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AIDS IN SOUTH AFRICA
Related to country: South Africa


The statistics discussed here come from two prevalence studies that estimate how many people are living with HIV in South Africa, and two reports on AIDS deaths. Viewed together these sources give an idea of the scale of South Africa's HIV epidemic. If you are looking for statistics from elsewhere, try our statistics section.

The first section is based on the report of the Department of Health "National HIV and Syphilis Sero-prevalence Survey in South Africa 2007", published in 2008. This annual study looks at data from antenatal clinics and uses it to estimate HIV prevalence amongst pregnant women.

The second section is based on the report of the "South African National HIV Prevalence, HIV Incidence, Behaviour and Communication Survey, 2008". In this survey, a sample of people were chosen to represent the general population. Of those who were eligible, 64% agreed to give a blood sample to be anonymously tested for HIV. The report contains estimates of HIV prevalence in various groups of people, derived from this general population sample.

Seen together, the two prevalence studies provide a clearer picture of the South African epidemic than either of them viewed alone.

The third section looks at AIDS-related deaths using data from death certificates. Reports published by Statistics South Africa contain the raw data, while the article "Identifying deaths from AIDS in South Africa" analyses a large sample of death certificates and attempts to estimate how many deaths caused by HIV have been misclassified.

The page goes on to compare the two types of prevalence study and to draw conclusions.

The South African Department of Health Study, 2007
Based on its sample of 33,488 women attending 1,415 antenatal clinics across all nine provinces, the South African Department of Health Study estimates that 28% of pregnant women were living with HIV in 2007. The provinces that recorded the highest HIV rates were KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga and Free State. The Northern Cape and Western Cape recorded the lowest prevalence.

Until 1998 South Africa had one of the fastest expanding epidemics in the world, but HIV prevalence now appears to have stabilized, and may even be declining slightly. Among teenage girls, the rate fell from 16.1% in 2004 to 12.9% in 2007, possibly indicating a drop in the rate of new infections. The health department believes this is due to a change in safer sexual practices among younger women. The inability to moderate cultural circumstances is believed to be a factor in the high and rising HIV prevalence among relatively older women.

Because infection rates vary between different groups of people, the findings from antenatal clinics cannot be applied directly to men, newborn babies and children. This is why South Africa has sought also to survey the general population.

The South African National HIV Survey, 2008
The National HIV Survey is a "household" survey. This involves sampling a proportional cross-section of society, including a large number of people from each geographical, racial and other social group. The researchers take great pains to try to make the sample as representative as possible, and the findings are later adjusted to correct for likely over- or under-representation of individual groups (according to census data).

The survey's fieldworkers visited 15,000 households across South Africa, of which 13,440 (90%) took part in the survey. Of the 23,369 people within these households who were eligible to take part, 20,826 (89%) completed an interview and 15,851 (64%) agreed to take an HIV test.

Based on this survey, the researchers estimate that 10.9% of all South Africans over 2 years old were living with HIV in 2008. In 2002 and 2005, this figure was 11.4% and 10.8%, respectively, showing a degree of stabilisation. Among those between 15 and 49 years old, the estimated HIV prevalence was 16.9% in 2008. The survey found the prevalence among children aged 2-14 to be 2.5%, down significantly since 2002, when prevalence was 5.6%.

All reported deaths
In October 2008, Statistics South Africa published the report "Mortality and causes of death in South Africa, 2006". This large document contains tables of how many people died from each cause according to death notification forms.

The report reveals that the annual number of registered deaths rose by a massive 91% between 1997 and 2006. Among those aged 25-49 years, the rise was 170% in the same nine-year period. Part of the overall increase is due to population growth. However, this does not explain the disproportionate rise in deaths among people aged 25 to 49 years. In 1997, this age group accounted for 29% of all deaths, but in 2006 it accounted for 42%.

The influence of population growth can be removed by looking at death rates per 100,000 people, which are provided by Statistics South Africa in another report called "Adult mortality (age 15-64) based on death notification data in South Africa: 1997-2004". These data show that between 1997 and 2004, the death rate among men aged 30-39 more than doubled, while that among women aged 25-34 more than quadrupled. The changes are even more pronounced when deaths from natural causes only are examined. Over the same period there was relatively little change in the death rates among people aged over 55 and those aged 15-20. In their report, Statistics South Africa call such developments "astounding", "alarming" and "disturbing".

Misclassification
In 2006, HIV was recorded as a cause of death in only 14,783 cases. However, according to researchers from the Medical Research Council of South Africa (MRC), this figure is a massive underestimate, because the majority of deaths due to HIV are misclassified.

