A US bill scheduled for approval contains a controversial amendment that will impose further sanctions on countries that have ratified the International Criminal Court (ICC) treaty. The amendment would prohibit assistance for countries that have refused to sign a "bilateral immunity agreement" to shield US citizens and certain foreign nationals from transfer to the ICC for investigation or prosecution for atrocities or genocide. The funds affected include support for anti-terrorism activities, peace building, democratization and counter-drug initiatives.

HIV/AIDS infection among teachers in West African countries results in higher mortality rates, an increase in early retirements and lower productivity. These factors exacerbate problems of access, equity, efficiency and management, according to a paper from the HIV/AIDS Impact on Education Clearinghouse. This paper examines the literature on how HIV/AIDS has impacted teachers and other education personnel in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cote d`Ivoire, Ghana, Mali, Nigeria and Senegal. It focuses on the areas of: prevalence; impact on professional lives of teachers; impact of teacher infection on schools; impact of teacher infection on students; infection of administrative personnel; responses from teachers; and responses from management.

Giving Africa's HIV-positive children a cheap antibiotic could nearly halve the death rate, research shows. The Medical Research Council trial in Zambia was stopped early when it became obvious how effective daily co-trimoxazole treatment was. The World Health Organization and Unicef are altering their drug advice in line with the Lancet study.

In its work supporting NGOs in developing countries, Together Against AIDS/AIDS-ACTION has witnessed the mobilization of community-based organizations around providing care, support and access to treatment for people living with HIV/AIDS. Yet, their contribution to the struggle against the pandemic remains virtually unknown. Together Against AIDS conducted a mapping survey throughout Africa from January to April 2004 that underscores what community groups - specifically PLWHAs groups - are doing in the realm of access to treatment, with respect to the World Health Organization's stated goal of placing 3 million people on ARV therapy between now and 2005.

Food and water are essential elements that all human beings must have access to in order to live. Access to "the minimum essential food which is sufficient, nutritionally adequate and safe" as well as "sufficient, safe, acceptable, physically accessible and affordable water" are considered human rights. Hunger, malnutrition and starvation are global problems. Governments are responsible for providing access to adequate food to eliminate hunger, malnutrition and starvation. The right to food is directly addressed in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. See this feature on the web page of Human Rights Education Associates for more information.

IRIN has launched a new HIV/AIDS news service in French as a complement to its PlusNews English language service. Both services provide news and valuable resources for those working in or concerned with sub-Saharan Africa.

Still catching their breath after the introduction of tough dispensing rules, community pharmacies in small towns have been dealt a further blow as the health department issues thousands of dispensing licences to health practitioners. Taki Kyriacos is packing it in. After 26 years as the only pharmacist in the small Eastern Cape farming community of Stutterheim, Kyriacos says he can no longer make a living. He primarily blames Government moves to hand out dispensing licences to any doctor or health practitioner who applies for one for the situation that now challenges his very existence.

The New York Times on Tuesday examined how health care paraprofessionals, or individuals trained to assist physicians, are performing medical duties - such as emergency obstetrical and HIV/AIDS care - in some African countries to help alleviate the "brain drain" resulting from doctors moving to "rich Western nations and more prosperous African countries." Ethiopia, Mozambique and Malawi, all of which have "extreme doctor shortages," are "virtually doubling" the number of paraprofessionals who are going through training, according to the Times.

How many children will be eligible for primary school in the next 10 years? How will HIV/AIDS affect these numbers and the ability of children to attend school? Researchers from the UK University of Liverpool investigate the potential impact of the epidemic on the demand for primary education in Uganda and Tanzania. The impact of HIV/AIDS on enrolment demand in these countries is overshadowed by the effects of increasing poverty, inequality and social disruption. These results do not seem to justify a specific policy focus on children, especially orphans, from HIV/AIDS-affected households. General poverty-alleviating measures in education – like fee reduction or elimination, or a drive to achieve universal primary education – will have a positive effect on all vulnerable groups, including those affected by HIV/AIDS.

