UNAIDS
UNAIDS is deeply troubled and concerned about the detention by military police of the Venezuelan citizens and humanitarian workers Johán León Reyes, Yordy Bermúdez, Layners Gutiérrez Díaz, Alejandro Gómez Di Maggio and Luis Ferrebuz, who are members of the nongovernmental organization Azul Positivo. The five have been held since 12 January 2021.
“I call on the Venezuelan authorities to release from police custody the five humanitarians working for the nongovernmental organization Azul Positivo, and to return essential equipment seized at the time of their arrest,” said Winnie Byanyima, UNAIDS Executive Director. “A strong and empowered civil society plays a central role in providing much-needed services to the most vulnerable people and is critical to making progress against the HIV pandemic and other health threats in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.”
In sub-Saharan Africa, the prevalence of AIDS is greater than anywhere else in the world.
According to the latest statistics released by UNAIDS, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, and the WHO, ahead of 1 December - World AIDS Day - some two million people across Africa have died of the disease so far this year.
Seven out of 10 people newly-infected with the HIV virus around the world during 1998 live in sub-Saharan Africa while 83 percent of all AIDS deaths since the epidemic started have been recorded in sub-Saharan Africa. Yet only one-tenth of the world’s population lives in Africa, south of the Sahara. This report, is based on the latest UN studies and an IRIN interview with Dr Peter Piot, Executive Director of UNAIDS.
By Tobore Ovuorie
ANALYSIS of data from 38 African countries indicates very few, if any, are on track to reach the UNAIDS targets for HIV testing and condom use by the year 2030.
This was one of the major highlights in HIV prevention research announced Tuesday at the 4
th HIV Research for Prevention Conference (HIVR4P), convened by the International AIDS Society (IAS). The annual gathering of researchers, thinktanks, amongst others in the HIV field holds virtually this year, due to the COVID-19 epidemic.
Based on 114 nationally-representative datasets representing more than 1.4 million sexually active people, the study presented by Phuong Nguyen of St. Luke’s International University revealed that overall, the probabilities of reaching the 2030 targets were very low for both HIV testing at 0 percent to 28.5 percent and condom use with 0 percent to 12.1 percent.
By
Chido Pamela Mafongoya, Legal Intern
The long-awaited trading within the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) finally began on 1 January 2021, marking a very important milestone for African trade. The AfCFTA creates a single continental market for goods and services, with the aim of increasing intra-African trade by reducing tariffs by approximately 90 percent [1] and harmonising trading rules at a continental level. The AfCFTA has the potential to increase intra-African trade by 52.3% by 2022 [2].
The COVID-19 pandemic has inevitably delayed the implementation of the AfCFTA, in a time when harmonisation couldn’t be more important as the world clubs together to fight the novel Corona virus. Despite various regulations put in place by African governments to try and manage the spread of the disease, the pandemic continues spread across the continent. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) cases in the African region (which excludes Morocco, Tunisia, Libya, E
Chido Pamela Mafongoya, Legal Intern
The long-awaited trading within the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) finally began on 1 January 2021, marking a very important milestone for African trade. The AfCFTA creates a single continental market for goods and services, with the aim of increasing intra-African trade by reducing tariffs by approximately 90 percent [1] and harmonising trading rules at a continental level. The AfCFTA has the potential to increase intra-African trade by 52.3% by 2022 [2].
The COVID-19 pandemic has inevitably delayed the implementation of the AfCFTA, in a time when harmonisation couldn’t be more important as the world clubs together to fight the novel Corona virus. Despite various regulations put in place by African governments to try and manage the spread of the disease, the pandemic continues spread across the continent. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) cases in the African region (which excludes Morocco, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt,