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Une bonne politique industrielle ne doit pas subventionner aveuglément les industries en difficulté, mais identifier les secteurs porteurs de croissance, ce que les pays européens peinent encore à faire, estime une économiste pour la Banque européenne pour la reconstruction et le développement (BERD).

2250 Personen erhielten 2023 eine vollziehbare Landesverweisung in der Schweiz. Rund drei Viertel davon wurden bisher vollzogen. Die Zahl dürfte noch steigen.

Forscher haben weltweit Menschen befragt, welche Gefühle sie mit welcher Farbe verbinden. Es gab viele Übereinstimmungen, aber auch nationale Besonderheiten. Dabei scheint auch das Klima eine Rolle zu spielen.

Faryd B. verschaffte sich im Januar dieses Jahres Zutritt in die Wohnung der damals 91-Jährigen. Er bedrohte die Seniorin mit einer Nagelfeile und verletzte sie schwer. Nun musste er sich vor dem Bezirksgericht Kreuzlingen für seine Taten verantworten.

Der italienische Außenminister Antonio Tajani hat zu Verhandlungen mit dem israelischen Ministerpräsidenten Benjamin Netanjahu aufgerufen. Er äußerte sich jedoch vorsichtig, als er auf die Möglichkeit einer Verhaftung des israelischen Regierungschefs in Italien angesprochen wurde.

Le Sierra-Léonais Kei Kamara a récemment fait son retour dans le football international à l'âge de 40 ans. Mais qui sont les autres stars africaines qui ont joué jusqu'à leur cinquième décennie ?

Le Sierra-Léonais Kei Kamara a récemment fait son retour dans le football international à l'âge de 40 ans. Mais qui sont les autres stars africaines qui ont joué jusqu'à leur cinquième décennie ?

Eine Untersuchung im Fall des vereitelten Raubüberfalls im Juli dies Jahres auf einen Juwelier in Lugano sollen neue Erkenntnisse bringen. Konkret geht es um den beteiligten 48-jährigen Serben. Er gilt für die Behörden als der gefährlichste des Raub-Quartetts.

Der Europäische Rechnungshof (EuRH) weist auf Mängel in den EU-Vorschriften zur Lebensmittelkennzeichnung und Lücken in dessen Gesetzgebung hin. Die Rechnungsprüfer empfehlen strengere Kontrollen und Sanktionen bei Verstößen, um Verbraucher zu schützen.

Die Verteidigungsminister Deutschlands, Frankreichs, Polens, Italiens und des Vereinigten Königreichs berieten in Berlin über Ukraine-Hilfe und europäische Verteidigungsinitiativen. Im Fokus standen neue Finanzierungsansätze und strategische Fähigkeitslücken.

Les ministres de la Défense de l'Allemagne, de la France, de la Pologne, de l'Italie et du Royaume-Uni, qui forment le groupe E5, étaient lundi 25 novembre réunis à Berlin pour confirmer leur soutien à l'Ukraine et discuter des initiatives européennes en matière de défense.

Autobatterien im Wintertest: Nach vier oder fünf Jahren sind sie oft am Ende. Es gibt grosse Preisunterschiede – und die TCS-Pannenhilfe kann teuer werden. Die Kosten: 446 Franken für einen Batteriewechsel vor Ort.

Am Dienstag ist der Durchstich beim Hochwasserentlastungsstollen in Thalwil erfolgt. Ab 2026 soll Wasser von der Sihl in den Zürichsee geleitet werden, um Überschwemungen in Zürich zu verhindern.

Experten schreiben Angela Merkel einen wesentlichen Anteil an den aktuellen politischen und wirtschaftlichen Krise in Deutschland und Europa zu. Insbesondere wird ihr Einfluss auf die Sicherheitsfragen der EU, einschließlich des Ukraine-Kriegs, kritisch bewertet.

Lillian Mworeko of ICWL with UNAIDS Executive Director, Winnie Byanyima, at the launch of the Choice Manifesto. Credit: Wambi Michael/IPS

By Wambi Michael
MBALE, WAKISO, KAMPALA, Uganda, Nov 26 2024 (IPS)

In Uganda, women and girls are more affected by HIV. Out of 1.4 million people living with the disease, 860 000 are women and girls.