People whose deaths are caused by HIV are not killed by the virus alone, but HIV should be recorded as an underlying cause if it "initiated the chain of morbid events leading directly to death". In other words, if someone contracts tuberculosis and dies from it because their immune system has been weakened by HIV then HIV should be included among the underlying causes. The MRC researchers claim that in many cases, this does not happen; instead, the doctor records only the immediate cause of death such as tuberculosis or respiratory infection. This could be because the doctor does not know the deceased person's HIV status. Alternatively, they may seek to conceal HIV infection to spare stigmatisation of relatives, or to avoid invalidating life insurance claims. As The Lancet notes, authorities are largely to blame:

“Social stigma associated with HIV/AIDS, tacitly perpetuated by the Government's reluctance to bring the crisis into the open and face it head on, prevents many from speaking out about the causes of illness and deaths of loved ones and leads doctors to record uncontroversial diagnoses on death certificates.... The South African Government needs to stop being defensive and show backbone and courage to acknowledge and seriously tackle the HIV/AIDS crisis of its people.”1
The MRC team analysed a 12% sample of death certificate data from the year 2000-2001, and compared it to all the data from 1996. When they looked at deaths for which HIV was a reported cause, they saw that rates (deaths per thousand) had increased according to a distinctive age-specific pattern. The greatest increases were in the age groups 0-4 and 25-49 years, while death rates among teenagers and older people remained more or less unchanged.

The researchers observed that nine other causes of death had increased substantially according to the same distinct age pattern as HIV. They then estimated how much of the increases were likely to be caused by HIV, and concluded that 61% of deaths related to HIV had been wrongly attributed to other causes in 2000-2001. In adults, tuberculosis accounted for 43% of misclassified deaths, and lower respiratory infections for another 32%. Among infants, most of the excess deaths had been misclassified as lower respiratory diseases or diarrhoeal diseases. According to the MRC results, HIV caused the deaths of 53,185 men aged 15-59 years, 59,445 women aged 15-59 years, and 40,727 children under 5 years old in the year 2000-2001.

The MRC estimates come very close to those made by a computer model of the Actuarial Society of South Africa, called ASSA2003. According to ASSA2003 calculations, HIV caused 108,170 deaths in 2000 and 147,525 deaths in 2001.

Statistics South Africa have analysed the MRC study and found that its methods and conclusions are generally sound.

Other recent estimates
The head of the MRC has stated that AIDS killed around 336,000 South Africans between mid-2005 and mid-2006.2

The ASSA2003 provincial model calculates that 345,640 people died because of AIDS in 2006 - comprising 47% of all deaths. Among adults aged 15-49 years, it estimates that 71% of all deaths were due to AIDS.3

UNAIDS/WHO estimate that AIDS claimed 350,000 lives in 2007 - nearly 1,000 every day.4

Comparing the prevalence studies
It is possible to compare the results of the National HIV Survey 2008 with those of the Department of Health Study 2005.

HIV prevalence according to the Department of Health Study 2005:

29.1-31.2% amongst antenatal clinic attendees (30.2% is the best estimate)
HIV prevalence according to the National HIV Survey 2008:

10.0-11.9% in the whole population (10.9% is the best estimate)
15.5-18.4% amongst all people aged 15-49 years old (16.9% is the best estimate).
The rates found among pregnant women are significantly higher that those found among all adults - so why could this be?

Limitations of the Department of Health Study
Antenatal surveillance is internationally recognised as the most useful way of assessing HIV prevalence in countries with generalised epidemics. Pregnant women are sexually active and constitute an easily identifiable, accessible and stable population. They are more likely than any other single group to be representative of the general adult population. Nevertheless, there are a number of limitations to the Department of Health's technique.

The greatest difference between the two studies concerns prevalence among women aged 15-19 years old, for which the antenatal survey produces a rate much higher than the household survey (15.9% compared to 9.4%). This is, at least in part, probably because not all young women are sexually active, and those represented in the antenatal data are by definition engaging in unprotected sex, which puts them at higher risk of HIV infection. Overestimation of HIV prevalence in this age group is a known bias in antenatal studies.

It is possible that overestimation occurs in older age groups as well, particularly as those who use condoms or abstain from sex stand less chance of both HIV infection and pregnancy. On the other hand, underestimation might also occur: for example, studies have shown that HIV lowers fertility.

Limitations of the National HIV Survey
The advantage of the National HIV Survey is that it can give a better idea of HIV prevalence levels among men, children and non-sexually active women. The survey also recorded a vast amount of other data besides the age and location of respondents (most of which is beyond the scope of this page), including information on race, wealth and education. Participants were also interviewed about factors that might influence their risk of HIV infection, such as behaviour, knowledge and risk awareness.

Although the study attempted to survey as representative a population sample as possible, it recognises that some groups were excluded. Only people living in homes or hostels were contacted, so there was no representation of homeless people and those living in police and army barracks, prisons, hospitals and educational institutions. This probably resulted in underestimation of some prevalence figures. Additionally, by excluding all children below 2 years of age (because they cannot be reliably tested for HIV using antibody tests), the survey missed a significant proportion of children who acquired HIV from their mothers. The survey's design also meant some groups that may be of particular interest for the understanding of the epidemic could not be captured in sufficient numbers, including men who have sex with men, injecting drug users and sex workers.

The survey had also had a fairly high rate of non-response with just 64% of all eligible participants agreeing to an HIV test. The effect of non-response on accuracy is uncertain. It is difficult to conclude whether those who refuse to be tested are more or less likely to have HIV. The only certain effect of the low response rate is that it increases uncertainty.5

The National HIV Survey is the the third of its kind to be conducted across the whole of South Africa.

