PEACEKEEPERS IN AFRICA NEED ARVS, STUDY SAYS

As the African Union moves towards establishing a formal peacekeeping brigade, a new study has suggested the need for troops on missions to be supplied with HIV medication, reports UN Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN). The study, backed by the Institute for Security Studies, an Africa-based think-tank, deals with the experiences of armies in Botswana, Swaziland, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Tanzania.

The UN estimates that the risk of military personnel contracting HIV is two to five times higher than among the general population during peacetime, and troops run an even greater risk during conflict.

Southern Africa has one of the highest HIV/AIDS prevalence rates in the world. In Zambia and Zimbabwe some 20 percent of adults are infected with HIV, while the prevalence rate in both Swaziland and Botswana is near 40 percent. Although there is no exact information on the infection rates in the region's defense forces, according to the study, militaries in sub-Saharan Africa are now reporting high incidence of infection. The study urges militaries to conduct comprehensive HIV/AIDS studies to provide antiretroviral (ARV) medication to soldiers.