demographic DIcture because, in contrast to most Gelderen infectious diseases, which The HIV epidemic raging across Africa is a tragedy of take among the elderly and the their heaviest toll epic proportions, one that is HIV takes its altering the region's demo- very young greatest toll among young graphic future. It is reducing adults. life expectancy, raising mor- In the absence of a low cost tality, lowering fertility, crecure, infection leads to death. ating an excess of men over women, leaving millions of The Tine from infection until death for adults in orphans in its wake. Africa is 7 to 10 years.
The second millennium This means that Botswana began WiTN million can expect to lose the 36 per Africans infected with the cent of its population that is virus. In the absence of a HIV positive within this medical miracle, nearly all will die before 2010. Each decade, plus the additional day 6000 Africans die from numbers infected within the next year who will be the virus; each day an addiFor two. The HIV toll, plus tional 1100 are infected. the normal death rate, means In Botswana, 36 per cent of that close to half the adults the adult population is HIV Botswana today will be positive; in Zimbabwe and dead by 2010. Swaziland, per COlL But it is not only adults Lesotho, 24 per cent, and who are dying from AIDS in South Africa, Namibia and Africa. Infants of mothers Zambia, 20 per cent. who are HIV positive have a In none or these countries 30 to 60 per cent chance of has the spread of the virus being born with the virus. been checked.
Life expectancy, a sentinel Their life expectancy is typically less than two years. indicator of economic Many more infants acquire progress, is falling precipi- the virus breast tously. In Zimbabwe, with- feeding. Few of them will out AIDS, life expectancy in 2010 would be 70 years but reach school age.
There is also some evidence with AIDS is expected to fall that the virus reduces fertilbelow 35 years. In Botswana, ity. By the time the sympin the same perloa. life toms of AIDS appear, women expectancy is projected are 70 per cent less likely to fall from 66 years to 33; for be pregnant than those who South Africa, it will fall from are not infected.
years to and for Females are infected at an Zambia, from 60 to 30.
The reason for this drastic earlier because they age than have sexual males NO BOOZE, NO TOYS, NO TOILETRIES - IM - INCENSE AND MYRRH VOUCHERS The CDAS has produced Christmas cards as well as a postcard to be sent to Jack Straw, asking him, in the "season of good will . to snow some and drop the voucher scheme!
Cards are 50p each, £4 for 10 or £7.50 for 20. Please note that the cards are in full colour, not black and white!
Contact CDAS: BCM Box 4289. London WC1N 3XX.
07958 478 628 or e-mail defend-asvium. oro web site l intercourse with older men who are more likely to be HIV-positive. The female infection rate is also higher than that of males. Among 15-19 year olds, five times as many females as males are infected. Because they are infected so early in life, many women will die before completing their reproductive years, further reducing births. No one knows how much the HIV epidemic will reduce fertility, but one thing is known: the wholesale death of young adults in Africa is creating millions of orphans.
By 2010, Africa is expected to have 40 million orphans. Even Africa's highly resilient extended family system will be unable to cope with this Shell Oil's complicity in the hanging of 9 Ogoni leaders, Ken Saro Wiwa and others is an issue that Ogoni people in Nigeria will neither forget nor forgive. Shell employed the services of a solicitor, O CJ Okocha, to hold brief on its behalf at the kangaroo court proceedings which eventually murdered the Ogoni leaders.
But this is certainly not the only crime this multinational has committed against the Ogoni people.
CHARLIE van GELDEREN explains:
Shell's environmental record remains the poorest in the Niger delta of Nigeria.
According to the World-Wide Fund for Nature, Shell's flares of waste gases in Nigeria are the single largest cause of global warming in the region.
Shell applies racist double standards in its approach, carrying out oil exploration in Ogoniland and causing malicious damage to the environment there, while adopting different environmental practices in Europe and the US.
Chall continues to owe the Ogoni people oil royalties and mining rents for 40 years, amounting to about $6 billion and another $4 billion for environmental devastation.
Shell refuses to bury its oil pipelines in Ogoniland. These dangerous pipelines, which criss-cross farms, streams and village paths defy health and safety standards, and pose a great risk especially to Ogoni Denying the obvious: South African president Mbeki staggering catastrophe. As this epidemic is claiming more females than men, Africa faces a unique shortage of women. It is estimated that men will outnumber females by 11 to 9, leaving many males destined to bachelorhood or forced to migrate to other countries in search of a wife.
Although the AIDS epidemic may claim more lives children.
The corporation refuses to clean its oil spills in Ogoniland.
This has degraded farmlands, rivers and streams, thereby depriving the Ogoni people of their source of livelihood. resulting in endemic poverty. malnutrition and starvation.
Shell has profited immensely from the estimated $100 billion of oil taken from Ogoniland. But while their results for the third quarter of 2000 are estimated to be £2.2 billion, Shell has managed to circumvent the judicial system in Nigeria by refusing to pay the court compensation order of $40 million for the Ejaama Ebubu 1970 oil spill.
Shell sponsored genocide in Ogoniland between 1993-1996 than WWII, it is not being given the priority it deserves, either within the countries affected or the international community. Only LWO countries in Africa have seriously tried to tackle the problem. In Uganda, one of the earliest countries hit by the epidemic, the infected share of the adult population has dropped from 14 per cent in by providing income and weapons to the Nigerian military leaders, Paul Okuntimu, Dauda Koma and others, who declared war on the Ogonis, resulting in the killing of over 2000 Ogonis, innumerable maiming, raping, looting and the general destruction of Ogoni villages.
Shell refuses to implement the recommendations made by the United Nations fact-finding mission to Ogoniland after making environmental impact assessment of the company's exploration activities there.
According to Mosop (the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People) "Shell is a corporate liar. It continuously uses high profile spin doctors and public relations machinery the early 1990s to 8 per cent today. Zambia has mobilised the health, education and agricultural sectors, and church groups, to halt the spread of the virus. As a result, the infected share of young women in some cities has dropped by nearly half since 1993.
Africa has had its share and more than its share of poverty, TB and malaria for centuries. All these have taken their toll. But never have people been decimated like this.
President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, amid public outrage, maintains that poverty, not HIV, is the root cause of the growing AIDS epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa. "The world's biggest killer and the greatest cause of ill health and suffering across the globe, including South Africa, is extreme poverty. As I listened and heard the whole story about our own country, it seemed to me that we could not blame everything on a single virus."
There is, of course, more than a grain of truth in this, but Mbeki has used this argument to refuse to take steps to bring affordable help for AIDS sufferers. This cannot be justified. (Based on material in Daily News from South Africa)
to mislead the public about its attitude to environmental issues. Its much publicised business policies on environment, health and safety and good community relations are not adopted in either Ogoniland or the Niger Delta.' Shell still refuses to meet with the Ogonis and address the problems it has caused in their land. Rather it is forcing itself on the Ogonis, thereby violating their rights to contribute to and participate on issues concerning their own welfare.
Shell encourages bribery and corruption in Ogoniland.
Shell was declared persona non-grata in Ogoniland by all Ogonis on Ogoni Day 4 January 1993. This remains the verdict of Ogonis on Shell.
Outlook
Defend Committee to Asylum Seekers Christmas Cards & Postcards