http://www.irinnews.org/irin-fp.aspxUpdated everydayen-gbFri, 31 Jul 2009 16:54:01 GMTNAIROBI Thursday, July 30, 2009 (IRIN) - At the community centre in Mukuru, a slum in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, teenagers spend hours engrossed in a video game, but they are not battling other-worldly forces with super-human weapons; instead, they are finding their way through a familiar-looking city, trying to negotiate real-life situations and learn how to avoid HIV infection.NAIROBI Thursday, July 30, 2009 (IRIN) - At the community centre in Mukuru, a slum in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, teenagers spend hours engrossed in a video game, but they are not battling other-worldly forces with super-human weapons; instead, they are finding their way through a familiar-looking city, trying to negotiate real-life situations and learn how to avoid HIV infection.

"Pamoja Mtaani", Swahili for "Together in the Hood", is the first multi-player PC video game to try to teach young people how to avoid HIV infection. Players assume the identity of one of five characters who find themselves car-jacked in a matatu (minibus taxi) and attempt to recover their stolen goods and save an injured woman. Through a series of sub-plots, the players are put into positions where the decisions they make can put them at risk of contracting or preventing HIV infection.

"You are able to relate to the behaviour of any one of the characters in the video game and you are able to discard bad behaviour … [such as] using drugs because you can actually see drug abuse leads that particular character into acquiring HIV due to recklessness," said Perpetua Nduku, one of the young people at the Mukuru community centre, which is visited by about 35 teens a day - 50 a day at the weekend.

The game targets young people aged between 15 and 19 and focuses on five key behaviours that can reduce HIV infections among youth: delaying the onset of sexual activity, abstinence, avoiding multiple sex partners, correct and consistent condom use, and uptake of voluntary counselling and testing services.

Local hip-hop artists provide the authentically local, urban soundtrack, and the characters in the game speak Sheng, a mix of Swahili and English commonly used by urban youth.

"I can now negotiate condom use with my boyfriend and I can tell any other girl who has never been here how to do it because the language used [in the video game] is the same language I would normally use with my boyfriend or with any other person," said 20-year-old Grace Wangeci.

The game was developed by Warner Bros Entertainment in partnership with the US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). The Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria recently gave Warner Bros Entertainment a business excellence award for Pamoja Mtaani.

Launched in December 2008, the game is available at four sites in Nairobi; following a review in June 2009, PEPFAR and its local partners now plan to extend the game around the capital and country-wide.

Job Akuno, technical adviser for comprehensive prevention programmes at Hope Worldwide Kenya, which runs the community centre in Mukuru, says young people in the area have embraced the game and learned from it, underlining the need to find more engaging ways to inform the youth about HIV.

"Using the video games provides a platform for reaching out to the youth in a creative way and which is enjoyable to them," he said, adding that the game's features had broader messages, such as teaching young women to stand up for their rights and improve their self-esteem.

Kenya's national HIV/AIDS strategy considers youth aged between 15 and 24 "most-at-risk"; young women have an HIV prevalence of 6.1 percent, four times higher than their male counterparts. Studies have shown that although knowledge of HIV/AIDS among the youth is high, many young people continue to engage in risky behaviour, such as having multiple sexual partners and inconsistent condom use.

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=85493BAGHDAD Thursday, July 30, 2009 (IRIN) - Slum dwellers and local NGOs have welcomed the partnership between the government and the UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT) to improve service delivery, reduce poverty and create employment in slums.BAGHDAD Thursday, July 30, 2009 (IRIN) - Slum dwellers and local NGOs have welcomed the partnership between the government and the UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT) to improve service delivery, reduce poverty and create employment in slums.

"This is really good news; we hope it will put an end to our chronic suffering," said Dhia Hameed Mansour, 46, who works at a grocery in the slums of Baghdad's Sadr City. "Our potable water is often mixed with sewage, our houses are flooded when it rains and we have less than 10 hours of electricity a day.

"For years, we've not breathed fresh air, [but only] smelled sewage and [rubbish] has piled up in our neighbourhood. Even the parks have been turned into garbage dumps where sometimes we burn it when government garbage cleaners do not show up," he said.

Mansour is among some 2.5 million people living in this eastern suburb of Baghdad, about 21 sqkm accommodating the largest concentration of Shias in Iraq, mostly in cramped houses packed along narrow alleyways.

Mounds of festering rubbish grow higher. Small canals are clogged with sewage, producing an overwhelming stench. Power outages are common and much of the area lacks clean drinking water.

Ahmed Mahdi, head of the Karbala-based al-Ghad (Tomorrow) NGO, said: "I think the UN agencies' presence along with the Iraqi government is vital to prepare a guideline for government operations and help them put strategic plans [into place].

"The previous regime lacked a vision for the city's planning while billions of dollars have been wasted since 2003 without bringing anything and that is [largely] because of the absence of strategic plans and widespread corruption," Mahdi said.

On 27 July, UN-HABITAT launched its three-year US$70 million Country Programme for 2009-2011, which will focus on providing technical assistance and capacity-building for urban governance, housing and infrastructure and basic services to ministries and local authorities.

In its programme document, UN-HABITAT states that Iraq is facing a severe urban housing shortage of at least 1.5 million units, with the total housing stock of about 2.8 million units well below the minimum requirement.

"The quality of housing has decreased significantly over the past 15 years due to overcrowding and inadequate maintenance," the report states. "More than 60 percent of the population live in dwellings that require major rehabilitation."

It also listed common problems such as stagnant water, open sewage outlets, rubbish and dirt, as well as insecurity, insufficient light and ventilation.

Only half of Iraq's 25 million people have access to regular safe water supplies and 9 percent of the urban population outside Baghdad have access to sewage collection and treatment services, the report states.

"The cities in Iraq, therefore, embody the country's most pressing development challenges, including proliferation of slum-like settlements, unemployment and increased economic and social disparities," the Planning and Development Cooperation Minister said in the report.

As well as the Planning Ministry, the programme will be implemented with the Construction and Housing, Municipalities and Public Works, Education, Displacement and Migration ministries.

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=85497MAIDUGURI Wednesday, July 29, 2009 (IRIN) - Government emergency management teams in Nigeria are distributing blankets and water to thousands of people displaced from the northeastern city of Maiduguri following clashes between an armed group calling for strict Islamic rule and Nigerian security forces. MAIDUGURI Wednesday, July 29, 2009 (IRIN) - Government emergency management teams in Nigeria are distributing blankets and water to thousands of people displaced from the northeastern city of Maiduguri following clashes between an armed group calling for strict Islamic rule and Nigerian security forces.

Remaining residents are holed up in their homes and goods at local shops are scarce.

Violence broke out on 26 July when members of the group, known locally as the Nigerian Taliban or as Boko Haram, attacked a police station in Bauchi state following the arrest of some of their leaders. Clashes spread to Yobe, Kano and Borno states in the following days.

On 28 July some 3,000 people fled Bayan Quarters, a Maiduguri neighbourhood where the latest round of fighting took place, and though many have returned home, others are now sheltering in the Maimalari and Giwa army barracks on the outskirts of the city, residents told IRIN.

Nigerian Red Cross workers are distributing plastic sheeting and food to some of the displaced, using local Red Cross stocks. The relief workers are assessing conditions in the three affected states, according to disaster manager Attah Benson.

Most people fled after security forces shelled the group’s headquarters and home of its leader Mohammed Yusuf, in response to the group’s attack on police headquarters on 27 July, Maiduguri police official Isa Azare told IRIN.

The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has also sent a relief team to nearby Bauchi state, director Mohammed Audu-bida said in a 28 July communiqué.

Most of Maiduguri’s streets were deserted on 29 July as remaining residents have locked themselves in their houses.

“All the markets and shops remain closed due to the fighting,” resident Suauwalu Hamisu told IRIN. “Neighbourhood shops are running out of supplies.”

Maiduguri government worker Shafiu Mohamed told IRIN: “I fled with my wife and six children to this hotel to escape the battle that is going on in my neighbourhood. I pray the fighting will stop soon so can return to my house.”

Security forces have shot suspected members of the extremist group, according to eye-witnesses. Press reports say over 300 people have died across the four states, most of them in Maiduguri.

A Maiduguri policeman who requested anonymity told IRIN he counted 197 dead “militants” and nine dead police officials – five of them trainees from a police college.

On 28 July Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua ordered security agencies to “take all necessary action” to suppress the attacks.

Police official Azare told IRIN: “We just want the violence to stop. We have a delicate situation on our hands. We are fighting a daring and fearless group of extremists…they were so daring they attacked our headquarters. They came armed in their hundreds and we had to fight hard to repel them.”

Tensions have reportedly been mounting between Yusuf’s followers and the local authorities, with threats and raids occurring in recent weeks, according to local press reports.

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=85486YAOUNDE Wednesday, July 29, 2009 (IRIN) - Ousmanou, 13, has lived in the streets of Cameroon’s political capital Yaoundé for four months. He and his brother used to live with their grandmother in the northern city of Maroua but she could not afford to feed them properly.YAOUNDE Wednesday, July 29, 2009 (IRIN) - Ousmanou, 13, has lived in the streets of Cameroon’s political capital Yaoundé for four months. He and his brother used to live with their grandmother in the northern city of Maroua but she could not afford to feed them properly.

Now Ousmanou often forages for food in trash bins.

“We often have no choice but to search the garbage for something to eat,” he told IRIN, nursing an arm injury for which he said he cannot afford to see a doctor. He said he has been unable to find work as he had hoped and has turned to begging.

Ousmanou is among what authorities say is a growing number of street children in Cameroon’s cities. Despite the country's relative stability and substantial natural resources, about 40 percent of the people live in poverty – most of them in rural areas – with the number of those unable to meet basic needs rising in the past few years, according to the government.

Some 430 children aged four to 18 live in the streets of Yaoundé and the commercial capital Douala, according to government statistics as of December 2008. Authorities estimate that 7 percent are girls.