According to UNAIDS, every week, 4,000 adolescent girls and young women aged 15–24 years became infected with HIV globally in 2023, with 3,100 of these infections occurring in sub-Saharan Africa.

In 2023, in sub-Saharan Africa, women and girls accounted for 62 percent of all new HIV infections.

As part of the efforts to prevent new infections and death among the adolescents and women, Uganda adopted oral PrEP in 2017, or pre-exposure prophylaxis. PrEP, or pre-exposure prophylaxis, is medicine people at risk for HIV take to prevent getting HIV from sex or injection drug use.

In January 2021, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended that the dapivirine vaginal ring (DPV-VR) may be offered as an additional prevention choice for women at substantial risk of HIV infection as part of combination prevention approaches.

Dr. Daniel Byamukama, the head of HIV prevention at the Uganda Aids Commission, revealed that HIV prevalence remains high among key populations. Credit: Wambi Michael/IPS

Because Uganda largely depends on donor support for HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention, PrEP tools like the dapivirine vaginal ring (DPV-VR) and a twice-yearly injection known as lenacapavira are rolled out in a phased-funded approach, and therefore more women and adolescent girls continue to be infected despite the efficacy of these medications and tools.

A bio-behavioral survey conducted in 12 of Uganda’s regional towns found that 54 percent (over half of the sex workers aged 35-49 years) were living with HIV. The results of the survey released in October indicated that one in three commercial sex workers missed taking their ARVS at least once.

Dr. Geoffrey Musinguzi, the principal investigator, said each female sex worker had had a sexual encounter with at least four men. He suggested HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) could stop the majority of HIV transmissions that still happen in Uganda and most of the sub-Saharan countries.

Lynette Nangoma (not her real name) is one of the lucky female Ugandan women who have had the chance to have access to oral pre-exposure prophylaxis as well as the vaginal dapivirine vaginal ring. She told IPS that there are times when she forgets to take her PrEP pills. Nyangoma usually engages in multiple sexual relationships. ”Thank God I’m still alive and HIV-free. I think those tablets helped a lot. As you may know, this job of ours can be risky,” she narrates.

Dr. Diana Atwine, the Permanent Secretary at Uganda’s Health Ministry, said the dapivirine vaginal ring is only available in seven districts funded by USAID under PEPFAR.

Dr. Daniel Byamukama, the head of HIV prevention at the Uganda Aids Commission, revealed that HIV prevalence remains high among key populations, at 33 percent among sex workers, 15 percent among prisoners, and 17 percent among people who inject and use drugs.

Nangoma told IPS that she has been using the dapivirine vaginal ring for the last four months.

“I feared it at first when a health worker was brought in to teach us about it. It looked too big. But I decided to try it. I can tell that for me, I find very convenient.”

The dapivirine vaginal ring is a female-initiated option to reduce the risk of HIV infection. It must be worn inside the vagina for 28 days, after which it should be replaced by a new ring. The ring works by releasing the antiretroviral drug dapivirine from the ring into the vagina slowly over 28 days.

Nangoma told IPS that some of her colleagues have been hesitant to use it, fearing discomfort.

Dr. Carolyne A. Akello, who has spent over 10 years in HIV/AIDS research with a focus on HIV prevention among women of reproductive age, including adolescent girls and young women, told IPS: “Yes, it looks big, but actually the vagina is a very accommodating organ. The ring is inserted into the vagina, and it is held up by the muscles. The ring was well researched. It is one size fits all. So whether small, big, or short, it fits every woman. It usually goes to the back of the vagina. There is where it sits for all the 28 days.”

“For a woman to use it consistently, we ask her to leave it there even during sex and menstrual periods. And many women, once they fix it, actually say, ‘Wow. The ring seems to have disappeared; I don’t feel it any more.’ And also, many men don’t feel it during sex. Seven out of ten men did not know that their partner was using the ring,” said Akello.

Unlike daily oral PrEP, dapivirine vaginal ring does not rely on remembering to take a pill each day and is also discreet as it stays inside the vagina throughout the month.

