Brazil takes advantage of World Cup crowds to test for HIV

Sao Paulo: Brazilian health officials
handed out condoms to World Cup
fans in Sao Paulo on Friday and took
advantage of festivities in the city to
test people for HIV.
"We can't miss an opportunity like
this," said Ivone De Paula, Sao Paulo
state's coordinator for sexually
transmitted disease prevention. "The
fact that it's the Cup lightens the
mood a bit. People say 'Hey I'm
going to watch the game, I'm having
fun, why not get tested too?'"
The program, part of the UNAIDS
"Protect the Goal" HIV/AIDS
prevention program, provides rapid
HIV testing and counseling, as well
as free condoms and emergency
retroviral drugs. It is also being
offered in 11 other cities across Sao
Paulo state where visiting World Cup
teams are based.
De Paula expected the program to
conduct about 300 rapid HIV tests
outside Friday's Fan Fest, where a
giant screen displayed the Cameroon
vs Mexico match. Many were getting
tested for the first time ever, she
said.
"I had no idea this was going to be
here, I just came across it," said a
middle-aged man who asked not to
be identified. "I wouldn't know
where to get tested otherwise, so
this helps quite a lot."
Brazil usually conducts HIV and
AIDS prevention campaigns during
the Carnival holiday, including
widespread advertising and condom
distribution. Aggressive HIV/AIDS
treatment and prevention efforts in
the South American country have
been held up as a model for the
developing world for more than a
decade.

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S.A President Zuma admitted to hospital

Johannesburg - President Jacob
Zuma was admitted to hospital for
tests on Saturday, the presidency
said.
“President Jacob Zuma has today,
June 7, 2014, been admitted to
hospital for tests,” his spokesman
Mac Maharaj said in a statement.
“Yesterday President Zuma was
advised to rest following a
demanding election and transition
programme to the new
administration.”
Maharaj said doctors were satisfied
with Zuma's condition.
He did not say which hospital the
president had been admitted to.
On Friday, the ANC national officials
ordered Zuma to take a break.
“Following a gruelling election
campaign we found that he needed
to rest,” the deputy president Cyril
Ramaphosa said at the Nehawu
special congress in Benoni, on the
East Rand.
“He attended the NEC lekgotla this
morning, and was thereafter sent
packing to go and rest.”
Zuma was scheduled to address the
National Education, Health and
Allied Workers Union congress, but
sent Ramaphosa to deliver his
speech.
ANC secretary general Gwede
Mantashe told reporters at the
ruling party's lekgotla in Irene,
outside Pretoria that the president
was exhausted.
He said Zuma was given time to
recover before he held a Cabinet
lekgotla next week.

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