Hiv/Aids

1.       The name of the issue

Hiv/aids

2.       A summary of the background of the issue

The HIV/AIDS pandemic represents one of the greatest challenges facing developing countries. HIV/AIDS threatens to reverse decades of hard-won development gains. It attacks people in their most productive years, destroys families and communities, and places heavy financial burdens on the economy.

What is HIV/AIDS?

The Human Immunodeficiency Virus infection causes a gradual depletion and weakening of the immune system. This results in an increased susceptibility of the body to infections, such as pneumonia and tuberculosis, and can lead to the development of AIDS. Most people infected with HIV do not know that they have become infected, because no symptoms develop immediately after the initial infection but they are highly infectious and can transmit the virus to another person.

Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is the term applied to the most advanced stages of HIV infection. The majority of people infected with HIV, if not treated, develop signs of AIDS within 10-15 years.

3.       Details about the issue and why the situation occurs

HIV is most often a sexually transmitted virus. It is passed from one person another during sexual contact that involves vaginal, oral, or anal sex. HIV can also be passed to another person through other means, such as through contact with blood or body fluids. This can occur through such processes as blood transfusions or sharing needles contaminated with HIV. HIV can also be passed from an infected mother to her baby during pregnancy, childbirth or breastfeeding. Generally the people who are infected with Hiv/aids are

·          the poor

·         women and girls

·         people with multiple sex partners

·         injecting drug users

·         children of infected mothers

HIV is spread Religious, cultural, political and economic differences mean that different countries have different rates and profiles of infection. However, societies which have high levels of poverty and large populations that engage in risky behaviour - such as unsafe sex and injecting drug use - have higher rates of HIV infection.

Conflict and displacement can lead to increased spread of HIV/AIDS as social networks are disrupted and sexual exploitation is used as a weapon.

The AIDS epidemic is affecting women and girls in increasing numbers. Females are biologically more vulnerable to HIV than males. For physiological reasons, women are twice as likely as men to acquire HIV from a single act of unprotected vaginal sex. In many countries, women and girls are also socially and economically more vulnerable. Social and cultural factors mean they are less likely to be able to control with whom, when and how they have sex, and be educated in how to protect themselves from the virus.

4.       What can be done about the issue

Things that can be done about the issue of Hiv/aids are

·         Education campaigns and counselling to advise the cause of HIV and prevention

·         Providing free and easy access to condoms

·         HIV testing facilities for prostitutes and other high risk parties

5.       What organisations are currently doing to address the issue?

Some of the organisations helping with the issue of aids are:

·         World Health Organization

·         UNAIDS: the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS

·         Three Ones Principles (UNAIDS)

·         Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria

·         Facing the global challenge, HIV/AIDS in Vietnam

·         The millennium development goals.

The strategy the these organisations are aiming for aims to advance global progress in achieving country set targets for universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support and to halt and reverse the spread of HIV and contribute to the achievement of the Millennium Development goals by 2015.

6.       What suggestions can you offer to address the issue

To prevent the spread of Hiv/aids, your first priority is to protect yourself from the HIV infection. You can do this by:               

·         Learn the basic facts about how you can and cannot become infected with HIV

·         Use protection when having sexual intercourse

·         Never come in contact with anyone else’s blood or bodily fluids. If you have to use protection e.g. towel, gloves etc

The government can also help the prevention of aids by:

·         Pay for education programs at schools and universities

·         Provide free condoms at chemists and pharmacies

·         Have free Hiv tests available to those who can’t afford it.

The Nobel Peace Prize

What is the Nobel peace prize?

The Nobel Peace Prize,

“The said interest shall be divided into five equal parts, which shall be apportioned as follows: /- - -/ one part to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses.”              (From the will of Alfred Nobel)

Alfred Nobel was interested in social issues. He developed a special engagement in the peace movement. An important factor in Nobel’s interest in peace was his acquaintance with Bertha von Suttner. Perhaps his interest in peace was also due to the use of his inventions in warfare and assassination attempts? Peace was the fifth and final prize area that Nobel mentioned in his will.

Henry Dunant, founder of the Red Cross, shared the first Nobel Peace Prize in 1901 with Frederic Passy, a leading international pacifist of the time. In addition to humanitarian efforts and peace movements, the Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded for work in a wide range of fields including advocacy of human rights, mediation of international conflicts, and arms control.

The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded by a committee of five persons who are chosen by the Norwegian Storting.

Bibliography of Rigoberta menchu tum           

This should include their DOB, any education of work history details and their major achievements (include a picture)

Rigoberta Menchú was born on January 9, 1959 to a poor Indian peasant family and raised in the Quiche branch of the Mayan culture. In her early years she helped with the family farm work, either in the northern highlands where her family lived, or on the Pacific coast, where both adults and children went to pick coffee on the big plantations.