HIV/AIDS activist and access to medicine campaigner who leads the International Community of Women Living with HIV in Eastern Africa (ICWEA), Lillian Mworeko, told IPS that one of the advantages of the dapivirine vaginal ring is that it is discreet.

“It gives power to the woman in terms of control. They are able to fix it themselves. They are in charge. You are giving power to the woman to take care of their prevention. We strongly advocate for it,” Mworeko said. “So that women, especially adolescent girls and young women who are not able to negotiate for safer sex, have a tool that is in their control without seeking permission.”

Uganda was among the first countries in sub-Saharan Africa to approve dapivirine ring. Others included Namibia, South Africa, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, Rwanda, Eswatini, Lesotho, and Botswana. The ring was designed for women to use in countries that still carry a high level of stigma around HIV. In 2023, South Africa announced a national rollout of the ring. Eswatini, Zambia, Rwanda, and Kenya have embarked on similar efforts.

Dr. Diana Atwine, the Permanent Secretary at Uganda’s Ministry of Health, said the dapivirine vaginal ring is only available in seven districts funded by USAID under PEPFAR. Less than three hundred women had accessed the vaginal ring through that initiative by the end of August 2024.

While Atwine says lenacapavir will be a game-changer in terms of reducing the burden of daily pills and minimizing stigma and stigmatization, her ministry’s budget cannot afford the high cost of such tools.

As Uganda joins the rest of the world to mark World AIDS Day, Mworeko used the occasion to express her frustration that so many women in Africa cannot access these tools because their governments say they cannot afford them. Gilead Sciences, the company behind lenacapavir, reportedly charges the one-month ring, which currently costs USD 12.8 per month.

“When we talk about life and the lives of people, we need to put it into the context that nothing can compare with a person who is going to live with HIV for the rest of their life. We cannot compare the price of prevention with treating a person for life,” argues Mworeko.

She suggests that other than waiting for donations that delay or never arrive, the leaders of Africa must set part of their national budgets to ensure that women and girls have access to the new prevention tools and methods.

“What is the cost of preventing a young girl from getting HIV, and they are going to live the rest of their life free of HIV? They are going to deliver babies free of HIV, and they are going to contribute to the economy of their country. Compared to not acting now in the name of the cost, we are going to have this young person infected with HIV, and we must treat them,” Mworeko asked.

When asked about the facts that Uganda and other countries in Africa lacked money to make their own purchases of the prevention measures, Mworeko said, “What are our priorities? Who prioritizes what? We must prioritize where our hearts are. We cannot continue talking about new HIV infections when tools are here.”

Part of Mworeko’s frustration was partly directed towards researchers and the manufacturers of these medicines and preventive measures.

“I think the most disturbing situation is that most of the research is done here in our country. We are slow at rolling them out. Yet other countries pick up and fund these interventions. So we contribute to research, but we don’t benefit as a country. Because there is no one who would want to see their children infected with HIV,” says Mworeko, one of the activists behind the HIV Prevention Choice Manifesto for Women and Girls in Africa.

Uganda was among the countries where clinical trials for Gilead’s PURPOSE 1 were conducted. The results showed the high prevention effectiveness of the six-monthly long-acting injectable drug lenacapavir for cisgender adolescent girls and women, cisgender men, and transgender women.

The Global HIV Prevention Coalition (GPC), UNAIDS, and other partners called on Gilead Sciences to accelerate their efforts in ensuring that it is made available, accessible, and cost-effective, especially to low- and middle-income countries. It said the company’s approach must reflect the urgency of their needs.

“We urge Gilead to act swiftly in ensuring equitable, sustainable, broad access, particularly in markets with the highest need,” said GPC.

Gilead promised in early October that it will prioritize providing lenacapavir to Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Thailand, Uganda, Vietnam, Zambia, and Zimbabwe until generic versions are available.

Dr. Flavia Matovu Kiweewa, one of the researchers on Gilead Sciences’ PURPOSE program in trials in Uganda, said: “I know Gilead Sciences has committed to providing licenses to generic manufacturers to make this product. But countries need to advocate so that we can be the first beneficiaries of lencapvir because we have significantly contributed to the study. But not only that, we are seeing lots of infections in young women.”

