I am certain that these figures include NON Gambians  like the refugees from Sierra leone and Liberia and Casamance who came to the Gambia recently with these problems.

My observation

Habib

>From: Joe Sambou <[log in to unmask]> >Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list <[log in to unmask]> >To: [log in to unmask] >Date: Fri, 10 May 2002 14:39:09 +0000 > >Folks, if the stats presented by brother Sarr below, are correct, >then we >better take heed. How accurate is he when he said: "about 68 >percent of >urban girls are illiterate, 30 percent of which engages in >commercial sex >(Please focus on the 30%)." What is his stats on boys in this >context? He >also said that "48 percent of males in rural areas are illiterate, >and that >20 percent of them are gangsters (please focus on the 20%)." Is he >referring to gangsters as we know it out here? Someone, please >bring me up >to speed. According to him, "10 out of every 1000 adults in >Serrekunda are >infected with HIV/AIDS, while 71 percent of Gambian youths assert >that the >disease is not for young people (please focus on the 10 out of >1000)." What >are the stats for other districts? Does anyone know what percentage >of the >youths are infected? Those in the know please educate us. > >Chi Jaama > >Joe Sambou > > >Foresight Sisters Battle HIV/Aids > >The Independent (Banjul) > >May 10, 2002 >Posted to the web May 10, 2002 > >Musa Jobarteh >Banjul > >The Foresight Sisters of Sanchaba Sulay Jobe, recently organised a >symposium >on HIV/AIDS and the Community. > >In his opening speech, Alagie Kolley the manager of NACP commended >the >Foresight Sisters for their positive moves. He said it would not be >very >difficult for them to archive their goals if other well-meaning >members of >society would emulate their good work. Mr. Kolley who gave a brief >overview >of the country's HIV/AIDS situation, said the first HIV/AIDS case >was >discovered in the country in 1986, and that more than 4,000 cases >have since >been diagnosed in hospitals throughout the country. He said that in >1986 >there were no retroviral drugs for AIDS, and that all they did was >to >capitalize on sensitization. > >Presenting a paper on HIV/AIDS and Youths, Ousainou Sarr who doubles >as the >director and chairman of NAYCO and GAHA respectively, said about 68 >percent >of urban girls are illiterate, 30 percent of which engages in >commercial >sex. He also said that 48 percent of males in rural areas are >illiterate, >and that 20 percent of them are gangsters. > >According to him, 10 out of every 1000 adults in Serrekunda are >infected >with HIV/AIDS, while 71 percent of Gambian youths assert that the >disease is >not for young people. "We need to be very careful because a vast >proportion >of our population are youths," he warned. > >Other speakers were Modou Lamin Jaiteh, a reporter at The Point >newspaper >who presented a paper on HIV/AIDS and Community, on behalf of Dayda >Hydara >the managing editor of the same paper; Rohey Jagne who spoke on >HIV/AIDS and >Women; and Abie Satou Sowe the executive co-ordinator of Foresight >Sisters. >The symposium was chaired by Mba Kaddy Jammeh of NAYCO. > > > > > > >_________________________________________________________________ >Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at >http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp. > >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > >To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the >Gambia-L Web interface >at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html >To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: >[log in to unmask] > >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~