The PROPOSED LEGISRATION ON HIV AND AIDS FOR MALAWI
Malawi law commission [MLC] has finished drafting the HIV and aids law for the land, if passed by parliament it will be a law in the near. The law has eight sections, which are
1 INSTITUTION BODIES
The National Aids Commission [NAC] and the department of Nutrition were establish by the government to coordinate the fight against HIV and AIDS in Malawi
The proposed law developed by the Malawi Law Commission will establish NAC under statute as a state institution to coordinate and facilitate the national response to HIV and AIDS.
The proposed law shall make sure that NAC enhances government’s commitment since its existence would be strengthened within the government structures
The proposed registration states that NAC would ensure better coordination and liaison between it and other departments of government, including the department of Nutrition, HIV and AIDS.
The proposed registration also states that the department of Nutrition, HIV and AIDS shall be responsible for formulating policies relating to HIV and AIDS its supervision and oversight mandate of the national response to HIV and AIDS.
2 GENDER
The vulnerability of women and girls to HIV and AIDS is aggravated by certain cultural and religious practices.
Such practices do not only violate the dignity of females but are usually practiced without the express consent of women and befall females mainly on the basis of their sex or marital status
The proposed law states that all cultural practices that are perceived to spread HIV infection should be prohibited.
The law intends to uplift the subordinate status of women and children because this impairs their ability to access information on HIV and AIDS and promotes discrimination in all spheres of life.
The law proposes that women and children infected and affected by the HIV and AIDS should know and enjoy their rights.
3 HUMAN RIGHTS
Section 20 of the constitution prohibits discrimination in general on the basis of, among other things, ‘other status’. The words ‘other status’ in encompassing HIV and AIDS as a ground on which discrimination is prohibited with a view to emphasizing the negative consequences of discrimination on people living with HIV and AIDS [PLWHIV]
The new law proposes that PLWHIV and all those infected and affected by the pandemic know and enjoy their rights.
The law proposes that any form of discrimination on the basis that another person is infected with HIV or is suffering from AIDS or is perceived to be infected with HIV or suffering from AIDS shall be illegal
The law proposes states that any person who is infected with HIV or is suffering from AIDS shall have the rights to
- A respectful and humane attitude on the part of society, entailing no humiliation of his right to dignity of his person, physical, integrity, life or health.
- Practice a profession of choice just to mention a few
The law states that a health service provider may disclose information relating to any person’s HIV status where he reasonably believes that it is medically appropriate to..
- Any person he reasonably believes has been or will be exposed to risk of infection in the course of his duties or emergency services or
- The spouse or other sexual partner of the infected person
4 INFORNATION
The MLC proposes that NAC shall be the only accrediting authority of all information on HIV and AIDS disseminated to the public.
As such any information on HIV and AIDS developed by any person other than NAC shall be screened and verified to establish its accuracy before dissemination
The MLC proposes that any person who gives or publishes false or inaccurate concerning HIV and AIDS to any person or the public shall be committing an offence and shall face punishment. This is so because of the tendency by traditional doctors, faith groups, and others who provide false or inaccurate information to HIV infected people and the general public.
5 EMPLOYMENT
The employment sector has been severely affected by the HIV and AIDS epidemic in that there is a decline in the levels human resources in whom heavy financial and material investment has been made.
As such the MLC proposes that no employer shall require any person to undergo HIV testing as a pre-condition for recruitment.
However, pre-employment HIV testing shall be permitted for purposes of assessing fitness for those wishing to serve in the defence force, police, prison and the immigration department
The law also proposes a mandatory testing for purposes of assessing the health status of a domestic worker
MLC also proposes that any person who terminates the employment of an employee only on the grounds that he or she is HIV positive shall be committing an offence punishable by a fine.
6 EDUCATION
People infected with HIV or suffering from AIDS are likely and are actually excluded from participating in education and activities of their choice.
The MLC proposes that no person shall be required to undergo HIV testing as a condition for
- Entry in an education or training institution
- An award of a scholarship, grant, bursary, benefit or other scholarly endowment, or
- Remaining as a student or trainee in any education or training institution
The law also proposes that no education or training institution shall, where there is no risk of infection of others with HIV, refuse admission, expel, segregate, refuse participation in an event or activity or deny any benefits or services to a person only on the grounds that the person is HIV positive or is perceived to be HIV positive.
The MLC proposes that the Minister shall ensure that the materials on HIV and AIDS developed and integrated into the school curriculum are free from all forms of stigmatization against, persons living with HIV and AIDS, not sexually explicit, developed in consultation with associations representing parents and teachers, education officials and interest groups.

