The eagle has landed: Fifa World Cup trophy arrives in Kenya

By Robin Toskin and Agencies

The Fifa World Cup (often called the Football World Cup, Soccer World Cup or simply the World Cup) is the most important competition in international football, and the world’s most representative team sport event.

Organised by Federation Internationale de Football Association (Fifa), the sport’s governing body, the World Cup is contested by the men’s national football teams of Fifa member nations.

The championship has been awarded every four years since the first tournament in 1930 (except in 1942 and 1946 due to World War II), however, it is more of an ongoing event as the qualifying rounds of the competition take place over three years preceding the final rounds.

Current holder

The final tournament phase (often called the “Finals”) involves 32 national teams competing over a four-week period in a previously nominated host nation, with these games making it the most widely-viewed sporting event in the world. In the 17 tournaments held, only seven nations have ever won the World Cup Finals.

Brazil is the current holder, as well as the most successful World Cup team, having won the tournament five times, while Germany and Italy follow with three titles each.

The 2010 World Cup final will be held in South Africa, the first time it is held in Africa. No other sporting event captures the world’s imagination like the Fifa World Cup.

Ever since the first tentative competition in Uruguay in 1930, Fifa’s (FÈdÈration Internationale de Football Association) flagship has constantly grown in popularity and prestige.

A group of visionary French football administrators, led in the 1920s by the Jules Rimet, are credited with the original idea of bringing the world’s strongest national football teams together to compete for World Champions.

Jules Rimet

The original gold trophy bore Jules Rimet’s name and was contested three times in the 1930s, before the Second World War put a 12-year stop to the competition.

When it resumed, the Fifa World Cup rapidly advanced to its undisputed status as the greatest single sporting event of the modern world.

Held since 1958 alternately in Europe and the Americas, the World Cup broke new ground with the Executive Committee’s decision in May 1996 to select Korea and Japan as co-hosts for the 2002 edition.

The Fifa World Cup has also been punctuated by dramatic upsets that have helped create footballing history – the United States defeating England in 1950, North Korea’s defeat of Italy in 1966, Cameroon’s emergence in the 1980s and their opening match defeat of the Argentinean cup-holders in 1990.

“The lines spring out from the base, rising in spirals, stretching out to receive the world. From the remarkable dynamic tensions of the compact body of the sculpture rise the figures of two athletes at the stirring moment of victory.”

 

source.standard.ke

ZAMBIA: New infections on the rise – HIV is causing deaths worldwide

Photo: IRIN

Low condom use is still driving new infections

LUSAKA, 9 November 2009 (PlusNews) – An estimated 82,700 Zambians will become newly infected with HIV in 2009, up from just over 70,000 in 2007, according to new figures from the National AIDS Council.

The 2009 Zambia HIV Prevention Response and Modes of Transmission Analysis noted that the percentage of new HIV infections had stabilized, but the absolute number of new infections increased due to population growth.

As many as 71 out of every 100 new infections occur as a result of sex with a non-regular partner, while people who reported having only one sexual partner accounted for around 21 percent of new infections.

“This shows significant HIV risk even for those who are faithful. The country is facing new and tough challenges to reduce the infection rate because the disease is threatening the foundation of families and marriages,” the report commented.

Other drivers of Zambia’s epidemic are low levels of male circumcision in most parts of the country and inadequate condom use, particularly among discordant couples (in which one partner is HIV-positive and the other negative).

Although Zambia has recorded successes in its prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) programme, ensuring a safe blood supply, and behaviour-change communication campaigns, the authors recommended urgently focusing future prevention efforts on curbing common practices such as having multiple concurrent partners, transactional sex and inter-generational sex.

“Multiple concurrent partnerships are the leading cause of HIV infection in Zambia. Within these relationships, correct and consistent use of condoms remains dismally low despite condoms being readily available, in most cases free of charge,” President Rupiah Banda said at the opening of the National HIV Prevention Convention in Lusaka, the capital, last week, and called for more concerted efforts to curb new infections.

However, the report revealed that the annual estimated requirement was 200 million male condoms and 2 million female condoms, yet only 96 million male and 500,000 female condoms were available.

