The Nigerian government is butting heads with Dr. Jeremiah Abalaka over Abalaka\'s AIDS vaccine, with the government taking the latest hit. Abalaka claims to have successfully produced a vaccine that can reduce or cure HIV. The vaccine has been administered to infected people, with adverse results, the government claims. According to a report in Nigeria\'s Post Express newspaper (\"Nigeria: Why We Stopped Use of the Vaccines-Atiku\", Post Express (Lagos) July 25, 2000, by Obiorah Ifo), the country\'s vice president, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, said the government has stepped in to stop Abalaka from administering the vaccine \"because it has killed more people than it has cured\". The newspaper quoted him saying that it was only in Nigeria that \"somebody can go and manufacture vaccine without permission and authorization of the drug administration of the country before he can begin to administer it on Nigerians\". Then on July 31, 2000, the Federal Court of Appeal backed Abalaka and ordered that the government stop investigating the vaccine. \"The court, presided over by Justice Muntaka Coomassie, also granted an interim order restraining the defendant from taking any action on Dr. Abalaka pending the hearing of the motion on notice\", said an article in the Vanguard Daily newspaper (\"Court halts federal government over Abalaka\'s HIV vaccine\", Vanguard Daily (Lagos) July 31, 2000, by Bukola Ojeme). The government\'s primary complaint is that Abalaka reportedly would not back his claims for the vaccine with proper scientific data. A team of medical experts found \"the vaccine could not pass through any acceptable criteria\", the Post Express report said, and so the government had ordered that use of the vaccine cease. According to Abubakar, the vaccine \"has caused more havoc, it has killed people, and it will kill more. That is when the government decided to intervene. Meanwhile, the man is busy administering the vaccine and people are dying\", the Post Express quoted him as saying. Nigerian go

The Planned Parenthood Association of South Africa in 1992, published a manual on ¿Responsible Teenage Sexuality¿. It deals comprehensively and frankly with issues of teenage sexuality in an easy-to-use module format. With increasing emphasis on the need for sex education at school and in the home, this manual provides essential information for teachers, youth leaders, and health professionals. The modules take cognizance of the sensitive issues that concern young people. The open approach enables counselors to provide the answers that young people seek in an honest and comfortable way. Compiled by the youth counselors of the Cape Town Planned Parenthood Association of South Africa, the manual is based on their knowledge and experience of providing sex education to young people from all communities over the past 10 years.

As a result of a shortage of youth specific reproductive health care services, the Ugandan youth are faced with many sexual and reproductive health problems. In addition to high rates of unwanted pregnancies, induced abortions, sexually transmitted diseases, and drug misuse, are the harmful cultural and traditional practices such as female genital mutilation (FGM) and early and forced marriages. Working to address the social, reproductive and sexual health, general health and responsible self development needs of young people, the Family Planning Association of Uganda (FPAU) has developed and implemented awareness, educational and community based interventions. As the leading nongovernmental organization in Uganda, FPAU was incorporated by the government as major participant in the preparation of its first National Population Policy. The policy urges the development and implementation of family life education and advocates for sensitization of the general public needs, rights, and responsibilities of the youth. Before the inauguration of the National Population policy, the FPAU was already gearing up to address the concern with regard to FGM among the Sabiny community of Kapchorwa District in Uganda.

The Mauritius Family Planning Association (MFPA) launches sex education in selected primary schools in the country. This move has received support from parents and teachers after a strong advocacy campaign and MFPA had collected data and evidence to back up its campaign. Through focus group discussions with students, MFPA was able to obtain useful data for the development of an appropriate curriculum, in collaboration with a Task Force, parents, and teachers. The content of the curriculum included The Family, Population Education, Human Growth and Development, Adolescent Problems, and Health and Health and Education. To effectively implement this initiative, volunteer schoolteachers underwent training sessions to arm them with the necessary knowledge on what and how to teach young people. A participative approach was preferred for the training. So far, there have been 8 schools involved in the pilot project: 3 urban and 5 rural schools, with each school having 1 working session per semester. In the future, the Sexual Education Curriculum will be expanded to all primary schools and the adolescents in these schools will have acquired their right to know.

This paper discusses the emergence of HIV/AIDS and the extent of the epidemic in KwaZulu-Natal and South Africa. HIV cases were first detected in South Africa in 1985 following the introduction of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in the African market. During this time most cases of AIDS were seen in Johannesburg and Cape Town with a few cases in Pretoria and Durban, affecting mostly young White males. 1986 and 1987 showed an early development of the epidemic, but case finding was restricted by laboratory limitations and there were no epidemiological surveys. 1988 showed a rapid progress of the epidemic, with a move away from the earlier predominant involvement of White male homosexuals to a greater involvement of the Black African heterosexual population. In 1989, the pattern changed from predominantly homosexual to heterosexual involvement. Unfortunately, in 1990, with the first national Antenatal Clinic surveillance, HIV infections showed a prevalence rate twice that of the national level in KwaZulu-Natal. 1999 saw a leveling off of the antenatal prevalence, at 33.5%, in KwaZulu-Natal, and this has also been seen in several other provinces, resulting in a national prevalence of 22.4%. Reasons for this higher-than-average HIV prevalence and its significance for the government are discussed.

