The HIV and AIDS Youth Worker will work alongside GAVO, a local NGO in Berbera, Somaliland, to assist in devising and developing an appropriate response to HIV and AIDS for youth.

The Child Accident Prevention Foundation of Southern Africa has won the bid to organize and will host the prestigious WHO 15thInternational Safe Communities Conference in Cape Town 9-11 April 2006 at the CTICC, for the first time on the African Continent. This conference is community-based and will focus on creating Safety Networks within the local communities, and it is more than likely that Cape Town might qualify to become part of the WHO International Safe Communities Network.

The International Rescue Committee currently seeks a Reproductive Health Manager for its Sudan program, based in North Darfur. The position is based in El Fasher with daily trips to IRC's primary and reproductive health programs in Abu Shouk and As Salaam internally displaced persons (IDPs) camps.

Though the armed conflict that plagued the Democratic Republic of Congo for years mostly has subsided, access to health care has not improved for many Congolese, according to a Medecins Sans Frontieres survey. Between 45% and 67% of Congolese surveyed in five regions of the country said they had no access to basic health care.

Libya's Supreme Court should consider the torture claims of six foreign medical workers on death row for injecting 426 Libyan children with HIV, Human Rights Watch said. The court will review the case. Four of the six defendants, five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor, told Human Rights Watch in May that they confessed after enduring torture, including beatings, electric shock and sexual assault. Libyan officials denied all of the defendants prompt access to a lawyer, they said. In June, a Tripoli court acquitted 10 Libyan security officials accused of using torture against the defendants.

Seventy-eight healthy South Africans are to test a new candidate HIV vaccine over the next 18 months, reports the Mail and Guardian. The International Aids Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) and a United States company need to determine if the medication is safe and effective. Called "tgAAC09", the preventive HIV vaccine candidate is based on HIV subtype C, the subtype of the virus most prevalent in Southern and East Africa. "The trial should take about 18 months to complete and will enrol 78 volunteers in total -- men and women -- who are in good health. TgAAC09 is designed to elicit two different types of immune responses, an antibody response and a cell-mediated response. The vaccine consists of an artificially made copy of the HI virus and cannot cause HIV infection or Aids," the IAVI said on Monday, November 14.

The United Nations Population Fund has launched a campaign in Ghana to spread awareness of obstetric fistula, the dangerous health condition that hits many young African mothers especially hard. UNFPA experts in Ghana urged the media to pay more attention to fistula, saying it could help suffering women overcome the isolation and low self-esteem they often face.

Scientists, health workers and politicians met Sunday, November 13 in Cameroon to discuss new ways to battle malaria and increase awareness of the deadly disease, which kills thousands a day. Some 1,500 participants from 65 countries are expected to attend the six-day conference to discuss critical research on all aspects of malaria control, said Louis Da Gama, a spokesman for the UK-based group Massive Effort Campaign and co-organizer of the event.

This World Bank evaluation assesses the effectiveness of its country-level HIV and AIDS assistance. Findings show that political commitment is needed from all levels and efforts are needed to expand this commitment beyond top levels. The document highlights how strengthening the institutional capacity of Ministries of Health to address HIV and AIDS is critical to the effectiveness of the national AIDS response.

Nine million young people in Nigeria are to be sent text messages on Wednesday to raise awareness about HIV/Aids. The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) is launching its Nigerian campaign because it has the third highest number of people with the disease. Unicef is aiming to take advantage of the surge in mobile phone use in Nigeria over the last six years.

Surging inflation, a lack of foreign currency to purchase medications and an urban renewal program that has displaced poor residents are preventing HIV-positive Zimbabweans from seeking and receiving care, the Chicago Tribune reports. According to UN statistics, more than one-fourth of Zimbabwe's 12.7 million citizens are HIV-positive and up to 3,000 people are infected each week.

