http://www.Plusnews.org Updated every day en-gb Sun, 19 May 2013 17:13:53 GMT United Nations Integrated Regional Information Networks, http://www.Plusnews.org Mon, 12 Jan 2009 01:01:01 GMT ]]>BOGOTA, 12 January 2009 (PLUSNEWS) - When Martin Alonso Hernandez, an AIDS activist in Bogota, Colombia's capital, learned that his partner of six years was HIV positive, he waited another five years before getting himself tested for the virus. http://www.plusnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=82318 http://www.plusnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=82318 BOGOTA, 12 January 2009 (PLUSNEWS) - When Martin Alonso Hernandez, an AIDS activist in Bogota, Colombia's capital, learned that his partner of six years was HIV positive, he waited another five years before getting himself tested for the virus.]]> BOGOTA, 12 January 2009 (PLUSNEWS) - When Martin Alonso Hernandez, an AIDS activist in Bogota, Colombia's capital, learned that his partner of six years was HIV positive, he waited another five years before getting himself tested for the virus. "I was out of the social security system," he explained. "It was very expensive to test otherwise." Hernandez's partner did have health insurance through his job, but was fired when his status was discovered. He lost his health benefits and fell into a deep depression, Hernandez told IRIN/PlusNews, eventually dying in 1999. By the time Hernandez accessed Colombia's state-regulated health insurance system and tested for HIV in 2001, he had a number of AIDS-related symptoms and weighed just 32kg. "I was quite sure of the result," he said. "I just wanted the piece of paper so I could access treatment." Colombia introduced its national health insurance system in 1997, with the goal of achieving universal coverage by 2000. But about 14 percent of the population remain uninsured and according to a 2008 grant proposal submitted by the Colombian government to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, a disproportionate number come from among the "vulnerable, excluded and impoverished". In theory, those not covered by the health insurance system - mostly the very poor and those who lack identification documents - should be able to access health services directly from the state. But Dr Ricardo Luque, an advisor to the Public Health Directorate on sexual and reproductive health issues, noted that Colombia's decentralised system of government means that each of the country's 32 regional departments determines its own spending priorities. "There's competition for resources and they're spent based on demand," he said. The Global Fund proposal confirms that some departments have not prioritised the health needs of their most impoverished populations who are most likely to be uninsured. Treatment refused The health insurance system functions by requiring those who are employed to pay into a state-administered fund which is used to pay private health companies to deliver services. An additional, smaller salary deduction helps pay for a social security fund that subsidises health services for the unemployed. The private health companies are mandated to provide essential services, including all those related to HIV and AIDS treatment, care and prevention. But according to Ricardo Garcia, UNAIDS country coordinator, people living with HIV, especially those covered by the subsidised health system, have often been refused such services and had to resort to the courts to force the health companies to meet their obligations. Garcia added that while access to ARV treatment had improved in recent years, with 80 percent of people in need of the drugs now getting them according to government figures, the quality and consistency of provision was still patchy. "We've had complaints of people receiving the ARVs for three or four months and then, because of a shortage of drugs resulting from bad supply management, they have to interrupt treatment." UNAIDS estimates that 170,000 people are living with HIV in Colombia, of which 18,000 are currently accessing treatment according to Luque of the Public Health Directorate. He explained that the figure of 80 percent coverage for ARVs was based on reported cases rather than prevalence estimates - the basis for most countries' treatment coverage figures. "Only 25,000 people have tested positive and found to be in need of treatment," Luque said. "Access to treatment is one thing; the gap in diagnosis is another." Vulnerable groups miss out on prevention Critics of Colombia's health system argue that there is little incentive for the private health companies to promote HIV testing and that regional health authorities have also under spent on either promoting testing or training health personnel to provide it. HIV prevalence among Colombia's general population has stayed below 1 percent, but the limited data available suggests that concentrated epidemics are occurring among certain high-risk groups such as men who have sex with men (MSM) and sex workers. People displaced by the country's armed conflict are also thought to be at greater risk of HIV infection. Currently, Colombia has no national strategy or budget for HIV prevention programmes targeted at these vulnerable groups. Prevention and awareness-raising is left to the private health companies, the local departments and non-governmental organisations. "The private health companies receive money from the government to do HIV prevention, but they're not using it to actually do interventions," said Garcia of UNAIDS. "Some of the health companies are fulfilling their