A man in Sub-Saharan Africa can on average, access only three condoms annually, according to the United Nations Population Fund.

Although some progress was reported at the international AIDS conference held last month, one country's efforts to secure help in tackling its AIDS epidemic indicates the gulf between needs and the resources available to meet them. After repeated interactions with donor organizations and the newly established Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, Malawi, a country in which 16 percent of the adult population is infected with HIV, was forced to whittle down an ambitious plan to one that will barely make a dent in its problems.

The effect of HIV-1 on other infectious diseases in Africa is an increasing public health concern. This review describes the role that malaria, sexually transmitted diseases, and tuberculosis have had in the HIV-1 epidemic.

Nigeria has approved wide-ranging recommendations to secure an uninterrupted supply of contraceptive commodities as countries all over the world face a dearth of supply and donor support, increasing demand, and the growing incidence of HIV/AIDS.

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has welcomed the expression of support from the more than 50 African countries in the United Nations, which jointly wrote the United States Administration, urging it to restore its contributions to the Fund. The Administration has withheld $34 million appropriated for UNFPA by Congress.

INASP-Health is a cooperative network for organizations and individuals working to improve access to reliable, relevant information for healthcare workers in developing and transitional countries. Its mission is to strengthen and support the activities of organizations worldwide towards the common goal of providing universal access to reliable information for health professionals in resource-poor countries.

HIV-positive people who know they have the virus and commit sexual offenses would be subject to the death penalty under a bill presented on Wednesday to the Lesotho Parliament by Refiloe Masemene, minister of justice, law and constitutional affairs in the Southern African nation.

Only about 30,000 Africans are estimated to be receiving anti-retroviral treatment, while the death toll is over 2 million a year. Post-Barcelona conference, officials in many countries are still placing practical stumbling blocks in the way of the massive expansion in treatment access that is urgently needed.

A call has gone out for African countries to skip their debt obligations under the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) debt repayment initiative and reinvest the money into health systems buckling under the strain of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Advocates of the plan argue for an “overwhelming practical and conceptual case” for re-cycling the remaining post-HIPC debts – those debts of HIPC countries after the completion of the HIPC process. This money would then be used in emergency grant relief for AIDS.

The Matabeleland region is the area worst hit by drought, with 978,000 people affected by the food crisis, according to the World Food Programme.

Issues found to impede access to treatment for over 90 percent of the population living with HIV/AIDS include: drug price; patents; limited supply; import duties; taxes; distribution; and lack of accurate information, research on how a selected number of countries have responded to guidelines on HIV/AIDS and human rights shows.

The South African drug safety board is considering reversing a decision that would have allowed the AIDS drug nevirapine to be used to prevent the transmission of HIV from mothers to newborn babies. The prospect of a reversal is stirring outrage among advocates for AIDS patients.

At least 20 people have died from cholera in Kebbi State, northern Nigeria, state radio said on Tuesday.

At first sight, the initial decision by the leaders of Zimbabwe and Zambia to reject US offers of maize to feed their growing ranks of starving people appears to invite ridicule. On closer inspection, however, the decision by Zimbabwe and Zambia begins to lose some of its apparent naivety.

Rwanda is among eight countries worldwide to benefit from a US $2-million grant from the US Agency for International Development (USAID) to help people living with HIV/AIDS. Of this amount, Rwanda would get $397,846 through the international NGO CARE. The project is called REACH, or Rapid and Effective Action Combating HIV/AIDS.

As evidence grows that Robert Mugabe's regime in Zimbabwe is using food aid as a political weapon, we are writing to ask what steps your organisation is taking, and about any additional measures you propose to take, to prevent this. Could you let us know who is actually distributing the food for which you seek funding? What experience has your organisation had of militants of the ruling Zanu PF party blocking distribution in areas perceived as loyal to the opposition Movement for Democratic Change? What has your organisation done, or what does it propose to do, when your food supplies are blocked or seized by Zanu PF militants?

Widespread use of antiretroviral drug combinations together with a decrease in risky sexual behaviors could eradicate an HIV epidemic, say researchers. The down side is that it would take 100 years.

HIV prevalence reached a high of 40 percent in rural women aged between 21 and 25, 12 percent higher than the overall rate of 28 percent, according to a new study.

Doctors in Madagascar were on Monday still baffled by a mysterious flu-like illness that has killed more than 150 people in the past two weeks.

Pressure is mounting on the Kenyan government to re-amend the Industrial Property Act to allow for the importation of generic anti-retroviral medicines (ARVs) into the country, as parliament prepares to go into recess until October at the end of this week.