Under a project launched in 2007 the government has helped 119 street children reunite with their families, with 62 of the children returning to school, according to Luc André Bayomock with the Ministry of Social Affairs.

The government's ongoing programme to bring children off the streets requires significant time and resources including skilled social services workers and food and shelter for children during the process, Bayomock said. The Social Affairs Ministry is seeking partnerships with humanitarian agencies and with other ministries to boost these resources, he told IRIN.

Reasons for children ending up in the streets vary, from economic hardship to family conflicts to peer pressure, according to ministry interviews with children. Many children in Yaoundé told IRIN they left home desperate to find work, their families unable to support them. But most said they regret their decision, having hit a dead end.

Street youths sleeping alongside a road in Cameroon's political capital Yaoundé
B. Simon, 15, who ran away from home two months ago and lives in the streets, told IRIN: “Initially I was excited by the idea of finally being free. I thought I was finally going to do whatever I wished, but little by little I understood that life in the streets is difficult. It is horrible."

Some of the youths IRIN spoke to in Yaoundé are from neighbouring countries, where Cameroon is seen by many as a sure route to employment.

“A friend advised me to come to Cameroon, telling me there is work and money to be had here,” 18-year-old Moussa, a native of Nigeria, told IRIN. “But since I arrived [two months ago], I have seen nothing of that.”

The Cameroon government says a lack of jobs is one of the main causes of poverty in the country.

Ousmanou said he is eager to return home to northern Cameroon, despite what he calls “too much suffering there”, but for now does not have the means.

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=85492JOHANNESBURG Thursday, July 23, 2009 (IRIN) - Protesters have again brought violence to township streets throughout South Africa over state failure to deliver on longstanding promises of housing and social services for all, but the discontent and frustration run much deeper. JOHANNESBURG Thursday, July 23, 2009 (IRIN) - Protesters have again brought violence to township streets throughout South Africa over state failure to deliver on longstanding promises of housing and social services for all, but the discontent and frustration run much deeper.

In the depths of an unusually cold winter, the poor, feeling increasingly marginalized economically, socially and politically, and the government seemingly unwilling to listen, let alone act, are seeing protest as the only viable alternative.

"It's like violence is the only thing the government listens to," Adele Kirsten, executive director of the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation (CSVR), told IRIN.

"This is worrying but not surprising," Kirsten said. Service delivery backlogs and related protests had long been common in South Africa, but the sudden surge since the beginning of July and the high levels of violence had been exceptional.

By 23 July the media had reported widespread violent protests in the provinces of Mpumalanga, Gauteng, North West and Western Cape over poor access to housing, electricity, water and health care.

Although the country has made some progress in improving housing and access to utilities like clean water, hundreds of thousands of people still live in abject poverty in vast shantytowns, and many expressed their anger and disappointment in clashes with police, burning tyres and throwing stones at passing vehicles.

An inherited problem is still a problem

The election in March of President Jacob Zuma - hailed as 'a man of the people' - brought "high levels of expectation and excitement", and the popular hope was that Zuma and the African National Congress (ANC), which has held power since 1994, would now "translate rhetoric into practice", so the poor would find representation and sympathy for their plight, Kirsten said.

But many voters, like Vusi Mthembe, who lives in Thokoza, a dusty township about 50km east of Johannesburg and the site of recent violent protests, have run out of patience. "We vote for this and then nothing – no toilet, no running water. It seems as if they are cheating us," he told IRIN.

Community-level government officials, often viewed as self-serving and inherently corrupt, have left much undone; people have felt excluded from political decision-making, their predicament unheard, their needs unmet.

"Before the election you see the councillors; after the election they just vanish. They promise us something and thereafter disappear; there is no one to talk to about what is going on here [where we live]," Mthembe said.

Loren Landau, Director of the Forced Migration Studies Programme at the University of the Witwatersrand, commented: "Where councillors are afraid to visit the communities they represent, and members of parliament (MPs) are chosen by the ANC's executive committee with little popular consultation, it is little wonder that people resort to violence to draw attention to their concerns."

A vicious circle

In Landau's view, "What's going on now reflects two governance challenges that have gone unaddressed for too long: the first is less about service delivery than about managing expectations, and encouraging people to express their grievances (legitimate or otherwise) peacefully through community or political institutions."

The second concerned the treatment of non-nationals in contentious communities, and a growing fear that violent protesters would increasingly target foreigners, often blamed for "stealing" jobs, women and houses.

The xenophobic violence that swept through South Africa in 2008 - killing at least 62 people and displacing 100,000 others - would return if nothing was done to address its root causes.

"Many people will say we learned no lessons from last year's violence. I would disagree. What we have learned is that you can assault, extort, rob, or murder non-nationals without facing any consequences," Landau warned. Xenophobic incidents occurred during July 2009 in the town of Balfour, Mpumalanga Province.

Official reaction to the latest violence has been disappointing, raising fears that protesting South Africans would become further alienated from their government: "So far there has been no clear political response to this," said CSVR's Kirsten.

Instead of real engagement, police fired rubber bullets and teargas in a crackdown on protesters, while politicians expressed scant tolerance for their grievances, perceived by many as legitimate.

"We cannot allow anybody to use illegal means to achieve their objectives. Anything that is done must be done within the law and constitution," the Minister of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Sicelo Shiceka, said on Talk Radio 702, a local radio station.

This does not offer much hope to the cold and desperate people in Thokoza. Dudu Ntomo, who has spent most of her life in the shantytown, told IRIN: "It just goes round and round here, nothing changes - there's no toilet, no tap, no houses – this place is just not right."

tdm/llg/hehttp://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=85408DAKAR Wednesday, July 22, 2009 (IRIN) - Nigerian police and military forces killed 130 civilians, mostly young Muslim men, and must urgently investigate the matter, Human Rights Watch (HRW) told a judicial commission of inquiry into the violence in Plateau State in November 2008.DAKAR Wednesday, July 22, 2009 (IRIN) - Nigerian police and military forces killed 130 civilians, mostly young Muslim men, and must urgently investigate the matter, Human Rights Watch (HRW) told a judicial commission of inquiry into the violence in Plateau State in November 2008.

More than 700 people were killed in Plateau's capital, Jos, during clashes between Muslim and Christian mobs on 28 and 29 November.

While most of the inter-communal violence took place on 28 November, the vast majority of killings by security forces occurred on 29 November after Plateau State Governor Jonah Jang ordered forces to "shoot-on-sight", HRW said in a 20 July report.

Muslim witnesses said Christians destroyed 22 mosques, 15 Islamic schools and hundreds of Muslim businesses; Christian witnesses said Muslim youths besieged and burned up to 46 churches and hundreds of Christian homes, and killed seven church leaders.

HRW called on the authorities to investigate the killings; to determine the consequences of the "shoot-on-sight" order; and arrest and prosecute the perpetrators and organizers of the violence.

Army spokesperson, Brigadier General Emeka Onwuamaegbu, told HRW "Our soldiers went out with very strict instructions to use minimum force and follow the rules of engagement."

Since the report was launched army spokespeople told HRW that they are taking the findings seriously and waiting for the commission of inquiry's recommendations.

Jos police spokesperson Mohamed Lerama told IRIN the central police authority will put out a statement in response to the commission's findings once they are finalized.

It was still "too early to see" if the government would hold perpetrators of the violence responsible, said HRW researcher Eric Guttschuss, who warned: "Unless federal and state government take aggressive steps to do so, it will just embolden perpetrators to carry out further human rights abuses."

Up to 12,000 people have died in ethno-religious inter-communal clashes since 1999, said HRW. One thousand people were killed during sectarian clashes in Jos in September 2001, and a further 700 lives were lost in the town of Yelwa, in northwestern Kebbi State, in March 2004. Hundreds of businesses and homes were burned in sectarian clashes in Niger State three months ago.

Root causes

HRW also called on the federal and state governments to address the root causes of conflict, one of which, they said, was government discrimination against "non-indigenes", or people who cannot trace their ancestry back to the original inhabitants of an area. This practice bans millions from accessing state and local government jobs, and admission to university.

The November 2008 violence followed a disputed local government election pitting predominantly Christian "indigenes", who largely supported a Christian candidate for the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP), against Muslim "non-indigenes", who largely backed the Muslim candidate of the opposition All Nigeria People's Party (ANPP).

"Religious, political and ethnic disputes often serve as proxies for the severe economic pressures that lie beneath the surface in Nigeria," said the HRW report.

Guttschuss said the rights group has been pushing for a reversal of the indigene policy since 2001, but "in eight years of repeated outbreaks of violence we have seen little action by the federal or state government to address the issue."

National legislation on relaxing the indigene policy was drafted many years ago, but never reached committee level.

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=85388DAKAR Monday, July 20, 2009 (IRIN) - Below is a timeline outlining the arrests and detention of prominent journalists in Gambia over recent years, as reported by Reporters without Borders and Amnesty International. DAKAR Monday, July 20, 2009 (IRIN) - Below is a timeline outlining the arrests and detention of prominent journalists in Gambia over recent years, as reported by Reporters without Borders and Amnesty International.

2009
June- July
On 12 June seven reporters - The Point’s Pap Saine, Pa Modou Faal and Ebrima Sawaneh; the Gambia Press Union’s Abubacarr Saidykhan, Bai Emil Touray, and vice-president Sarata Jabbi Dibba, and Sam Sarr of Foroyaa - arrested and charged for seditious publication and criminal defamation, among other counts. The arrests cause NGO Committee to Protect Journalists to accuse the President of “an unprecedented level of intimidation and detention of Gambian journalists by national security forces”. The hearing proceeds on 20 July

2008
5 June
ECOWAS Community Court of Justice orders government to release missing journalist Ebrima Manneh and pay his family damages of US$100,000. Government continues to deny knowledge of his whereabouts and does not pay fine.

2007
October
Yaya Dath, Foroyaa journalist, and two Amnesty International officials arrested on suspicion of spying, after visiting an opposition politician who had been held in detention for more than a year. All three released on bail.