Conclusion of the comparison
Neither prevalence study sets out to mislead or to contradict the other. Each uses a standard surveillance technique and clearly explains all of its methods and calculations. Most of the observed differences are the result of choosing different groups of people to be tested, since these groups differ in how well they are able to represent the general population.

In such a large and diverse country as South Africa, no-one can know exactly what the true figures are. What is essential is that the limitations of each study are acknowledged whenever their results are interpreted. To illustrate why this is so important, this page has suggested a few reasons why the figures might vary, though this is by no means an exhaustive list.

UNAIDS and WHO recommend that antenatal and population-based studies should both be conducted at regular intervals. In countries with generalised epidemics, antenatal clinic attendees are thought to represent the adult population with good accuracy. Moreover, when conducted regularly such surveys can reveal long-term trends in prevalence. On the other hand, household surveys tell us more about the nature of the epidemic by providing prevalence data according to gender, race, wealth and other characteristics. Such information informs better interpretation of antenatal data.

National estimates based on all surveys

Based on a wide range of data, including the household and antenatal studies, UNAIDS/WHO in July 2008 published an estimate of 18.1% prevalence in those aged 15-49 years old at the end of 2007. Their high and low estimates are 15.4% and 20.9% respectively. According to their own estimate of total population (which is another contentious issue), this implies that around 5.7 million South Africans were living with HIV at the end of 2007, including 280,000 children under 15 years old.6

The ASSA2003 model produces a similar estimate of 5.4 million people living with HIV in mid-2006, or around 11% of the total population. It predicts that the number will exceed 6 million by 2015, by which time around 5.4 million South Africans will have died of AIDS.7

Conclusion
What is clear from every study is that there is an exceptionally severe epidemic of HIV/AIDS in South Africa. This epidemic affects all parts of the population, though women are more likely to be infected than men. Many tens of thousands of people are dying.

October 13, 2009 | 5:48 AM Comments  0 comments

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9 Techniques For Stress Relaxation And To Overcome Stress!
Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

The world you are living is an extremely stress place; everyone needs agendas to over come their stress.

Every one will undergo stress in their life, without the question of age and sex. Neglecting stress will be devastating; it will ruin your health and the life too.

If you are under stress, do not neglect even one day to start the stress relaxation programs.

If you are stressed, you should surely follow some stress relaxation techniques.
Most important and useful stress relaxation programs:

1. Exercise: Start doing exercise when you are under stress. This helps the body to excrete adrenaline and cortisol, which are released by adrenal glands. The secretion of these glands causes the feeling of stress. It also activates pituitary and hypothalamus glands which secrete “feel good” hormones called as Endorphins. These also have the capacity to reduce pains and improve the “well-being” sense.
2. Diversion: One of the reasons behind stress is letting your mind obsess over things that you can’t change. If you think on that issue, divert your mind. Go on a small walk, meet your old friends, if not call them, watch your favorite movie, go for window shopping, check out your old pictures, play with your pet or visit a park and see children playing.
3. Meditation: Many meditation techniques will help you in stress relaxation; one of them is insight meditation. This is not done by emptying the mind or removing the stress from the mind, but distracts the mind from the stress and focuses mind on a task. Listening to religious speeches also relieves from stress.
4. Yoga: It is a combination of meditation and exercise and works as a highlighting stress relaxant. It makes you feel calm and relieves tension from the muscles. This is a great way to strengthen your mind and body. Yoga therapy is proven as a stress reducer; this will give you a peaceful and calm state of mind.
5. Aroma therapy: Bathing with luke warm water is also a good idea of relaxing. Adding aroma oils will relax you physically and mentally. Inhaling aroma fragrances, especially cinnamon and vanilla will relax many people. This will refresh the mind and body.
6. Massage: It’s very helpful in stress relaxation process. It relives stress from the body in all forms. A massage technique provides deep relaxation and improves physiological process and improves mood mentally and physically.
7. Sleeping: Sleep for a long time, the brain reboots in the time you are sleeping. A sound sleep of 8 hours will reduce stress for a large extent. Researches have proved that people who don’t sleep for 8 hours have problems such as less intellectual abilities, less patience levels and are preys of depressions and stress.
8. Self Hypnosis: The positive aspect in hypnosis is that, it will make you strong from inner side to overcome stress and depressions. It controls your mind and develops a “well-being” and “feel-good” environment around you.
9. Caffeine: Sit in a quiet and comfortable environment and enjoy your cup of coffee or tea. Caffeine present in these liquids works as a very good de-stresser. Caffeine releases ‘feel-good and well-being hormones. Even chocolates contain caffeine. So you can enjoy your sip of coffee or tea and a chocolate bite which can overcome stress. Note: Too much intake of caffeine leads to other problems. Do not take much caffeine, limit yourself.

You should remember that Stress relaxation is not imposing one method or other to de-stress. It’s about dealing with the problem in general and maintaining balance to fight and overcome the problem.

