French to support Kenya's conservation

The French Government said Monday that it will continue to support Kenya’s Wildlife Conservation effort through the installation of a digital radio network and solar systems to beef up the security of visitors and wildlife. The security gadgets are to be installed in the Southern, Tsavo, and Central Rift Conservation Areas.

This was affirmed by two members of the French National Assembly and French Development Agency (AFD) officials who paid a courtesy call on Mr. William Kiprono, the Kenya Wildlife Service Director in Nairobi.

Mr. Noël Mamère, MP for Gironde constituency and Bègles town Mayor and Mr. Michel Zumkeller, MP for Belfort Territory and Mayor of Valdoie are in Kenya for a 3 day visit to evaluate French Government supported projects. They were accompanied by Yves Terracol the AFD Regional Director and officials from the French Embassy.

The Digital Radio Network and the Northern Kenya Wildlife Conservation Projects are part of the French Governments support for strengthening conservation efforts in Kenya. The Digital network will be instrumental in facilitating KWS security operations through the upgrading of its current analogue network to a more robust and enhanced digital platform.

The new technology has additional capabilities such as GPS tracking, messaging and vice encryption. This is expected to greatly reduce maintenance costs and increase efficiency in communications ultimately ensuring timely and accurate responses to cases of human wildlife conflict, poaching and visitor security.

The French Government also recently extended a Sh.819 million concessional loan to the Government of Kenya and a Sh153 million grant for the conservation of biodiversity in Northern Kenya Project

This will ensure the ecosystems conservation and development of physical infrastructure within Marsabit National Park. The project is expected to ease pressure on the fragile Marsabit ecosystem through improvement of community livelihoods by provision of water, alternative energy sources, afforestation and natural resource management.

All these efforts are aimed at opening up Northern Kenya as a major conservation and tourism destination.

VOICE Trial Results Underscore Need to Accelerate Development of Additional HIV Prevention Options for Women

Results from a large-scale HIV prevention trial among African women known as VOICE (Vaginal and Oral Interventions to Control the Epidemic) provide an urgent reminder that products must meet the needs of the people using them.

While disappointing, the results lend new urgency and direction to the search for additional safe and effective HIV prevention options for women, AVAC said today.

 Researchers announced today that none of three pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and microbicide interventions tested in VOICE – daily oral tenofovir, daily oral TDF/FTC (Truvada), and daily 1% vaginal tenofovir gel – provided additional protection against HIV in the study, likely because few of the women in the trial used the products as directed.

This low adherence explains the lack of benefit and is consistent with data from other antiretroviral (ARV)-based prevention trials that found a correlation between higher levels of adherence and protection from HIV. The new results were presented in Atlanta at the 20^th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI). 

“The VOICE results reinforce what we already know from previous trials – these interventions work when they are used, and they don’t work when they are not used,” said Mitchell Warren, AVAC Executive Director. “PrEP is still a valuable option for many women, and men, who recognize their risk and can take PrEP consistently. Now we have a dual responsibility to understand who might benefit from daily PrEP and ensure that they can access it, and to accelerate the development of additional options that can meet the urgent needs of others.”

A range of trials has shown varying levels of effectiveness of tenofovir-based prevention for heterosexual men and women, and for men and transgender women who have sex with men.

The VOICE data do not invalidate the prior trial results, including the finding that daily oral tenofovir-based PrEP provided high levels of protection for women in stable relationships where one partner was HIV-positive, and that 1% vaginal tenofovir gel was modestly effective on a different dosing schedule. 

“Previous trials of tenofovir-based gel and pills have shown that biologically this approach can work, but only if the product is used. HIV prevention is never just biomedical – behavior is key. What we’ve learned from VOICE and other trials is that adherence to the prescribed dose – the behavioral component – is the variable that determines effectiveness,” Warren added.

“Biomedical tools do not work in a vacuum but rather in the complex realities of women’s and girls’ lives. The women of VOICE and other prevention trials have much to tell us. Now we need to listen to what they are saying and design prevention options based on a better understanding of their reproductive and sexual health needs and desires, their perceptions of personal risk for HIV infection, and their interest in and ability to use the products offered in those trials,” Warren said.

