Curb Violence Against Women, Girls While Preventing AIDS, Says UNFPA

9 Jun 2011 22:33 Africa/Lagos


Curb Violence Against Women, Girls While Preventing AIDS, Says UNFPA

PR Newswire

UNITED NATIONS, N.Y., June 9, 2011

UNITED NATIONS, N.Y., June 9, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Stronger action must be taken to change harmful gender norms and practices and to integrate the prevention of gender-based violence into anti-HIV efforts, said Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin, Executive Director of UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund.

Addressing world leaders on behalf of the United Nations during the AIDS Summit today, Dr. Osotimehin underlined the need to sustain the current momentum on women, girls and HIV by increasing political support and funding, both at the global and the national levels.

"As the former head of the National AIDS Control Agency of Nigeria, the former Minister of Health, and, now, Executive Director of UNFPA," he said, "I can say with certainty that we will not be able to stop HIV and improve women's and girls' health until we empower women, advance gender equality and engage men and boys in this effort."

While the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV is being integrated with sexual and reproductive health, Dr. Osotimehin noted that services did not "adequately address the needs and rights of women living with HIV in their full diversity and throughout their life-cycle." The limited access to female condoms, he noted, illustrates the need for more women-tailored HIV responses.

"I would like to stress that access to resources remains a critical challenge for scaling up gender-responsive HIV programming," concluded Dr. Osotimehin. "In fact, I think the biggest game changer that we need is increased commitment, political will and adequate resource investments to address gender inequality as part of the HIV response, translated into adequate resource investment."

In a related note, Dr. Osotimehin welcomed the strong political will demonstrated in Tuesday's United Nations Security Council resolution which underlines the need for more efforts to curb the epidemic in conflict and post-conflict situations.

"Addressing HIV and AIDS at the Security Council for the second time underscores the security implications of this issue and the urgency that Member States give to this global challenge," said Dr. Osotimehin. "We are hopeful that the new resolution will strengthen political resolve to provide HIV prevention programmes to uniformed services that are aligned with efforts to end sexual violence in conflict and post-conflict settings. UNFPA remains committed to this work and to promoting the right to sexual and reproductive health for all."

UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, is an international development agency that promotes the right of every woman, man and child to enjoy a life of health and equal opportunity. UNFPA supports countries in using population data for policies and programmes to reduce poverty and to ensure that every pregnancy is wanted, every birth is safe, every young person is free of HIV/AIDS, and every girl and woman is treated with dignity and respect.

Visit www.unfpa.org .

SOURCE UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund

CONTACT: Abubakar Dungus, +1-212-297-5031, dungus@unfpa.org; or Omar Gharzeddine, +1-212-297-5028, gharzeddine@unfpa.org

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9 Jun 2011

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Two African films compete for Foreign Language Oscar

Two African films, Outside the Law from Algeria and Life Above All from South Africa are among the 9 films that will advance to the next round of voting in the Foreign Language Film category for the 83rd Academy Awards. They were selected from 66 films that qualified in the category.



Notably is Rachid Bouchareb’s "Outside the Law," the French-Algerian film that annoyed French Prime Minister Nicolas Sarkozy's political party, who wanted the film banned at the last Cannes Film Festival, because “it denigrates France and the French military."

"Outside the Law", tells the story of three brothers who fought for Algeria's independence from France after World War II. After losing their family home in Algeria, three brothers were scattered across the globe. Messaoud joined the French army fighting in Indochina; Abdelkader became a leader of the Algerian independence movement; whilst Said moved to Paris to make his fortune in the shady clubs and boxing halls of Pigalle. Gradually, their interconnecting destinies reunited them in the French capital, where freedom is a battle to be fought and won.



"Life, Above All" an emotional and universal drama about a young girl who fought the fear and shame that have poisoned her community. It was directed by South African filmmaker Oliver Schmitz who adapted the international award winning novel "Chanda's Secrets" by Allan Stratton.



Chanda, 16, is a smart and determined South African girl on track to win a scholarship – but she’s suddenly thrust into an impossible situation, forcing her to adopt maturity beyond her years. When we first meet her, she’s making funeral arrangements for her year-old sister, Sara. If people begin to suspect Sara’s death was due to more than a passing flu, Chanda will be faced with shame and stigma, not only for the victim, but also for their entire family.

When Lilian’s (Chanda’s mother) illness becomes impossible to hide, their nosy, eccentric next-door neighbor, Mrs. Tafa, engages a spirit doctor to perform a startling ritual. The spirit doctor determines that a curse is hanging over her and her children. In order to lift it, Lilian must return to the village from where she was banished decades before, leaving Chanda alone to care for her siblings.

