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Nawa 28 |
Oct 13 2004 |
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NAMIBIA`S FIRST INTEGRATED SERVICES CENTER LAUNCHED
 To expand access to HIV/AIDS prevention, care and treatment for the people of Oshikuku and others in the north of the Omusati region, the Oshikuku VCT/PMTCT/ART Integrated Services Center was inaugurated on September 22, 2004 with support from the U.S. Government`s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. The Center, operated by Catholic Health Services and supported by the Ministry of Health and Social Services (MoHSS), was officially opened by Honorable Deputy Minister of Health and Social Services Richard Kamwi on behalf of the Government of the Republic of Namibia.
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 The Center provides three key services, voluntary counseling and testing (VCT), prevention of mother-to-child-transmission (PMTCT), and antiretroviral (ART) therapy to eligible patients, and is part of the Oshikuku district hospital which serves a catchment area of 96,000 people. Annually there are 1,200 deliveries at the hospital. HIV prevalence among women attending the antenatal services is about 27%. Routine counseling and testing, care and support, and full antiretroviral treatment for mothers, their children and partners is available. According to hospital reports, there are over 900 patients hospitalized each year for advanced HIV disease and a similar number of TB patients of which approximately 60% will be co-infected with HIV. All HIV+ individuals will receive counseling, drugs for opportunistic infections and those eligible for treatment under MoHSS guidelines will receive antiretroviral drugs and therapy.
U.S. Agency for International Development/Namibia Director, Gary Newton, speaking on behalf of the U.S. Government Mission at the event, drew attention to the sobering reality of AIDS as being the leading cause of death since 1996. One in seven teachers is infected and 42 children become orphans every day. But "we can be optimistic", he added, because the Namibian government has a "sound strategy to confront and control the epidemic …and there`s a talented and committed coalition of leaders, managers, technicians, and volunteers from the public, private, religious, and NGO communities", to implement the strategy and provide critically needed services such as those of this new Integrated Services Center. |
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RHINO HUNTING APPROVED BY WILDLIFE DELEGATES
 Namibia was granted permission by international wildlife conservationists and government delegates to allow the trophy hunting of five endangered black rhinos annually. Authorization was given on Monday October 5, 2004, at a meeting of the U.N. Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in Bangkok, Thailand.
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| Namibia received overwhelming support because of its successful conservation efforts and pledges to hunt only older males, unlikely to reproduce, and plans to use profits to help strengthen protection programs. The significance of the CITES decision is that Namibia has received international recognition for its success in rhino conservation, brought about partly by Community-Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) activities supported by USAID. The decision also reflects growing international recognition that in the developing world putting a market value on wildlife can actually help to conserve it. The number of rhino to be hunted is just a fraction of Namibia`s total rhino population which stands at more than 1100. |
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SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM PRODUCES CONSIDERABLE RESULTS
 A survey conducted in the six northern regions of Namibia found that pass rates of students in grades 1-4 improved on average by 6% in 2003 compared to 2002 in schools implementing a USAID-funded "School Improvement Program"(SIP). Improvement in pass rates was attributed to increased use of teaching methodologies introduced by the USAID-funded Basic Education Support (BES II) program. The USAID program, implemented in 430 schools, involved the training of 2600 teachers and 1440 principals and other education officials. The performance of the schools was on an average 20% better on the implementation of a variety of teaching approaches and tools compared to non-SIP schools in the same regions. In a recent conference on basic education, officials from the Namibian education ministry announced that the SIP model, tested and found effective under the USAID project, will be replicated nationwide. |
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DOING IT IN OSHIWAMBO
 Namibia`s First Ecumenical Training of Trainers (TOT) course for Home Based Family Care and Counseling began on September 27, 2004 and was conducted for the first time in the north of the country in the Oshiwambo language. The 8-month course, which is broken into four modules of classroom study plus field assignments was made possible with funding from the U.S. Government`s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, and support from USAID and technical assistance from Family Health International.
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All thirty participants are either pastors or lay leaders from the country`s Lutheran, Catholic, or Apostolic Faith Mission churches, whose respective church hierarchies have made a strong commitment to join in the fight against HIV and AIDS. Previous courses have always been in English or in Afrikaans, which meant that they were not able to adequately meet the needs of Namibia`s heavily affected northern regions, where most people speak Oshiwambo. Namibia`s Ministry of Health and Social Services has endorsed the course, whose curriculum and handouts will equip graduates to mobilize, train, and supervise community-based volunteers in the provision of prevention-information, basic counseling and advocacy, palliative care, and the special needs of children infected and affected by HIV. In addition, special attention will be given to the referral and follow-up of community members for available VCT, PMTCT, and ART services, now made available in Namibia`s northern region thanks to support from both the Namibian and U.S. governments.
The organization and training of this Ecumenical TOT — which has also included the development and/or dissemination of support materials in Oshiwambo — is a joint project of ELCIN AIDS Action (of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia, the course hosts) and Catholic AIDS Action, both faith-based Implementing agencies of the USAID network of local providers under the Emergency Plan. ELCIN AIDS Action is hosting it at their training center in Ongwediva (see photo).
This is Namibia`s first ever inter-organizational cooperative effort between ELCIN AIDS Action and Catholic AIDS Action, and was organized in response to the critical need for trained home based care givers and counselors in Namibia in light of the country`s AIDS crisis. Cooperation and collaboration are fundamental to an effective, multi-faceted response to HIV/AIDS, and this TOT is an excellent example of the interagency relationships fostered through the Emergency Plan partners in Namibia. |
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