September
Mam Sait Ceesay, communications director of Gambian presidency, and Malick Jones, chief producer of state-run Gambia Radio and Television Services, arrested for allegedly having informed Daily Observer of supposed sacking of President’s press director, which turned out to be false. Both are acquitted and released in May 2008.

March
US resident Fatou Jaw Manneh, former journalist with pro-government Daily Observer, arrested.

2006
September
President Yahyah Jammeh re-elected.

July
“Chief” Ebrima Manneh, reporter for the Daily Observer, is taken into custody. He has since disappeared.

June
Intelligence services publish confidential report on investigations into murder of journalist Deyda Hydara in 2004.

Former editor of Daily Observer and BBC journalist, Lamin Cham detained.

May
Malik Mboob, Daily Observer reporter, arrested by the National Intelligence Services and detailed for 139 days. He was fired on release.

March-April
A foiled coup attempt on Jammeh leads to 59 arrests, including several journalists. Gambia police close The Independent, after it incorrectly names a former interior minister among 23 people arrested for plotting a coup. The paper printed a front-page retraction the next day.

The Independent’s editor and managing editor Musa Saidykhan and Madi Ceesay arrested and held in detention for three weeks before being released; both said they were tortured. Lamin Fatty, Independent reporter, The Independent, arrested and released in June 2007.

March
Doudou Sanneh with Gambia Radio Television Services detained and then fired after his release.

2004
December
Deyda Hydara, co-owner of The Point, and Banjul correspondent for Agence France Presse and Reporters Without Borders (RSF), murdered in his car by a gunman in an unmarked car, according to RSF. It said: “A new threshold has been crossed in violence against journalists in this country [The Gambia].” The authorities deny any responsibility

Controversial government media commission was disbanded. The next day two laws - the Criminal Amendment Act and the Newspaper Amendment Act – adopted, making all press offences punishable by imprisonment and raising the cost of a licence to publish a newspaper.

August
Home of BBC stringer Ebrahima Sillah set alight.

Ongoing
Legal battle continued between government and Gambia Press Union, which had been resisting media commission, which had the power to grant or refuse publishing permits; issue rulings in conflicts involving journalists; and impose sanctions on journalists, ranging from the suspension of press passes to prison sentences.

2003
October
Premises of The Independent set on fire with limited damage.

September
Abdoulie Sey, editor of The Independent, detained by National Intelligence Agency officers; released a week later.

Media commission orders news media and journalists to register with the commission or risk being fined $420.

June
Alhaji Yorro Jallow, managing editor of The Independent, arrested by two NIA agents and interrogated about a report.

Government sets up a media commission to strengthen the independence and professionalism of the news media but retaining far-reaching powers to control and sanction the press.

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=85352JOHANNESBURG Thursday, July 16, 2009 (IRIN) - Dear subscriber, PlusNews, the HIV/AIDS news service produced by the UN's Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN), would like to invite you to participate in a short survey to evaluate and improve the service.JOHANNESBURG Thursday, July 16, 2009 (IRIN) - Dear subscriber,

PlusNews, the HIV/AIDS news service produced by the UN's Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN), would like to invite you to participate in a short survey to evaluate and improve the service.

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=85310KABUL Wednesday, July 15, 2009 (IRIN) - Most people in the Afghan capital Kabul live in illegal, unplanned and sub-standard houses that are prone to natural disasters and lack water and sanitation facilities, according to government officials.KABUL Wednesday, July 15, 2009 (IRIN) - Most people in the Afghan capital Kabul live in illegal, unplanned and sub-standard houses that are prone to natural disasters and lack water and sanitation facilities, according to government officials.

"Of the [estimated] five million people currently living in Kabul, at least three million are residing in illegal and unplanned houses," Abdul Wahab Sadaat, deputy director of city services at the Kabul Municipality, told IRIN.

"These houses - which make up about 75 percent of the houses in Kabul - are also vulnerable to earthquake, floods and other natural disasters," said Sadaat.

Over the past seven years some militia commanders and powerful groups have seized and sold public property and land, creating a crisis of unregulated urbanization in the capital, officials in the municipality and in the Ministry of Urban Development said.

The rapid and mostly unplanned urbanization in Kabul has brought about serious environmental, health and social problems [http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75508].

The population of Kabul has grown substantially, from about one million in 2001 to about five million in 2009, exhausting the city's already limited natural resources, particularly underground water reserves, say government and independent specialists.

"Should the use of underground water continue at its current pace, by 2020 the capital will suffer a serious water shortage," said Noor Ahmad Jawad, a meteorologist at Kabul University.

Meanwhile, many of the mushrooming squatter communities lack water, proper sanitation and health facilities, while waste management in Kabul is becoming a major concern [http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73691].

Rapid population growth and urbanization, coupled with limited resources, have put a heavy burden on Kabul's environment and air quality which, according to health officials, hastens the death of more than 3,000 people annually [http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=82639].

"Greater Kabul"

Officials privately concede they are unable to resolve the crisis of illegal houses in Kabul because of the magnitude of the problem involving millions of people and the involvement of influential individuals who have profited from unregulated urbanization.

Instead, the government and several private companies have drawn up plans for a "Greater Kabul", which is expected to be built on 740 sqkm to the northeast of the city in the next 15-20 years.

"The new, greater Kabul plan addresses all the shortages and problems which we currently have in Kabul city," said Sadaat.

The new city, which will accommodate 1.5 million people initially and three million in the long run, will require US$35.5 billion over 16 years, of which $24 billion should come from the private sector and $11.5 billion from the government and donors, according to officials.

The population in Kabul is predicted to surpass eight million by 2025.

The new city looks good on the map, but specialists question whether the people who have built illegal and sub-standard houses in Kabul will be willing or able to pay for new houses in the greater Kabul.

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=85286JOHANNESBURG Tuesday, July 14, 2009 (IRIN) - The growing number of accidental explosions in military arms and ammunition storage facilities across Africa has highlighted the need for minimum standards in stockpile management in the continent, says a South Africa-based think-tank.JOHANNESBURG Tuesday, July 14, 2009 (IRIN) - The growing number of accidental explosions in military arms and ammunition storage facilities across Africa has highlighted the need for minimum standards in stockpile management in the continent, says a South Africa-based think-tank.

"These ammunition stockpiles pose a significant threat and have enduring consequences in vulnerable and fragile societies, and as such need to be adequately managed and/or disposed of by making use of the correct mechanisms and best practice guidelines," the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) noted in the latest of a series of reports on munitions storage.

"Arms and ammunition stockpiles are becoming increasingly unstable due to age and, in many cases, unintentional mismanagement," Ben Coetzee, Senior Researcher at the ISS Arms Management Programme, told IRIN.

"Since 2007 several explosions occurred in Mozambique and at least one in Tanzania, resulting in hundreds of injuries and many deaths. Seen in this light, there is an urgent need to re-evaluate the current principles of ammunition stockpile management."

In the past decade there have also been accidental explosions in military storage facilities in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, Guinea, Nigeria, Angola and Sierra Leone.

tdm/hehttp://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=85271JOHANNESBURG Monday, July 13, 2009 (IRIN) - The number of poor and food-insecure people in developing countries is increasing more quickly in urban areas than in rural areas, and could be dropping off the policy radar, says new research by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). JOHANNESBURG Monday, July 13, 2009 (IRIN) - The number of poor and food-insecure people in developing countries is increasing more quickly in urban areas than in rural areas, and could be dropping off the policy radar, says new research by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).

"Poverty is still viewed by many as a rural problem, as both governments and donors continue to allocate resources to rural development in order to reverse the bias of urban policies of the 1970s and 1980s," Shahla Shapouri and Stacey Rosen, researchers in the department's Economic Research Services, write in the USDA's Food Security Assessment 2008-09.

In 2008, when the food crisis focused greater attention on agriculture and development in rural areas, for the first time in history more than half the world's population lived in urban areas, the researchers said, citing UN Population Fund (UNFPA) statistics.

By 2030 the majority of people in all developing countries will live in urban areas, and UNFPA estimates that about 60 percent of the urban slum population will be under the age of 18. "This realization has not yet translated into policy action in most countries," Shapouri and Rosen noted.

Sub-Saharan African countries have the world's highest rates of urban growth and highest levels of urban poverty, according to the State of the World's Cities Report 2006/07 by UN-Habitat, the UN human settlements programme. The slum population in these countries doubled from 1990 to 2005, when it reached 200 million.

The urban poor in Africa are more exposed to economic shocks - as the food price crisis in 2008 demonstrated - particularly in countries importing most of their food requirements.

In lower-income Latin American and Caribbean countries, 45 percent of total grain supplies between 2004 and 2006 were imported, compared to 31 percent in sub-Saharan Africa, and 12 percent in lower-income Asian countries.

"Poor and food-insecure people will account for a large share of urban growth because of both rural migration and natural growth, since fertility rates are higher among the poor than among higher income populations," the researchers pointed out.

"These developments will translate to higher poverty and more food insecurity in urban versus rural areas, and present a challenge to create employment opportunities for the urban poor."

Trying to find a solution

Countries like India and China are trying to implement programmes to slow the pace of urbanization; in sub-Saharan Africa, "governments have increased investment in rural development with the expectation that this will slow the pace of urban migration, but so far there is no evidence to suggest that this will happen," Shapouri and Rosen warned.

"Can the experience of the developed countries that adjusted and accommodated high urban growth rates be replicated by developing countries? The answer is not simple because of the differences in public attention and investment."

In days gone by, the wealthy urban population in developed countries forced the authorities to devote attention to poor living conditions in local slums.

However, the rich in developing countries can now afford water pumps and generators for electricity, "thereby protecting themselves from the unhealthy conditions of the urban poor. That schism reduces pressure on developing country governments to invest in urban public services, of which the poor are the main beneficiaries."