Meanwhile, Chanda’s best friend, Esther, has turned to prostitution in a desperate attempt to survive and reunite her own family. Though the community shuns Esther, Chanda refuses to reject her friend. To the horror of those around her, Chanda opens her house to Esther at her friend’s moment of greatest need. That’s just the beginning of Chanda’s fight against convention.

When Chanda discovers that her mother may have gone away to die in order to spare her children shame, she ignores the cautions of the meddling Mrs. Tafa, and embarks on a fateful journey to bring her mother home. And in doing so, challenges the people around her to reject their prejudices and embrace the truth.

The 9 films, listed in alphabetical order by country, are:

Algeria, “Outside the Law”), Rachid Bouchareb, director;
Canada, “Incendies,” Denis Villeneuve, director;
Denmark, “In a Better World,” Susanne Bier, director;
Greece, “Dogtooth,” Yorgos Lanthimos, director;
Japan, “Confessions,” Tetsuya Nakashima, director;
Mexico, “Biutiful,” Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, director;
South Africa, “Life, above All,” Oliver Schmitz, director;
Spain, “Tambien la Lluvia” (“Even the Rain”), Iciar Bollain, director;
Sweden, “Simple Simon,” Andreas Ohman, director.



~ By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima

UNDP Announces 2010 Red Ribbon Award Winners

12 Jul 2010 20:11 Africa/Lagos


UNDP Announces 2010 Red Ribbon Award Winners/ Biennial global award celebrates outstanding community leadership and action on AIDS


NEW YORK, July 12, 2010/African Press Organization (APO)/ -- Twenty-five community-based organisations representing 17 countries across the globe have won the 2010 Red Ribbon Award.


The Red Ribbon Award, named after the global symbol in the movement to address AIDS, is a joint effort of the UNAIDS family. The award recognizes outstanding community organisations for their work in reducing the spread and impact of AIDS.


“Grassroots and community based organizations are at the heart of the global response to AIDS,” said UNAIDS Deputy Executive Director, Management & External Relations Jan Beagle, “UNAIDS is proud to celebrate and honor these groups who have mobilized themselves to meet the needs of the most vulnerable in their communities with energy, passion, and compassion. The red ribbon award winners give a resounding voice to the voiceless.”


Each of the winning organizations receives a cash award and international recognition for their innovation and leadership in responding to the AIDS epidemic. The organizations are invited to participate in the XVIII International AIDS Conference to be held in Vienna next week where they will be guests of honour at a formal Awards Ceremony and will host a forum for dialogue and exchange between policy makers and community representatives.


“Communities really hold the key to finding solutions to their own problems," said Dr. Helene Gayle, President and CEO of CARE, and a member of this year's jury panel. "So while those of us with a lot of outside expertise may know the theories, community organizations are best suited to reach those most in need when it comes to applying them.”


Out of 720 nominations from over 100 countries, the 25 winners were judged to have demonstrated the most remarkable efforts in terms of innovation, impact, sustainability, strategic partnerships, gender sensitivity and social inclusion. The winners were selected by a Technical Review Committee of civil society representatives who are experts in the community response to HIV.


“These organizations clearly demonstrate that effective responses to the epidemic require the full participation of front-line, community-based groups. Community groups recognize that AIDS is one of many issues that are tied together. They understand that AIDS requires an exceptional response but they also understand that you need to link AIDS to broader issues of health, development and justice to be effective,” said Jeffrey O'Malley, Director of the HIV/AIDS Practice at UNDP.


UNDP is honoured to announce the 2010 Red Ribbon Award Winners:


AFRICA

Association Pénitentiaire Africaine is an organization in Burkina Faso that has served as a model for raising awareness of prisoners' human rights, specifically the right to health, which includes HIV prevention, treatment, care and support.


Center for Domestic Violence Prevention works at the civil society and government levels in Uganda to build an environment that is supportive of women's rights to safety and equality, underlying issues behind women's vulnerability to HIV in that nation.


Chrysalide operates a centre of support for women with HIV, drug users, sex workers and ex-prisoners, and has through HIV prevention and sensitization programmes reduced stigma and discrimination experienced by people living with HIV in communities throughout Mauritius.


Elan d'Amour has played a catalytic role in improving access to HIV treatment and care by modelling how to integrate community organizations into the health care system of Cote d'Ivoire.


