HOPE newspaper Support newspaper for fighting HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis

Newspaper no. 32 2016

Top: Former wife Eunice, 17-year-old Kudakwashe and 21-year-old HOPE activist Moreblessing. Bottom : HOPE activists demonstrate and hand out condoms. The red and the green ikon represent the UN’s 3rd and 5th global goal for sustainable development. See all of the 17 goals on the last page.

16 years fighting HIV/AIDS in Zimbabwe Ulandshjælp fra Folk til Folk - Humana People to People

Progress in the fight against HIV and AIDS Every single day local HOPE volunteers work in five districts near the Zimbabwean cities of Harare and Bindura to prevent the spread of HIV and AIDS. The volunteers are from the organization DAPP Zimbabwe whose AIDS-prevention programs, TCE and HOPE, have been supported by UFF-Humana since 2000. Group meetings, door-to-door visits, condom handouts and HIV-tests are some of the tools the activists use to fight the epidemic

Through the HOPE project, staff and volun-teers educate locals about illness prevention, mobilize people for HIV-testing, support chil-dren whose parents have died from AIDS and inform people about homecare and nutrition. The profits from the sale of this newspaper will help HOPE Zimbabwe continue develop-ing the projects in Harare and Bindura.

Great progress against HIV On a global scale the fight against HIV and AIDS is moving forward. The number of AIDS-related deaths has decreased by 35 percent since peaking in 2005, and the number of HIV-infected people has decreased by 40 percent between 2000 and 2015. It is tspecially the number of HIV-infected children that has decreased. Numbers from UN and the World Bank show that at the same time the number

of people receiving antiretroviral treatment against HIV has exploded.

It is also moving forward on a national level in Zimbabwe. Since the year 2000 the num-ber of HIV-infected people has almost halved, so now only 1 in 6 Zimbabweans between 15 and 49 years old are infected. HIV-related deaths have decreased by 60 percent over the last 10 years and the mother-to-child transmission is plummeting.

16 years of support fighting the epidemic Nevertheless, Zimbabwe still has some of the world’s highest rates of HIV and AIDS, and it is a top priority in the global effort com-batting mother-to-child transmission. That is why UFF-Humana after 16 years still supports the action. Through the years, UFF-Humana has supported two different projects ad-dressing these issues, TCE and HOPE. The past 3 years we have only supported HOPE. HOPE does a wide range of work to combat the epidemic and address the consequences, from supporting orphans and their guardians to distributing condoms and mobilizing for HIV-testing.

HOPE’s results During 2015 our partners in Zimbabwe have had personal contact with more than 75.000 people through the HOPE projects, to inform

about the risk of HIV, perform tests, help pregnant women, educate about secure sex and more. More than 600.000 condoms have been distributed to the inhabitants of the five districts, and more than 31.000 people have been tested for HIV. You can see more of the 2015 results in the fact box on the right.

In the last three years, where UFF-Humana has supported the HOPE projects, many good results have been achieved in Zimbabwe. More than 2,5 million condoms have been distributed and almost 100.000 people have been tested for HIV. More than 33.000 volun-teers have been trained to support the pro-jects by working with education, health and nutrition.

Getting to Zero In this newspaper you can read about some the progress and the work that HOPE Zimba-bwe does. HOPE is working under the title Getting to Zero which is the overall goal in the efforts against HIV and AIDS. Zero new infections, Zero deaths and Zero discrimina-tion of HIV-infected people.

Activity No.

People directly contacted 75.633

Condoms distributed 602.495

People mobilized for HIV-testing

32.161

HOPE activists 15.930

HOPE’s results in 2015 Since the year 2000, the number of HIV-infected people has al-most halved in Zimbabwe, and now only 1 in 6 between 15 and 49 years old are infected. HIV-related deaths have decreased by 60 percent over the last 10 years and the mother-to-child transmission is plummeting.

HOPEs unge aktivister

Getting to Zero

The fight against death, in-fection and discrimination At HOPE Zimbabwe the overall strategy of the struggle against HIV and AIDS is unified under the headline Getting to Zero, and with the subtitles No new HIV-infections, no dis-crimination and no AIDS-related deaths. UNAIDS (the UN agency for global action on the HIV/AIDS epidemic), WHO (the World Health Organization) and other major players have worked under these paroles, too. A brief article on the 90-90-90 strategy can be found on the next page of this newspaper.