Improved safety-net systems to help cope with food insecurity and economic shocks are likely to become more important as the urban population increases.
Some countries are promoting urban gardening, but limited access to clean water and high population density pose the risk of contamination, the researchers cautioned.

Health hazards emanating from food in urban areas are a critical concern: buying pre-cooked food from street vendors, close contact between humans and poultry and other domestic animals for slaughter, and generally unhygienic conditions in urban markets can have significant health consequences, as has become apparent in China and various countries in Southeast Asia in recent years.

Shapouri and Rosen said quality control and urban agriculture could contribute to a healthier, safer living environment, and recommended improvements in infrastructure that would allow the efficient flow of food into cities from the countryside and via imports.

jk/he http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=85265JOHANNESBURG Friday, July 10, 2009 (IRIN) - Girls who have been orphaned may be twice as likely to experience sexual abuse, according to research from child-friendly clinics in Zimbabwe's capital, Harare. JOHANNESBURG Friday, July 10, 2009 (IRIN) - Girls who have been orphaned may be twice as likely to experience sexual abuse, according to research from child-friendly clinics in Zimbabwe's capital, Harare.

Dr Eunice Lyn Garura, director of the Family Support Trust, an NGO operating clinics for survivors of sexual abuse, said 30 percent of the predominantly female clients were orphans who had lost both parents. The Trust runs four clinics, including one in Harare Central Hospital, which caters to some of the city's high-density areas.

Research showed that vulnerability had been exacerbated by government "clean-up" efforts, such as Operation Murambatsvina, which forcibly removed many orphaned and vulnerable children (OVC) and their families from their homes and left them living on the street. Greater numbers of children coming to the clinic reported abuse, and higher percentages reported they had been raped or abused by strangers.

Delays in disclosing mean delays in treatment

Almost 90 percent of orphans arrived at Harare Central Hospital clinic too late for post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP), which must be administered within 72 hours of HIV exposure to prevent infection, said Garura, who presented her findings at the Sexual Violence Research Initiative Forum in Johannesburg, South Africa, this week.

The delay was often due to the children's difficulty in disclosing abuse, usually to older female relatives such as mothers, aunts or grandmothers. "Young children can't verbalise when abuse has taken place, and it takes time for them to disclose," she told IRIN/PlusNews. "Often, we adults don't want to believe this could happen to my child ... there's ... denial."

Teenage girls, the highest percentage of clinic users, were also hesitant to disclose abuse - often by their boyfriends - for fear of admitting to relatives that they were sexually active.

About six percent of the children participating in the research were found to be HIV-positive after suffering abuse, but researchers could not say whether their status was as a direct consequence.

Garura warned that HIV prevalence among the survivors was likely to be higher, as many children were tested in the "window period", before HIV tests were likely to detect infection.

She called for more research on the possible links between orphanhood and vulnerability and sexual abuse among Zimbabwe's children, who were experiencing economic conditions unprecedented in the country's history.

llg/kn/he http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=85229MONROVIA Thursday, July 09, 2009 (IRIN) - As an angry debate rages over the 200-plus people recommended for prosecution by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), an independent body set up as part of the 2003 peace agreement, civil society groups warn its many other recommendations risk being overlooked. MONROVIA Thursday, July 09, 2009 (IRIN) - As an angry debate rages over the 200-plus people recommended for prosecution by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), an independent body set up under the 2003 peace agreement, civil society groups warn its many other recommendations risk being overlooked.

The final TRC report also recommended President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf be barred from public office for 30 years once her presidential term runs out in 2011 because she failed to express remorse for her support for Charles Taylor –now on trial for war crimes– in the late 1980s.

Several TRC commissioners have received death threats following the report’s release, one commissioner confirmed to IRIN.

“The biggest tragedy is the attention this [fracas] is giving to the perpetrators of war crimes, but the benefit of the TRC is to give victims a voice and to give society a chance to respond to their needs,” said Lizzie Goodfriend, programme associate at International Center for Transitional Justice (the ICTJ), a non-profit with an office in the capital, Monrovia, which helps countries pursue accountability for past mass atrocities.

“Our biggest concern is that the entire report be subject to the scrutiny the prosecutions’ controversy is getting.”

TRC spokesperson James Keargoi told IRIN: “Anyone who reads the whole report will see a very comprehensive list of recommendations that are essential to building peace – a review of government structures, a conflict-resolution forum in towns and villages, and reparations to victims of crime. The focus on all of these has been lost.”

The government must set up a human rights commission immediately, he added, to start implementing all of the report’s recommendations – not just prosecutions.

Deputy Information Minister Gabriel Williams told IRIN the government welcomes the TRC report and will do everything it can to bring forward its peace building proposals.

At a 6 July press conference, seven former warlords, most of them signatories to the 2003 Liberia Comprehensive Peace Agreement, declared the TRC’s report as “anti-peace”, claiming it sought to undermine democratic government and stability in Liberia.

Former warlord Sando Johnson, cousin to Charles Taylor, who was accused by the TRC of serving as a recruiting officer for Taylor’s forces, told reporters the report was biased: “We will not let this go down…it is the TRC that has invited confusion and if the government does not get involved, I can promise you one thing: this Sando Johnson and all other persons will not succumb.”

Several of the former warlords said they had not had an opportunity to come face-to-face with their victims to apologize and move towards reconciliation.

But the TRC’s Keargoi said though former warlords may not have had one-on-one opportunities: “The TRC had public hearings at which every leader of a warring faction was asked about their role in the conflict. They also had media outlets and other forums in which to take responsibility for their actions. It is incorrect that they did not get a chance to apologize.”

Showing remorse and accepting responsibility for war crimes allowed some prominent rebel fighters to evade a recommendation for prosecution by the TRC.

Deputy minister Williams told IRIN the government is trying to institute the rule of law. “Liberians know the consequences of lawlessness. We want to make it clear this will not be tolerated in Liberia.”

Threats made by the former commander of rebel group Independent National Patriotic Front of Liberia, and now Nimba County senator, Prince Johnson that he would destabilize the country if his name was mentioned in the report, led to a meeting between him and US ambassador Linda Thomas Greenfield at which he clarified he did not intend to promote instability.

Backlash

Following strong language from former warlords, civil society groups, human rights activists and religious leaders have called on Liberians to stop instilling fear and to avoid making threats that counter the 2003 peace agreement.

This is a good sign, said Goodfriend “The most significant thing that this indicates is that Liberians are secure enough in their current peace to take public stances against people who might want to detract from the peace agenda.”

Liberians have no appetite for further instability, said TRC’s Keargoi. “There is always a backlash after a truth and reconciliation report,” he told IRIN. “But Liberians are resolved to move forward with their lives – they won’t let anyone take this country back to the path of war.”

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=85215DAKAR Wednesday, July 08, 2009 (IRIN) - Aid analysts applaud the “courage” of the UK government’s just-released development policy paper (link), which detailed plans to allocate at least half of all new bilateral funding to fragile states, but question how the government can do the job well without shrinking other aid commitments.DAKAR Wednesday, July 08, 2009 (IRIN) - Aid analysts applaud the “courage” of the UK government’s just-released development policy paper, which detailed plans to allocate at least half of all new bilateral funding to fragile states, but question how the government can do the job well without shrinking other aid commitments.

The UK government’s Department for International Development (DFID) White Paper stressed helping fragile and post-conflict states to govern and deliver peace to their citizens by including more support to peace settlements; addressing the causes of conflict and fragility; buttressing security, rule of law and basic services, and; pledging to triple aid for security and justice worldwide by 2014.

Other aid commitments in the 6 July White Paper included education, maternal and newborn health, and a stronger focus on climate change.

“DFID is heading in the right direction,” said Alison Evans director at UK think-tank the Overseas Development Institute (ODI). “But DFID’s desire to extract major savings in operations on the one hand and to support long-term poverty reduction in fragile states on the other is not yet squared away in this White Paper.

“They need to recognize that there are difficult trade-offs here.”

The UK was the world’s third-largest development donor in 2008 after the United States and Germany, committing US$11.4 billion, according to Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. This is expected to increase to $14.6 billion in 2010, the aim being to allocate 0.7 percent of GDP to aid by 2013. Over a third of this will be spent on sub-Saharan Africa – almost three times 2004 levels.

...Fragile states account for one billion people and a third of the world’s poor. We will never eradicate poverty unless we tackle the issues in these countries...
Expensive and long-term

Shoring up fragile states is an expensive long-term project, aid analysts told IRIN, and it is not clear where the additional cash will come from in an era of belt-tightening.

“In the UK, all talk of government spending is currently around cuts and stand-stills. Both [political] parties have said they will increase development spending, but we do not know what is around the corner in the economy or where the new money will come from,” Claire Melamed, head of policy at NGO ActionAid UK, told IRIN.

In post-conflict Sierra Leone, British government support for security sector reform, rehabilitating ex-combatants and shoring up health services began in 2003 and is expected to run until at least 2013, according to Dominic O’Neill, DFID’s Sierra Leone head.

But taking such an in-depth approach in all fragile states can be expensive, said Evans.

“There is the potential for this [prioritizing fragile states] to be a risky, costly undertaking,” added Evans, “But we can’t fault the government’s courage on this one.”

Michael Haig, DFID spokesperson, told IRIN DFID plans to close 10 offices by 2011 in countries that have shown significant improvements due to donor aid, freeing up resources to focus on the most vulnerable.

“Fragile states account for one billion people and a third of the world’s poor. We will never eradicate poverty unless we tackle the issues in these countries,” Haig told IRIN.

Engaging in fragile states is complicated, warned ODI’s Evans. Too often donors create dependency instead of building capacity in weak state institutions, apply heavy-handed rules that can paralyze fragile states, and in worst-case scenarios, do more harm than good.

If donors practiced better division of labour and each focused on limited sectors, they would have a better chance of success, said Evans.