This report from Population Action International examines progress made towards achieving the goal of reproductive health and rights for all by 2015, agreed at the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD). Key achievements include a significant increase in contraceptive use, and higher secondary school enrolment rates among girls. However, significant challenges remain, notably: high unmet need for effective contraception and protection from HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs); continuing high levels of maternal mortality; high rates of unsafe abortion; and an acute and growing resource shortfall, with many clinics experiencing stockouts (zero supplies) of contraceptives, safe motherhood kits and other reproductive health essentials.

A lack of antiretroviral drugs is the "biggest" problem facing HIV/AIDS treatment programs in Africa, according to Robert Colebunders, a Belgian researcher at Uganda's Infectious Disease Institute at Mulago Hospital in Kampala, the Chicago Tribune reports. According to the United Nations, there are about 28 million HIV-positive people in Africa but only 4% of people who need antiretrovirals are receiving them.

By 2010, Sub-Saharan Africa’s total labour force is expected to have shrunk by 9 per cent due to HIV/AIDS, a meeting in Ghana heard last week. Labour losses may top 20 per cent in the worst affected countries. By 2015 the losses could reach up to 12 per cent overall, reducing the labour supply by as much 30-40 per cent in the highest prevalence countries, according to a press release from the Economic Commission for Africa.

Shame was replaced by solidarity at the launch of an umbrella body of organisations of Swazis living with HIV/AIDS this week. The Swaziland National Network of People Living with HIV and AIDS (SWANNEPHA), comprising 46 organisations with memberships ranging from a handful to over 1,400, aims to reduce stigma and discrimination and "build a positive image of people living with HIV and AIDS".

A three-day nationwide anti-polio immunisation campaign began on Sunday in the Central African Republic (CAR), targeting children aged up to five years. The director of preventive medicine in the Ministry of Public Health and Population, Dr Abel Namssenmo, told IRIN on Sunday the campaign follows a polio outbreak in October from the western province of Mambere Kadei, where 27 cases were reported.

Universal primary education (UPE) could save at least 7 million young people from contracting HIV over a decade. However, without dramatic increases in aid to education, Africa will not be able to get every child into school for another 150 years. This report from the Global Campaign for Education sets out why UPE is crucial to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS, and outlines what both rich and poor countries need to do now to enable millions of children to learn to survive.

The HIV/AIDS pandemic presents a stark example of the nexus between human rights and health. This first became evident when government responses to HIV/AIDS subjected people living with the disease to violations of their rights to liberty, privacy, freedom of association, nondiscrimination, and equality before the law. As the pandemic has progressed, it has become apparent that human rights law is relevant not only to the treatment of infected individuals but also to wider policies that influence vulnerability to HIV/AIDS, as populations that are discriminated against, marginalized, and stigmatized are at a greater risk of contracting the disease.

New technologies for malaria prevention and treatment, combined with an increase in available funding, are fuelling optimism in the fight against malaria. Global leaders gathered in Arusha agreed that conditions were right for a massive scale-up in the battle against the disease, which claims more than a million lives each year and hampers development, especially in Africa.

Every child must be reached during the upcoming National Immunization Day (NID) in Nigeria which kicks off on 20 November. As of November 12 2004, WHO has confirmed that 682 Nigerian children under the age of five years old have been paralyzed by polio this year, which accounts for 74% of the global polio case count.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) deplored the worldwide shortage of midwives, particularly in poorer countries, saying the dearth was responsible for the death of tens of thousands of mothers and infants worldwide. While more than 90 percent of birthing mothers have medical assistance in developed nations, only 37.5 percent of mothers in Asia and 33.6 percent in east Africa benefit from medical assistance during childbirth.

Sexual behaviour and the ability to change that behaviour are likely to be linked to education level. But does schooling increase or decrease the risk of HIV infection? Research by the Study Group on Heterogeneity of HIV Epidemics in African Cities looks at the link between education and behaviour in Cotonou (Benin), Yaoundé (Cameroon), Kisumu (Kenya) and Ndola (Zambia).