NGOs attempting to grapple with the thankless task of helping the Rwandan refugee camps have come in for some rough treatment from two directions over their HIV/AIDS efforts. At the policy level, an AMREF paper presented to the Vancouver conference charges bluntly that "There is no policy regarding HIV/STDs in refugee camps among international organizations specializing in refugee crises; thus there is absence of STD drugs and protocols, no privacy in open (tent) clinics, no means of protection (no condoms), and no information regarding STDs/HIV." AMREF bases its comments upon its experience among 700,000 Rwandan refugees in camps in West and North-West Tanzania, an area where (AMREF remarks pointedly) there was previously a low prevalence of HIV by Tanzanian standards, at 2-5%. At the operational level, CARE International, in a conference paper, reported rough treatment at the hands of the Rwandans themselves. It has been working under contract from AIDSCAP among the 400,000 Rwandans who fled to the Ngara district of Tanzania. Not surprisingly, it found that women and girls in the camps faced a higher risk than men. But more surprisingly at first sight, it found that after its HIV educational efforts "negative attitudes about condom use increased from 22% to 78%," which was possibly explained by "political ideology." "Young Hutu men in the camps boasted of their efforts to impregnate as many women and girls as possible to help replenish the population." full text

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Infections biology virus infection HIV Infections Africa south of the Sahara refugee Human immunodeficiency virus infection population Reproductive Tract Infections demography Rwanda Migrants developing country Population Dynamics Developing Countries Refugees Political Factors Risk Behavior Disease Residence Characteristics sexually transmitted disease Sexually Transmitted Diseases spatial distribution geography Viral Diseases Diseases Virus Diseases risk factor Risk Factors Behavior Africa Refugee Camps Article high risk behavior Risk-Taking Africa, Northern migration Eastern Africa French Speaking Africa Geographic Factors Tanzania Demographic Factors English Speaking Africa politics Emigration and Immigration infection Transients and Migrants general aspects of disease Africa, Eastern