“Engaging in fragile states [requires] heavy doses of humility,” Evans told IRIN. “This White Paper attempts to walk the line between humility and hubris…but [the government] needs to acknowledge that the risks of working in these environments are considerable and need to be carefully managed.”

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=85195HARARE Wednesday, July 08, 2009 (IRIN) - Despite a steady drop in newly registered cases and cholera-related deaths in Zimbabwe, the onset of the summer rainy season in September has aid agencies worried that the disease could spike again, and relief from Africa's worst cholera outbreak in 15 years may be short-lived. HARARE Wednesday, July 08, 2009 (IRIN) - Despite a steady drop in newly registered cases and cholera-related deaths in Zimbabwe, the onset of the summer rainy season in September has aid agencies worried that the disease could spike again, and relief from Africa's worst cholera outbreak in 15 years may be short-lived.

"There are fears of yet another outbreak," Tsitsi Singizi, information Officer of the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), told IRIN. Since cholera was first reported in August 2008, close to 100,000 people have been infected and over 4,000 have died.

Aid agencies have been gearing up for the eventuality of a serious comeback by drilling 200 new boreholes in cholera hotspots, distributing hygiene kits, and sensitization and education efforts to better equip Zimbabweans to cope.

"The water problems which spurred on the outbreak last year [2008] still persist, so as we draw towards the wet season, we are bracing ourselves for another outbreak," Singizi said.

Zimbabwe often records cholera cases during the rainy season, but the economic implosion has meant that the underlying issues responsible for the epidemic - collapsed sewerage systems, poor access to adequate drinking water and continued failure to collect refuse - have yet to be addressed.

"We have started procuring oral rehydration and IV [intravenous] fluids, which are the first line in the defence for someone affected by cholera," Singizi noted.

Too late and too little

"The government has had to scrounge around in order to give the city of Harare [the capital] the money in order to deal with problems associated with water and sanitation. Harare was the epicentre of the cholera outbreak," Finance minister Tendai Biti told IRIN.

"We want to ensure that does not happen [again] as we approach the rain season, so it is a race against time." Biti said he had allotted some US$17 million to the Harare municipality to address the water reticulation and sewerage system issues.

The money will be spent on rehabilitating the capital's water treatment and distribution network and sewerage system. "We hope the city of Harare will be able once again to provide clean water to all its residents, and that cholera will be a thing of the past," he commented.

Water development minister Sam Sipepa Nkomo said it would take at least US$21 million. "That is the correct amount needed to completely overhaul the Harare water and sewerage network. However, this financial injection is a positive development and a step in the right direction."

fd/tdm/hehttp://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=85186JOHANNESBURG Wednesday, June 24, 2009 (IRIN) - The future of reconciliation in Madagascar may hinge on its youth, but their involvement in months of political violence and continued exposure to turmoil has left them embittered and particularly vulnerable, says a new report.JOHANNESBURG Wednesday, June 24, 2009 (IRIN) - The future of reconciliation in Madagascar may hinge on its youth, but their involvement in months of political violence and continued exposure to turmoil has left them embittered and particularly vulnerable, says a new report.

"Adolescents have clearly been in the front line of change but at the same time have been extremely vulnerable to violence and crime," said the report, Pandora's Box: Youth at a Crossroads, compiled by the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and a group of international and local NGOs.

The document gives voice to the views and concerns of some 13,000 adolescent Malagasy in Analamanga, the country's central region where the capital, Antananarivo, is situated, who were interviewed about the impact of the recent political demonstrations that left hundreds dead and thousands injured.

"It is striking how violence has altered their perceptions, and how much anger and frustration this has created," Bruno Maes, UNICEF's Madagascar Representative, told IRIN.

"Could you live here? Who cares if I die? I am not alive anyway," said one interviewee. Another commented: "Every time I hear shooting, my heart beats out of control and I start to shake. My thoughts go to what might happen, and what I would do if members of my family died."

The ongoing standoff between Andre Rajoelina, former mayor of Antananarivo, and ousted President Marc Ravalomanana, began in January 2009 and culminated in what the international community condemned as a "coup-style" change of leadership. Ravalomanana fled into exile in South Africa.

Despite mounting international pressure and numerous mediation attempts, the feuding parties have failed to reach an accommodation, while Madagascar's economy and governance structures are crumbling. "It's absurd. What happened to us? Where are our values? Can't we talk to one another instead of killing?" one interviewee wondered.

"Idiots! You pushed us into a situation from where there is no return. Do you think the youth that were at the barricades will be quiet in the future? Do you think they will care about voting next time? Why should they?" said another.

Morals lost

Researchers explored the effects of the sociopolitical crisis on the lives of young people; the impact on their emotional, psychological, social and educational well-being, and highlighted the gradual erosion of traditional values.

"[The] results are worrying because, in addition to increased violence, youth express a growing division within communities and among peers. Previous experience has shown that violence breeds violence and if we do not act now, it might be too late," Maes warned.

According to the report, "One long-term consequence of this crisis is the difficulty for young people to distinguish what is 'correct' and what is 'incorrect'; what is 'true' and what is' false', as traditional grounding values have been radically altered by recent events."

One interviewee suggested that "The Malagasy people have become aggressive and all fraternity has gone, along with all the development efforts. 'Fihavanana' [the traditional value system] has disappeared." Another was more cynical: "Life on the street has always been a life of misery; now that we can steal without anyone saying anything, it's better."

The youth's perceptions of the crisis pointed to a weakening of the law enforcement and justice structure, opening the door to even greater dangers: easily available drugs, trafficking of children, prostitution, child abuse and the creation of criminal youth gangs, are all finding fertile ground in this volatile situation, the report noted.

Involved but invisible youth

"Youth have held leading roles in the social and political life of Madagascar over recent months: they have taken part in street demonstrations, been involved in the violence, have helped set up roadblocks; they have been victims of violence and crimes, and have found their right to education denied," the authors pointed out.

Yet young people seem to have been largely forgotten in humanitarian interventions. "Caught in a limbo of being neither children nor adults, they are among the first to bear the consequences of violence and aggression," the report commented.

Adolescents revealed mixed feelings about the future: "I think I am scared every day, I fear for my future ... it is a deep fear that cannot be seen from the outside," said one interviewee.

The report proposed urgent interventions by all stakeholders to reduce the exposure of young people to violence by providing an immediate response to their concerns, providing them with personalized services tailored to their age, promoting the values of peace and reconciliation, and increasing their involvement as agents for positive social change.

"Such negative experiences expose young people to long-term risks and the possibility that they become more aggressive," said Maes. "It is possible to reverse this trend; however, this will require immediate and bold action."

tdm/he/oa http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=84988KAMPALA Monday, June 22, 2009 (IRIN) - New HIV prevention campaigns in Uganda are beginning to reflect the complexity of sexual relations, but experts warn they constitute only a small first step.KAMPALA Monday, June 22, 2009 (IRIN) - New HIV prevention campaigns in Uganda are beginning to reflect the complexity of sexual relations, but experts warn they constitute only a small first step.

"Go Red for Fidelity" is one approach; it seeks to encourage faithfulness within marriage or long-term relationships http://www.plusnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=79582, where over 40 percent of new infections reportedly occur.

"The Go Red campaign highlights the complexity of adult sexuality, which is something we haven't really approached before," said Cathy Watson, executive director of the Straight Talk Foundation, a local NGO that produces mass media messages on HIV for young people.

Uganda's much-lauded prevention campaign in the 1990s cut HIV prevalence in the adult population from about 18 percent to roughly six percent in 2000. But over the past few years prevalence has begun to creep up again, currently at around 6.4 percent.

A UNAIDS Modes of Transmission survey http://www.unaidsrstesa.org/files/MoT_0.pdf completed in 2008 found that 43 percent of new HIV infections in Uganda occurred in monogamous relationships, highlighting the need for prevention messages to shift from the traditional target of unmarried youth.

That is the point of "Go Red", according to Monica Ariyo Rukundo, the spokesperson for Program for Accessible Health, Communication and Education (PACE) http://www.pace.org.ug, which runs the campaign in conjunction with the Uganda AIDS Commission (UAC).

"After a strong emphasis on 'zero-grazing' [a campaign promoting faithfulness to one sexual partner] in the 1990s, the focus changed; it stopped being the marrieds," Rukundo said. "This campaign is trying to encourage marriage and promote mutual faithfulness among 25-to-45 year-olds."

Since February 2009, billboards, television and radio spots, wristbands and viral text messages have encouraged Ugandans to be 'Reliable, Exceptional and Dependable'. However, the campaign has been largely limited to the capital, Kampala, and other urban centres.

Other recent public awareness programmes have also tried to deal with the more complex aspects of HIV transmission: an earlier PACE campaign focused on curbing cross-generational sex, while True Manhood, launched in June by local NGO, Young People Empowered and Healthy (YEAH), targets young men and the factors like alcohol abuse and transactional that puts them at high risk.

Campaigns need to go further

But according to Watson, the new campaigns are "just the beginning of a much larger conversation".

They are, for instance, silent on polygamous marriages, despite the UAC reporting that one in three Ugandan women is in a polygamous union.

"If you are entering a polygamous union as the second or third wife, do you insist that both the husband and first and second wife test?" said Watson. "It would be great to have public campaigns addressing it."

"There should be a different twist to the message," noted Professor David Serwadda, dean of the School of Public Health at Kampala's Makerere University. "A woman or man can be faithful, yet still be a great risk from their partner."

"We should move towards testing and counselling couples to prevent infection within families," he added.

And some are still sceptical about a campaign that encourages fidelity in a society where multiple sexual partnerships are so widely accepted.

Aaron Ocen, a 23-year-old "boda boda" (motorcycle taxi) driver in Kampala, remains unconvinced by the Go Red fidelity message: "There will always be people who cannot be faithful, they will not be stopped by this," he said.

Bringing prevention back to the fore

In the recent past prevention campaigns have tended to take a back seat; the Modes of Transmission study found that two-thirds of HIV/AIDS funding in Uganda was spent on treatment and care initiatives.