Worldwide, it is possible to work towards the overall aim in all kind of ways. At HOPE Zim-babwe, work at grass-root level and recruit-ment of volunteers is paramount, when deal-ing with information and mobilization of whole communities and social groups. The requirements here are simple solutions work-ing for ordinary people in a poor country, where 1 person in 6 is HIV-positive.

No new HIV-infections

The main method for avoiding any further spreading of the disease is control of mother-to-child-transmission, and in this way avoid-ing that babies are HIV-infected from birth. The tools are checks of pregnant women on a regular basis, births at hospitals and not at home, appropriate medication of mother and child, and breast-feeding to ensure the best nutrition for the child.

At the same time, it is also about HIV-testing and information, in order to empower the infected to deal with their situation, as well as understand how to avoid infecting others. Finally, there is distribution of condoms and general information through campaigns, door-to-door visits, as well as presentations and discussions at churches, local halls and villages.

No deaths

The work against AIDS-related deaths is, first and foremost, ensuring that the HIV-infected gain access to and in fact take antiretroviral medication. There are, however, also other methods to lower the death rate. A couple of examples are HOPE Zimbabwe’s efforts to ensure a good and healthy diet for the HIV-infected and the training of nurses for home visits. On the following page, you can read that controlling tuberculosis is a focus point, too. Tuberculosis is a deadly disease, and HIV-infected persons are 30 times more at risk than those who are not infected.

No discrimination

Compared with the aims of no new HIV-infections and no deaths, the aim no discrimi-nation might seem less important, but it is in fact a very important step in the fight against HIV and AIDS. In Zimbabwe, almost 2/3 of the HIV-infected experience stigma and discrimi-nation, which does profound damage to their quality of life. Some are met with threats and violence, others are subject to slander and rumors, dismissals, or exclusion from social life like being barred from school or church. In relation to health, however, the most im-portant issue is that the social stigma in con-nection with HIV might prevent people from taking HIV-tests in order to avoid being ”branded” as an HIV-positive in the local community. The fear of discrimination might also prevent infected persons from seeking treatment or taking medication to avoid that

neighbors, colleagues or classmates learn that they are HIV-positive. If we want to im-pact the epidemic, we must work against discrimination, too. This is the reason HOPE Zimbabwe puts such a lot of effort into grass-root work and recruiting of volunteers, as this is the way for people in HIV-ridden communi-ties to learn about the disease together and to stamp out discrimination.

Priscilla was bullied because she is HIV positive My name is Priscilla Chakanetsa. I am a girl aged 14 living in Pasango farm. I am staying with my aunt after the death of my parents in year 2012. I was born HIV positive, and I have been living the first 14 years of my life with-out knowing. For all those years I have been on ARV treatment unknowingly.

Each time I went to school, I took my treat-ment, but my aunt had never told me that the treatment was ART. She used to tell me that I had heart problems, and that the treat-ment was helping my heart. As I grew up my health was not stable and sometimes I would have to stay at home because of my condi-tion.

I suffered from a lot of stigma and discrimina-tion from my peers, especially at school. When my school mates saw me taking drugs, they laughed saying I was HIV positive. This situation haunted me so much, so I decided to ask my aunt about the treatment I was taking.

When I asked my aunt, she avoided the ques-tions and kept on lying to me, saying that the drugs were for the heart problem. After I refused to eat for a week, my aunt asked a HOPE Humana counsellor to come and break the news to me. The counsellor took me in a session, where she talked to me about the basic facts of HIV and how to accept and cope with my HIV status. I appreciate very much the continuous counselling and psycho-social support I get from the HOPE staff.

Now I have accepted my HIV status, and HOPE has trained me as a youth educator. I no longer worry about, what my schoolmates say about my HIV status. I am even success-fully educating my fellow mates about HIV.

What makes me happy is that we now have a support group of adolescents living with HIV, in which we receive lessons from HOPE on health- and sex issues and substance abuse etc. I have also been trained as a community supporter, which gives me the opportunity to help other people affected by HIV make the right decisions.