Rigoberta Menchú soon became involved in social reform activities through the Catholic Church, and became prominent in the women's rights movement when still only a teenager. Such reform work aroused considerable opposition in influential circles, especially after a guerilla organization established itself in the area. The Menchú family was accused of taking part in guerrilla activities and Rigoberta's father, Vicente, was imprisoned and tortured for allegedly having participated in the execution of a local plantation owner. After his release, he joined the recently founded Committee of the Peasant Union (CUC).

In 1979, Rigoberta, too, joined the CUC. That year her brother was arrested, tortured and killed by the army. The following year, her father was killed when security forces in the capital stormed the Spanish Embassy where he and some other peasants were staying. Shortly afterwards, her mother also died after having been arrested, tortured and raped. Rigoberta became increasingly active in the CUC, and taught herself Spanish as well as other Mayan languages than her native Quiche. In 1980, she figured prominently in a strike the CUC organized for better conditions for farm workers on the Pacific coast, and on May 1, 1981, she was active in large demonstrations in the capital. She joined the radical 31st of January Popular Front, in which her contribution chiefly consisted of educating the Indian peasant population in resistance to massive military oppression.

In 1981, Rigoberta Menchú had to go into hiding in Guatemala, and then flee to Mexico. That marked the beginning of a new phase in her life: as the organizer abroad of resistance to oppression in Guatemala and the struggle for Indian peasant peoples' rights. In 1982, she took part in the founding of the joint opposition body, The United Representation of the Guatemalan Opposition (RUOG). In 1983, she told her life story to Elisabeth Burgos Debray. The resulting book, called in English, I, Rigoberta Menchú, is a gripping human document which attracted considerable international attention. In 1986, Rigoberta Menchú became a member of the National Coordinating Committee of the CUC, and the following year she performed as the narrator in a powerful film called When the Mountains Tremble, about the struggles and sufferings of the Maya people. On at least three occasions, Rigoberta Menchú has returned to Guatemala to plead the cause of the Indian peasants, but death threats have forced her to return into exile.

Over the years, Rigoberta Menchú has become widely known as a leading advocate of Indian rights and ethno-cultural reconciliation, not only in Guatemala but in the Western Hemisphere generally, and her work has earned her several international awards.

Menchú received a primary-school education as a student at several Catholic boarding schools. After leaving school, she worked as an activist campaigning against human rights violations committed by the Guatemalan armed forces during the country's Civil war that lasted from 1960 to 1996. In 1991, Menchú participated in the ongoing preparation by the United Nations of its Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous people. Since the Civil War ended, Menchú has also campaigned to have members of the Guatemalan political and military establishment tried in Spanish courts. In 1999 she filed a complaint before a court in Spain because prosecutions of crimes committed during the civil war are practically impossible in Guatemala.(SANTI)

‍These attempts stalled as the Spanish courts determined that the plaintiffs had not yet exhausted all possibility of seeking justice through the legal system of Guatemala. On December 23, 2006 Spain called for the extradition from Guatemala of seven former members of Guatemala's government on charges of genocide and torture. These include former military rulers Efraín Ríos Montt and Óscar Humberto Mejía Victores. Spain's highest court ruled that cases of genocide committed abroad could be judged in Spain, even if no Spanish citizens have been involved. In addition to the deaths of Spanish citizens, the most serious charges include genocide against the Mayan people of Guatemala.

When and why was Rigoberta menchu tum awarded the prize

Rigoberta Menchú Tum was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992 in recognition of her work for social justice and ethno-cultural reconciliation work based on respect for the rights of indigenous peoples in her native Guatemala. She is the first indigenous person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.

Explain why the person bacame involved in the work

The Norwegian Nobel Committee had decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize for 1992 to Rigoberta Menchú from Guatemala, in recognition of her work for social justice and ethno-cultural reconciliation based on respect for the rights of indigenous peoples.

Human Rights - Declaration of Human Rights

What are human rights?
Human rights are the rights and freedoms that we all have

•  Some human rights are based on our physical needs; the right to life, to food, to shelter.
•  Other human rights protect us; the right to be free from torture, cruel treatment and abuse.
• Human rights are also there to ensure we develop to our fullest potential; the right to education, to work, to participate in your community.
•  Everybody has human rights, it doesn’t matter who you are, where you come from, what language you speak or what religion you belong to. You have a duty to respect the rights of others, just as they have a duty to respect yours. Nobody can take your rights away

 

Where do human rights come from?

Human rights are based on the values of:

•         Dignity
•        Justice
•         Respect
•         Equality

Human rights were officially recognised as values by the world when the united nation was set up.

What is the United Nations?

