A famine early warning agency has warned that southern Mozambique faces yet another poor harvest this year, which was likely to lead to a "dramatic increase" in food insecurity. In a report based on field assessments and analysis of satellite imagery, the Famine Early Warning Systems Network said that insufficient and erratic rains over the last three months has resulted in extremely poor harvest prospects throughout southern Mozambique, and in parts of the central region.

Every Monday morning, patients infected with the AIDS virus come to the red-brick clinic in this impoverished community of dilapidated shacks. In the waiting room, babies wail, nurses hustle and some young women fidget on wooden benches as their earrings dangle and their chipped pink toenails gleam. The clinic looks like one of the hundreds of medical centers overwhelmed by South Africa's AIDS epidemic. Yet there is little talk of depression or dying here.

Thirty-eight people in the Republic of Congo have died in a suspected outbreak of the deadly ebola virus, the country's health ministry said late on Tuesday.

Trials of a potential Aids vaccine for Africa have begun with human volunteers in Uganda, one of the worst hit countries on the continent. The vaccine is specifically designed to combat the A strain of the HIV virus, which is the type prevalent in east Africa.

In association with the Government of the Republic of Senegal and ENDA TM, we shall host our 4th International Conference & Exhibition on Traditional Medicine under the theme: "Traditional Healing & HIV/AIDS" at Hotel Meridien President, Dakar, Senegal, West Africa.

In an era of unprecedented global wealth, millions of children across the world are facing a health crisis. Although the international community has set challenging targets for reducing child mortality and childhood diseases, in many of the world's countries the situation is getting worse not better. This report examines the global policy context behind the child health crisis. In particular, it looks at the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) and the World Trade Organisation's drive to increase international trade in services such as water and health care.

On February 14, the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) will embark on a march for access to HIV/AIDS treatment. TAC says if government fails to sign a national treatment and prevention plan that includes the use of anti-retroviral therapy, then they will be forced to embark on a national and international campaign of civil disobedience against the South African government. The link provided below contains a variety of background information and documents distributed by Africa Action dealing with issues relating to treatment access.

Mpumalanga's controversial health minister, Sibongile Manana, has tried once again to evict the Greater Nelspruit Rape Intervention Project from two of the province's hospitals. Manana and Grip - which provides free counselling, health care and anti-Aids drugs to rape victims in the province - have been at loggerheads since October 2000, when she lambasted Grip for providing the drugs to rape survivors.

A measles epidemic is killing children in a camp where families sought sanctuary from the drought, an international aid organisation said on Monday. UK-based Christian Aid said that the crisis in the makeshift camp in Haraghe, in the eastern Oromiya region, is getting worse as more people arrive in search of food and promises of resettlement on fertile land.

People living with HIV/AIDS (PWAs) in rural Western Kenya are learning to improve the quality of their lives through better food production. The Kenya AIDS Intervention Prevention Project Group (KAIPPG) is a local NGO that has been running HIV/AIDS programmes in rural communities in the small town of Mumias, 50 km from the Uganda border.

Millions of people across Africa are to be vaccinated against a new killer strain of meningitis. The World Health Organisation has shipped an initial batch of 100,000 vaccines to Burkina Faso. It follows fears of a possible epidemic across what health chiefs describe as Africa's meningitis belt, which stretches from Senegal to Ethiopia.

An agreement between the government of Lesotho and the Germany-based pharmaceutical company Boringer-Ingelheim has led to the launch of the AIDS drug nevirapine to combat HIV/AIDS in the country.

When summer rains returned to Southern Africa in 2003, following a year of drought, malaria experts predicted incidences of malaria would surge. Regional tourism boards have cautioned visitors to take preventive medicines before visiting countries in the region, and mosquito eradication measures have been stepped up. Thus far, a new malaria epidemic has been avoided, with no reports as of January of extensive illness. But the malaria season is just beginning, and will extend through April.

The number of cholera cases reported in the northern Mozambican province of Nampula has now reached 65, since the first case was diagnosed about two weeks ago, reports Wednesday's issue of the Maputo daily "Noticias".

An outbreak of yellow fever in Guinea had killed 24 people by 23 January out of 43 cases in southern Guinea's Macenta and Kerouane prefectures, the World Health Organisation (WHO) reported on Monday.

What kind of agriculture do we need to feed the world? World leaders have committed themselves to halving hunger by the year 2015 as a first step towards food for all. But is this an achievable target? John Madeley's new book shows we already have the experience on which to base a new approach to agricultural production and feeding the world's whole population. Millions need better access to the land from which the market forced them, and a more equitable income distribution so that the poor can afford the available food. This is part of the solution. But the other part is an innovative, multi-faceted move away from a monoculture production system dependent on ever more tractors and fossil fuels, dangerous chemicals, and hybrid seeds monopolized by a handful of giant corporations.

Senior Muslim figures who recently underwent voluntary HIV tests were praised this week by health officials for "leading by example, rather than just talking about what people should do". The leaders, who included 14 sheikhs, imams and religious teachers from around Tanzania, chose to undergo the tests following a meeting earlier this month, during which Muslims discussed their role in the prevention of the spread of HIV/AIDS in Tanzania.

Zambia will offer thousands of hectares of free farmland in a bid to end persistent food shortages and encourage agricultural exports, finance ministry officials said this week.

The Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria has given Namibia 113 US million dollars over five years in what could prove to be a turning point in the country's campaign to fight the three diseases, analysts say.

Following failure of the short and long rains, the Horn of Africa is currently faced with a severe and extensive drought with adverse effects on the survival of people and livestock across the countries. Immediate issues are the limited availability and accessibility of food, water for both humans and livestock, human and livestock health and nutrition, and household purchasing capacity.