March 5, 2009 | 4:07 AM Comments  0 comments

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Quality and usefullness of honey
About this event: Food for Talk

Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

[b]Quality of honey[/b]

It is important not to confuse the texture of honey with the quality. If you feel that the quality of your honey is poor, it will not be the fault of the bee, the problem will lie with whomever processed the honey or poor packaging.

[b]Texture [/b]
In reality there are an infinite variables to the texture of honey, each flower that the bee has visited will create a different texture of honey, in addition to that the processing of the honey also affects the final texture of honey as does the amount of time the honey has been stored.
If you have been in a position to buy honey direct from a beekeeper, you will be able to enjoy honey that has come from specific flowers, your choice of hard or runny honey will be greater. Example of flowers that create texture are heather honey which will set very hard, or clover honey that will stay runny.
Large honey distributors of honey invariably elect to provide blended honey. This way their end product will remain consistent from year to year regardless of the quantity of any species of flower that has been available to the bee.
As mentioned earlier the way that the honey is extracted from the comb or sold in the comb will affect it's final texture, the main variable is how high it was heated to melt it from the honeycomb. The beehive itself if always warm inside and the honey is always a liquid, and when the honey is heated, cooled and skimmed to remove the wax, how fast the honey cools also reflects how thick the honey in the jar is.

Honey is a most useful food product, in both making foods and as a food itself. Many of us are starting to focus on healthier eating habits, better and nutritious foods, and we are more conscience about where we are obtaining our foods – honey is one of the foods and food ingredients that you can trust to meet your all natural needs, with no preservatives needed, honey is going to add to your vitamin and mineral intake!

[b]Usefulness of honey[/b]
Honey is beneficial when you are dieting, watching your weight, and when you are having digestive problems or constipated. Using honey in your daily meals will lessen your stress and improve your sleep. With increased exercise and controlled eating habits, you can lose weight, be in control of your life, and feel better about yourself all around.
we have been telling you, all about the various benefits of using honey in your diet, in your life and for your family in so many ways. Now, in the following pages, you are going to find some easy to use and outstanding recipes that you can add to your recipe book for when you want to try something new, tried, and exciting.

While this is a very short listing of recipes, touching on many of the various ways that you can use honey is what these recipes are striving to show you. If you want to learn to use honey, you can look through your recipe books, convert how much sugar is added to anything, and use honey instead! Using honey is easy when you have just a few minutes to look over your recipes and make that small change.
Honey is one pleasure that is also good for you as well. Learning to cook with and make the best uses of honey in your daily life will include experimenting on your own with honey, replacing other forms of sugar that do not add much more than that sweet taste and calories to your daily eating habits.
Look for your favorite recipes, in your cookbooks, and substitute honey where sugar is called for – and you will be surprised at how much of a difference you can make by substituting just one ingredient for another. You can treat your family to great nutritious meals by substituting sugar with honey.

November 15, 2008 | 5:03 AM Comments  1 comments

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An attempted rape suspect
Related to country: South Africa

Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

Victim nabs suspect in queue

Thabisile Khoza

Sekhukhune - An attempted rape suspect who was arrested when his alleged victim spotted him standing in the same queue as her at a clinic, appeared briefly in court on Monday.

The 21-year-old man from Ga-Mashegwana village in Limpopo was arrested on Friday.

On Monday, he was not asked to plead to charges of attempted rape and assault with the intention to cause grievous bodily harm when he appeared in the Sekhukhune Magistrate's Court.

He was remanded in custody until November 3 for further investigation.

Sekhukhune police spokesperson Constable Dithomo Kgaphola said the alleged victim had phoned police from the clinic on Friday.

She claimed he had attacked her at about 11:00 that day.

"She told us that she fought back and kicked him in the testicles and bit his mouth to free herself," he said.

She didn't report the matter to police immediately as she first wanted to get help at the clinic for injuries to her face.

"When she was in the queue at the clinic, she noticed the suspect join the same queue, so she quickly slipped away and called the police with her cellphone," he said.

Kgaphola said the police allowed the suspect to get medical treatment first for his injuries.

"After the doctor finished examining him we took him to the police cell," he said.

- African Eye

October 15, 2008 | 5:50 AM Comments  0 comments

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An attempted rape suspect
Related to country: South Africa

Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

Victim nabs suspect in queue

Thabisile Khoza

Sekhukhune - An attempted rape suspect who was arrested when his alleged victim spotted him standing in the same queue as her at a clinic, appeared briefly in court on Monday.

The 21-year-old man from Ga-Mashegwana village in Limpopo was arrested on Friday.

On Monday, he was not asked to plead to charges of attempted rape and assault with the intention to cause grievous bodily harm when he appeared in the Sekhukhune Magistrate's Court.

He was remanded in custody until November 3 for further investigation.

Sekhukhune police spokesperson Constable Dithomo Kgaphola said the alleged victim had phoned police from the clinic on Friday.

She claimed he had attacked her at about 11:00 that day.

"She told us that she fought back and kicked him in the testicles and bit his mouth to free herself," he said.

She didn't report the matter to police immediately as she first wanted to get help at the clinic for injuries to her face.

"When she was in the queue at the clinic, she noticed the suspect join the same queue, so she quickly slipped away and called the police with her cellphone," he said.

