The forest people of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), marginalised at the best of times, were easy targets for the marauding soldiers and militiamen that reduced the eastern provinces to one of the world's bloodiest war zones. Rape was a weapon of war in the decade-long conflict, with the local civilian population the overwhelming victims of the fighting and chaos that sucked in combatants from throughout the region.

As the foul, eggy smell from toxic waste dumped last month in Cote d’Ivoire’s main city dissipates, thousands of people are still falling sick, and the United Nations has warned the pollution could seep into the food chain.

The administration of Anti-retroviral drugs is likely to face a setback because some patients can not afford the necessary nutritious foods required to boost the fight against HIV/Aids, the manager Taso Mbale branch has said.

The Ombudsman and the Attorney General are locked in yet another clash in what has now become a central feature of all government business in Uganda. The latest fight between Justice Faith Mwondha and the Attorney General's office is centred on her report on the botched procurement of the vendor for the National Databank and Identification System project.

District health systems in Africa depend largely on public funding. In many countries, not only are these funds insufficient, but they are also released in an untimely fashion, thereby creating serious cash flow problems for district health managers. This paper examines how the untimely release of public sector health funds in Ghana affects district health activities and the way district managers cope with the situation.

The International Rescue Committee seeks a Health Coordinator for its Cote d’Ivoire program, based 50% in Tabou and 50% in Man. The Health Coordinator will be initially based in Tabou and will be responsible to conduct the fazing out strategy put in place by his/her predecessor for Tabou.

This Oxfam briefing argues that the world's emergency response to food crises requires an overhaul in order to deliver prompt, equitable, and effective assistance to people suffering from lack of food. It also argues that governments need to tackle the root causes of hunger, which include poverty, agricultural mismanagement, conflict, unfair trade rules, and the unprecedented problems of HIV/AIDS and climate change.

The extremely virulent form of tuberculosis that killed 52 out of 53 people at a hospital in KwaZulu-Natal, is just the "tip of the iceberg" in southern Africa, scientists have warned. What makes this strain of TB so lethal is that unlike normal TB, XDR TB can infect even the healthiest of people. But healthy people are more likely to be able to fight off the disease, while those who have compromised immune systems, will die within a month.

There are currently more than 30 HIV vaccine candidates in trial around the globe, but estimates of global demand for a vaccine have so far been based on vaccine characteristics that do not reflect the ones in development.

We are members of the global scientific community working on HIV/AIDS who wish to express our deep concern at the response of the South African government to the HIV epidemic. HIV causes AIDS. Antiretrovirals are the only medications currently available that alleviate the consequences of HIV infection.

Hundreds of people have been admitted to hospital after breathing toxic fumes from poisonous waste dumped in residential areas of Cote d'Ivoire's main city, Abidjan. On Tuesday, hundreds of the city's residents threw up barricades in protest, prompting the government to appeal on national television for roads to be cleared so that medical personnel could get through.

Africa’s largest pharmaceutical manufacturer has five times as many South African patients using its anti-retroviral (ARV) products as it had just more than a year ago. Despite the Department of Health only procuring R83-million-worth of ARVs from Aspen in those 16 months, company CEO Stephen Saad says it has seen the number of South African patients using its ARVs grow from 20 000 a year ago to 100 000, a 500% increase.

Some three million people live in Liberia, but after a decade and a half of warfare there are only 34 government doctors catering for their healthcare needs. Fighting destroyed 95 percent of Liberia’s healthcare facilities and the number of trained government doctors in the country dropped from 400 to less then 20 at the civil war’s end in 2003, according Liberia's National Human Development Report.

The fifty-sixth session of the WHO Regional Committee for Africa ended Friday (September 1) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, with the adoption of seven resolutions aimed at scaling up action in critical areas that are key to improving the health and socio-economic situation in Africa.

A year after Hurricane Katrina hit, only about half of New Orleans' population of 450,000 has returned. Many of those unable to come back are poor and African-American, drastically altering the demographics of a city that used to be two-thirds black. Investigative journalist Greg Palast reports from New Orelans.

The Centre for the Study of AIDS, University of Pretoria is proud to announce the launch of its sixth AIDS Review – What’s Cooking? by Jimmy Pieterse and Barry van Wyk on Thursday, 31 August at the Innovation Hub in Pretoria.

The United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) on Monday (August 28) warned that unless African countries are adequately prepared, a pandemic of avian influenza would remain a threat to the continent.

South Africa's government says it needs to find new strategies for communicating its message on HIV/Aids. The announcement comes as activists called for a "day of action" to try to get the health minister to resign. The government has been criticised for recommending natural cures as well as anti-retroviral drugs to Aids patients.

This paper, published by Information for Development (infodev), looks at information and communication technology (ICT) interventions in the health sector in developing countries. It argues that ICTs have enormous potential as tools to increase information flows, disseminate evidence-based knowledge, and empower citizens. ICTs have been used to enable remote consultation through telemedicine; encourage collaboration among health workers; and support more effective health research.

Based on the Post Gu 2006 Assessment, the Food Security Analysis Unit for Somalia (FAO/ FSAU) and FEWS NET Somalia confirm earlier predictions (Press Release June 2, 2006) that although there are some improvements in certain areas, the conditions of humanitarian crisis in Southern Somalia persist and will continue at least until December 2006.