Leonard Okello, head of the international HIV team for the anti-poverty NGO, ActionAid, warned that unless the government invested in more effective prevention programmes, it was unlikely that prevalence would drop.

"We need to start thinking differently about HIV in order to reduce prevalence and minimise the pandemic's impact," he said. "Otherwise it is like continuing to mop the floor while the tap is still flowing."

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=84944HANOI Wednesday, June 17, 2009 (IRIN) - For Nguyen Cong Tuan, 10, a primary school student in Hanoi, using the toilets at school was a frightening experience. HANOI Wednesday, June 17, 2009 (IRIN) - For Nguyen Cong Tuan, 10, a primary school student in Hanoi, using the toilets at school was a frightening experience.

The filth and stench made him afraid to go near them. So Tuan would wait until he got home; his mother rightly worried that he could develop urinary tract problems.

Yet Tuan could be considered one of the lucky ones - many schools in Vietnam, even in the capital, Hanoi, lack any toilets at all.

The Ministry of Education and Training (MoET) recently surveyed sanitation facilities in 11,200 schools across the country.

"About 30 percent of inspected schools had no toilets or inadequate toilets," says La Quy Don, deputy head of the ministry's student affairs department.

A separate survey conducted in Hanoi found that of 1,400 schools nearly all failed to have enough sanitation facilities, says Nguyen Nhu Hoa, deputy head of the office for planning and finance in the city's education department.

Failed standards

Regulations require one toilet for every 100 students and one tap for every 60 students.

"There are few schools in Hanoi that meet these standards," says Hoa. "And many schools in the outlying districts have no toilets at all."

Tran Thu An, a sanitation programme officer with the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), says the issue of toilet facilities rarely gets the consideration it deserves.

The UN, as part of its "child-friendly" schools campaign in Vietnam, has been trying to focus on proper sanitation facilities. In the past year, it has been working with MoET, helping to design and build better toilet facilities across the country.

Priorities

Part of the problem is that there are so many pressing needs when it comes to education that sanitation is often the last thing considered.

At the moment, the government's priority is to replace all the makeshift shelters that serve as classrooms with concrete schools that can withstand monsoon winds and rains, says An. Yet when these new schools are built, toilets are not part of the plans.

The responsibility for building latrines lies in part with local authorities and communities, who often lack the funds or interest. So in the end, says An, toilets just do not get built. The result is that students are forced to use "the bushes surrounding the schools", she says. "It's hard to believe."

Tran Duy Tao, head of administration for the school infrastructure and equipment department at the education ministry, says it is not always a lack of money. Space is also an issue. In crowded, yet wealthier, urban areas, schools may have the funds but no room to build more toilets, he says. The rural authorities often have the land to build sanitation facilities but no money.

Health issues

The government is trying to tackle the problem, says Don, at MoET's student affairs department. In 2006, the government declared that all kindergartens and schools would have hygienic toilets and all children would have access to clean water by 2010.

But Don says at the current rate of construction, it is highly unlikely this goal will be met.

"This has a negative effect on students' health as well as their studying ability," says Don. "Students may try to hold it in due to their fear of dirty toilets. And where schools do not have toilets, students have to do it somewhere else and it causes environmental problems."

As for Tuan, he no longer has to wait until he gets home. Parents at the Hanoi elementary school were so upset over the dirty facilities and concerns for their children's health that a few months ago they decided to chip in and pay a monthly fee to have them cleaned.

For US50 cents a month per family, Tuan and his classmates are no longer afraid to go to the bathroom.

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=84881ACCRA Friday, June 12, 2009 (IRIN) - Doctors in Ghana have had to halt special prenatal home visits – part of an initiative to beat high maternal mortality – because road crash casualties are taking up so much of their time and scarce resources, medical workers say. ACCRA Friday, June 12, 2009 (IRIN) - Doctors in Ghana have had to halt special prenatal home visits – part of an initiative to beat high maternal mortality – because road crash casualties are taking up so much of their time and scarce resources, medical workers say.

In March and April, over 100 people died on one 15-kilometre stretch of road between the Ghanaian capital Accra and Winneba to the west, according to doctors at the Winneba government hospital. The area is known locally as “Ghana’s Bermuda Triangle”.

Road accidents are among the top causes of death in Ghana, with malaria, diarrhoeal and respiratory diseases, according to deputy director of the Ghana Health Service, George Amofa. Road accidents kill more Ghanaians annually than typhoid fever, pregnancy-related complications, malaria in pregnancy, diabetes or rheumatism.

“The situation is putting unbearable pressure on the health system, depriving us of resources that would have been channeled into dealing with other pressing health challenges,” Dodi Abdallah, a doctor at the Winneba hospital told IRIN.

“We are losing the battle against maternal mortality because of the sheer pressure of accident emergencies,” he said.

Winneba, 15km from Accra, has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in Ghana with an estimated 700 deaths per 100,000 live births. LINK The only hospital in town has two doctors and one surgical theatre with mostly obsolete equipment. Given the shortage of beds, many patients lie on the floor.


Photo: Evans Mensah Evans Mensah
Road accidents are among Ghana's top five killers
“We devoted our limited resources to [improving maternal health],” says Abdallah. The hospital had begun an education campaign and launched house-to-house visitations to give antenatal care to women who refuse to go to hospital.

“But since the beginning of this year we have stopped the initiative, because we now attend to five road accident victims a day often with critical injuries, which means we devote all our scarce resources to that,” Abdallah told IRIN.

From January to March 602 people died in road accidents in Ghana, up from 399 in the same period in 2008. The Ghana National Road Safety Commission projects that some 2,400 people could die on the roads by year’s end. The annual average since 2000 has been 1,800.

Ninety percent of worldwide road accident fatalities occur in developing countries, with West Africa particularly at risk, according to a 2004 World Health Organization (WHO) report. (link) If current trends continue, road fatalities will be one of the top three causes of death in developing countries by 2020 says WHO.

Facts
Between 2000 and 2007 Ghana recorded 91,562 vehicle crashes that claimed 14,489 lives – an average of 1,811 a year (Ghana National Road Safety Commission)

Malaria by comparison killed 25,000 people in Ghana in 2007 (WHO)

Globally road collisions kill 1.2 million people every year and are the leading cause of death for people aged 10 to 24 years old (WHO)

One in five road traffic deaths are children under age 16 (WHO)

Preventable

Road Safety Commission executive director, Nobel Appiah, told IRIN what troubles him most is that these accidents are preventable, since most are caused by speeding or careless driving, according to a study released in June by the Ghana Road Safety Project (GRSP). The study indicates many drivers exceed the 50-kilometre per hour speed limit by as much as 50km.

Drunk driving is another problem. “We still have alcohol drinking spots at our bus terminals encouraging long distance drivers to drink before they set off,” Appiah said.

A daily long-distance driver, Stephen Mensah, admitted to taking several shots of hard liquor before starting a journey.

Defective roads, drivers’ failure to wear seat belts and corruption also contribute to the problem, said Appiah. “The most worrying problem is the police who often fail to enforce the laws because they prefer to take bribes from drivers. As a result innocent by-standers like children lose their lives,” he said.

Change

The administration of President John Atta-Mills recently met with transport sector stakeholders to draw up a national road safety plan, at the core of which will be tougher enforcement of road regulations, according to the Ghana National Road Safety Commission.

A new road regulation bill will soon be sent to Parliament to improve safety standards, including enforcing seat-belt use and banning mobile phone use while driving.

Police officers are to be assessed annually on performance targets, including whether or not they report road safety transgressions, Appiah told IRIN.

Winneba hospital doctor Abdallah said change cannot come soon enough. “Our hospital cannot cope with the number of accident victims who come in. There is nowhere else to end them. We are facing a daily crisis here.”

http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=84828FREETOWN Friday, June 12, 2009 (IRIN) - While the government and international agencies are making what the UN calls “considerable” progress on reducing drug trafficking in Sierra Leone, the trafficking – coupled with youth employment and corruption – remains one of the most destabilizing forces in the country, observers say.FREETOWN Friday, June 12, 2009 (IRIN) - While the government and international agencies are making what the UN calls “considerable” progress on reducing drug trafficking in Sierra Leone, the trafficking – coupled with youth unemployment and corruption – remains one of the most destabilizing forces in the country, officials say.

Sierra Leone – along with Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, and Senegal – is part of a regional transit axis for drugs passing from South America to Europe, according to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

The country’s anti-corruption commissioner Abdul Tejan-Cole told IRIN: “Corruption, drugs and youth unemployment are the biggest destabilizing forces in Sierra Leone. Unless urgent steps are taken, [these] could pose serious risks.”

Drug trafficking in Sierra Leone risks undermining government efforts to fight corruption – part of reforms that include security sector restructuring, infrastructure building and job creation, said a UN official who requested anonymity. “One of the international community’s biggest priorities must be to contain trafficking and protect Sierra Leone’s territorial waters.”

Stability in Sierra Leone remains fragile despite the government having made impressive gains to rebuild, UN Secretary-General l Ban Ki-moon said in a 10 June communiqué.

Local business leader Solomon Wilson of Sierra Leone Investment Information told IRIN: “Drug trafficking can seriously undermine the work of the country’s anti corruption strategy because these [drug] deals are never done in isolation…traffickers use unregulated money to bribe people at all levels, from executive level to the junior ranks.”

An anti-corruption unit, set up in 2000, last year drew up a strategy to stamp out corruption at all levels of government. Security officials have already been investigated and charged on drug trafficking offences, said Cole. “We need to accumulate these examples. We are making progress in creating cleaner systems…but everyone wants things done yesterday,” he said.

Antonio Mazzitelli, head of UNODC in West Africa, told IRIN Sierra Leone has made steady progress in its fight on drugs, partly evidenced by a drop in seizures, arrests and drug operations in recent months.