Nikat Women's Association is the first community-based association in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia that is devoted to improving the living conditions of low-income women and commercial sex workers, thereby fighting poverty and protecting the right to health.


Physicians for Social Justice has trained family caregivers and volunteers in Nigeria to conduct home visits to support people living with HIV, and in particular women, thereby challenging existing gender and cultural stereotypes.


Positive Women's Network has been at the forefront of the HIV response in South Africa by creating a safe space for women with HIV, comprehensively addressing their needs and forming a powerful group that educates the wider community about HIV.


Pride Community Health Organization Zambia operates a safe haven in Zambia for people living with HIV, particularly orphans, vulnerable children, youth, women and people with disabilities, providing them with HIV and tuberculosis care, and support through home-based care services.


The Initiative for Equal Rights was established in response to human rights violations against sexual minorities and focuses on the health needs of men who have sex with men, slowly breaking the silence around issues of sexual minorities in, Nigeria.


Uganda Young Positive has mobilized over 20,000 young people across Uganda to conduct advocacy activities and become a point of convergence for all other youth organisations that advocate for greater support for people living with HIV.


ARAB STATES

Substance Abuse Research Center – SARC-AMAN is the first organisation in Gaza, the Palestinian territories to tackle issues of drug use and HIV, including stigma and misconceptions associated with these issues, in student and refugee populations.


Widows, Orphans and People Living with HIV/AIDS is a community organisation of people living with HIV in Southern Sudan and works to increase access to anti-retroviral treatment by forming partnerships with hospitals, facilitating referrals for treatment, and developing a home-based care system.


Source: United Nations Joint Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS)

Nigeria:Campus Girls, Big-Time Prostitutes

Photo Credit: African Movies Direct

Nigeria:Campus Girls, Big-Time Prostitutes

Read Full Report.


Poor Girl Regular Sex Campus Girls Unsuspecting Clients Campus Prostitution Dreaded HIV Campus Prostitution Ring Real Students Bad Student Professional Students University Women Innocent Girls Randy Lecturers Client Money Bonafide Students Prevent HIV

Sex-exploitation In Hip-hop And Hiplife Music In Nigeria

Two popular Nigerian Hiplife Artistes

Sex-exploitation is doing collateral damage to the psyche of Nigerian youths who have become addicted to the psychedelic and pornographic musical videos flooding the TV in Nigeria and the worse victims are the impressionable and vulnerable young girls and women who are paid to display and portray themselves as sex objects and are now seen more as prostitutes than dancers in Nigerian musical videos.

Please read The Exploitation of Women in Hip-hop Culture by Ayanna on My Sistahs.


The erudite Dr. Reuben Abati addressed the dangers of the negative influences of Nigerian music and how desperate to get-rich-quick Nigerian Hip-hop and Hiplife artistes are suffering from identity crisis and the tragedy is that the majority of them are ignorant of the grave consequences. Bella Naija and Linda Ikeji have addressed this in the so called Dr. Reuben Abati vs. Banky W debate. Many of the ignorant artistes called it the generation gap between them and Reuben Abati's generation.

How old is Reuben Abati?
How old are the producers of these ignorant Nigerian Hip-hop and Hiplife artistes?
I know them very well, from when they were all smoking garri decades ago to date.
I have produced a single in OJB's studios and OJB was not born yesterday.
DJ Jimmy Jatt and I were born on Lagos Island.
I was born in Obalende and I produced my first single in the United States in 1984.
The sheet-music is in the Library of Congress.

Even the highly gifted Nigerian Jazz artiste Mike Aremu knows the truth as he said:
"People now think that once they do Yahoo-Yahoo, the only cover-up they have to do is music." ~ Page 27, Saturday Punch, August 8, 2009.


My own primary concern is the negative images of our young women in their musical videos. Their lyrics are shallow and they rush to the studios to voice-over already recorded sounds and music lifted from a software synthesizer. Most of them do not even know the rudiments of Music and they just Lip-synch to synthesize and synchronize to the dubbed music. Finis. What's next?Oya, omoge shake ya booty musical video is made and then they bribe the local DJs and VJs to play their music and videos showing shamless girls and women as sex objects.
No wonder the cases of HIV/AIDS are increasing among Nigerian girls and women when they are decreasing in America.

Are there no positive images of dignified Nigerian girls and women to show in musical videos?Must you use them as sex objects to sell your music!
Don't you have enough brains to compose sensible lyrics and produce good music like Asa?


Nigeria o ni baje o!



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