Kgaphola said the police allowed the suspect to get medical treatment first for his injuries.

"After the doctor finished examining him we took him to the police cell," he said.

- African Eye

October 15, 2008 | 5:48 AM Comments  0 comments

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Accused tell of sex orgy
Related to country: South Africa

Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

Pretoria - Both men accused of raping and beating up a young Pretoria woman near a hotel in February last year on Tuesday claimed she had consented to have sex with them.

Louis Brits, 20, of Mayville admitted that he had beaten up the woman after he and his friend Dirk Grobler, 23, had sex with her.

He said this was because she insisted they should go home with her and when they refused, started pushing them around.

Grobler said he had sex with the woman in her car and had pushed her away when she insisted he should come home with her.

However he claimed he had left Brits alone with her on a dark corner in the early hours of the morning and had nothing to do with an attempt to murder her.

Mother of three

A policeman earlier testified he believed the woman would not survive after he found her naked, bleeding and struggling to breathe on the street near the Maders Hotel in Mayville, Pretoria.

The woman, a mother of three young children, was now so severely disabled that she was confined to a wheelchair and could not speak coherently.

Brits claimed the victim had approached them in the hotel and insisted on dancing with them.

She then accompanied Grobler to her car, where they had sex and Brits saw Grobler hitting her.

Afterwards, she had accompanied them to a dark place around the corner, where she had sex with them both before having sex with Grobler again. No violence or force was involved, he said.

Did not want to be involved

He insisted that both of them had assaulted the woman when she started pushing them around and that he had left Grobler behind with her, but Grobler put the blame for the attack squarely on Brits' shoulders, insisting he was not involved.

Brits admitted that he had approached four vagrants who were sleeping in a doorway nearby and asked one of the men if he wanted to have sex with the woman as well.

Both accused admitted to removing the woman's car radio, but said it was the other one's idea.

Two homeless men earlier told the court how they and two friends had heard the woman being raped and beaten up.

The group had ignored the woman and left her dying in the street because "they did not want to get involved" and were afraid of the police.

The trial continues.

October 15, 2008 | 5:42 AM Comments  0 comments

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About Child Trafficking
Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

There are more slaves now than ever before according to the US Department of State, the United Nations, the International Labor Organization. Human trafficking is worse now than the Pharos of Egypt, the Roman Empire, or the transatlantic slave trade of the colonial era. Vatican Quote: “It's worse than the slavery of those who were taken from Africa and brought to other countries.”

Child Trafficking Defined Here

Widespread Child Trafficking occurs wherever there are ONE of three things happening: Extreme Poverty, Political Chaos, or War.

Child Trafficking works through Recruitment, Transportation, Exploitation
Children leave their home for a FEE, or to FLEE or to be FREE. Wherever it takes place the procedure is similar: A young girl or boy is brought from one place to another by someone who enslaves them. Years of exploitation and abuse follow. In the US, the young people are usually runaways. They are recruited in malls, bus stations, shelters and online.

Children are used for: Sexual Exploitation (prostitution, sex tourism, pornography, etc.) forced labor (cocoa, coffee, diamonds, rugs, silk, etc.), illegal activities (begging, selling drugs), child soldiers, forced marriage, adoption (sales), body parts.

Child Trafficking is the fastest growing crime in the world.
UNICEF values the global market of child trafficking at over $12 billion a year with over 1.2 million child victims.

Child Trafficking is the third largest crime in the world, for Transnational Crime, just after drugs and guns.

Domestically, it occurs in every community in America. This is Slavery in the Suburbs. The FBI has determined that the average age for females entering prostitution in the US is 13.

Why are children becoming the most profitable product for criminals?
A drug dealer can sell a little bag of drugs on the street just once.
A weapons dealer can sell a little hand gun on the street just once.
A trafficker can sell a little kid on the street 10, 15, 20 a day; day after day after day.

No one is going to let go of that kind of profit, unless someone takes it from them.

This is terrorism against children.

Child trafficking is characterized by three stages:

1. Recruitment of trafficking victims take place primarily in developing countries like Asia, Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union, Latin America and Africa. Countries of origin are generally marked by economic and political instability.
2. Transportation typically involves a complex route of travel and paid handlers. Depending on the length of transit and the political situation at the point of destination, smugglers pay widely varying prices for transport and bribes.
3. Exploitation. In the country of destination, trafficked persons are usually exploited by their recruiters for financial profit, and are sold or leased to others. Such persons usually hold their victims under conditions of physical captivity, and use force, threats, debt bondage, drugs, and coercion to subject them to different forms of exploitation. As with any illegal activity, information and data that convey the true scale of the problem is difficult to measure accurately. Typically, these children are taken – either through force or deception – and trafficked to distant places, sometimes within their own country, sometimes to foreign lands. There, they often join many other children already trapped in the commercial sex industry.

Of course, once they are taken their survival is unlikely. In fact, everything is taken away: their development, their rights to an education, to health, and to grow up within a protected and safe environment free from abuse and exploitation.

