Former South African President Nelson Mandela last Friday reiterated his belief that all HIV-positive South Africans should have access to antiretroviral drugs through the public health system.

A programme to prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission that will involve free provision of the anti-retroviral drug Nevirapine to the 150,000 infected pregnant mothers and their infants in provincial and district hospitals has been launched.

Amnesty International has voiced concern over the arrest of Fletcher Dulini-Ncube in Zimbabwe over the alleged abduction and murder of two ruling Zanu-PF members. Amnesty is worried about Dulini-Ncube’s state of health and has called on concerned parties to write to the Zimbabwean authorities.

An all-Africa meeting of civil society groups and non-governmental organisations working in the area of HIV/AIDS care and treatment, will take place from August 22-24 in Cape Town, South Africa. The meeting is jointly organised by Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), Medecins Sans Frontieres/South Africa, Catholic AIDS Action Namibia, Kara Trust Zambia and a host of other organisations.

A youth organisation has developed an innovative approach to education and informing people on HIV/AIDS by designing a board and card game series. Designed by Youth Now!, all the games in the series encourage high levels of message retention by teaching youths even during leisure hours. They also provide long hours of game play.

Swaziland, where 34 percent of adults are HIV-positive, now has the second-highest HIV infection rate in the world after Botswana.

Health officials in Madagascar said last Thursday a flu outbreak that had claimed the lives of hundreds of people, was now under control.

Parliament has reversed an amendment to the Industrial Property Act curbing imports of generic HIV/AIDS drugs, the Kenya Coalition for Access to Essential Medicines (KCAEM) announced last Thursday.

It is the duty of parents to educate their children about HIV/AIDS and the use of condoms. Boyce Mgcina, a traditional healer from Izifo Zonke Traditional Healers and an HIV/AIDS counselor at Zola Clinic in Soweto, says in most cases fathers become not just heads of the house but also role models to their children - girls and boys irrespective. Mgcina says traditional healers should talk often about HIV/AIDS during imbizos.

The WSSD must declare that HIV/AIDS is not only a threat to sustainable development, but a global catastrophe and a global responsibility. The fight against the epidemic must continue and must be intensified, while maximum political will and grassroots participation must be mobilized, argues this position paper on the pandemic prepared for the WSSD.

One is left with the feeling that, in searching for the answer to Africa’s problems (which NEPAD clearly is not), maybe the most damning thing we may find ourselves guilty of is the idea that development is value-free. Certainly mild-mannered technocrats benignly wielding Powerpoint slides will not provide the kinds of answers Africa should be looking for, nor smartly besuited statesmen with impressive utterances of 'rebirth' for the continent.

The Nigeria Chapter of Teachers Without Borders is commencing the training of teachers, volunteers, religious and youth leaders to serve as HIV/AIDS education teachers.It will commence in Port Harcourt before the end of August.

Youth and Students from different parts of the world will congregate in Nairobi between 9th and 13th June 2003 at the II International Youth and Students Conference on HIVAIDS (IYSCA). The Conference will bring together youth and student-based CBOs, researchers, NGOs and Associations, Donors, Governments, Academic institutions and the corporate sector.

Access to essential medicines for developing countries is a topical issue. But what do we know about the quality of drugs currently available? Use of poor-quality medicines can result in treatment failure, drug resistance or toxic side-effects. How can consumers be sure that they can trust the drugs they buy?

Research suggests that proper treatment of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) could reduce HIV incidence by as much as 40 percent. What is the best way to tackle STIs in countries with limited resources? Pharmacists are the most common source of STI treatment in Ghana. Should the government's HIV prevention strategy include training for pharmacists in STI management?

A new publication from the WHO states that poorly designed and implemented health programmes and policies can violate human rights. The booklet is the result of two years of engagement with a range of stakeholders and is intended for use by those concerned in developing a human rights approach to public health work.

In Khayelitsha, South Africa, MSF is running an anti-retroviral therapy (ART) treatment programme where the results have been exceptional. Based on the results from the first six months of treatment to 177 patients in the programme, over 85 percent of the patients have responded with high rates of improvement.

Food for the Hungry International (FHI), a non-profit relief and development organisation of Christian conviction is seeking a Programmes Director to provide overall management and coordination for FHI Title II food security, small scale relief, and child development programmes in northern Kenya.

The number of HIV/Aids orphans in the country has reached the 1.1 million mark, Public Health Minister, Prof. Sam Ongeri, has said. This makes Kenya the third worst hit country in the world, he added.

The HIV epidemic is expected to reduce life expectancy by 10 and 17 years in Addis Ababa in 2000 and 2024, respectively. The rate of natural increase is projected at a negative rate after 2009. Population growth is expected to continue, however, due to in-migration.