BLANTYRE, Malawi (IRIN) – HIV-positive civil servants in Malawi are unhappy with the government’s announcement that it would stop providing a cash grant to help improve their diet.

In June, the government said the scheme would be stopped and replaced with food packages. According to Mary Shawa, principal secretary in the office of the President and Cabinet responsible for HIV/AIDS and nutrition programmes, the cash grant programme “was grossly abused, with hundreds of workers claiming to have HIV in order to cash in on the payment”.

Shawa said most civil servants were not using the money for its intended purpose to buy extra food and improve nutrition: “Some people used the money to buy beers and go out with prostitutes, further spreading the virus.”

The cash grant was part of the civil service workplace programme aimed at improving nutrition among people living with HIV, most of whom receive a monthly salary of less than US$100.

Aston Chirwa, an office assistant in one of the government departments in the commercial capital Blantyre, told IRIN/PlusNews that the $35 monthly allowance had been a lifeline for him and his family, as his meagre income was barely enough to pay his daughter’s high school fees. “The allowance was really making a big difference to my survival.”

Chirwa is among nearly 40,000 civil servants with HIV, out of about 170,000, who have been receiving the allowance since 2007.

“The money was not only meant to buy food, I would use it for transportation to Chiradzulu District hospital where I receive ARVs,” he added.

AIDS activists have questioned the government’s decision to introduce the food hamper, which is equivalent to the previous monthly allowance.

“It’s tricky because it’s not automatic that everyone will like the food to be given. We are human beings too and have various tastes,” said Chirwa.

Questions

The president of the Civil Servants’ Union, Elias Kamphinda Banda, described the government’s switch to food parcels as an insult to the privacy of HIV-positive civil servants.

“It’s like the government was tricking these people just to expose them to issues that were to do with confidentiality. It’s too confidential for one to declare his or her status. And for the government to come out and say that ‘we have changed our mind’ is very unfortunate.”

Last month, at least 18 people were killed during protests sparked by the country’s growing economic crisis as well as widespread dissatisfaction over the government’s handling of the problem. Malawi, dependent for 40 percent of its budget on donors, has fallen out of favour with western donors following concerns about human rights and poor governance, and funding has either been withheld or not renewed. The result has been new taxes and adjustments to existing ones. The government has also announced a freeze in the recruitment of civil servants and reduction in foreign travel by the president, ministers and civil servants.

Banda said that crates of eggs and cooking oil were nothing compared with the allowance. “I think government is coming up with some funny decisions because of a lack of consultations. We wonder about the allegations because we have never sat down with government to discuss any form of misuse of the money by HIV civil servants. That is a lie.”

In addition, there was no guarantee that the food packages would not be abused. “How sure are you that if you are giving the commodities one cannot exchange them for beer or give it to prostitutes?”

Half of Malawi’s 13 million citizens live on less than $1 a day and are unable to meet their nutritional needs. About- percent of the country’s population is HIV-positive, and the government estimates that it is now providing free ARVs to 366,000 people.

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– Provided by Integrated Regional Information Networks.

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Canal Winchester, OH, United States (AHN) – Two Ohio boys were kicked off the school bus for passing gas and being a disruption.

The incident happened on Thursday and according to one of the boys’ father caused riders to laugh, heckle and of course roll their windows down.

James Nichols in a report with the Columbus Dispatch said they boys were considered repeat offenders because a driver had warned them after a similar indiscretion weeks ago.

However this time officials at Canal Winchester Middle School intervened and deemed it was an obscene gesture that violated the student code of conduct. They were banned for a day from riding.

Nichols on the other hand calls the whole thing “laughable” the kids would be subject to disciplinary action for something natural and unintentional. His wife who was recently hospitalized with gastro-intestinal issues was offended by the whole thing.

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WebMD explains which health conditions you may inherit from your mother and how much of your health is in your own hands.

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Koriyama, Fukushima, Japan (AHN) – School authorities in Fukushima started removing the topsoil from playgrounds on Wednesday. The soil was exposed to radiation leaks from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactor plant.

School authorities decided to remove the surface soil because tests showed that radiation levels exceeded 3.8 microsieverts per hour at the elementary and junior high schools and 3 microsieverts at the nurseries. The Education and Science Ministry set limits at 3.8 microsieverts.

Soil will be removed at 15 elementary and junior high schools, and 13 nursery schools in the prefecture.

The removed soil will be sent to local landfills.