mandate to do prevention, others not," conceded Luque. "We do need more resources for a national strategy of prevention, that's why we're applying to the Global Fund." If the grant proposal is approved, it will be used to target vulnerable groups such as MSM, sex workers, young displaced people, and prisoners. In the meantime, there are no programmes to even distribute free condoms to these groups. Local departments have limited budgets for HIV prevention, some of which they can choose to spend on condoms while the private health companies receive only enough condoms from the health ministry to give to people already living with HIV and those with other sexually transmitted infections. "It's insufficient, but it's a lack of resources," said Luque. "Most condoms have to be paid for out of people's pockets." Unfortunately, it is the most high risk groups for HIV who are often least likely to be able to afford condoms. Eduardo Pastrana of the local NGO, Amigos Positivos which runs HIV/AIDS awareness programmes aimed at displaced people living on Colombia's northern coast, said most of the people he works with have very low incomes: "They would rather buy food than condoms." ks/oa Fri, 12 Dec 2008 12:12:12 GMT ]]>BOGOTA, 12 December 2008 (PLUSNEWS) - When Cesar Leon discovered he had contracted HIV from his long-term boyfriend more than a decade ago, not much information was available about the virus, even among the gay community in Bogota, Colombia's capital. http://www.plusnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=81939 http://www.plusnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=81939 BOGOTA, 12 December 2008 (PLUSNEWS) - When Cesar Leon discovered he had contracted HIV from his long-term boyfriend more than a decade ago, not much information was available about the virus, even among the gay community in Bogota, Colombia's capital.]]> BOGOTA, 12 December 2008 (PLUSNEWS) - When Cesar Leon discovered he had contracted HIV from his long-term boyfriend more than a decade ago, not much information was available about the virus, even among the gay community in Bogota, Colombia's capital. "Today, we have a lot of information [about AIDS], but people aren’t responsible, they don’t pay attention," he told IRIN/PlusNews. HIV rates among Colombia's general population have stayed below 1 percent, but the limited data available on men who have sex with men (MSM) suggests that the infection level in this group may be at least 11 percent. Prevalence peaked at about 17 percent in the late 1990s, but even the lower rate is still high enough to pose a significant risk to men who have unprotected sex with other men. Leon and other gay AIDS activists say complacency among gay men has become a threat. "Before, HIV was the terror that everyone was scared of. Now it seems people are a bit too relaxed; they’re not so scared anymore," said Martin Alonso Hernandez, who works at the Weavers of Life Foundation, a community-based organisation that facilitates income-generation projects for people living with HIV in Bogota. The organisation recently conducted a small study on condom use among gay men and found that of 69 men interviewed at various gay bars, clubs and baths in Bogota, 35 percent said they did not use condoms, 30 percent always used condoms, and a minority of those used lubricants to prevent condoms from breaking. Many said there was little condom promotion at gay clubs, and the films always featured men "barebacking" - having sex without condoms. "You enter a dark club and there's a [pornographic] video playing and you don't know anyone; you have sex and then you leave," said Edinson Aranguren, a gay AIDS activist member of the Colombian League for the Fight Against AIDS (Liga Colombiana de Lucha Contra el SIDA). "Some places give a condom when you enter, but most don't. There's no material about condom use or HIV." His organisation attempted to rectify this situation a few years ago by giving gay club owners boxes of condoms to hand out to clients, but many owners were hostile, and those who accepted the condoms often sold them. The League has worked with local government to bring in a regulation forcing club owners to provide condoms, but "the government isn't interested in enforcing it; also, about 70 percent of these places are unlicensed," Aranguren said. Hernandez said the availability of free antiretroviral (ARV) treatment through Colombia's state-regulated health insurance system was another factor in the more relaxed attitude to HIV in the gay community. "They don't view AIDS as a big problem these days because drugs are available." In fact, not everyone is covered by the state system and the government figure of 80 percent coverage for ARVs is based only on the 25,000 people who have been tested and found to be in need of the drugs. Hernandez delayed taking an HIV test for five years after his partner tested positive because he was out of the system at the time, and being testing in the private sector was unaffordable. "By the time I tested, I was quite sure of the result. I had some symptoms and I only weighed 32kg," he said. "I just wanted the piece of paper so I could access treatment - by then I was covered by the health insurance system." Hidden MSM harder to reach Whether or not they act on it, the gay community in Bogota has reasonably good access to information about HIV and AIDS, but MSM who don't consider themselves gay are difficult to reach and tend to have a much lower level of awareness. "They prefer to chat on the internet and arrange meetings in dark places like gay cinemas