In May 2000, the Namibian Labour Court ruled that the Namibian Defense Force (NDF) is not entitled to exclude people from recruitment on the grounds of their HIV status. Acting Judge Harold Levy had ruled that excluding a person from employment purely on the basis of being HIV positive was unfair labor practice and constituted discrimination. However, this will not be the end of the matter. Defense Minister Erkki Nghimtina said that an appeal would be lodged against the judgement in the interest of ensuring that Namibia had a healthy and strong military. AIDS Law Unit Lawyer, Michaela Figueira, lauded the judgement as a brilliant breakthrough, which put Namibia law on HIV/AIDS in the forefront of legal developments in the field internationally. \"We will appeal\", Nghimtina commented, when approached at the National Assembly. The judgement, he added, was tantamount to allowing for the recruitment into the NDF of blind and crippled people. Nghimtina said he still stood by statements he had made in the National Assembly 2 weeks before, when the Minister told fellow Parliamentarians that the NDF could not recruit HIV positive people because they were ill, and the country could not be defended by ill persons. \"We need a strong (defense) force--a healthy force\", he said. \"We have to have physically strong, healthy people, who can carry out hard tasks. This, we cannot compromise\". Commenting on the unanimous testimony from both sides in the Labor Court case, that an HIV positive status, did not necessarily mean that a person was in any way physically unfit for military duty. Nghimtina answered that the NDF needed to recruit members for the long term. People with HIV, he added, could be employed elsewhere, but not in the NDF.

In South Africa an expert group was assembled by the government to discuss \"AIDS in Africa--the way forward\". According to the original terms of reference, the group was to discuss, contextualize, and reach consensus on the appropriate ways forward for South Africa in dealing with HIV/AIDS. However, an outcome of the convention was the division of the group between those who acknowledge that HIV causes AIDS and those who do not. Such a debate is damaging both to the reputations of South Africa\'s leadership and the prevention campaigns that are so necessary in the region. The convention could have been successful if there had been an agreement that there is a new disease; that it is killing tens of thousands of people prematurely; that the balance of evidence is that it is AIDS which is caused by the HIV virus; and that therefore there is a need to seek both the improvement of prevention programs and to look into mitigating the impact. If the debate is not resolved, the consequences could be very bleak.

Blood transfusion is the second largest source of HIV infection in Nigeria, after unprotected sex. The major reason for this problem is the proliferation of illegal and lucrative blood banks that were being established. It has been discovered that most of these blood banks rely on \"blood touts\" for the supply of blood, which is later sold to needy patients. Lack of modern testing equipment and few private hospitals and government hospitals screening blood that is meant for transfusion compounded this problem. In response to the menace of unscreened blood for transfusion, the Lagos State Government declared a law to regulate blood transfusions and the activities of blood banks in the State. The objectives of this law were to curb the activities of owners of blood banks who were peddling unscreened blood to unsuspecting patients. Among the provisions of the law was that medical laboratories and hospitals that have blood banks should register their blood donors at any of the screening centers in the State. This law further prescribed fines and imprisonment for offenders. The law, however, turned out to be unenforceable because the reagents and testing equipment required were largely unavailable. It is noted that in the absence of a national blood transfusion policy, most blood banks continue to sell unscreened blood; in turn, HIV infections in Nigeria continue to rise.

This paper argues the potential of HIV/AIDS to undermine the democratic governance of South Africa and other developing countries. It begins by assessing the extent of the impact of HIV/AIDS on society, and from these facts it would indicate whether democracy can be undermined. As observed in sub-Saharan Africa, the extent of the epidemic has the potential to cripple the country\'s attempt to establish and maintain democracy and equity. Therefore, in order to sustain democratic governance, the following is required: strong citizen support; powerful, committed, democratic leadership; a strong and active civil society. Moreover, governments need to address the spread of HIV/AIDS, not only because people are sick and dying, but also because democracy itself is threatened.

This paper presents a case between South African Airways (SAA) and an applicant for employment who did not volunteer information about his HIV status. The matter between Jacques Charl Hoffmann, an HIV-infected man applying for a position as flight attendant, and SAA was heard before Judge Hussain in the Witwatersrand Local Division. Mr. Hoffmann contended that SAA had unfairly discriminated against him solely on the basis of his HIV-positive status. He argued that such unfair discrimination violated his constitutional rights to dignity, equality, fair labor practices, and privacy. Considered as a whole, Judge Hussain found that the policy of SAA was justified and substantiated. It is noted that the policy is not selectively applied against those persons who are HIV-positive, instead it is directed at detecting all kinds of disabilities that make employment as a flight attendant unsuitable. To the judge, the \"unsuitability\" of an applicant is to be considered against the policy\'s consideration of \"medical, safety, and operational grounds\". In conclusion, the court found it justifiable for the airline to conduct medical examinations of aspiring flight attendants, and its refusal to employ Mr. Hoffmann was not an act of unfair discrimination.