7 CRIMINAL LAW.
It is an offence under section 192 of the penal code when any person unlawfully or negligently poses the risk of spreading the infection of any disease dangerous to life.
The MLC is proposing that any person who deliberately infects another person with HIV shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable to imprisonment.
The commission also proposes that any person who recklessly or negligently infects another person with HIV shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable to imprisonment.
A person who knows that is HIV positive shall not do an act or omit to do an act, which is likely to transmit or spread HIV infection to another person unless, before the act or omission takes place, the person has been informed of the risk of contracting HIV infection from him or her and has voluntarily agreed to accept that risk.
8 PUBLIC HEALTH
On the modes of HIV testing the MLC proposes that there shall be
- Voluntary counseling and testing
- Routine testing
- Diagnostic testing
- Compulsory testing
- Any other mode of HIV testing that the Minister may prescribe.
The law also proposes that any person who offers to donate blood or any tissue shall, immediately before such donation, undergo HIV testing.
The law also proposes that consent to undergo HIV testing shall be deemed to be given where a person offers to donate any tissue or offers to donate blood.
The MLC is proposing that compulsory testing for HIV infection shall be prohibited but shall be permissible in the following instances under an order of the court for any person who is charged with a sexual offence, for commercial sex workers, for persons intending to enter into polygamous unions, for pregnant women and their sexual partners or spouses and for donors of blood and tissues.

The recent release of the video showing Omar Khadr talking to a Canadian Intelligence agent left me thinking. The video, filmed in 2003, showed Khadr at the age of 16 being interrogated but not helped. He is a Canadian citizen and a minor at that. In the video, Khadr was constantly asking to be helped but no one was listening to him.

I recently turned 17 and therefore am pretty close to the boy's age. While he is in prison being tortured, I am back in Canada thinking about non-trivial things such as what I'm going to wear for that day, or what the latest gossip is on Facebook. When I saw the picture of Khadr, I instantly recognized the face. It was so similar to all the boys at my school. The ones I see everyday, talk to, and make jokes with. What if they were one day gone and sitting in a prison miles away? While I can only wonder, the family and friends of Khadr are experiencing it.

I can't even imagine living away from the people I know. But then Khadr has been doing just that for the past 6 years. I just can't seem to wrap my mind around it. How could the Canadian government allow this? I'm not sure if he has been rightly convicted but Khadr should still be allowed to be detained in his home country.

Another thing that I'm curious about is Khadr's mention of the wounds he still has on his torso. I recently watched the movie 'Sicko' by Michael Moore. In it, he describes the poor health care the people of the US receive. But he also reveals that the people who have been detained in Guantánamo Bay have much better health care. So if the adults responsible for the deaths of many lives can get better health care than the average American people, why can't our underage Canadian boy get the same attention?


The article can be seen here.

During a recent scan of the BBC's website I noticed an article talking about how the United Nations is taking some of it's staff out of Darfur. The article can be seen here. The reason for the evacuation was said to be because the leader of Sudan was accused of genocide and too many UN personnel were being harmed while working on location.

I think that there are two ways to look at the situation. One perspective could agree with the UN's decision and think that too many UN personnel are being harmed, even killed. It can be noted that on July 8, seven peace keepers were killed and 22 injured. And that's not what they came for. They came to help the people of Darfur.

However, this leads to the second perspective that says that these people did come to help the people of Darfur so if they get hurt, maybe that's what has to happen to get attention on the crisis that is going on.

Hi everyone!

I am a new co-op student here at TIG and for the month of July I will have the privilege of working in the TIG office with the staff. I am about to start my second week here and I thought that I would use my blog to write about the experiences I will go through while I am here.

To start off, last week I'm not going to lie I was really nervous. What if the staff didn't like me? Or what if they didn't want to waste their time on a co-op student who was only going to be around for 15 days? However, as soon as I stepped into the office I knew that I had nothing to worry about. Everyone was really nice and I was personally introduced to everyone who was in that day.

Next, I was given a list of tasks I would be performing and I as my eyes scanned each job I was pleasantly surprised to see that I would be doing actual jobs. Unlike some of the other students in my co-op class who were only responsible for answering the phone and picking up coffee. At that moment I knew that this month was going to change my perspective on the journalism career for the better.

