|
|
Home | Contact Us |
|
 |
|
Nawa 47 |
Dec 20 2006 |
| |
|
USG Support Highlighted at World AIDS Day
Commemorations
Under the national slogan, “Zero Tolerance
for New HIV Infections Among The
Youth,” communities
across Namibia organized World AIDS Day commemoration ceremonies. Speakers expressed appreciation for the
support from the United States
Government (USG) through the
President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS
Relief (PEPFAR). The Emergency Plan
provided over $124 million from 2004-2006 to help Namibia fight it’s severe
HIV/AIDS epidemic. USG support is
expected to continue because Namibia is
achieving results, particularly under it’s
care and treatment programs.
USAID/Namibia Mission Director Gary
Newton represented the USG at the
national commemoration of World AIDS
Day held in Opuwo, in the Kunene Region.
Minister of Education, Nangolo Mbuma,
delivering Prime Minister Nahas Angula’s
remarks, specifically lauded the
increasing support from PEPFAR to assist
Namibia in its fight against HIV/AIDS.
He also stressed the need for greater focus
on preventing new infections, particularly
among youth. The Kunene region has the
lowest HIV/AIDS prevalence rate in the
nation.
 The promise of partnerships was clearly
evident in the community-based
commemorations with partner programs
playing a visible role in the day’s
activities. In the capitol city of Windhoek,
officials thanked USAID/NAMIBIA for its
support of their “We Care” initiative
aimed at increasing home-based care,
OVC support, income generating
opportunities and HIV/AIDS awareness
activities. One direct result of this
partnership is that over 450 OVC in Windhoek’s communities are receiving daily meals.
USAID/NAMIBIA
Health and
Development
Officer Sangita
Patel in her
remarks
emphasized that,
"We are pleased to
work shoulder to
shoulder with
Namibia and its
communities to support and build capacity
to maintain programs promoting this
national (HIV/AIDS) agenda."Volunteers and graduates of the USGsupported
City of Windhoek program
received special recognition and
certificates.
Organized around the theme, "Stop AIDS
Keep the Promise,"the community of
Rehoboth’s commemoration was wellattended
by a broad spectrum of its
residents. Nearly all the local schools
contributed song, dance or theatrical
performances designed to raise awareness
and educate the public regarding HIV and
AIDS. In her remarks, Guest of Honor,
Deputy Prime Minister of Health and
Social Services Petrina Haingura thanked
USAID and other donors for their support
and vowed that she would keep the
promise and fight AIDS.
Mary Furnivall , HIV/AIDS Senior
Technical Advisor, USAID/NAMBIA was
invited to speak in recognition of the
Emergency Plan’s support of local
partners’ work with orphans and
vulnerable children (OVC). Currently,
there are an estimated 162,000 OVC in
Namibia. In 2006, the U.S. Government
provided $N33 million to support over
58,000 OVC and help implement
Namibia’s National Plan of Action for
OVC.
She praised the work of the Organization
for Resources and Training (ORT) and the
Rehoboth AIDS Association’s in providing
care and support to affected children.
At the World AIDS Day event, this USGsupported
partnership launched an
invaluable community tool — a dual
language reference resource on HIV/AIDS
and OVC service providers. |
| |
|
Church Alliance For
Orphans Awarded New
Partnership Initiative Grant
at White House Ceremony
The United States Government, under
PEPFAR, has awarded the Church
Alliance for Orphans (CAFO) one of the
first New Partner Initiative (NPI) grants
to expand care and support to children
orphaned or made vulnerable by the AIDS
epidemic. Dr. Henry Platt, Director of
CAFO, traveled to Washington, D.C. for
World AIDS Day, and met with President
George W. Bush at the White House
announcement ceremony for the new NPI
grants.
At a local press conference in Windhoek,
Gary Newton, Director of
USAID/Namibia, highlighted the fact that
PEPFAR "is the largest commitment ever
by any nation for an international health
initiative dedicated to a single disease,"and that it is supporting the good work of
the Namibian government, NGOs, FaithBased Organizations, private enterprises
and U.S. and international organizations.
He congratulated CAFO on behalf of the
PEPFAR team in Namibia "The grant to
CAFO under the New Partnership
Initiative will further strengthen the
capacity of churches and faith-based
organizations throughout Namibia to
expand community-based services to
orphans and other vulnerable children."He noted that the grant award, one of only
23 world-wide, reflects CAFO’s
competence, commitment and capacity.
CAFO will receive over $N7 million in
funding under the NPI grant.