The amount of drugs trafficked in Sierra Leone is unknown, but the latest major seizure was a 700-kilogram cocaine haul at the airport in the capital Freetown in July 2008, according to Mazzitelli, who said the seizure indicated Sierra Leone was a “major hub”. Since then there have been few reports of major drug operations.

The government has set up a task force to fight drug trafficking, made up of police, the Office of National Security, immigration officials, military and marine forces. Its aim is to gather intelligence, execute seizures and patrol Sierra Leone’s porous borders with Guinea and Liberia.

Security sector reforms, underway since 1999, have raised the number of police officers from 6,000 in 2001 to 9,500 today, according to Berhanemeskel Nega, head of the Integrated UN Peacebuilding Office in Sierra Leone (UNIPSIL). Of these, as a start, 72 are currently being trained to fight drug trafficking and related crimes, said Assistant Inspector General of Police Richard Moigbe.

But keeping the police on the right side of the fight goes beyond training, said Nega. “We also need to continue to improve police working conditions to keep them on board – a junior officer earns just US$39 a month,” he said.

International efforts

A number of international agencies and governments are providing support for Sierra Leone’s drug fight, among them the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol), the US government, the UK special crime investigation unit, UN police, the Peacebuilding Commission, Department for Peacekeeping Operations and UNODC – all of which are part of UNIPSIL.

“International pressure on traffickers and decision-makers in the region – including in Sierra Leone – is starting to pay off,” said Mazzitelli. “For the first time, foreign drug traffickers are being sentenced in West Africa – that includes Sierra Leone and Senegal.”

“The impunity that was once the rule is being broken.”

According to police inspector Moigbe, 15 people involved in the July 2008 seizure were investigated and charged including two police officers, a national security officer, two air traffic controllers and eight foreigners, two of them West African.

As concern over the links between drugs, instability and corruption mounts, political leaders are also starting to have to answer both to international players and their own constituents on progress in the drug fight, said Mazzitelli. In Ghana the government’s action on drug trafficking featured highly in election campaigns, he said.

But Sierra Leone needs to speed up its efforts to avert a potentially destabilizing internal drug market from forming, said Sierra Leone National Drug Control Agency officer, Michael Sesay.

While internal consumption of the trafficked drugs is currently low, Sesay said is worried about long-term fallout if the country remains a hub. “Drug trafficking in Sierra Leone spells doom for our post-war development efforts, as most of the youths who were conscripted in the rebel forces were drugged, making them to resort to indiscriminate destruction of lives and property.”

Thousands of child soldiers were drugged with amphetamines and marijuana during the civil war, leaving many of them addicted with no recourse to drug rehabilitation after war, according to Sierra Leone’s Drug Enforcement Agency .

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=84816NAIROBI Thursday, June 11, 2009 (IRIN) - To successfully upgrade existing slums and prevent more from springing up, countries in the Africa, Caribbean and Pacific regions must convince their governments to allocate more resources to urban infrastructure, services and capacity-building activities, a senior UN official has said. NAIROBI Thursday, June 11, 2009 (IRIN) - To successfully upgrade existing slums and prevent more from springing up, countries in the Africa, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) regions must convince their governments to allocate more resources to urban infrastructure, services and capacity-building activities, a senior UN official has said.

"Slums and urban poverty are not just a manifestation of population explosion and demographic change, or even of the vast impersonal forces of globalization," Anna Tibaijuka, the under-secretary-general and executive director of the Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT), said on 10 June.

"Slums must be seen as a result of failed policies, bad governance, corruption, inappropriate regulation, dysfunctional land markets, unresponsive financial systems, and a fundamental lack of political will."

Addressing a ministerial session during the first joint ACP conference on the challenges of urbanization and poverty reduction, Tibaijuka said strategies to deal with slums need to consider much more than the provision of housing and physical services.

"They [the strategies] involve governance, political will, ownership and rights, social capital and access," she said. "Not to forget planning, coordination and partnerships.”

Declaration approved

At the end of the 8-10 June conference, hosted jointly by HABITAT, the European Commission (EC) and the ACP secretariat, the more than 200 delegates approved a 13-point "declaration and action plan" on urbanization challenges and poverty reduction in the ACP countries.

The declaration urged the prioritization of urban issues in the overall development agenda in ACP countries and invited development partners to contribute to these efforts by establishing flexible financial mechanisms and providing "relevant resources to reduce urban poverty and tackle new challenges such as climate change, urban energy, water and food security and financial crises" to ensure sustainable urban development in these countries.

HABITAT said the conference "deepened and elaborated further" the conclusions adopted during a joint regional workshop in 2005 and the Participatory Slum Upgrading Programme, currently under way in 30 ACP countries.

At least two billion people live in urban areas in the developing world, according to HABITAT, with more than 70 percent of many ACP urban populations living in slums or informal settlements. Slum prevalence is highest in sub-Saharan Africa, at 62 percent, followed by South Asia, 43 percent; East Asia, 37 percent; and Latin America and the Caribbean, at 27 percent.

Tibaijuka said: "Our latest research shows that one out of every three people living in cities of the developing world lives in a slum or other unplanned settlements. The proportion is certainly higher in ACP countries."

The main themes of the Nairobi conference were: basic urban infrastructure and service provision; pro-poor land and affordable housing interventions; urban governance and planning policies; human settlement finance strategies; and local economic development enhancement.

Urban growth, slum formation

Kenyan Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka told the conference that recent studies had shown that the rate of urban growth was near equal to the rate of slum formation in many developing countries and that slums remained a major phenomena in all urban centres of the ACP countries.

"Regrettably, slums represent the most visible manifestation of urban poverty, the failure of sectoral policies and the inability of institutions and countries to provide for the basic needs of the populace," he said in a keynote speech.

"There is therefore a compelling case for action on the vicious cycle of urban poverty. Consequently, ACP countries need to re-examine urbanization afresh and devise proactive urban management strategies to utilize the opportunities and attendant challenges in a sustainable way."

John Kaputin, ACP secretary-general, urged the ACP countries to adopt new and modern mechanisms to cope with globalization and urban development.

js/am/cbhttp://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=84803NAIROBI Monday, June 08, 2009 (IRIN) - More than 200 delegates have arrived in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, for the first joint conference of the Africa, Caribbean and Pacific Group of Countries (ACP) focusing on the challenges of urbanisation and poverty reduction for millions of slum dwellers.NAIROBI Monday, June 08, 2009 (IRIN) - More than 200 delegates have arrived in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, for the first joint conference of the Africa, Caribbean and Pacific Group of Countries (ACP) http://www.unhabitat.org/downloads/docs/6502_17531_E_Flyer%20.pdf focusing on the challenges of urbanisation and poverty reduction for millions of slum dwellers.

The UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT), European Commission (EC) and ACP Secretariat at the UN headquarters in Nairobi are co-hosting the 8-10 June conference.

"As the global financial crisis bites harder, world economic growth slows and climate change problems pose ever greater threats, we are already seeing the impact on the world’s poorest and most vulnerable, especially urban slum dwellers," UN-HABITAT said in a statement. "This situation threatens to undo and possibly reverse gains already made towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals in towns and cities."

The agency said the delegates' discussions would build upon a Participatory Slum Upgrading Programme launched in 2008 for 30 ACP countries and financed by the EC. Discussion will focus mainly on technical issues affecting urbanisation and poverty reduction and also discuss the expansion of the programme to all 79 ACP countries.

js/mwhttp://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=84753BANJUL Thursday, June 04, 2009 (IRIN) - Despite government efforts to reduce the number of children living and working in Gambia's streets, the phenomenon continues, with hundreds of children vulnerable to violence, exploitation and abuse, child rights activists say. BANJUL Thursday, June 04, 2009 (IRIN) - Despite government efforts to reduce the number of children living and working in Gambia's streets, the phenomenon continues, with hundreds of children vulnerable to violence, exploitation and abuse, child rights activists say.

Street children are most prevalent in the border towns of Farafenni and Basse, and in Brikama, Serekunda and Jarra Soma, according to Phoday Kebbeh, director of child rights NGO Institute for Social Reformation and Action (ISRA). “The figures are staggering,” he said.

The number of street children is unknown, but in one Immigration Department round-up in February, 374 people were rounded up, 200 of whom were children living or working on the street, according to a department communiqué.

International Organization for Migration’s regional programme director, Laurent De Boeck, told IRIN the number of children working on the streets in Gambia is on the rise.

In early 2008 the Gambian government launched a crackdown on street children, with Immigration Department officials and police starting round-ups every two months. Children are brought to a government-run transit centre in Bakoteh, 16km from the capital from where authorities try to reunify children with their families. But the department lacks capacity to handle the cases, according to ISRA’s Kebbeh, who said the round-ups spark fear in children.

Some 60 percent of children living on the street in Gambia come from neighbouring countries, most from Senegal and Guinea-Bissau, according to a 2006 study – the most recent – by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and NGO Christian Children’s Fund (CCF).

Most of the children are known locally as “almodous” - deriving from the name “Ahmed” - who beg for alms for a religious teacher or marabout, who says he will teach them the Koran, house and feed them. They are known as “talibés” across the border in Senegal, where their numbers are far higher, says Kebbeh.

Poor families commonly send their children – usually boys – to a marabout with the intention of providing him a Koranic education, but in some cases they inadvertently feed a thriving network of child traffickers and smugglers, says child rights protection NGO Samu Social.

In Gambia ex-almodou Mutarr Nying, 12, escaped his marabout’s home in 2007 because he could not endure the regular beatings from his teacher. Children are battered if they do not deliver enough money to their teacher each night, he said, revealing a scar on his neck he said was from such a beating.

More on child trafficking in West Africa
TOGO: Inoussa Bouberi, “I have smuggled more than 100 children”
WEST AFRICA: But is it really trafficking?
MAURITANIA: Child marriage tradition turns into trafficking
GUINEA-BISSAU-SENEGAL: Child trafficking on the decline say local authorities
BURKINA FASO: New child trafficking law hard to enforce
“It is a long time ago now [since I left]. I think two rains have passed since. Once he [the teacher] sent my peers in search of me. They almost kidnapped me, but a market woman came to my rescue.”

