged 15 and up living with HIV

550,000 [500,000 - 610,000]

Women aged 15 and up living with HIV

320,000 [290,000 - 370,000]

Children aged 0 to 14 living with HIV

54,000 [29,000 - 78,000]

Deaths due to AIDS

37,000 [29,000 - 46,000]

Orphans due to AIDS aged 0 to 17

330,000 [270,000 - 420,000]

For more information, visit http://www.unaids.org/en/regionscountries/countries/cameroon/

The ever growing HIV/AIDS pandemic

HIV world statistics for 2008

HIV viral structure

HIV prevalence ranges from 5.1 to 10%

Cameroon: located in Central Africa

Country profile and some health statistics

http://www.who.int/countries/cmr/en/

Cameroon: Africa in miniature

Cameroon is located in sub-Saharan Africa and popularly called Africa in miniature due to its multitude of tribes and the huge ethnic and cultural diversity.
More information can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cameroon