Vice President George Kunda blamed the high number of new infections on the poor uptake of HIV/AIDS services and reluctance to change risky behaviours.

pc/ks/he source.irinnews.org

KENYA: New survey to inform HIV programming for MSM

 

Photo: IRIN

HIV programming for MSM is extremely limited despite the country’s national strategic plan for HIV/AIDS classing them as a “most at-risk population”

NAIROBI, 9 November 2009 (PlusNews) – A planned national survey of men who have sex with men (MSM) will be the first step in the government’s plan to incorporate this high-risk group into the country’s HIV programme, a senior government official has said.

“We have continued to ignore this group of people yet they are responsible for a big chunk of new HIV infections; we have resolved as a government that we cannot sit back and wait for things to get out of hand,” said Nicholas Muraguri, head of the National AIDS and Sexually transmitted infections Control Programme (NASCOP).

There have been few studies on HIV among MSM in Kenya; a survey of 285 men in Mombasa in 2007 found an HIV prevalence of 43 percent among men who had sex with men exclusively, compared with 12.3 percent among men who had sex with both men and women. Kenya’s national HIV prevalence is 7.4 percent.

HIV programming for MSM is extremely limited despite the country’s national strategic plan for HIV/AIDS classing them as a “most at-risk population”.

“We cannot do this [provide HIV programmes for MSM] without knowing roughly how many they are and what special needs they require; I hope the survey that we will embark on will help us answer some of these questions,” Muraguri said.

He noted that the survey – due to start in December and last six months – will attempt to discover information such as the specific sexual health risks and needs of MSM, MSM “hot spots” around the country, and the number of MSM-friendly health facilities available.

It will use respondent-driven sampling, recruiting openly gay men to reach out to other MSM who may not be out of the closet, and using existing MSM-friendly facilities to help conduct the research.

High hopes for better services

Joshua* is a male commercial sex worker in Nairobi who recently received training from NASCOP on reaching out to his peers with HIV/AIDS messages.

“Today I talked to 75 male commercial sex workers – 40 of them are HIV-positive but they do not know what to do,” he told IRIN/PlusNews. “Many are homeless after being kicked out of their homes due to stigma.”

Joshua hopes the survey will enable the government and NGOs to provide more services to MSM.

“Currently at a clinic in Nairobi, we are given one bottle of [water-based] lubricant to last three months but you know as a commercial sex worker, you finish it in a week,” he added. “So it means for the remaining time, you engage in sex without the lubricant, putting yourself at great risk.”

He noted that there was also a lack of sufficient knowledge about the risks associated with HIV and anal sex in the general population. “Many women [clients] approach us for anal sex wrongly believing that it lowers their chances of getting infected,” he said. “Everybody should be educated on the dangers of this kind of sex because it seems people have the wrong perception.”

However, not all MSM are as enthusiastic about the prospect of being counted and questioned by a government that has thus far shown little support for the rights of MSM.

Not everyone on board

“People in this country are still very homophobic and we are stigmatized a lot; who will want to come out to agree that he is a homosexual? Let them address issues of stigma first,” said Donald*, who has not come out of the closet. “How do you convince me to come out and say I am a homosexual yet the same government that is asking me to do this criminalizes what I am engaged in?”

“I would rather they offered the services without going into the business of knowing who we are and trying to count us,” he added.

I would rather they offered us the services without going into the business of knowing who we are and trying to count us

Proof that homosexuality remains taboo in Kenya was not hard to come by on the streets of Nairobi: “To say they want to offer services to people who are engaged in acts that do not conform to the law is taking this issue of human rights too far,” said Lynette Moseti. “That money can be used to help children who are living with HIV.”

Homosexuality remains illegal in Kenya, punishable by up to 14 years in prison. According to Muraguri, however, the urgency of the problem necessitated ignoring the law. “Rigidity will only make our situation worse,” he said.

Muraguri stressed that the government’s survey did not intend to stigmatize MSM.

“We appreciate the stigma these people face and that would be [the] last thing we would want to do; even in other mainstream HIV services that the government offers we use data to offer services, so I do not think there is anything unusual about the survey,” he said.