so they won't be identified," said Aranguren. "They don't think they are at risk." In a society shaped by conservative Catholic values and a macho culture, MSM have good reason to keep their activities clandestine. "I always had an inclination towards men, but for me it was a problem because I couldn’t accept it," Leon recalled. "My family is Catholic and I grew up in the northeast, in a city called Bucaramanga where the culture is very macho." Even today, Leon does not feel he can tell his work colleagues about his sexuality, let alone his HIV status. "At work I have to be another person," he said. Hernandez said discrimination against gay people was common in rural areas, causing many to come to big cities like Bogota, which tended to be more anonymous, if not exactly tolerant. Lack of official response Colombia has no government strategy or budget for HIV prevention programmes aimed at vulnerable groups like gay men and MSM. Even condom distribution by the Ministry of Health is limited to people already living with HIV and their partners. "It's insufficient, but it's a lack of resources," said Dr Ricardo Luque, head of the National AIDS Programme. Colombia recently submitted its fifth proposal to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, seeking a grant to set up prevention programmes for vulnerable groups, including MSM; four previous proposals were declined, said Luque. The extent of HIV infection among gay men and MSM in Colombia is not known. The current figure of 11 percent prevalence is based on a survey by the Colombian League for the Fight Against AIDS in 2006 that sampled 632 men in Bogota. "Next year we're going to do a study in four cities to get a more representative figure," said Aranguren. ks/he Wed, 26 Nov 2008 11:11:11 GMT BOGOTA, 26 November 2008 (PLUSNEWS) - Carlos Cardenas* is a gay AIDS activist who works for a nongovernmental AIDS organisation in Bogota, Colombia's capital. He talked to IRIN/PlusNews about how HIV/AIDS has affected his life. http://www.plusnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=81672 http://www.plusnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=81672 ]]>CARTAGENA, 25 November 2008 (PLUSNEWS) - On the days that Alberis Guerrero Peralta doesn't make soup to sell in her neighbourhood of Arjona, an impoverished community outside Cartagena, a city on Colombia's northern coast, she and her four children don't eat. http://www.plusnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=81645 http://www.plusnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=81645 CARTAGENA, 25 November 2008 (PLUSNEWS) - On the days that Alberis Guerrero Peralta doesn't make soup to sell in her neighbourhood of Arjona, an impoverished community outside Cartagena, a city on Colombia's northern coast, she and her four children don't eat.]]> CARTAGENA, 25 November 2008 (PLUSNEWS) - On the days that Alberis Guerrero Peralta doesn't make soup to sell in her neighbourhood of Arjona, an impoverished community outside Cartagena, a city on Colombia's northern coast, she and her four children don't eat. Like many of the families living in Arjona, armed conflict between leftist rebel groups, government forces and right-wing paramilitary groups forced the Peraltas to abandon their home in the Department of Sucre, a province west of Cartagena. "It was hard. My husband left his land behind and he wanted to go back, but I didn't want to put my girls at risk; I'm a single mother now," she told IRIN/PlusNews, perched on a plastic chair in her small, neatly constructed, mud-and-stick home. Peralta said the haphazard, unpaved streets of her barrio [neighbourhood] were unsafe at night and she worried about her daughters, the oldest of whom is 14. "You can trust your kids, but you never know who they're going to meet in the streets. There's a lot of drug use here." Colombia's interminable conflict has claimed countless lives and displaced nearly three million people from mainly rural areas to sprawling slums on the outskirts of cities like Cartagena, where they often live in miserable, overcrowded conditions and struggle to access basic services like health care. The levels of domestic and gender-based violence are high in such communities, said Waldis Hurtado, who recently coordinated a World Food Programme (WFP) project aimed at raising awareness about and reducing the mostly unreported violence experienced by displaced women living in two cities on Colombia's southeastern, Pacific coast. "Gender-based violence is a huge problem in Colombia generally, but it's worse among the internally displaced populations," she told IRIN/PlusNews. "In the urban context, gender roles become inverted - instead of men being the breadwinners, often it's the women, and in this macho culture that generates a lot of tension in the family." Sexual violence has also been used as a weapon of war. Diana Peńarete, a HIV/AIDS consultant with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), said a survey had found that one out of every six displaced women had been victims of sexual violence. Although Colombia's national HIV infection rate is under one percent, prevalence is higher among certain vulnerable groups, such as sex workers, and men who have sex with men. No surveys have measured HIV rates among displaced populations, but they are thought to be another vulnerable group, partly as a result of the well-established links between sexual violence and the transmission of HIV, but also because displacement forces some of the women into sex work or having sexual relationships in exchange