Approximately 8,200 OVC benefited
directly from CAFO’s programs during
2005 — 2006. CAFO support includes food,
clothing, blankets, equipment for soup
kitchens, and improvements to facilities
where children live and participate in
programs. |
| |
|
 San Community Trust
Generates Substantial
Benefits for It’s People and a
Hefty Dividend for the
Namibian Government
The Kwe San of West Caprivi are amongst
the poorest communities in Namibia, yet
as seen in the accompanying photo, they
are paying a fifty percent "dividend"to the
Namibia government of N$1,229,305 from
their first trophy hunting earnings.
|
USAID started supporting the West
Caprivi residents through grant funding
to IRDNC (Integrated Rural Development
and Nature Conservation) in 1993. This support was aimed at strengthening the
skills, knowledge and understanding of
the community with regards to local
resource monitoring, local institutional
management, and the broader policy and
legislative framework in support of
Community Based Natural Resource
Management.
Most of these support activities were
halted in 1999, due to the political unrest
that destabilized most of the region. Local
level resource monitoring by the
community continued in a low key way,
despite less than ideal living and working
conditions prevalent at the time. Initial
USAID support set the ground work for a
strengthened IRDNC which was the only
donor-funded organization, with funding
from WWF-UK, to maintain continuous
active support to the Bwabwata area
during the unrest period from 1999-2002.
The community after considering it’s
options opted to form a residents’
association, called the Kyramayan Trust.
The Kyramayan Trust grew from strength
to strength, and took on overall
responsibilities for resource management,
enterprise development, community
benefit and livelihood development
activities on behalf of its members.
The community resource management has
been very successful, leading to overall
increases for most game species. Based on
these increased numbers and the need to
manage wildlife at optimal levels, the
Trust successfully negotiated two private
hunting concessions. These concessions
generated more than N$3 million in
benefits (cash, employment and meat) to
the local community. From the cash
proceeds, the Trust will pay N$1,229,305
back to the Namibian Game Products
Trust Fund, which is a statutory
conservation fund. The remaining
N$1,229,305 will be used by the Trust for
the benefit of the Kwe community. Other
benefits included more than 10 community
members receiving income and training as
employees of the hunting operators, and
members of the Trust receiving more than
40,000 tons of meat valued at
approximately N$375,000. |
| |
|
Ambassador Barr Highlights
Importance of National
Medical Waste Disposal
Workshop
U.S. Ambassador Joyce Barr and the
Honorable Richard Kamwi, Minister of
Health and Social Services (MoHSS),
applauded the work of Namibian health
professionals and other policymakers at a
Workshop dedicated to the development of
a National Medical Waste Management
Policy for Namibia. They congratulated
the participants on their progress and
encouraged them to complete this
important task for the future health of
Namibians.
|
Ambassador Barr explained the U.S.
Government’s assistance for this critical
program: "Safe disposal of medical waste
protects health care workers, the
environment and the community at large.
The U.S. Government supports this
gathering of experts and community
leaders as you work to protect the health
of the people of Namibia. " Minister
Kamwi also stressed the need for proper
medical waste management to protect
workers and the community and that
health care waste management should be
a priority program at all times. He also
thanked the USG for laying a good
groundwork for this national effort
through the Safe Injections Program
funded by PEPFAR.
The Ministry, USAID and its
implementing partner - University
Research Corporation (URC), and other
stakeholders have worked together to
strengthen safe injection and health care
waste management in health institutions,
since 2004. This Ministry-led
collaboration has already produced some very important results including training
nearly 1000 healthcare workers in safe
injection and disposal methods, providing
43,000 safe needle disposal containers and
identifying a local manufacturer to
provide cost-effective production of sharps
containers and build sustainability into
the program. |
| |
|
Assistant Secretary of State
Visits Partner HIV/AIDS
Clinic
As part of his visit to the US Embassy in
Namibia, US Assistant Secretary of State
for Administration, Rajkumar Chellaraj,
toured a New Start voluntary counseling
and testing center (VCT) in the Katatura
community just outside Windhoek. He
was joined by U.S. Ambassador Joyce
Barr. The Center is one of 17 across the
country supported by PEPFAR through
USAID Namibia.
|
| Site Director Karl Naimhwaka guided the
Assistant Secretary and the Ambassador
through the process from the intake to
testing and counseling follow-up. The
Ambassador stressed the importance of
the centers and the need to do all that can
be done to assist those with HIV/AIDS and
prevent new infections. She also noted the
importance of getting more men to come
into the centers for testing and counseling. |
| |
|
|