Some of my responsibilities in the past week were to pretty much get super comfortable with the website. Which took me practically all of my first day because I wasn't a TIG member before this opportunity arose. But I'm pretty confident with my navigation skills now. I spent the rest of my week researching companies that TIG had partnered with for various projects that I would be interviewing and coming up with questions to ask the staff for a staff blog I will be writing for.

However, one of the interesting things I experienced was an online training for the Mexico YouthForce Journalists. As I aspire to become a journalist later in my life I found this whole experience eye-opening. During the meeting, I learned that these journalists would be covering various parts of the AIDS Conference in Mexico this summer. They would be able to report on anything that interested them in any media form they chose. Some of the choices they had were writing, podcasting, and filming. The experience these youth journalists are going to receive is incredible. I found myself becoming quite jealous of their position. The meeting definitely left me wanting to go out and find opportunities such as this.

This week, I will be interviewing two staff members on their experience at TIG which will be posted on a staff blog. I also will be interviewing representatives from Peace Child International, Global Youth Action Network, and Youth Voices. These interviews will help relaunch the organizations portion of the TIG website. So be sure to check out that section in the next couple of weeks.

That's all for now, wish me luck!

Rosemary

media owners and managers from the religious owned media institutions in Malawi has agreed to increase their role in the fight against hiv and aids in the country. this come as a result of a day long meeting chaired by the Malawi interfaith aids association [MIAA] on how this media institutions can scale up their roles and responsibilities. They all agree to come up with new program's or to re frame their old programs to come up with a pastrol approach that can bring a change.

A team of health officials in Mangochi, a southern district in Malawi have been sent to sensitise the communities about the good use of mosquito nets, after it was discovered that the nets that goverment distributed are being used as fishing nets. The district's health officer Dr Frank Sinyiza cornfirm this recently that most of the beneficiaries to the subsidised or free mosquito nets that government was provinding recently in the lake side district to reduce the number of people dying with malaria in the country are using the nets as fishing nets. According to the health officer the situation is a challenge and they are doing their best to arrest it as soon as posible. he said the situation is worse in the areas where they catch the small fish called 'USIPA'. about 110 people die of Malaria every day in Malawi.

This is one of my favorite poems, it's a little depressing to read by it's powerful and beautiful and means something.


Do not stand at my grave and weep,
I am not there, I do not sleep
I am in a thousand winds that blow,
I am the softly falling snow.
I am the gentle showers of rain,
I am the fields of ripening grain.
I am in the morning hush,
I am in the graceful rush
Of beautiful birds in circling flight,
I am the starshine of the night.
I am in the flowers that bloom,
I am in a quiet room.
I am in the birds that sing,
I am in each lovely thing.
Do not stand at my grave and cry,
I am not there. I do not die.

Well we've already been in the new year exactly a week, it's 2008 and it doesn't feel much different but I guess it's not really supposed to. The new year is also an excuse to have new year resolutions but how many of us actually stick to those? I mean, I want to but do I actually is a completely different question. If people feel like they need to change something in their lives why wait till a new year? Why not make an effort and say tomorrow I will change. Tomorrow is a new day. Instead of saying well...I'll just wait till 2009.

So I guess my question is:

What have you done for YOU, to start off the new year right?

- mel

Okay so recently I decided to write my member story and came across the question, "What inspires you?" I thought about it and the answer was longer then it was supposed to be but I didn't want to change anything. I decided to write an essay about what inspires me for my university application (eventhough it's in a year and a half)

And I would very much appreciate some feedback :)



What inspires you?

Simple things inspire me. Everyday and always. I have a fascination with the city and it's lights because to me the overall outlook of my city is my inspiration because it's full of opportunity to express myself, test myself, better myself and allows me to walk down the busy streets freely, confidently and independently while it's lights shine on me. And when I'm inside, and there aren't any lights around, I'm still shining. And still, the simple things are inspiring me. Walks in the park by myself with hot coffee inspires me because I'm left alone with my thoughts and I reflect and then I go home and have something to write about. Even though, I always have something to write about, it gives me more to write about. Many things inspire me, a photograph, an article of clothing, a person on the street because they can all be interpreted in my own way. I'll see their beauty in my own way.