for financial support. "Maybe you're worried about how you're going to get food for today," said Lina Ortega*, a single mother who has lived with her daughter in Nelson Mandela, another barrio outside Cartagena, since guerrillas killed her brother for refusing to join them and threatened the rest of her family. "Even myself, I thought about getting a man to help me, but I didn't because of my daughter; I didn't want to put her at risk." Eduardo Pastrana, who works for a local non-governmental organisation (NGO), Amigos Positivos, which runs workshops on HIV and AIDS in Nelson Mandela, said displaced people often could not afford to buy condoms, or were ignorant of the dangers of unprotected sex. "Usually they come from rural areas and have low education levels." The Amigos Positivos workshops are well attended; food parcels donated by the WFP are an incentive for participating, and women like Peralta and Ortega, who left their rural homes many years ago and have attended many such workshops, are well informed about HIV and AIDS. It is the lack of knowledge among the more recently displaced that is a major risk factor. Diana Jesus, 19, belongs to an indigenous group from the Sinu region of northern Colombia, which moved to Arjona two years ago after an armed group drove them from their land. She and her nine family members now share a shack on a muddy patch of ground. "We don't know about HIV," she told IRIN/PlusNews, resting a naked baby on her hip. "I've heard of it, but honestly I don't know anything about it." Various initiatives are redressing this awareness gap. In five municipalities of the southern Department of Putumayo, where a number of armed groups are still active, UNHCR has been running HIV prevention workshops and campaigns aimed at the displaced and the communities where they now live. Another focus has been to train local health care workers about the importance of keeping HIV test results confidential. "Health personnel don't always respect confidentiality," said Peńarete of UNHCR. "In some cases, HIV results have been filtered from health centres to local communities and members of armed groups have used this information to threaten people diagnosed HIV-positive." The risk of HIV test results falling into the wrong hands is significant enough that UNHCR has postponed promoting testing in Putumayo. "We decided we couldn't guarantee the safety of people who tested positive," said Peńarete, citing the case of an NGO worker who had to leave the country because he and his family were threatened by a paramilitary group that wanted the HIV test results in his possession. Armed groups also vulnerable Members and former members of armed groups may also be at higher risk of HIV infection. Some are perpetrators of sexual violence; others are regular clients of sex workers as well as having multiple partners among the women living in nearby communities. Some of the armed groups try to balance such practices with what could be described as an HIV/AIDS policy. "They taught us about using condoms. You had to take care of yourself because they didn't accept people who were HIV positive," David Gomez*, a former member of a paramilitary group, told IRIN/PlusNews. "There was one time when the commander of our unit decided we all had to test for HIV. Fifteen men were infected and they shot them and burned the bodies." According to organisations that have worked with former combatants, the incident Gomez described is not an isolated one. Since 2002, the Colombian government has embarked on a policy of encouraging members of paramilitary groups to turn themselves over to the authorities in exchange for amnesty and entering a government programme of reintegration into society. By March 2008, over 40,000 people had demobilised. Nastassia Kantorowicz of the Office of the Presidential High Counsellor for Reintegration, which is implementing the programme, said the period after demobilisation was often a very difficult time for these mostly young, poorly educated men, who have spent their entire adult lives - and in some cases also their teenage years - following orders. "Sometimes when they're demobilised they have so much freedom they go a bit crazy with alcohol and prostitutes," she said. Gomez recalled trying to adapt to civilian life after leaving his paramilitary group three years ago: "I wasn't used to people treating me nicely, and treating others nicely," he said. "I started drinking a lot and going to prostitutes; I think that's when I became infected [with HIV]." The reintegration programme includes psychosocial support, such as help with recovering from alcohol and drug addiction and accessing free health care, and completing basic education and vocational training, but does not cover HIV/AIDS. Kantorowicz said a workshop on sexual and reproductive health would be introduced in 2009. Gomez stopped drinking a year ago and shortly afterwards met the woman who is now his wife, but still struggles to understand how he became infected. He often worries about his future. "I want to be a well-educated person so I can work," he said, "but I'm afraid that if people know I'm positive they won't give me a job." *Not their real names ks/he Fri, 21 Nov 2008 11:11:11 GMT ]]>BOGOTA, 21 November 2008 (PLUSNEWS) - David Gomez*, 27, is from the Department of Cordoba, a province on Colombia's Caribbean coast in the north of the country, but he now lives in Bogota, the capital. He joined the AUC (Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia), Colombia's largest illegal paramilitary group, when he was 15 and