The New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) embodies a united vision of a continent on the move, at a time of unprecedented international interest in proposals to move the world's least developed region forward.

When Marita Barassa's husband died in 1990, she knew he had died of an AIDS-related illness. She also knew she was HIV-positive herself. So when his family announced that a cousin would inherit her as his wife, she realised she had to make a choice.

Child Survival Program Manager wanted for 5-year extension of Health Alliance International's child survival program in two provinces in central Mozambique. The program interventions respond to the problems of HIV/AIDS, malaria, and maternal care.

Ethiopian youth, with the sponsorship of UNICEF, on Thursday launched the nation's first HIV/AIDS forum for teenagers.

The Zimbabwe government has banned Oxfam and Save the Children from distributing urgently needed food aid, United Nations officials confirmed this week. Despite reports that people are dying of starvation, President Robert Mugabe's government has refused to allow the two charities to deliver food supplied by the UN World Food Programme (WFP).

Deputy-president Jacob Zuma has met with the Treatment Action Campaign leadership, the second positive indication in less than a week that Government was grappling with providing anti-retrovirals in the public sector. In a significant move, Zuma and director-general for health Dr Ayanda Ntsaluba met with the TAC representatives led by national chairperson Zackie Achmat and national secretary Mark Heywood at Tuynhuys last Tuesday night.

Hungry Zambian villagers have looted bags of rejected genetically modified (GM) relief maize from a storage shed, an international NGO confirmed on Wednesday.

A meeting of organisations working on HIV/AIDS, human rights, law and policy in Africa will take place on 25 and 26 October 2002 in Windhoek, Namibia. This meeting will be hosted by the AIDS Law Unit of the Legal Assistance Centre of Namibia, in partnership with the AIDS Law Project of South Africa. The purpose of this meeting is to revisit the importance of a human rights based response to HIV/AIDS; to share the experiences of organisations working on these issues in Africa and to explore the establishment of a network of organisations working on HIV/AIDS and human rights in Africa with a view to providing an ongoing forum for the sharing of ideas, experience, materials and expertise on human rights, law and policy in the context of HIV/AIDS.

Progress in reducing world hunger has virtually come to a halt, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said in its annual report "The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2002". As a result of hunger, millions of people, including 6 million children under the age of five, die each year. The report was released on the occasion of World Food Day, 16 October.

Medical technicians have identified the presence of hepatitis E in the northern suburbs of Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic (CAR), after three months of uncertainty.

The Central African Republic needs 100,000 mosquito nets to undertake a major effort soon to fight malaria in the capital. "With 100,000 mosquito nets, we hope to protect 60 percent of the population of Bangui," Dr Etienne Dolido, head of the Anti-Endemic Disease Programme in the Health Ministry, told IRIN on Wednesday.

The International NGO World Vision and two UN agencies have begun evaluating a joint food-aid delivery to 44,000 war displaced now living in Ankoro, in the territory of Manono, in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported last Friday.

Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano has called on health workers to fight against corruption in the country's hospitals, reports Wednesday's issue of the Beira paper "Diario de Mocambique".

GlaxoSmithKline officials said Thursday that police in Europe are broadening their investigation into how discounted AIDS drugs earmarked for African nations were diverted back to Europe to be sold at higher prices.

Provide technical assistance, managing/administering contractors and grantees, monitoring and evaluation, program communication, and donor coordination. Advanced degree with a specialization in public health, expertise in RH/FP, and child survival required.

There is little evidence to show that HIV/AIDS education in schools has achieved significant behaviour change, despite a good level of knowledge among students. A lack of time, resources and training mean that curriculum based education as well as counselling and peer education are inadequate, says a report by the African Symposium on the impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic on the education sector in Botswana, Malawi and Uganda.

Recent news reports indicate some positive signs in the fight against the AIDS pandemic - the Global Fund expects to release its first grant funds by the end of the year; the South African government has issued a Cabinet statement affirming its intention to use anti-retrovirals in the public health sector; and Coca-Cola has announcing a limited expansion of its treatment programs for workers. But the overall picture is that the funds being provided are a trickle compared to what is needed, says Africa Action, who have compiled a variety of documents and links on the latest in the fight against AIDS.

An expanding body of evidence challenges the conventional hypothesis that sexual transmission is responsible for more than 90% of adult HIV infections in Africa. Differences in epidemic trajectories across Africa do not correspond to differences in sexual behavior. Studies among African couples find low rates of heterosexual transmission, as in developed countries.

The USAID HIV/AIDS E-Newsletter provides monthly updates on USAID and partner activities to prevent and mitigate HIV/AIDS worldwide.

South African Deputy President Jacob Zuma announced last week that the government has undertaken steps to distribute nevirapine universally to state hospitals in an attempt to reduce the nation's mother-to-child HIV transmission rate, Reuters reports.