• The United Nations is an international organisation that was established in 1945, the year the Second World War ended.
• Its founder hoped it would be able to prevent catastrophes like the holocaust from happening in the future.
•  So promoting human rights became an aim of the UN, along with maintaining international peace and reducing poverty.

The universal declaration of human rights

The United Nations universal declaration of human rights is the most famous human rights agreement in the world. It contains 30 human rights.

This is according to the UDHR.

 

Who wrote the UDHR?

The people who wrote the UDHR came from: Australia, Chile, China, France, Lebanon, the former soviet union, the UK and the US

Refugees

Refugee: definition

Refugees are people who have left their homeland because they fear that they will lose their lives or their freedom if they stay. People become refugees because one or more of their basic human rights has been violated or threatened.

International law defines a “refugee” as a person who has fled from and/ or cannot return to his/her country due to a well- founded fear of persecution, including war or civil conflict.

A person is a refugee if

·         Refugees have to be outside their country or origin

·         The reason for their flight has to be fear of persecution

·         The fear of persecution has to be well founded, i.e. they have to experienced persecution or be likely to experience it if they return;

·         The persecution has to result from one or more of the five grounds listed in the definition.

·         They have to be unwilling or unable to seek the protection of their country.

Who protects refugees?

·         UNHCR

·         Protecting refugees is the core mandate of the UNHCR ( united nations high commissioner for refugees)

Who do they help?

By helping refugees go back home or to settle in another country, UNHCR also seeks lasting solutions to their plight.

Where are they involved?

UNHCR staff operate in some 120 countries around the world, from major capitals to remote. The largest portion of staff are based in countries in Asia and Africa, the continents that both host and generate the most refugees and internally displaced people. Among our biggest operations are Afghanistan, Chad, Colombia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Pakistan, Iraq and surrounding countries, and the Sudan. But we also have substantial operations in many other countries around the world.

Identify the top 10 countries & continents or concern, record their population?

1.  Asia – 18,567,061

2.  Africa- 10,475,567

3. Pakistan – 4,744,098

4. Thailand – 3,615,552

5. Dem republic Congo – 2,362,295

6. Iraq- 2,026,789

7. Somalia- 1,576,544

8. Sudan- 1,426,412

9. Syrian Arab republic – 1,357,546

10. Iran- 1,072,346

Use a world map image from google and mark these countries to the map and apply to your

8 Millennium Development Goals

Aus Aid – Millennium Goals

Goal	Target	Australia is doing...
1.       Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger	Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people whose income is less than $1.25	Halve extreme poverty by 2015. They are providing affordable housing.  In Bangladesh Australia is providing 1.6 million disadvantaged children with access to pre-primary and primary education.
2.       Achieve universal primary education The number of primary school- aged children who are out of school has declined from 115 million in 2002 to 75 million today.	Ensure that, by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary school education.	Australia has funned new schools in Laos. They have introduced teacher training.  They are providing nutritious food.
3.       Promote gender equality and empower women	Increase proportion of seats held by women in national parliaments. Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education.	Increasing Australian development scholarships for east Timorese women. Encouraging women in east Timor to register for jobs. Supporting leadership and governance training for women across the Asia pacific region.
4.       Reduce child mortality	Reduce by two thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the under-five mortality rate.	Training more skilled birth attendants in rural and remote PNG to help reduce infant deaths. Including births supervised by skilled staff is an important focus of the PNG- Australia Partnership for development. Working with governments and other donors to improve the supply of vaccines and immunisation globally.
5.       Improve maternal health	Reduce by three – quarters the maternal mortality rate. Achieve universal access to reproductive health	Helping to train the next generation of midmives and providing specialist surgical services and training in east timor. Supporting outreach clinics, which target remote and rural villages with information on health, nutrition, and family planning.
6.       Combat HIV/Aids	Achieve, by 2010, universal access to treatment to HIV/AIDS for all those who need it.	Committed up to $100 million to work in partnership with Indonesia to combat the spread of HIV and improve the quality of life for those living with the virus. Supporting needle syringe programs, voluntary counselling, testing and preventing services and programs.
7.       Ensure environmental sustainability	Halve the number of people without sustainable access of safe drinking water and basic sanitation.	Providing $150 million, through the international climate change, to help vulnerable countries in our region increase resilience to the unavoidable impacts of climate change.
8.       Development for a global partnership for development	N.A.P	Australia is working closely with developing countries and development partners to build global partnership with address poverty.

Smoky Mountain

Etching out a life on Smokey Mountain                           CNN Article

When I was told we were traveling to the Philippines to do a story on "Smokey Mountain", I was unaware as to just how famous this landmark actually was.

I knew it was a rubbish dump; a place where tens of thousands of people once scavenged for their livelihood - an occupation adopted by so many of the world's poor who live below the poverty line. Here in the Philippines, that equates to almost half the population.