A militant leader from Nigeria's oil-region has begun a hunger strike in protest at police treatment in custody. Mujahid Dokubu-Asari's lawyer said he was not even taking water and was unhappy at being kept in solitary confinement and often moved. Last year, Mr Asari's Niger Delta People's Volunteer Force contributed to a sharp rise in world oil prices when it threatened war against oil companies.

In September 2005, more than 170 world leaders assembled at the United Nations Millennium Declaration Summit in New York to assess global progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). In this report, ActionAid International USA argues that the International Monetary Fund (IMF)-led consensus which has dominated economic development policy in the poor world for 25 years is not sufficient to meet the MDGs. "Indeed, in many cases, the IMF-imposed macroeconomic policies used in poor countries are hindering both achievement of the Goals and an effective fight against HIV/AIDS."

This report from USAID and the Southern African Regional Poverty Network (SARPN) presents findings and conclusions from a governance and food security assessment of Malawi. The field work was undertaken in January-February 2005 with the purpose of identifying the underlying governance causes of food security problems. One of the six summary findings concludes that: "Owing to a range of factors Malawi is increasingly food insecure and has become dependent on food donations to fulfil its national food need. Most households are unable to access a minimum basket of food items through their own food production or by market purchases. The dominance of maize in the weaning diet contributes to the high proportion of children who are severely stunted. With little resilience to climatic, economic and social shocks, households have become extremely vulnerable to food insecurity."

An impasse became evident on negotiations on the major remaining issue relating to the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health when some key WTO members appeared far apart on a solution, and disagreed even on how the process of consultations is going on, during a meeting of the TRIPS Council on 25 October, reports Third World Network. Some developing countries, particularly Brazil and India, complained that they had been left out of consultations taking place between a few countries. They also reiterated their support for the proposal by the African Group as a good basis for negotiations towards a solution. African countries indicated that they were prepared to engage with others, and quoted a declaration by the African Health Ministers for the need to find a permanent solution that removes all constraints and procedural requirements to the export and import of generic medicines.

Late into Zambia's long, dry season, the Victoria Falls are not at their most spectacular. Undeterred, bus loads of tourists still stop here daily to view the torrent. Most are unaware that a scarcity of water in the surrounding area has driven many rural communities to the brink of starvation. Poor rains early in the year saw the total failure of most crops in southern Zambia. As well as decimating the livelihoods of the area's predominantly subsistence farmers, the drought has resulted in a severe shortage of maize, the country's staple food.

The Treatment Action Campaign this week released a statement and fact sheet in which it explains why it holds Matthias Rath responsible for several deaths of HIV infected individuals. Dr Matthias Rath’s “pseudo-science” is causing confusion and costing many lives and is flourishing because it is perceived to be endorsed by the health minister and the president, according to the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC). Analysing the recent deaths of five people who were taking the Rath vitamins, the TAC said for three of these patients Rath was at a minimum responsible for contributing to their deaths.

A study published in the November edition of the Journal of Clinical Investigation has shed new light onto why individuals who have received effective anti-HIV therapy for many years, and have persistently maintained an undetectable viral load, are still unable to eradicate HIV. In a study involving eleven HIV-positive individuals who had been receiving successful antiretroviral therapy for up to nine years, American and Canadian investigators demonstrated that all eleven patients had CD4 cells infected with HIV that was capable or reproduction, and that most patients also had "considerable" levels of the DNA which HIV produces inserted into cells after infecting both active and resting CD4 immune system cells. The investigators were also surprised to find that most of the persistent HIV was found in active rather than resting CD4 cells.

After sending a representative to Tunis to pay a visit to seven political opposition and civil society members who began an indefinite hunger strike on 18 October, Reporters Without Borders urged the Tunisian government to listen to their demands. "The Tunisian authorities must heed the legitimate demands of these hunger strikers," the press freedom organisation said. "They are demanding just one thing, more freedom. President Ben Ali must stop turning his back and begin listening to them."