Dr. Herbert Kadama, the PrEP coordinator at the Ministry of Health, said Uganda plans to adopt lenacapvir and dapivirine vaginal ring are part of the efforts to address the challenges women also face with HIV/AIDS. He noted that 63 percent of new infections in Uganda, like the rest of Africa, are in women and girls.

According to Dr. Flavia Matovu Kiweewa, lencapvir prevents HIV acquisition by HIV-negative women by 100% compared to other preventive measures, but it is not a vaccine.

”We are glad that for the first time ever in history, we have an intervention that can give 100% protection against acquiring HIV. For us who have been in the PrEP field for quite some time, we faced lots of disappointments, especially for women trials. Because women are not able to adhere to daily interventions and they are influenced by their partners and friends,” said Matovu Kiweewa.

“Lenacapvir is going to be a game changer in the HIV prevention landscape. We are very excited that if we can access lanacapvir in Uganda and other high-burden settings in Africa, we will reduce the incidence of HIV significantly,” she added.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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Excerpt:

Ahead of World Aids Day 2024, with the theme Take the Rights Path: My Health, My Right!, IPS looks at options for prevention for women and girls in Uganda and sub-Saharan Africa.

Die über 2100 Schweizer Gemeinden stufen sich als leistungsstark ein. Probleme bereiten ihnen aber Raumplanung, Asylsuchende und Digitalisierung. Auch die Nachfolge der älter werdenden «Dorfvorsteher» fordert sie heraus.

Im Schnitt kommt es in der Schweiz zu knapp 11'000 Entmietungen ganzer Mehrfamilienhäuser. Diese Leerkündigungen konzentrierten sich vor allem auf Städte und Feriengebiete. Für die Betroffenen ist das laut der ZKB aber insgesamt weniger dramatisch als oft vermutet.

La France vient de lancer une nouvelle édition du programme de bourses MOPGA, dédié aux jeunes chercheurs désireux de profiter d’un séjour sur le territoire […]

L’article Programme MOPGA 2025 : la France offre 60 bourses de recherche aux Algériens est apparu en premier sur .

Un colis piégé a blessé une enfant de 12 ans. Elle a dû être opérée d’urgence durant plusieurs heures. Le Ministère public de la Confédération reprend l’affaire. Les habitants de l’immeuble sont sous le choc.

A hordozós album újabb részéhez a USS Harry S. Truman ezredének Hornet vadászbombázóiról válogattam fotókat. A 2000-es évek első felében a tíz F-14-es mellett, harminchat F/A-18-as adta a Truman csapásmérő képességét. A VFA-105 Gunslingers és a VFA-37 Ragin’ Bulls század a haditengerészethez (Navy) tartozott és F/A-18C-vel repült, a VMFA-115 Silver Eagles a tengerészgyalogság (Marines) századaként modernizált F/A-18A+ Hornetekkel üzemelt. 2001. szeptember 11-e után a Navy századait megerősítendő, tengerészgyalogos századokat is integráltak a repülőgép-hordozók ezredeibe. Nem volt ez előzmény nélküli, a Marines gépei máskor is települtek már hordozókra, de alapvetően expedíciós rendszerben járták a világot, szárazföldi bázisokról üzemelve. Az VMFA-115-ösök a hordozófedélzeti kvalifikáció felfrissítése után, 2002-ben kerültek a Trumanra. Két bevetést teljesítettek ezen a hajón – mi a másodikról hazatérőben találkoztunk velük, 2005 tavaszán. A következő évtől visszatértek a szárazföldi üzemeléshez és a Csendes-óceán térségében repültek. Egy-egy tizenkét gépes Hornet századot a haditengerészet 200-240 fővel, köztük 20-22 pilótával működtetett. A tengerészgyalogságnál a létszám kisebb volt: 18-20 pilóta mellett 180-190 fő gondoskodott a gépek és a század hordozófedélzeti üzemeltetéséről.  

[...] Bővebben!