On Wednesday, Japanese Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko visited the port of Minamisanriku, where more than 1,350 residents are missing or dead. This is the imperial couple’s first visit to the region, although they have been to other earthquake-affected areas in the south.

The town has about 20,000 residents. Over 3,800 houses in Minamisanriku were destroyed by the magnitude 9 tremor. About 200 residents still live in a local gymnasium.

The royal couple will visit the Iwate and Fukushima Prefectures next week.

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Menactra, a vaccine for the prevention of invasive meningococcal disease for children from 9 months of age has been approved by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration). The vaccine, which is already on the market for patients aged between 2 and 55 years, protects against Neisseria meningitides serogroups A, C, Y and W-135. Meningococcal disease refers to infection caused by Neisseria meningitides, a type of bacterium. If left untreated the mortality rate is high…

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A New York man has contracted the AIDS virus in the nation’s first case of transmission from a living organ donor since a screening test was implemented to prevent such infection….

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A 50-year-old with Type 2 diabetes will lose an average six years of life as a result of the disease, only one year less than the seven that would be lost by a smoker of the same age, researchers reported Wednesday.

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Washington, DC, United States (AHN) – Republican governors have coldly received the administration’s offer to let them opt out of the federal healthcare law earlier to help states address growing deficits and increasingly costly Medicaid programs.

“Pretty much all he did was reset the clock on what many of us consider to be a ticking time bomb,” Texas Gov. Rick Perry, chair of the Republican Governors Association, told Townhall.

President Barack Obama over the weekend announced his support for a bipartisan bill that allows states to implement their own healthcare system by 2014 instead of 2017.

The federal Affordable Care Act, which passed Congress with only three GOP votes, provides coverage for 94 percent of Americans by requiring everyone except for those under 100 percent of the poverty level to purchase health insurance.

It makes Medicaid benefits available to more people by making virtually all adults younger than 65 and with incomes of up to about $15,000 a year eligible.

These two provisions, which have received the most opposition from states, are set to begin in 2014.

Several Republican governors have filed lawsuits to keep from enforcing a “one-size-fits-all” law in their state. They say the individual responsibility requirement is unconstitutional.

In addition, they believe the mandate on Medicaid, the biggest driver of the federal debt, would simply force them to “herd hundreds of thousands more people into today’s broken Medicaid system.”

Under the federal law, governors can apply for waivers in 2017 that would let them follow healthcare plans uniquely suited to the needs of their state.

The bipartisan bill from Sens. Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Scott Brown (R-MA) would let states seek waivers three years earlier as long as the same kind of coverage and affordability are provided.

Republican governors led by Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels have asked for more control in limiting beneficiaries of Medicaid, which is jointly funded by states and the federal government.

They also want “complete flexibility” in deciding which insurers are permitted in exchanges, which are state-run marketplaces to help individuals and businesses choose health plans that comply with requirements of the federal law, such as providing coverage for those with pre-existing conditions.

The president offered an olive branch during his meeting with governors on Sunday, praising a former election rival and assuring them that he would support proposals to make the law better.

“Many of you have asked for flexibility for your states under this law,” Obama said.”In fact, I agree with Mitt Romney, who recently said he’s proud of what he accomplished on health care in Massachusetts and supports giving states the power to determine their own health care solutions. He’s right. Alabama is not going to have exactly the same needs as Massachusetts or California or North Dakota.”

Health and Human Services Department Sec. Kathleen Sebelius has said the federal government would cover 96 percent of the costs of expanding Medicaid under the law.

Nonetheless, the president asked governors to form a bipartisan group to work with Sebelius to find more ways to lower Medicaid costs while providing the same coverage.

“I will go to bat for whatever works, no matter who or where it comes from,” Obama said. “I am not open to re-fighting the battles of the last two years, or undoing the progress that we’ve made. But I am willing to work with anyone… to make care even better; to make it more affordable and fix what needs fixing.”

But critics have dismissed the president’s new approach.

The conservative publication Human Events cited Bill Felkner, director of policy for the Ocean State Policy Research Institute, as saying, “This will allow the states to follow their own path toward health care so long as that path leads to the same goal that is reached by the ‘Affordable Care Act’—ObamaCare.”

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Posted on: Sunday, 6 February 2011, 08:37 CST With millions of people warding off winter’s chill with blazing fireplaces and wood-burning stoves, scientists are raising red flags about the …

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More than 500,000 copies of “The China Study” have been sold, and even former President Bill Clinton is talking about it.

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