He said: “For two days she gave me food. I slept under her stall for a week without her knowing." Mutarr still carries a can to collect alms to support himself. He has not seen his parents for three years.

In addition to beatings the children face abuse from adults and other children, exploitation and exposure to unprotected sex, said Salifu Jarsey, UNICEF’s Gambia-based child protection expert. Many are malnourished and wander the streets half-naked, Serekunda residents told IRIN.

Gibby Barre, 15, an almodou in Serekunda, said while his marabout feeds the some 22 children living with him, the children have to beg for money for clothes and shoes.

Lacking capacity police refer the children to the Social Welfare Department, which in turn is unlikely to be able to follow up on individual cases, said Kebbeh. So children end up in the hands of child protection NGOs such as CCF or ISRA.

CCF runs a UNICEF-supported drop-in centre, which gives street children a chance to get a health check, have a shower, play with other children or simply rest, said UNICEF’s Jarsey.

ISRA and UNICEF are also developing a code of conduct for Gambia marabouts on minimum child protection standards, which they plan to release by the end of 2009.

Tackling the problem of street children is a delicate balancing act, because almodous are tied up with religion and tradition, UNICEF representative in Gambia Min-Whee Kang said. “It requires a multi-pronged, holistic approach, and strong systems and support structures to create a protective environment for these children.”

ISRA’s Kebbeh said existing legislation on child protection and trafficking also must be enforced.

as/aj/nphttp://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=84713ACCRA Wednesday, May 27, 2009 (IRIN) - The recent rape of an eight-month-old boy in an orphanage in the Ghanaian capital Accra revealed conditions that child rights advocates say are rampant across West African orphanages. When the authorities investigated the incident they discovered 27 of the 32 children living in the home were not orphans.ACCRA Wednesday, May 27, 2009 (IRIN) - The recent rape of an eight-month-old boy in an orphanage in the Ghanaian capital Accra revealed conditions that child rights advocates say are rampant across West African orphanages. When the authorities investigated the incident they discovered 27 of the 32 children living in the home were not orphans.

A January 2009 study by the Social Welfare Department – responsible for children’s welfare and supervising orphanages – showed that up to 90 percent of the estimated 4,500 children in orphanages in Ghana are not orphans and 140 of the 148 orphanages around the country are un-licensed, said the department’s assistant director Helena Obeng Asamoah.

“We are alarmed at the extent to which the orphanages have abused the country’s child protection laws,” she told IRIN.

Accra-based child protection specialist with the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Eric Okrah told IRIN: “Running an orphanage in Ghana has become a business enterprise, a highly lucrative and profitable venture.”

He added: “Children’s welfare at these orphanages has become secondary to the profit motive.”

In Ghana a small orphanage might have a budget of up to US$70,000 a year, depending on its size, the bulk of the funds coming from international donors and NGOs, with small contributions from local corporations, according to research by Ghanaian non-profit Child Rights International (CRI).

Donors are attracted to orphanages because they appear to be a simple solution, said Joachim Theis, UNICEF head of child protection for West Africa. “You have a building, you house children in it, it is easy to count them. And they are easy to fundraise for. It is a model that has been used for a long time. But it is the wrong model.”

After researching financing in several Ghanaian orphanages, CRI’s Bright Apiah surmised that as little as 30 percent of funds received are spent on child care.

Peace and Love Orphanage owner, Grace Amaboe, told IRIN profit is not her motive. “I go for these children on purely humanitarian grounds. It is absolutely false for anyone to suggest that I exploit these poor children…I am simply helping the children’s parents and have never used any children in my care for financial gain.”

Region-wide

UNICEF’s Theis said mis-categorisation of children as orphans affects thousands of children across West Africa, but statistics are scant and more research needs to be done to understand the problem.

Of the estimated 1,821 children living in orphanage care in Sierra Leone, UNICEF and child protection agencies have verified just 256 as having lost both parents.

One in eight Liberians is classified as a child missing one or both parents. But many of the estimated 5,800 estimated children in orphanages are reportedly not orphans, according to local child rights activists.

Poverty

Across the region some orphanage staff target deprived, rural communities and “exploit the poverty and ignorance of parents” by promising them money and offering to fund their children’s education, CRI’s Apiah said.

Some parents unwittingly sign documents giving up their right to legal custody of their child, said the Ghana Social Welfare Department’s Asamoah; many of those signing are illiterate.

Maame Serwah, 40, sent her 10-year-old son to the Peace and Love Orphanage because she did not have the means to raise him. “It was even difficult to feed myself. I just could not handle the painful sight of him almost always crying. I believed the orphanage was a way out.”

But since learning of the abuse, she approached the Social Welfare Department to retrieve him. “I now…need my son, I will do whatever it takes to raise him myself,” she told IRIN.

In some West African countries, families have a tradition of putting their children in the care of relatives or caretakers if this means the chance of a better education or of work, but some orphanages exploit this tradition, Theis said. “When parents sign a form from an orphanage, they have no conception of giving up their children forever…The concept of never seeing their child again is inconceivable.”

System failure

As awareness of problem increases governments and child protection agencies in some countries are working to improve regulation.

Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has created a special committee on adoption of Liberian children, one of whose tasks will be to examine orphanage practices.

Ghana’s Social Welfare Department, with help from child protection agencies such as UNICEF, is drawing up guidelines on orphan critieria and orphanage conditions, and promoting alternative programmes to orphan care.

Sierra Leone’s Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender and Children’s Affairs is also strengthening orphanage standards and auditing orphanages nationwide, which has forced many to close, according to UNICEF.

But governments must also enforce existing legislation, Apiah said. Ghana’s 1998 Children’s Act stipulates that orphanages must present annual audit reports to the Social Welfare Department in order to renew their licenses, but most orphanages do not comply, he said.

“The problem stems from…systemic failure, which encourages the proliferation of unlicensed and unmonitored orphanage,” Apiah said. “These problems will be there as long as we continue to lack a firm social safety net to support poor parents to raise their children.”

Supporting such safety nets – giving vulnerable families cash transfers, paying for children’s education or healthcare – can influence a family’s decision as to whether or not to keep their child, said UNICEF’s Theis.

“A range of solutions, from safety nets to foster care to community care, have been shown to work, and are much cheaper than putting children in orphanages,” he said. “Putting children into institutionalised care instead of a family setting must always be a last resort. “

em/sr/aj/nphttp://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=84582NAIROBI Wednesday, May 27, 2009 (IRIN) - Tired of living rough in the Kosovo area of Nairobi's Mathare slums, seven youths - many ex-convicts - decided to start an animal-rearing project to boost their livelihoods. NAIROBI Wednesday, May 27, 2009 (IRIN) - Tired of living rough in the Kosovo area of Nairobi's Mathare slums, seven youths - many ex-convicts - decided to start an animal-rearing project to boost their livelihoods.

"We got together and decided that living hand-to-mouth was hard enough without the label of an ex-convict; we had to do something on our own, even if it took years for it to become profitable," group chairman Peter Ngigi said.

"That is when we opted for pig-rearing; it was easy to find food for the animals as we go round scavenging from hotel bins for their feed. We later bought two cows and some goats."

Ngigi, 21, and his friends, who grew up in the slums, had several brushes with the law for petty crimes. Some of them served time in prison. The place they call home is called Kosovo in reference to intense gang fighting in 2002, when the area became a no-go zone for the Mungiki, a proscribed quasi-religious militia group that controls other slum areas in the city.

Like most slums in the city, conditions in Kosovo are terrible; unplanned and congested houses, open sewers, few toilets for hundreds of people, no running water and the polluted Nairobi River running through it.

Fresh start

Two years after they started their project, Ngigi and his friends have 22 pigs, three goats and three kids as well as two cows, housed in an unfinished, semi-permanent building.

"The recent swine flu scare has been the greatest setback [because] we are not able to sell the pigs," Ngigi told IRIN on 26 May. "We hope the disease does not break out in Kenya; we would be finished."

The Kangaroo Youth Self-Help Group project is restricted, however, because most members have limited knowledge of animal husbandry and marketing.

"We had hoped this project would lift us out of poverty; although we have yet to depend on it entirely for our upkeep, we are not giving up," Hillary Wachira, 25, said.

He said they were motivated to start pig-rearing by another young man, who has since left the slum.

"Kariz [a nickname] even managed to buy himself two matatus [taxis] by rearing pigs here in Kosovo, which he would then sell to butchers in the area and to those in other parts of the city. So we thought, why not embark on something similar, perhaps we could also make something of our lives," Wachira said.

The main challenge, Ngigi said, was finding space for the animals. They only got lucky when a fellow slum resident, who had reared pigs in the past, allowed them to use her unfinished building for their project.

"The woman who owns this building is helping us; we pay about 1,000 shillings a month [US$13] which is really not the going rate for rent in this area," Ngigi said.

"She also gave us advice on how to take care of the pigs; the right time to de-worm them, the right amount of food for the piglets and even showed us the agro vet shop from where we buy drugs."

Lack of training

Members appealed for help in training and marketing.

"Whenever we buy drugs for the animals we make sure we know the right doses because we have lost some animals in the past after injecting them with the wrong doses," George Mworia, another member of the group, said.

"What we really need is training on ways of keeping these animals so as to curb unnecessary deaths; often we rely only on the advice of people who had kept pigs in the past."

The group also lacked a market for their products.

"We have approached several butchers to tell them we can supply the animals regularly but none has got back to us; we sometimes wish we could get help from the [government's] Youth Enterprise Fund but we don't know how to go about it, where do we begin?" he asked.

Ngigi said the group would like to expand to environmental conservation as they are situated right next to the polluted Nairobi River.

"We would like to plant trees on the river bank to prevent soil erosion that is eating into our space," he said. "We will not tire trying as we hope to one day live off this project; if only we had guidance and training."

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