Traffickers are known to recruit their victims using a variety of methods. While abduction and kidnapping is often their tool, trafficking victims are very often trapped in more subversive ways. Typically, the traffickers promise their victims, usually girls and young women, that they will have respectable work as perhaps waitresses or domestic servants in another place or country. Traffickers may also persuade parents that their children will have a better life elsewhere: a secure job and the chance of a better education and future. In fact, they are often selling them to filthy brothels. Some of these parents or girls may even know, or suspect, that they will be sex workers, but desperate poverty and lack of both education and awareness can lead to their willingness to accept any offer – no matter the risk to the children.

What they do not know, however, is the extent of the abuse and degradation they will suffer, and the likelihood that they will be trapped in debt bondage. Either way, they go with these strangers only to discover upon their arrival in some strange land that they are victims of an evil deception. Simply put, they become slaves.

There is a difference between slavery and enslavement. In the modern world, few governments have laws providing for legal human ownership. This is the old model of slavery. So, the criminal factor takes over. The dynamics for slavery still exist, that is, the demand for enslaved human beings as a commodity, but the definitions and logistics for carrying it out have changed. Pro Slavery laws (mostly abolished throughout the world) have been replaced by Force, Fraud, and Coercion. This is enslavement.

Further, children forced to work in the sex industry are at considerable risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS. For girls, there is the added risk of very early pregnancy and permanent damage to their reproductive health. Some trafficked children are also subdued and controlled with drugs to which they become easily addicted. They are then effectively trapped within the cycle of exploitation, because continuing with the work is seen as the only way to obtain their supplies.

This problem is not small or simple. It is a looming threat to children all over the world on several levels. That is why Ahava Kids works with the brave people who intervene directly in this vile trade.

October 15, 2008 | 5:17 AM Comments  0 comments

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RISK VS REWARD
About this event: Food for Talk
Related to country: Nigeria

Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

Decisions, decisions. Every day we have to make numerous choices. Some can affect us the rest of our lives, while others are relatively insignificant. But whatever the type of choices we must make, the fact remains that WE are responsible, and we must weigh the risk versus the reward of our decisions.
Daily Dilemmas
A typical day begins with the simple choice of when to get out of bed. Then we must decide whether to take a shower, a bath, shampoo our hair, or whether to bathe at all. How to wear our hair and what clothes to wear are other decisions to be made. Shall we skip breakfast or eat, and if so, what shall we have? How will we get to school--ride with our parents, ride the school bus, hitch a ride with a friend or walk? All of these choices must be made.
Along with such obvious decisions facing today's young people are the more serious ones that really can affect lives. One such choice could be whether to study for a test, go out with friends or spend the evening talking on the telephone. We all know which choice should be made, but will it?
Choosing what to wear may seem a mundane decision, but not in today's world of gangs that sport certain colors, brands of clothing and shoes and styles of wearing those clothes. To make the wrong choice and wear "gang" paraphernalia could be dangerous. By the same token, many people judge others by the clothes worn--not just whether the clothes are clean and pressed, but whether they are brand name or generic. A student's acceptance at school can depend on such choices.
How active students are in school also can have a big effect on their success. For example, should they participate in extra-curricular activities such as band, vocal music, cheerleading, debate, football or another sport? The time required for practice can drastically cut into time needed for studying or simple free time for relaxation with friends.
Should students have a part-time job? Here again, the time a job requires would directly affect all aspects of after-school and/or weekend activities, including time to do homework or participate in activities.
Whether to use drugs, drink alcohol or smoke cigarettes are big choices that virtually every student must face. Some go along with the crowd just to belong, but the risk of such behavior can be deadly as well as dangerous to reputations where breaking the law is concerned. Using drugs and alcohol involves other decisions, such as whether to get behind the wheel or even to appear in public and risk arrest. The "reward" of a temporary high means nothing in comparison.
Career Choices
Once students have navigated through school toward graduation, there are even more decisions to be made. Some decide to drop out of school to marry, get jobs or have children. Others go on to college, and there are other major decisions to be made. Where to go? What to major in? Whether to live on campus or commute? Who to have as a roommate or have none at all? What classes to take, how many hours to carry and at what times?
Some of these choices can be made only by the students directly affected by them; others can and should be made after much thought and discussion with parents, counselors and/or friends. But no matter what our decisions, the risk vs. the reward of our choices must be considered. And the overwhelming question that must be answered is quite simply, Is it worth it?

August 19, 2008 | 6:04 AM Comments  1 comments

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Prostititution in Brazil
About this event: Rwanda: Human Rights Delegation for Young Leaders
Related to country: Brazil

Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

Prostititution
The concentration of wealth and bi-polarized economic situation in Brazil results in a situation of marginality which leaves 20 million people indigent and more than 40 million children and adolescents needy or abandoned. This situation throws more children into prostitution every day. ("Use of children for prostitution and a Congressional hearing in the State of Paraiba," NGOAEs/ Interinstitutional Network Against Child Prostitution and Sexual Abuse, 6 April 1998).
In over 30 municipalities especially the larger cities, there is a noteable increase in prostitution among children under the age of 14. ("Use of children for prostitution and a Congressional hearing in the State of Paraiba," NGOAEs/ Interinstitutional Network Against Child Prostitution and Sexual Abuse, 6 April 1998).
In 1998, the economic and environmental crises such as the eight-month drought that has threatened 10 million people with hunger has led children into prostitution for their families’ survival. (Phil Stweart, "Brazil drought spurs child prostitution," Reuters, 23 June 1998)