stayed with the group for nine years. He talked to IRIN/PlusNews about the difficulty of adjusting to civilian life after he left the group, and the discovery that he had contracted HIV. http://www.plusnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=81608 http://www.plusnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=81608 BOGOTA, 21 November 2008 (PLUSNEWS) - David Gomez*, 27, is from the Department of Cordoba, a province on Colombia's Caribbean coast in the north of the country, but he now lives in Bogota, the capital. He joined the AUC (Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia), Colombia's largest illegal paramilitary group, when he was 15 and stayed with the group for nine years. He talked to IRIN/PlusNews about the difficulty of adjusting to civilian life after he left the group, and the discovery that he had contracted HIV.]]> BOGOTA, 21 November 2008 (PLUSNEWS) - David Gomez*, 27, is from the Department of Cordoba, a province on Colombia's Caribbean coast in the north of the country, but he now lives in Bogota, the capital. He joined the AUC (Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia), Colombia's largest illegal paramilitary group, when he was 15 and stayed with the group for nine years. He talked to IRIN/PlusNews about the difficulty of adjusting to civilian life after he left the group, and the discovery that he had contracted HIV. "I joined for vengeance. I was abused as a child; I lived with my grandparents and if I misbehaved they beat me and cut me with a machete. I just had more and more anger the older I got. "When I was 15, I went to stay on my uncle's farm and he was involved in the AUC. I didn't know what it was at the time but after they explained it me, I wanted to join. Before they accepted me, they said I had to train how to use a gun, so I trained for three months. I never went to school; I only studied in the AUC about how to make bombs and stuff. "After that, it was combat and I didn't have time for regrets. In my unit there weren't any women and I never had any girlfriends, but at the weekends most of us would go drinking and we'd pay for prostitutes. "They taught us about using condoms. You had to take care of yourself because they didn't accept people who were HIV positive. There was one time when the commander of our unit decided we all had to test for HIV. Fifteen men were infected and they shot them and burned the bodies. After that, the commander only brought over prostitutes who had proof they'd tested negative. "After demobilising it was very hard to adapt. I wasn't used to people treating me nicely, and treating others nicely, and I had to think about what I was going to do with my life. I started drinking a lot and going to prostitutes; I think that's when I became infected. "I got TB and that's when I discovered my status. I didn't know what to do, but I stopped drinking and I met my wife soon after that. I used to lose my patience easily and get angry; that's when I used to drink. Now I breathe and count to 10. I've gone one year now without drinking. "My wife knows my status and she's supportive. We take care of each other and I take my pills every night. I want to be a well-educated person so I can work, but I'm afraid that if people know I'm positive they won't give me a job." *Not his real name ks/he Tue, 18 Nov 2008 11:11:11 GMT ]]>CARTAGENA, 18 November 2008 (PLUSNEWS) - On the surface, the historic northern city of Cartagena on Colombia's Caribbean coast is an up-market tourist destination, with cruise boat passengers strolling through the old, walled city's maze of narrow streets as sight-seers duck into air-conditioned boutiques and cafés to escape the tropical heat. http://www.plusnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=81528 http://www.plusnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=81528 CARTAGENA, 18 November 2008 (PLUSNEWS) - On the surface, the historic northern city of Cartagena on Colombia's Caribbean coast is an up-market tourist destination, with cruise boat passengers strolling through the old, walled city's maze of narrow streets as sight-seers duck into air-conditioned boutiques and cafés to escape the tropical heat.]]> CARTAGENA, 18 November 2008 (PLUSNEWS) - On the surface, the historic northern city of Cartagena on Colombia's Caribbean coast is an up-market tourist destination, with cruise boat passengers strolling through the old, walled city's maze of narrow streets as sight-seers duck into air-conditioned boutiques and cafés to escape the tropical heat. But there is a seedier side to this travel-brochure charm. The backpacker hostels that line a picturesque street just outside the old city are in a notorious red-light district and many of the men dozing on benches in a nearby park are not having a siesta, but waiting to pick up sex workers. According to Mayerlin Verqara Perez, a programme coordinator at Fundación Renacer, a non-governmental organisation working to prevent the sexual exploitation of children and adolescents, almost every other person on Cartagena's streets after a certain hour at night is connected in some way to the sex trade. The man in the sleeveless black t-shirt, smoking a cigarette, is a well-known pimp, she says, and the girl in the tight, yellow dress with the European-looking man in shorts are almost certainly a sex worker and her client. Even the group of over-dressed teenagers loitering near the entrance to the old city, are probably selling sex. "It's become a lot worse in the last 10 years," said Perez. "There are more children doing sex work and