As I began to research, images of people stooping to such humiliating lows to put food in their mouths appeared online. But considering the landfill had closed in 1990, and the community moved to housing commission next door, I just presumed the face of poverty at Smokey Mountain had become more dignified.

After spending several hours at the government housing towers that cram roughly 30,000 people into about a dozen high rise buildings, our crew decided to make the trek up Smokey Mountain.

It's this looming mass of decomposed rubbish, standing more than 20 meters high. From a distance it looks like an enormous mound of Earth, almost of equal height to the towers that stand next to it, but on closer inspection you can see the layers of plastic bags, tires and bottles all squashed together -- the remains of 50 years of Manila's trash.

There are no steps or a road leading to the top of a landfill. Just a filthy rope dangling from the top and a well trodden path people use to scramble up this steep embankment.

I see this young girl covered head to toe in dirt carrying up a large bottle of water -- like the one that belongs in an office building. Her clothes are ripped, her ratty plastic sandals - three sizes too big - her hair, completely disheveled and soot covers her face as if she'd been working in a coal mine.

With the water bottle resting on her shoulder she gives me a huge smile, inviting me to follow. In tow are two little girls, roughly the same age, laughing... amused that this white woman with blonde hair, carrying a camera wants to enter their world.

We get to the top, hands covered in dirt and mangy dogs race up barking viciously. The three little girls are oblivious to these creatures that would definitely give you rabies if their teeth actually sunk into your flesh. Chickens scratch in the dirt and decomposed rubbish that's strewn across this lunar landscape.

Several humpy-type structures are standing in the scrubby vegetation. I'm shocked to discover that people actually live up here. I follow the girls to their home. Or at least what they call home. Bits of plastic and wooden sheeting to keep out the elements; a piece of corrugated iron attached for a roof and a timber palate with a mat on top, that keeps them an inch above the earth while they sleep.

I ask the name of the girl carrying the water. She responds in perfect English, her name is Rhea Rebadolla and she says she is 11 years old. She introduces me to her 8-year-old sister, Felomina, who doesn't leave her side, and her 10-year-old friend and neighbor, Noreen Grace.

Much to my surprise, they all speak English having attended the local school up until the end of last year. I ask why they don't go anymore and they explain quite simply they can't afford to. I photograph them and they ask to see the photos, laughing and giggling like little school girls. I ask after their parents and find a man who knows the girls. He says their parents are out scavenging for rubbish. They move around, depending on where the work is and recently pulled the girls out of school because they couldn't afford to pay the school fees.

Further enquiries reveal that the education system in that community, at the bottom of the landfill, is free. I wonder whether the parents have pulled them out of class to make them work.

From the top of the landfill you can see sprawling Manila. The high-rises of the city's financial district in the distance -- through the haze of the metropolis you can see the mountain range hugging the capital. A shipping terminal backs on to the landfill. Huge tankers sit in the harbor waiting to load and unload.

There are signs of money and wealth everywhere, but here on Smokey Mountain, on top of this landfill, there are just three little girls who will never know what any of that means.

Rhea takes my hand in hers, as if it's the most natural thing in the world. She shows me around her slum of an existence as the sun sinks into the ocean and dusk begins to fall. I ask her to follow me to the car. What can I do to help improve this 11-year-old's life, other than take her away, out of her world, give her a bath, an education, a future?

Instead we give her and her friends some money, wishing, hoping this was their ticket out of the cycle of poverty.

"Etching out a life on Smokey Mountain" and write a reflection on the issues referred to in the article:

Smokey Mountain is a truly famous landmark, a landmark where thousands of people lie in poverty. Decomposed rubbish, stands more than 20 metres high, there is no man made paths just a rope dangling from the top and rubbish trodden path. Young children suffer from lack of hygiene; the risk of transmitting rabies is at a high rate. A house is considered bits of plastic and wooden materials, people live up on this mountain. The girls don’t have access to education anymore, simply as they cannot afford it, and their parents for a living are out scavenging for rubbish. There are still questions surrounding if parents force children to work instead of attending school.  This is the cycle of poverty, something one can sometimes not escape.

The philippines

The philippines is made up of more than 7000 tropical islands and has a population of 90 million. The country has a tropical climate with a dry season (Nov-April) and a rainy season (May- Oct).

The capital manila - Metro Manila - is a sprawling cluster of 17 cities with municipalities such as manila, quezon, Makati, Pasay, and so on generating a populace to guess at; perhaps start at ten million and keep counting.

Manila has a high population density, with one distict having over 68000 people per square kilometre, so at times it may feel a little crowded especially if you have just arrived from london which has about 8000 people per square kilometre.

Tagalog is the national language and english is used for official/bussiness purpose.

There are 54 other languages with over 140 dialect variations.

The philippines has the world's third largest english speaking population.