The Aids Law Project and Treatment Action Campaign are concerned that the US/Southern African Customs Union Free Trade Agreement negotiations have the potential to result in binding commitments on SACU member states that undermine access to health care services, the rights of people living with HIV/AIDS and the ability of such states to comply with their domestic, regional and international human rights obligations. In our view, such an agreement would not only unlawfully conflict with certain national constitutions and human rights instruments, but would also serve to advance the interests of the US at the expense of the health and welfare of the people of Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa and Swaziland.

The Washington Post reported on 19 February 2004 that Uganda has seen a considerable decline in the taboos surrounding HIV/AIDS. Consequently over the last ten years, Uganda's HIV prevalence rate has dropped from 30 per cent to five per cent. According to the Washington Post the openness with which people discuss the disease is due in part to the fact that Uganda was one of the first countries in Africa to confront HIV/AIDS.

On the 10th of February, the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) and the AIDS Law project held a joint seminar on transformation of the South African Health System, including both the public and private sectors. This is part of preparations for a conference to be held in May with the aim of developing detailed policy positions for TAC's Campaign for a People's Health Service. Presentations made at the workshop can be found on the TAC website.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Tuesday issued guidelines for ensuring the safety and efficacy of the multibillion-dollar herbal medicines market amid reports that some products are tainted with toxic substances. The guidelines, intended for national regulatory bodies, lay out the best techniques for growing and harvesting medicinal plants used for various ailments or weight loss, as well as the clear labelling of the contents of any product.

Improvements in secondary and tertiary hospital capacity should not come at the expense of basic care for the poor, the Health Systems Trust (HST) says. The Durban based NGO was responding to Minister of Health Manto Tshabalala-Msimang's speech, in which she said R2 billion would be spent on upgrading and revitalising hospital facilities next year, including the building of 18 new facilities. The minister also said inequities in the funding allocated to primary healthcare in different provinces would have to be addressed, with some provinces allocating R50 per person each year, and others R300. But Antoinette Ntuli, HST information dissemination and equity director, urged her to ensure resources and initiatives are "fast-tracked in poor, rural areas".

Aggressive attempts to control a recent outbreak of cholera in Mozambique have paid off, and aid officials are reporting a significant drop in the number of cases. The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Tuesday confirmed the decrease in the number of admissions to the Mavalane Cholera Treatment Centre (MCTC), the main cholera facility in the capital, Maputo.

Health workers in Burkina Faso have called for a more open discussion of issues related to sexuality and abortion. This follows the release of a report by the Demographic Research and Study Unit, which found that up to 8,000 illegal abortions take place each year in the country's capital, Ouagadougou. "We need to go out into the communities and talk about abortions to increase awareness," says Jean Lankoande, a gynaecologist at the Yalgado Ouedraogo Hospital in Ouagadougou. "Each time there's an induced abortion, it's a family planning failure," he adds.

Aid agencies are on red alert for a possible food crisis in Malawi as drought threatens to decimate crops, but will not call for an emergency before assessing this year’s harvest. “Everyone is monitoring the country closely to be able to respond to anything that could happen,” Jacob Asens, health and nutrition advisor at Action Against Hunger UK (AAH-UK), told AlertNet.

The Equinet Newsletter is the newsletter of the Network for Equity in Health in Southern Africa and delivers a comprehensive round-up of equity and health issues. You will receive two issues from this mailing list per month. One will contain a briefing of Equinet's activities and the other links to information about equity and health issues in the content categories of Equity in Health;
Values, Policies and Rights; Health equity in economic and trade policies; Poverty and health; Equitable health services; Human Resources; Public-Private Mix; Resource allocation and health financing; Equity and HIV/AIDS; Governance and participation in health and Monitoring equity and research policy. There are also sections that include the latest jobs, conferences and other useful resources related to equity in health. Read the newsletter online by clicking on the URL provided.