they're starting younger." Children drafted into sex work Colombia’s Caribbean coast has attracted a growing number of international visitors over the last decade as the country’s security situation has improved. But beyond the walled city and the main hotel strip, Cartagena's inhabitants are still mostly poor, especially those displaced here from other parts of the country by the armed conflict between leftist rebel groups and right-wing paramilitary groups. The combination of wealthy visitors and desperate locals has given rise to an alarming growth in sex tourism. "Cartagena is recognised as somewhere you can easily access sex with adults and children," Fabian Cardenas, regional director of Fundación Renacer, told IRIN/PlusNews. "The authorities are doing a lot of surveillance, but the simple fact of looking like a tourist means you're likely to be offered these things by people working in the informal tourism industry." Cardenas said it was common for male tourists to be approached by waiters, bellhops and taxi drivers offering introductions to sex workers and escort services. Even the drivers of the horse-drawn carriages that ferry tourists around the old city earn a commission for delivering clients to sex clubs. Fundación Renacer estimates that some 650 children are working in the sex trade, many of them coerced into it by their parents or relatives. Every year, the organisation convinces about 400 of them to participate in a psycho-social assistance programme that includes testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections (STIs), counselling, skills training and education about sexual and reproductive health and rights. The organisation uses field workers like Perez to identify and gain the trust of the children and teenagers before inviting them to join the programme, but pimps and abusers have started making use of new technologies to make them less visible. "Ten years ago we'd find the kids in the parks and in the night clubs, but the use of cell phones and Internet makes them harder to identify," she said. Children who agree to participate in the programme don't necessarily stay off the streets. "We try to convince them of the need for change and show them all the ways they're being maltreated, but it's hard because they have a strong link with the streets and they often don't think of themselves as victims," said Cardenas. Many of the children are also hooked on drugs or alcohol, given to them by pimps to keep them in the sex trade. Our night tour of Cartagena takes us past a bar in the red-light district, where Perez recognises two girls loitering near the entrance. They are drop-outs from Fundación Renacer's programme, who have returned to the streets because of drug addiction. HIV risk The prevalence of HIV among Colombia's general population has remained under one percent, with concentrated epidemics mainly affecting men who have sex with men. The Caribbean region, however, has seen an increase in heterosexual infections in recent years. Whereas nationally only one out of every four people living with HIV is a woman, on the Caribbean coast the ratio is one in three. According to Ricardo Garcia, UNAIDS country director, the region's macho culture, which makes it socially acceptable for men to have multiple partners, is probably one explanation for the trend, but the impact of sex tourism may be another. Many of the young people who come to Fundación Renacer's centres are diagnosed with STIs. So far, the organisation has only identified three with HIV, but Cardenas said many are afraid to be tested. "Most don't take any protective measures and they're surrounded by myths," he said. "They think you can tell by looking at someone if they're sick with any of these diseases, and that washing the genitals with Cocoa-Cola after sex will protect them." Condoms are also not always easy for child sex workers to come by. Some pimps provide them, and Fundación Renacer hands them out at clubs as a way of making contact with potential recruits to their programme, but Cardenas said most under-age sex workers have low levels of knowledge about HIV and tend to comply with clients' preferences when it comes to condom use. Clients also often harbour the illusion that child sex workers are free of STIs and that condoms aren't necessary, said Cardenas. "People come here from other countries or cities to have [unprotected] sex with children because they think it's safe." ks/he Fri, 31 Aug 2007 08:08:08 GMT ]]>BOGOTA, 31 August 2007 (PLUSNEWS) - What do cards made of recycled paper, decorated with colourful fish, have to do with HIV prevention? At first glance, absolutely nothing. But at the Little Worker Foundation they are part of a project that aims for a better life in Bogota, capital of Colombia. http://www.plusnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=74053 http://www.plusnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=74053 BOGOTA, 31 August 2007 (PLUSNEWS) - What do cards made of recycled paper, decorated with colourful fish, have to do with HIV prevention? At first glance, absolutely nothing. But at the Little Worker Foundation they are part of a project that aims for a better life in Bogota, capital of Colombia. ]]> BOGOTA, 31 August 2007 (PLUSNEWS) - What do cards made of recycled paper, decorated with colourful fish, have to do with HIV prevention? At first glance, absolutely nothing. But at the Little Worker Foundation they are part of a project that aims for a better life in Bogota, capital of Colombia. Maria Liliana Salamanca, 12, is totally absorbed in making