Case
Ernesto Ramires Vieria in Porto Murtinho on the banks of the River Paraguay owns a typical prostitution establishment. It has 18 rooms, for 42 prostitutes. As many as 250 men visit the establishment each night. The owner claimed that he was proud of the high level of his 'customers' which include well-known football players, business men, actors and singers. During the 15 minutes in which he was giving the interview to the Folha reporter he received three phone calls asking that girl prostitutes be reserved for different clients. ("Child prostitutes used in 'sex tourism' in Pantannal," SEJUP #287, 17 September 1997).

Official Response and Action
Sections of a report that suggested actions against child sexual exploitation and implicated public figures, particularly Deputies and Assembly functionaries were removed from a 1998 Report. The Comissao Parlamentar de Inquerito carried out 17 public hearings, took testimony from government entities, NGOs, church organizations, human rights commissions linked to the problematic of children and adolescents, police officials, judges, functionaries of the state attorney general's office, accused individuals and family members of victims. It established the existence of organized networks within and outside of the state of Paraiba, linking the two major cities of Joao Pessoa and Campina Grande with cities in neighboring states.


The Report identified extremely serious cases of sexual exploitation in Joao Pessoa, involving in particular Maria Celestina Ribeiro de Barros and Itapuana Soares Dias—both named previously in a similar Comissao Parlamentar de Inquerito carried out by the Joao Pessoa City Council in 1993. 30 municipalities, especially the larger cities, had significant increases in prostitution among children under the age of 14. (Interinstitutional Network Against Child Prostitution and Sexual Abuse, March 23, 1998, NEWS FROM BRAZIL)
The Brazilian government is spending $1.7 million on rehabilitating an estimated 10,000 children in prostitution in the Amazon. The project is aimed at keeping children off the streets, (Social Security Network, "Brazil spends $1.7 ml on helping child prostitutes", Reuters, 12 June 1998)
In 1997 the government of the State of Mato Grosso do Sul decided to set up commissions in all municipalities to combat the sexual exploitation of children and adolescents. ("Child prostitutes used in 'sex tourism' in Pantannal," SEJUP #287, 17 September, 1997)

July 30, 2008 | 5:19 AM Comments  1 comments

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CHILD PROSTITUTION ON THE RISE IN BRAZIL
Related to country: Brazil

Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

Brazil's economic crisis in recent years has aggravated chronic social ills, placing the country among other nations with the highest degree of unbalanced distribution of land and wealth in the world. As a sad illustration of further social decay, the Brazilian Center for Childhood and Adolescence (CBIA) has recently estimated that there are about 500,000 girls who have turned to prostitution to earn a living. Some of these girls are as young as nine years old.

The prostitution of girls in Brazil is the direct consequence of years of economic recession, and the low status afforded to women in the country. Because women have a limited access to occupations and resources, they are the ones hardest hit during economic crises.

Since the 1960's, a massive wave of migration has occurred in Brazil. A large number of these migrants who come to the cities looking for work end up living in crowded slums. As the number of slum dwellers grow, so do the numbers of street children. Traditionally, the boys have been the ones more noticeable in the streets; however, as more extreme levels of poverty strike families and the family support system disintegrates, more girls have been forced into the streets. Journalist Gilberto Dimenstein, who has carried out extensive investigations of the lives of street children, suggests that poverty is the principal reason most girls are forced into prostitution. In his book, Girls of the Night, Dimenstein points out that some families force their own daughters into prostitution for food or additional income. "Poverty makes promiscuity look normal. Scenes such as the selling of daughters by their mothers and needle abortions, stop provoking shock and indignation. They become part of day to day life." Family problems, not unrelated to poverty, may also lead the girls to prostitute themselves. For instance, Dimenstein notes that the majority of the girls he interviewed come from broken homes. These girls faced the death of relatives, alcoholism, or sexual abuse in the home. He also notes that many girls denounced their stepfathers as their main abusers. In addition, traditional social mores may also lead the girls into the streets, as when girls lose their virginity, they are often rejected by their families. Thus, many girls see the streets and prostitution as a way to freedom from conflict and violence at home. Some girls are also fleeing boring work, and see in prostitution a way to earn more money and become more independent.

With the growth of the tourism industry, selling their bodies has become a way for poor girls to have access to the dollars of tourists. According to research done by the sociologist Marlene Vaz, with the support of UNICEF, in the city of Salvador, Bahia, young girls are brought to foreign ships that anchor by the Bahia de Todos os Santos. To avoid the scrutiny of the Federal Police, the girls head to the ships at night and leave just before dawn. According to the report, some agencies send photos of Brazilian girls to Germany, Switzerland, France, Italy. There, foreign tourists choose their companion for the days they will be staying in Salvador. The tourists pay the agency in advance in dollars.

