SciDev.Net and UNESCO are pleased to announce a five-day training workshop on the use of information and communications technologies — in particular the Internet — to improve reporting on the science of HIV/AIDS, to take place in Uganda in April 2003. The workshop is aimed at those who are (or would like to be) professionally engaged in communicating HIV/AIDS information to the public through print, radio or electronic means. It will have 15 places, and is restricted to women participants. All travel and accommodation costs will be covered.

Two years into the five-year African Comprehensive HIV/AIDS Partnership, Botswana is learning what big money, free drugs and strong leadership can and cannot do to halt the epidemic. "We're making astounding progress, and it's astoundingly inadequate," said Ernest Darkoh, a physician and former management consultant for McKinsey & Co. who runs Botswana's antiretroviral program.

Abt Associates Health Policy Training Institute (AAHPTI) is pleased to announce its Global Core Course, "Building Skills for Implementing Health Reform and Strengthening Health Systems," to be held in Cape Town, South Africa, April 28-May 10, 2003. The course, designed for middle and upper level technical, management and policy staff, develops practical skills in resolving specific problems and issues that policymakers and managers confront when they reach the implementation phase of health reforms.

Zambia will need to spend at least $270 million over the next three years to fight the spread of HIV, Finance Minister Emmanuel Kasonde announced as part of the nation's three-year development plan, Reuters reports.

Zackie Achmat is not hungry, but tucks into the chocolate cake just the same. Achmat is HIV positive, yet refuses to take the antiretroviral drugs that could prolong his life. But he does boost his immune system with protein -- with chocolate cake. Achmat is not a shanty dweller unable to afford the drugs; he is not a so-called "Aids dissident" who believes the drugs are poison; he is not mad, and he is not suicidal. Zackie Achmat, according to Nelson Mandela, is a national hero: an ordinary man whose extraordinary resolve could help save thousands of African lives, at the cost of his own.

The rampant corruption in government departments will scare away donors if not tackled, French ambassador Jean Bernard Thiant has said. He queried the way the Government had handled the US$100m grant from the World Health Organisation to the health ministry. He said the fund, meant for the fight against malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/Aids, had been diverted to other sectors.

What is the impact of HIV/Aids on agriculture and the private sector? The key finding in this report is that HIV/Aids has not affected the profitability and productivity of Swazi businesses, as the costs have been passed onto the households and the public sector.

The crop fields are lush green in Bikita. One thousand hungry people in this remote southern area of Zimbabwe queue quietly under the midday sun for food aid. They're just a fraction of the eight million starving in this southern African country. Each person standing in this feeding centre queue in Bikita, some 240km south-east of Harare, has come to collect aid for at least two other people.

The Health Manager (HM) is responsible for overseeing all IRC health interventions in Kabare Health Zone. The Health Manger is responsible for planning, developing and implementing emergency health interventions (in collaboration with the Health Coordinator) as needed, while planning longer-term public health programs.

This is an exciting opportunity to play a significant role SC UK's Programme in Angola. SC UK has worked closely with the MOH at provincial and municipal level in health since 1993. This involvement was interrupted at the beginning of 2001 and SC UK is looking to re-engage in both urban and rural settings in Huambo province, with plans to move from an emergency health programme towards a more development based programme over the next two years.

There have been significant changes in sexual behaviour in South Africa over the past four years, a new study has found. According to the study, condom use among sexually active youth was high, with 57 percent of males and 46 percent of females having used a condom the last time they had sexual intercourse.

With some 780 million people suffering from chronic hunger worldwide, and with 40 million people at risk of starvation on the African continent alone, it is ironic that the people with the power and financial resources to do something about it are feasting 21 times a week. They are themselves dying, succumbing to the diseases that once afflicted only overindulgent kings and queens.

The Ethiopian Prime Minister, Meles Zenawi, has made an urgent appeal for 1.4 million metric tons of food aid, as his country faces a famine potentially as severe as the 1984 crisis.

It was mid-April when it first became evident that the South African government had had a change of heart regarding the use of anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs for the treatment of HIV/Aids in the public health sector. The world's most powerful weapon against HIV/AIDS - anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs - dominated public debate about the disease in South Africa this year. Follow the link provided for a review of the AIDS debate in South Africa over the last year, provided by Health-E News Service.

Lesotho’s Prime Minister, Pakalitha Mosisili says a multi-sectoral effort is needed and should be stepped up more than ever to fight the HIV/Aids pandemic. Lesotho’s HIV/Aids infection rate stands at 31% and is regarded as one of the highest in the southern African region.

Promoting reproductive health and rights is “indispensable” for economic growth and poverty reduction, according to a new report from the United Nations Population Fund.

The HIV/Aids NGO/CBO Support Toolkit is a website and CD-Rom with over 500 downloadable resources and supporting information. The toolkit includes practical information, tools and example documents to help those working to establish or improve NGO/CBO support programmes.

Concern is mounting over urban food security in Mozambique, with retail maize prices continuing to be much higher than normal, says the latest Famine Early Warning Systems Network for the country.

Former president Nelson Mandela officially launched a R80m initiative to provide free anti-retroviral treatment to 9 000 patients in the public sector at Johannesburg Botanical Gardens this week. The initiative, called Tshepang (which means to have hope), is a joint initiative between the South African Medical Association (Sama) and the Nelson Mandela Foundation.

Sleeping sickness affects 100,000 people in Angola, the Director of the country's Institute for the Eradication of Trypanosomiasis, Teofilo Josenando has revealed.