sure she cuts the paper just right, and that the little fishes look nice on the cards. The activity is not only fun because she meets many other people, but also earns money to help her parents maintain her home and "buy clothes", she adds with pride. The Little Worker Foundation is in a three-storey yellow house in Patio Bonito [Pretty Patio], an area in southwest Bogota that doesn't live up to its name. Made up of 42 small neighbourhoods with 102,000 habitants, Patio Bonito has grown without the benefit of urban planning: jumbled brick houses line its labyrinth of narrow, poorly maintained streets; unemployment is 21 percent - twice Bogota's average - and monthly household income just US$70. Patio Bonito shelters the third highest number of displaced people in Bogota, victims of Columbia's four decades of conflict between the armed forces and leftist guerrillas. The birth of right-wing paramilitary groups and drug-trafficking cartels in the 80s intensified the conflict, leading to the displacement of some 1.8 million people, over 20 percent of whom have gravitated to Bogota. The conflict provides a breeding ground for HIV: sex becomes part of the spoils of war because it is often the only way the desperate and dispossessed can make ends meet. Colombia's HIV prevalence is 0.6 percent in a general population of 41 million, but in Bogota it is 0.7 percent, with Patio Bonito recording the third highest number of notified HIV cases in the city. Stepping stones The atmosphere in the Little Worker Foundation is friendly: there are bright colours on the walls, and the voices and laughter of the 30 youngsters who work there during the day fill the house. Although the workers are young, it certainly does not resemble a sweatshop. On the first floor, Jonathan Mercado, 15, sporting the national football team's shirt, and John Freddy García, 12, dressed in the green and white of Atlético Nacional,  are part of a group called the Paper Ark. Its mission is to make the recycled paper that Maria Liliana and her crew, two floors up, turn into greeting cards for their project, Paper Spiral. The Foundation opposes the idea that youth employment is a cause of shame or stigmatisation. In a perfect world no child would have to work, but when families are poor, minors have to contribute to the precarious economy of their homes. If necessity requires child labour, it is better done in safety and dignity. Two decades ago, this philosophy led to the creation of the Foundation and, today, to the recycled cards and other products. Fighting HIV Patio Bonito's teenagers are vulnerable to sexual and labour exploitation, drug addiction, delinquency, sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and HIV. Project Colombia, a joint effort by the government and the UN that supports the Little Worker Foundation, maintains that any strategy to prevent STDs and HIV has to start by building a better life for adolescents, and one approach is to encourage young entrepreneurs. "In this way, young people can build small businesses while they learn to value their bodies and their integrity," said Oliverio Huertas, coordinator of Youth Enterprises at Project Colombia. Besides the cards, young people make notebooks with tangerine rind covers and papier-mâché carnival masks. The project involves all the at-risk youth in the participating municipalities. Angie Diaz, 19, studies anthropology at the National University, but for the last nine years she has been involved with the Foundation, first as a participant, then as a teacher of home economics. In 2006, after training by a specialised NGO, she started teaching sex education and now helps the children build self-esteem and respect, guiding them on improving family relations. "With the young ones, aged 7 to 12, we talk about the body and identity; with the older ones, we discuss sexual and reproductive health," Angie said. "The young ones are keen. The older ones first laughed, later they became interested. It is not unusual to see a 12-year-old pregnant in this neighbourhood, so spreading this information should be useful." cd/nr/ms/he Thu, 24 May 2007 05:05:05 GMT ]]>BOGOTA, 24 May 2007 (PLUSNEWS) - The death of nine policemen in a roadside bomb blast this month as they patroled the rough roads of Landázuri, in Colombia's northeast, underlines the daily threat the security forces face in the country's long-running civil conflict. http://www.plusnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=72361 http://www.plusnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=72361 BOGOTA, 24 May 2007 (PLUSNEWS) - The death of nine policemen in a roadside bomb blast this month as they patroled the rough roads of Landázuri, in Colombia's northeast, underlines the daily threat the security forces face in the country's long-running civil conflict. ]]> BOGOTA, 24 May 2007 (PLUSNEWS) - The death of nine policemen in a roadside bomb blast this month as they patroled the rough roads of Landázuri, in Columbia's northeast, underlines the daily threat the security forces face in the country's long-running civil conflict. The policemen were providing security for a coca eradication programme aimed stamping out the illegal cocaine trade. But whether posted to Columbia's remote conflict zones where control is contested by the rebel Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and paramilitaries, or in the cities, where drug-traffic related violence is common, the risks remain high. Patrolman Bhraymoor Pulido Vargas, based at Eldorado airport in the capital, Bogotá, accepts the danger of being a