Ana Vasconcelos is the founder of Casa de Passagem (Passage House), an organization doing pioneer work with prostitutes in the city of Recife, Pernambuco. She notes that as girls usually have few marketable skills, sex becomes the only avenue for survival. In a talk she gave in Mill Valley, California, Vasconcelos explained the lack of alternatives these young women have. "In my country the minimum wage is around $80 dollars a month. Sometimes a woman can get $200 dollars with a man that comes on a cruise ship... You have to pay rent. You have kids. You help your mother. How can you quit prostitution when you have much more money, and then survive with minimum wage? Most of these children barely know how to read and write."

In Girls of the Night, Dimenstein denounces the trafficking of girls who are forced to work as prostitutes in the Amazon region, especially in mining towns. He explains the system of debt bondage under which the girls are kept. At first, the girls are told of job openings, usually in a restaurant or a luncheonette, in faraway regions. Upon their arrival, the girls are informed they already owe the money for transportation, and can only leave after paying it. In addition, the girls have to pay rent for their room, and often receive perfumes and clothes from the owner of the brothel. Very often, the girls have no control over the money they make, as their clients pay directly to the owner of the brothel or night club for "the services" rendered. Diseases, such as malaria, are very common to the region, and when the girls get sick, and are unable to work, they have additional expenses with medication and food, making it more difficult to pay the "debt" which only increases.

In these places, the girls are stripped even further of any vestige of their human rights. On the trail of the trafficking of girls, Dimenstein encountered a brothel in the city of Imperatriz that auctioned virgin girls. He explains that as a new virgin arrives in the town, men come to the brothel and the auction of the girl takes place. Usually, sons of rich landowners are the ones to offer the highest bid and to gain the right to be the first.

Escaping from these isolated places, which very often can only be reached by plane or boat, becomes very difficult. The girls are kept under the constant threat of mistreatment and violence, and, in many instances, they find no protection from law officials. A 1992 article from the newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo denounced that in the mining town of Cuiu-Cuiu, in the state of Para, the police were receiving weekly "contributions" from owners of nightclubs keeping enslaved girls. According to the article the police were fully aware of the practices of the nightclubs, and even had a document signed by the police chief in which the names of the nightclub owners and the amount of money given by them were listed. There were also denunciations that the Military Police, following orders of night club owners, chased the victims who tried to escape from their captors, physically punishing them and even causing their death.

In large urban centers, police brutality against prostitutes is a routine practice. Usually the police arrest the girl, rape and release her. Vasconcelos denounces that some policemen have provoked miscarriages during arguments with girls in the street by kicking the girls in their stomach.

In the streets, the girls are also under the threat of disease. Vasconcelos suggests that the government shares the blame for the proliferation of diseases, especially of AIDS. She says that the girls in Recife know about the disease, usually through television, but have no way to avoid it. Vasconcelos points out that the government tends to scare people with the message of its campaign: "Be careful about AIDS. AIDS kills!" But at the same time, it does not distribute condoms, and Brazil is a country where condoms are expensive luxuries for those who are going hungry. It is important to note that social mores and the discomfort that adults have towards adolescent sexuality limit the kind of information and services offered to young women. This is an impediment to efforts that could prevent early pregnancies and the spread of sexually transmitted diseases among girls. Vasconcelos, during her first experiences working in social programs sponsored by the government of Pernambuco, took notice of the taboo surrounding the issue of prostitution. "The government did not want to work with girls. The government did not want to discuss sexuality. The government did not want to discuss prostitution."

The consequences of the negative attitudes that society has toward these girls are clearly reflected in their low sense of self-esteem that comes with the feeling of being rejected. The degree of low self-esteem and self-hatred is such that many girls respond to the general hostility against them by inflicting violence upon themselves. It is common for girls to cut themselves. This is a way to ask for people's attention. As Ana Vasconcelos points out, these acts of self-mutilation and suicide attempts are very often done around other people as a way to ask for help.

Due to the singularities that the experience of "being a girl" entails, there must be social programs specifically geared to meeting the needs of marginalized girls. In the city of Recife, Pernambuco, prostitutes find a refuge from the chaos of the outside world in the organization "Casa de Passagem," a meeting place where they can discuss the problems involved in "being a prostitute" with psychologists in private sections, and with other prostitutes in group sections. The organization also offers food and shelter for prostitutes, as well as trade classes.

"Casa de Passagem" has been recognized around the world for its innovative work with poor girls, being a potential "blueprint" model to replicate elsewhere. Self-empowerment is at the center of the organization's approach. The girls learn about their rights as children and as citizens. As Vasconcelos explains, they also learn about feminism, about women's rights and their potential as agents of social change. "You have to know that you are a citizen, that you have rights, that there is a constitution in this country, and it is up to anyone of us to make this constitution work."

Thus, at "Casa the Passagem" therapy occurs in a holistic way. While each individual experience, fear, and anxiety is shared with psychologists and other women, each girl is given the opportunity to "see" the "whole picture," as Ana Vasconcelos explains. "We begin to explain to them about history, how it comes to be, how we count on, one day something happening. So we give them an idea of life. They all become revolutionary. They all become involved in changing history."

July 26, 2008 | 9:28 AM Comments  0 comments

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