Chamunorwa didn’t know he had HIV until a HOPE employee convinced him to get tested My name is Chamunorwa Beta. I am a man aged 35, and I live in Chiveso village in Man-henga. A few years ago I noticed that my health was worsening in a way, I did not un-derstand, but I just ignored it, thinking I would eventually get better. One day while I was sitting with my friends, a HOPE outreach officer approached us and started an open discussion which focused on advantages of going for HIV testing. He also mentioned the various symptoms of HIV infection and the description was exactly what I was experienc-ing.

Some days after this discussion, I went for Voluntary Counseling and Testing, and my results came out HIV positive. At first I was in denial, and I experienced different emotional reactions, but after receiving post-test coun-seling from the counselors, I accepted my results and I managed to cope with them. They referred me to a clinic, where I could have the CD4 count done. After having done that, I was put on treatment, and now my health has improved.

I also joined a support group in my area, where I could meet with other people, who are HIV positive and share experiences. This has helped me to deal with my illness, as I am comforted to see that it is possibly for a per-son to live with HIV. I am very thankful for having met the HOPE outreach officer, and for all which he has done for me.

Support group helps 14 year old Munashe cope with HIV My name is Munashe Nyamangara. I am a 14 year old girl. I live in the village Kamujariwa and am doing form 2 at Nyarukunda Second-ary school. I am part of a HOPE Humana sup-port group, where I meet other people, who are HIV-positive like me.

I live together with my father and my aunt, who got married after my mother passed away. All three of us are HIV-positive, and the only family member, who is not, is my father and my aunt’s newest child, because my aunt enrolled for Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission, when she got pregnant.

I have told my friends from the care support group about my HIV status and besides them, I have also shared my status with the teacher at my school. In the care support group we receive lessons on positive living from the supporters, who have been trained by the HOPE New Life counselors. We also discuss how to live positively and arrange some workshops with HOPE, where we exchange experiences on positive living. We have also been taught about early marriages of girls

and young women and which consequences there can be from marrying early. I have re-cently visited a youth club in Manhenga, where I met other people at my age, who are also benefitting from the support groups. There I have been invited to a sexual health course, which I am looing very much forward to. Now that I have been receiving treatment for a while, I am beginning to feel a bit anxious about my CD4 count. We have a CD4 count machine at our clinic, and I need to be checked every 6 months to see whether or not the treatment is working. Since I have to travel to Bindura District to get it done, it is my hope that one day our nearby clinic will have a functional CD4 count machine.

”We arrange workshops with HOPE, where we ex-change experiences on po-sitive living”

- Munashe Nyamangara

HOPE fights child marriages and tuberculosis

HOPE works to prevent child marriages First and foremost, HOPE Zimbabwe works to combat HIV and AIDS. HOPE projects work by empowering local communities, individually and jointly, to take hold of their own chal-lenges. In addition, HOPE Zimbabwe has a large and well-functioning infrastructure in-cluding thousands of trained volunteers, who are able to reach even remote villages, and who know the local population of five differ-ent districts.

Accordingly, HOPE Zimbabwe is also involved in solving other challenges in the local com-munities. In Zimbabwe, child marriage is a widespread problem, as almost one-third of girls under 18 get married. In January 2016, marriage for persons under 18 years of age was prohibited after a court case, in which two former child brides brought an action against the State of Zimbabwe. It was a big victory for women’s rights, but it does not mean that child marriage will disappear alto-gether. In some local communities, especially in remote rural areas, child marriage is a deeply rooted tradition, in particular among poor peasants and miners.

HOPE Zimbabwe uses a wide range of meth-ods to inform about the dangers of child mar-riage. The activists do outreach work includ-ing information and presentations in church-es and community halls, and at public events. They establish child protection groups to keep an eye on signs of parents in the local communities beginning to arrange child mar-riages – and to enter into a dialogue with the parents, if it actually happens. HOPE has also hosted a number of dialogue meetings with visits from almost 1.500 traditional and reli-gious leaders from the local communities in and around Bindura. The meetings included discussions about the importance of ending child marriages and arranged marriages, as well as the importance of education about girls’ rights. Moreover, there are meetings with government officials, cooperation with other development organizations, as well as media campaigns in radio and television, on social media and via SMS campaigns.

17-year old Kudakwashe supports the prohibition

My name is Kudakwashe Moyo. I am a girl. I am 17 years old, and l live in New Tafara. I am happy by the revised child marriages act, that forbids children under the age of 18 to get into child marriages. I have seen girls of my age and even younger than me dropping out of school after being forced into mar-riage.