cop in a country in conflict, which has displaced three million people and sent refugees spilling across the borders. But he had assumed the threat was from bullets and bombs; he had not considered the microscopic hazzard of the HI virus. Armed but vulnerable Security forces around the world are vulnerable to HIV infection. Sex helps cure boredom for young men and women posted away from regular partners; alcohol abuse and a culture of risk taking adds to the dangers. Pulido, 24, was not ignorant of AIDS; he had heard about it in high school and knew that sex without a condom could lead to HIV infection. But he regarded that as only a "remote possibility. I thought having a stable relationship meant I was safe". But in casual flings, when he got "carried away in the heat of the moment, or was drunk and didn't take care" he had not used a condom; nor was he careful to avoid contact with blood when dealing with wounds, another possible infection route. Pulido got a wake-up call when he was sent on a course on preventing sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV, run by the police human resource office. The National Police of Colombia is aware that its recruits are a high-risk group. The majority are aged between 18 and 24, are typically macho, routinely posted away from home, and condom shy. "They think the uniform protects them," said Juliana Meneses, coordinator of the sexual and reproductive health programme of the national police. In remote villages, plagued by poverty, a policeman's regular pay cheque sets him apart. "It's easy to go crazy, girls love men in uniform," said Pulido. "You're drunk, you want to let off steam from work, and sex is like a kind of therapy." According to Ricardo García, UNAIDS director in Colombia, encouraging risky behaviour is the 'I could be dead tomorrow, better enjoy today', fatalism common among armed forces in conflict situations. The police respond Although HIV prevalence in the police is 0.7 percent, similar to Columbia's general population, the concern is that the infection rate is on the rise. HIV prevention is not just a health question for the police, but also a national security issue. "It weakens the institution in terms of human resources," noted Meneses. Between 2005 and 2006, some 24,000 police trainees and officers studying for promotion have passed though her sexual and reproductive health programme. According to psychologist Adriana Becerra Castro, who coordinates the programme, the strategy has had to take into account that the participants are "people suffering from fatigue, macho stereotypes, insufficient risk awareness, and little information on the subject". A survey taken at the start of the programme revealed that 85 percent of those on the course had not used a condom during their last sexual encounter, and only 32 percent of the men reported having just one sexual partner during the last year. Course workshops provide the essential facts about HIV and AIDS; they also reveal the vulnerability of the young service members through games, and facilitate self-reflection. The hit game show 'Who wants to be a millionaire?' provided the inspiration for one activity, called 'Who wants to be HIV free?' On Fridays, the workshop converts into a party, simulating the real-life environment of weekend nights when cops take off their uniforms and relax, in order to reflect risky behaviour. "The idea is to give them the tools for making better decisions," said Meneses. "If they drink, they should drink moderately; drunks are unable to protect themselves." A game called 'The mission' teaches the proper use of condoms: putting one on, taking one off, and negotiating use. The idea is to make partners understand that using a condom is not due to a lack of love or mistrust but the contrary: you use protection because you care. "You acquire values, you learn to be more responsible and become more aware of the risks," said Pulido. "Now I'm more careful, more cautious, and carry a condom with me wherever I go." sc/nr/ms/oa Wed, 20 Sep 2006 09:09:09 GMT ANKARA, 20 September 2006 (PLUSNEWS) - The Kazakh government is expected to approve a new programme worth over US $50 million to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS in the former Soviet republic. There are over 5,O00 registered cases of people living with the disease in the Central Asian nation. http://www.plusnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=62566 http://www.plusnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=62566 BANGKOK, 8 June 2006 (PLUSNEWS) - Naive and unfamiliar with the world beyond their isolated, tight-knit communities, young job seekers from Communist-ruled Laos are at high risk of being trafficked into the booming sex industry in neighbouring Thailand, officials fear. ]]> BANGKOK, 8 June 2006 (PLUSNEWS) - Mon, 2 Sep 2002 09:09:09 GMT JOHANNESBURG, 2 September 2002 (PLUSNEWS) - UNAIDS Executive Director, Peter Piot, is attending the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg to deliver a simple message: until HIV/AIDS is brought under control, "you can forget about sustainable development". He spoke to IRIN about the need for political leadership, and the progress being made by African countries in dealing with the impact of the epidemic. http://www.plusnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=31418 http://www.plusnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=31418 ABIDJAN, 15 April 2002 (PLUSNEWS) - AIDS orphans are better off with their families than in institutions, says USAID. ]]> ABIDJAN, 15 April 2002 (PLUSNEWS) -