 VOICE showed a very high incidence of HIV in the trial – 5.7 percent among all the women in the trial and 8.8 percent among unmarried women under the age of 25 in South Africa.

“The high rates of new HIV infections among women, especially young women, are the most shocking and disturbing data from this trial. They are a sobering reminder of how desperately women need new prevention options that they can and will use to protect themselves from HIV,” said Elizabeth Bukusi, Deputy Director (Research and Training) of the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) and an AVAC Board Member. “The VOICE results teach us again that an urgent need for new prevention options does not mean women will automatically demand or use those products.”

Following the 2012 US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of Truvada as PrEP for adults at risk of HIV, AVAC called for a comprehensive package of PrEP demonstration projects for all populations – including young women – that could benefit from the proven option of daily oral TDF/FTC.

Demonstration projects and other studies in which participants know that they are taking an intervention that has been proven to work will provide important information about how adherence can be supported in real-world situations.

AVAC is also working with advocacy partners in the US and internationally to push national health agencies to systematically determine how PrEP can be delivered to the women and men who will benefit from it.

This includes a statement released today from a coalition of HIV and women’s health advocates calling on US agencies to coordinate a PrEP agenda to quickly and accurately answer questions about how PrEP can be made available to women in the US.

At the same time, AVAC calls for accelerated research and development of additional HIV prevention options that are less dependent on adherence and may be easier and more desirable for women to use.

These include different delivery mechanisms, such as long-acting rings and injections, and less-than-daily dosing schedules, such as that being tested in the FACTS 001 trial, which is looking at 1% tenofovir vaginal gel used around the time of sex.

Renewed commitment and resources are also urgently needed for research to develop HIV vaccines, which would overcome many of the issues around adherence, and combined contraceptive and HIV prevention methods, which would address many women’s needs more comprehensively.

“The data presented today are only the beginning of what we will learn from VOICE. We need to make sure that we get all of the information we can from the VOICE participants to help us understand why women were dedicated to the trial and yet were not willing or able to use the products consistently. These women are at such high risk for HIV, we owe it to them to work with them to find the options that they can and will use to protect themselves,” Warren said.

Hon Noah Wekesa to officially “Ivory belongs to elephants” walkers

The late Michael Werikhe, also known as “the Rhino Man” was the first Kenya to raise awareness on the black rhino species. His first walk from Mombasa to Nairobi lasted 27 days. It was the experience of witnessing tonnes of poached ivory and rhino horns, in the 70’s and 80’s, which led Werikhe to fundraise for conservation of endangered species. In recognition, the efforts of the late Werikhe, international ban on ivory trade and improved security surveillance by the Kenya Wildlife Service enabled the populations to rebound.

Regrettably, we are witnessing an upsurge in poaching of ivory and rhino horns to unprecedented levels similar to those the 1980’s, says Jim Nyamu.

Jim Nyamu, a research scientist with over 12 years experience saving the African elephant took over the mantle from the late Werikhe and will end the 484 km walk from Mombasa to Nairobi in a reception at the Tree Centre, Nairobi Arboretum grounds on Saturday 23rd February 2013.

Jim’s walk lasted 15 days compared to 27 days by Werikhe. The walk dubbed “ivory belong to elephant” will climax with Jim delivering over 10,000 petitions he collected as he walked. Achim Steiner, UNEP Executive Director and Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Hon. Noah Wekesa, Minister for Forestry and Wildlife among others will receive Jim at the Tree Centre.

Hundreds of protesters calling for a global ban on ivory trade will join Jim along Mombasa road and Uhuru Highway to the Nairobi Arboretum grounds. Jim agrees the time to act is now and will urged the 177 governments gathering in Bangkok from March 3-14 for the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), to begin "a formal procedure that would lead to a total ban of the ivory trade."

Other organizations participating include Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), WWF, International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), Born Free Foundation (BFF), Kenya Association of Women in Tourism, Elephant Neigbors Center (ENC), Kenya Elephant Forum (KEF), Maniago Travel among other wildlife conservation both local and international organizations.