The law has given us young girls protection and empowerment, as those who force chil-dren into marriage will be prosecuted. This

law has made me very happy, as girls in the country will be able to finish their education and be free of the male dominance, that has tormented us for a long time.

In New Tafara, there were girls being forced into early child marriages by their parents due to poverty and cultural beliefs. A close friend of mine was also forced into an early marriage after the death of her mother, and was abused after her father married another wife. She is only one of many, and therefore I am very happy, that the law has been put into place for the protection of young wom-en.

I would also like to thank the community, Hope , Ministry of Women Affairs and also the government of Zimbabwe for supporting the fight against early child marriages through campaigns, activism and also work-shops.

Former child bride Eunice urges girls to stay in school

My name is Eunice Mutasa, I am a 21 years old mother of a little girl.

When I turned 16 years old, I dropped out of school and decided to get married to my boy-friend. Not having the knowledge about mar-riage, I became a teenage mother a year later and that’s when my troubles began. My mar-riage turned very bitter, as I was too young to understand what being a wife and a mother was,

I failed to cope with the household work, including taking care of my baby and hus-band. This made my husband very frustrated, and he began treating me badly. He started having numerous affairs, exposing me to the risks of contracting HIV. Every time I tried talking to him about the dangers of multiple partners, he would insult me, saying I don’t know how to treat a man.

The relationship got worse, and after four years of unbearable marriage, he left me and our daughter for an older woman. I felt so ashamed that I had failed to uphold my mar-riage. I was afraid that everyone would laugh at me, because I chose marriage over school.

Since I had not finished school, I had no means of supporting myself, so I returned to my parents’ house full of shame and regret and an extra mouth to feed. I am grateful that my parents took me in, but I could not just sit at home, so I thought of looking for a job. The only work I could find was domestic help, since I had no educational qualifica-tions. The work allows me to take care of my child, but I know. if I had not chased after marriage, I would be in a better place.

My advice to young girls is that they should take heed of the campaigns being done to stop the early child marriages and to be em-powered through education. I am hoping to go back to school to allow me to give my daughter a better future.

Tafadzwa Chimoto fights for the rights of young women My name is Tafadzwa Chimoto, I am a wom-an aged 25, and I live in Mabvuku. I am a Hope Humana Harare activist and I have been working with Hope Harare since 2012. According to my own point of view the child marriage act is a milestone towards ending gender based and domestic violence. As a community member I am glad to have been a part of the fight against early child marriages by working hand in hand with government ministries such as the Ministry of Women Affairs, the Ministry of Community Develop-ment and the Ministry of Youth Develop-ment.

HOPE Harare participated in campaigns against early child marriages and advocated for youths to delay marriage as part of fight against HIV/AIDS. Our efforts encourage the emancipation and empowerment of young girls, so that they are able to fight poverty and make better sexual health decisions. Women of this community greatly support the child marriage act, since they actively participated in workshops and campaigns against child marriages.

Now that the act has been passed, we are actively conducting awareness campaigns in the Chizhange, Mabvuku, Tafara and Caledo-nia communities to uphold the law.

HOPE fights tuberculosis Tuberculosis is a lethal illness caused by bac-teria, and it usually affects the lungs. The disease is particularly dangerous for people already infected by HIV, as they carry a 20-30 times higher risk of contracting tuberculosis. The World Health Organization, WHO, name tuberculosis one of the most lethal diseases in the world. In Zimbabwe, where HOPE works, tuberculosis – or TB as it is often called – caused the death of 21 persons every day in 2014. Tuberculosis is one of the big-gest killers of the HIV-infected, and 68 % of tuberculosis-infected Zimbabweans have AIDS as well. This is why UFF-Humana’s part-ner organization, DAPP Zimbabwe, also works to counteract tuberculosis though HOPE. With funds from the organization TB Alert, our partner organization has employed eight Area Managers, who in turn recruit volun-teers to assist in the work against tuberculo-sis. The participants of this campaign go from door to door to screen and test those, who might be infected by tuberculosis. If a person is found infected, the whole family is tested, and everybody tested positive for tuberculo-sis is also referred to a health clinic for HIV-testing. The Area Managers drive motorbikes to reach remote villages and areas, in order to ensure that everyone in the project’s two districts is informed about the disease.