JSI Research and Training Institute, Inc (JSI R&T), a Boston-based public health management firm dedicated to providing high quality technical and managerial assistance to public health programs throughout the United States and the developing world, is currently recruiting for a potential Chief of Party for an HIV/AIDS Program in Nigeria. JSI is developing a proposal to submit to USAID to support its HIV/AIDS prevention, care and support initiatives, based in Abuja, Nigeria.

Owen Mugurungi, program coordinator for the Zimbabwean Ministry of Health and Child Welfare Tuberculosis and AIDS Program, last Thursday announced that the government next month will begin providing antiretroviral drugs to some of its HIV-positive citizens as part of the country's implementation of the World Health Organisation's 3 by 5 Initiative, Xinhua News Agency reports. The $5.5 billion WHO plan aims to treat three million people throughout the world with antiretroviral drugs by 2005.

With the support of the U.N. Population Fund, Ugandan first lady Janet Museveni initiated a campaign on Friday to eliminate fistula, a pregnancy-related disability. According to the UNFPA, fistula is caused by obstructed and prolonged labour and exacerbated by improper medical care. The problem is especially acute in Uganda, where only 38 percent of births occur with the assistance of a capable birth attendant and about 60 percent of babies are delivered at home, the UNFPA said.

Kenyan Health Minister Charity Ngilu last Thursday said that by 2005 the government would provide free antiretroviral drugs to 140,000 HIV-positive individuals, the East African Standard reports. She also said that the government has adopted the World Health Organisation's 3 by 5 Initiative to combat HIV/AIDS.

The relationship between the South African government and the Clinton Foundation, which helped procure low cost antiretroviral drugs for the country's long-awaited AIDS treatment programme, appears to have broken down. Health Minister Dr Manto Tshabalala-Msimang appears to have turned her back on the Clinton Foundation, which has been assisting her department to develop the country's antiretroviral (ARV) drug treatment programme.

Miss Melany Bokuma, Lawra District Director of Health Services has appealed to Ghanaians to do away with cultural practices that could spread HIV/AIDS. Speaking at the launch of the Lawra district HIV/AIDS activities, at Lawra, organized by the District AIDS committee, Miss Bokuma said the stoppage of such practices would go a long way in enhancing the health status of families and communities. She mentioned some of the practices as inheritance of widows of deceased relatives, female circumcision and polygamy.

Members of Wits' Schools of Business, Economics, Law, Public Health and Social Sciences are organising an interdisciplinary HIV/AIDS in the Workplace Research Symposium. The Symposium aims to provide an opportunity for researchers from all academic disciplines and practitioners conducting 'action research' in work environments to present and discuss their work on HIV/AIDS in the workplace. Locating the Symposium within a university environment provides a unique opportunity to consider the critical issue of HIV/AIDS in the workplace with rigour and freedom of expression.

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has issued a call for proposals for the Fourth Round of financing. The proposals should support the scale up of effective existing programs and innovative projects that meet the Global Fund’s criteria and that have a clear demonstration of how the resources sought from the Global Fund will achieve additional results in partnership with existing programs. Proposals for funding must be made through Country Coordinating Mechanisms (CCM).

Grace is a happy woman. She is about as poor as you can be, earning just £6 a month selling shoes from a tiny market stall. But in the past year she has been spared the prospect of a premature and painful death. Grace Matnanga is HIV positive, as are one in three of those around her in the streets of Malawi's capital city. But unlike them, and thanks to an act of human kindness, she is on antiretroviral drugs.

A HIV Survey amongst pregnant women attending clinics indicates the AIDS prevalence rate among the girls aged between 15 and 19 is now estimated at 4.8 per cent and the majority live in urban centres. Statistics from the third National Population and Housing census (2002) indicate that 67 per cent of the total population of 8.4 million in Rwanda is younger than 25 years. Only half of youth between 15 and 24 have both parents living; among the other half one in ten is head of a household.

Two new laws, one currently going through the legislative pipeline - the Child Protection Act - and another enacted last year - the Sexual Offences Act - are key to addressing the confluence of social problems that are contributing to Lesotho's humanitarian crisis. It is hoped that the Sexual Offences Act will have an impact on the spiralling HIV rates.