Lorna Dias, MSM coordinator at Liverpool VCT (voluntary counselling and testing), Care and Treatment, one of the only organizations in the country that provides services to MSM, says the planned survey shows that the government is serious about tackling the epidemic among most at-risk populations.

“It is a positive step and a clear indication that the government is ready to open up to the reality that men who have sex with men pose a great risk to the war against HIV unless they are integrated within mainstream HIV and AIDS programmes,” she said. “The next step should be to de-stigmatize them and see them as normal people who need services like everybody else.”

*(not their real names)

ko/kr/cb source.irinnews.org

GLOBAL: AIDS activists laud lifting of US HIV travel ban

 

Photo: F18E777/Flickr

The ban has been in place for over two decades

NAIROBI, – A 22-year-old ban on people infected with HIV entering the US was officially lifted on 2 November, with the new rules taking effect in 60 days. AIDS activists have hailed the move as a major coup in the fight against stigma.

“This comes as very good news for us,” Michael Angaga, regional coordinator for the Network of African People Living with HIV/AIDS (NAP+), told IRIN/PlusNews.

“For so long HIV-positive people have felt isolated by one of the greatest nations in the world, which should be spearheading human rights.” Angaga said he looked forward to seeing the new rules rapidly implemented in US embassies around the world.

In 1987 HIV was added to the list of communicable diseases that could prevent infected immigrants, students and tourists from obtaining visas to enter the US without special permission. President Barack Obama’s announcement on 30 October marked the end of a process started in 2008 by then US President George W. Bush, who signed a law repealing these restrictions.

“We lead the world when it comes to helping stem the AIDS pandemic, yet we are one of only a dozen countries that still bar people from HIV from entering our own country. If we want to be the global leader in combating HIV/AIDS, we need to act like it,” Obama was reported as saying.

Samuel Kibanga, national coordinator of the National Forum of People living with HIV/AIDS Networks in Uganda, commented: “This shows that America can now see the reality that people living with HIV are just like any other people, deserving of the right to free movement – the travel ban was discrimination of the highest calibre.”

The UNAIDS International Guidelines on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights state that any restriction on liberty of movement or choice of residence based on suspected or real HIV status alone, including HIV screening of international travellers, is discriminatory.

Governments usually give two main reasons for imposing travel restrictions on HIV-positive people: to help control the spread of HIV, and save host countries the cost of HIV-related treatment, but Kibanga said these regulations merely drove the problem of HIV underground.

“People fear to reveal their status when travelling. It is better to be with someone who feels free to be open about their status than one who is hiding it,” he said. “That way we can all fight AIDS as partners.”

A June 2009 report by watchdog organization Human Rights Watch, found that immigration laws and stringent requirements for accessing free health care often created insurmountable barriers to treatment and care for migrants living with HIV.

Kibanga said he hoped the US’s move would serve as an example to other nations. According to UNAIDS, 59 countries impose some form of travel restrictions on people living with HIV.

kr/kn/he source.irinnews.org

SOUTH AFRICA: Battle won for HIV-positive soldiers

Photo: IRIN

An estimated 25 percent of SANDF employees are HIV positive

JOHANNESBURG, 11 November 2009 (PlusNews) – The South African cabinet has approved a new policy prohibiting discrimination against soldiers and would-be recruits on the basis of their HIV status.

Previously, HIV-positive members of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) could be excluded from recruitment, international deployment, and promotion, but a 2008 high court decision declared such policies unconstitutional and gave the SANDF six months to amend them.

The high court case was brought by the AIDS Law Project (ALP) on behalf of the South African Security Forces Union (SASFU) and two HIV-positive men. One man was an SANDF member who had not been allowed to join his unit on foreign deployments; the other had been denied employment in the SANDF, based on his status.

The ALP expressed disappointment about the length of time the SANDF took to comply with the court order and the persistence of unfair discrimination against HIV-positive soldiers and recruits, but in October one of the men, Sergeant Sipho Mthethwa, became the first known HIV-positive soldier to be deployed on international service.

The SANDF had argued that people living with HIV were unfit to withstand the stress and physical demands of foreign deployments. An estimated 25 percent of SANDF employees are HIV positive, higher than the national adult prevalence of 18 percent.

ks/he source.irinnews.org