Global Goal: 90-90-90 In this newspaper, you have read about Getting to Zero, the overall strategy of HOPE Zimbabwe. Also on a global level, work is conducted towards a world free from HIV and AIDS. The aim is that the world must fight off the disease by 2030. UNAIDS, UN’s agency for controlling HIV and AIDS, believe that the fight must be stepped up strongly to avoid the epidemic overtaking the efforts against HIV. UNAIDS now works according to the 90-90-90 strategy, which establishes very ambitious goals for the actions against HIV and AIDS up until 2020. 90-90-90 means that in 2020, 90% of all HIV-infected people – all over the world – shall know they are infect-ed, that 90% of all HIV-infected people shall receive anti-HIV medication, and that 90% of the people on anti-HIV medication shall con-tain such small amounts of virus in their bod-ies that there is only a minimal risk they might infect others. If these goals are achieved in year 2020, calculations show it is possible to fight the epidemic to such an ex-tent that HIV will cause no threat to public health in 2030.

Women with banners and signs protest against child marriages to empower young women and prevent domestic violence.

UFF-Humana’s activities in 2016

16 years fighting HIV/AIDS in Zimbabwe Ulandshjælp fra Folk til Folk - Humana People to People

The World’s Best News Although there are many challenges and problems in the developing countries, there is a lot of worldwide progress, too. The World’s Best News is a campaign by Danida and the UN about development progress. Every year, UFF-Humana supports the World’s Best News by taking part all over Denmark in the campaign’s annual distribu-tion of a free newspaper containing develop-ment stories and good news.

Last year about 100 volunteers from UFF-Humana distributed the free newspaper in 20 Danish towns and cities. This year the campaign day is the 9th of September. Write to elsehanne@uff.dk, or phone 2334 4298, if you would like to take part in the campaign together with UFF-Humana. Read more at www.verdensbedstenyheder.dk.

Children in Denmark learn about children in Africa

With funds from the CISU information grant, UFF-Humana have started the “Children I Denmark learn about children in Zimbabwe” project and have published the children’s book “Mr. Sock’s journey to Zimbabwe”. The project has been presented and completed with children in primary schools in Denmark. The purpose of the project is to teach chil-dren between the ages of 5 and 8 about the daily life, including family relations and school, of children in Zimbabwe. The book is based on conversations and stories with sev-en Zimbabwean children from HOPE in Zim-babwe. Besides the book, which contains drawings and tasks, there is also a guide for the teachers.

To get hold of the materials, send an e-mail to: elsehanne@uff.dk

Help fight AIDS Contributions thankfully accepted:

Account: 3205 – 4958700755

Contact reg. collection:

Else Hanne Henriksen

Ulandshjælp fra Folk til Folk

Humana People to People

Ndr. Strandvej 119 A

3150 Hellebæk

Phone: 23 34 42 98

elsehanne@uff.dk, www.uff.dk

Clothes collection helps people and the planet When you hand in your clothes and textiles to one of UFF-Humana’s containers, by far the biggest part is reused as clothing, pri-marily in developing countries but also in Europe. Clothes that cannot be used again are sent for recycling or combustion with energy production. For information regard-ing your nearest container visit uff.dk or call UFF-Humana at tlf: 23 65 67 30

Humana Day For the seventh year in a row the Humana People to People organizations in Europe celebrate Humana Day, this year during the two last weeks of September. This year’s theme is “Quality education for develop-ment”, which is also one the UN’s 17 global goals, approved by 193 member states, in-cluding Denmark. UFF-Humana will arrange events in Århus and Roskilde celebrating this year’s Humana Day. Visit the “news” section on uff.dk to read more about the events.

Reuse for development In the spring 2016 UFF-Humana sent 2 ship-ping containers to our partner ADPP in Guin-ea Bissau. Volunteers from the Emergency Depot in Næstved packed the containers with donated furniture for schools, comput-ers, bikes and more. The donations will in part be used in the Farmers’ Club project in Oio, which includes 2600 farmers.

Read more at uff.dk

Here are the United Nations’ 17 new global goals, approved in September 2015 by the largest assembly of heads of state ever. The global goals do not solely concern developing countries, but are designed to set the framework for the development of the whole world towards the year 2030.