- mel

I randomly remembered an episode of The Oprah Winfrey show that I watched in January of 2007 called The High School Challenge: Breaking Down Barriers. It was about a reporter called Lisa Ling who was sent out to a high school by Oprah so that she could try a little experiment on students at a high school.

Like a lot of high schools, this school was decided by cliques. These cliques were also formed by races. At lunch, all the African-Americans would sit together, the Latinos would sit together and etc and the school had a lot of tension when it came to different kind of races.

The experiment was to gather a bunch of students from different walks of life and put them in the gymnasium all together. The objective was to slowly break down those walls and accept eachother.

When the experiment started all the students that participated gathered in their usual groups but that didn't last long when they started to play games to interact with eachother. Towards the end, there were confrontations, tears, and the most important the students started to trust eachother.

So that got me thinking...is it really that simple? Stick a bunch of students in a gymnasium from different walks of life and different races and automatically expect there not to be anymore racism?

Well, it worked! And the reason why I think it worked is because as they started to talk to eachother they realized that they have more in common with eachother than what they have differently. We're all people trying to live our lives and to STAY happy because anyone can be happy but to STAY happy is the hardest part. They all have their problems and sometimes they have to deal with them while paying attention to a teacher who never seems to stop talking. They got along because they realized they weren't the only ones who were dealing with problems, they realized that skin colour doesn't matter because once you really think about it we're all just trying to live and be free and deal with our problems knowing that we're not the only ones. We're all the same, and we can argue that for hours, but we really are.

Well this is getting a little off topic but I just wanted to leave you guys with this quote.

“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.”
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

And you ask me what I want this year
And I try to make this kind and clear
Just a chance that maybe we'll find better days
Cuz I don't need boxes wrapped in strings
And desire and love and empty things
Just a chance that maybe we'll find better days

So take these words
And sing out loud
Cuz everyone is forgiven now
Cuz tonight's the night the world begins again

And it's someplace simple where we could live
And something only you can give
And thats faith and trust and peace while we're alive
And the one poor child that saved this world
And there's 10 million more who probably could
If we all just stopped and said a prayer for them

So take these words
And sing out loud
Cuz everyone is forgiven now
Cuz tonight's the night the world begins again

I wish everyone was loved tonight
And somehow stop this endless fight
Just a chance that maybe we'll find better days

So take these words
And sing out loud
Cuz everyone is forgiven now
Cuz tonight's the night the world begins again

The GOO GOO DOLLS - Better days

health officials in Mangochi, a southern district in Malawi have disclosed that only 1,579 registered HIV patients are on ARV list to access the drug out of 55 thousand people who have the virus in the district. but the officials said out of the 1,579 registered some are on waiting list while 150 are confirmed that they passed away and some 134 default.according to the districts aids cordinator ENERST KAZOKOYA only 175 access the drug per month.mangochi is on number three with high rate of hiv and aids in malawi a country with about a million people living with the virus which is almost 14 percent of the country's population.

Big up to world vision malawi for considering the forgoten people of thyolo thava one of the remotest areas in malawi.
people from the area will now have a chance to access information on hiv and aids at a walkable distance after world vision gave them Hiv testing and counsellig clinic at mphuka.


Raph

Hey guys,
Malawi's Human Rights Consultative commitee has just offered grants to a number of local based insitutions to undertake project relating to the advancement of human rights.The good news to all youth advocates is that most of those institutions are youth focused and youth led.

Congrats.HOWEVER acccountabilty and serving the interests of the nation is a call to all of us.

Peace and love.

Raph

Life is bigger
Its bigger than you
And you are not me
The lengths that I will go to
The distance in your eyes
Oh no Ive said too much
I set it up

Thats me in the corner
Thats me in the spotlight
Losing my religion
Trying to keep up with you
And I dont know if I can do it
Oh no Ive said too much
I havent said enough
I thought that I heard you laughing
I thought that I heard you sing
I think I thought I saw you try

Every whisper
Of every waking hour im
Choosing my confessions
Trying to keep an eye on you
Like a hurt lost and blinded fool
Oh no Ive said too much
I set it up

Consider this
The hint of the century
Consider this
The slip that brought me
To my knees failed
What if all these fantasies
Come flailing around
Now Ive said too much
I thought that I heard you laughing
I thought that I heard you sing
I think I thought I saw you try

But that was just a dream
That was just a dream

Losing My Religion is a song recorded by the rock band R.E.M. from their 1991 album Out of Time.