The POLICY project is seeking an individual that will have primary responsibility for providing expertise in economic and financial evaluation and promoting innovative evidence-based policy interventions in planning and finance in the area of reproductive health. The candidate should have experience in the areas of family planning, contraceptive security, and/or safe motherhood. In addition s/he will be expected to spend approximately 10 percent of time on HIV/AIDS related issues. The selected individual will be an employee of RTI International, but will be located in The Futures Group International Office in Washington, DC and will work closely with Planning and Finance Team members on the POLICY project.

As part of the national commitment to introducing services to prevent mother to child transmission of HIV, the Institute of Public Health of the University of Bordeaux, France, is working in close collaboration with the Government of Zimbabwe National AIDS Programme. We are about to commence several new projects in two districts of Zimbabwe - Buhera District in Manicaland Province, and Murewa District in Mashonaland East Province. We are therefore requesting applications for the following personnel: Project Coordinators - 2 posts; Counsellors - 6 posts; Data Manager, Buhera District - 1 post (part time).

Critical teacher shortages could cripple education in South Africa, the World Bank, teachers' unions and opposition parties have warned.

Under pressure from AIDS and Africa health activists, the United States Congress is moving to substantially boost the U.S. contribution to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria next year.

Ethiopia’s first-ever team of youth counsellors who will help combat HIV/AIDS was launched on Friday. The members of the 30-strong team, which specialises in voluntary counselling and testing (VCT), will return to their local communities to teach youth counsellors in the fight against the virus.

The Economist this week examines the HIV/AIDS epidemic in southern Africa, specifically in Botswana, Mozambique and South Africa. Botswana has the distinction of being among Africa's richest nations, with a stable democracy and little corruption. However, the country also has the highest HIV adult prevalence rate in the world at 38.5%. According to the Economist, Botswana's mining industry is the key to both its prosperity and its high HIV prevalence. The gold and diamond trade has bolstered the nation's economy, but the single-sex communal living conditions of the miners -- where alcohol and prostitution are frequent diversions -- have contributed to the spread of the virus. In addition, the miners, who are often migrant workers, can transmit the virus to their wives or girlfriends when they return home.

Malnutrition levels in at least seven newly accessible areas in Angola are "critical", according to the United Nations. The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Tuesday that inter-agency rapid assessments in 28 areas which were cut off from relief aid before May because of the war indicated that people needed assistance urgently.

More than 5,500 children die daily from diseases caused by consuming water and food polluted with bacteria, according to three UN (United Nations) agencies. A new study released by United Nations Environmental Programme (Unep), United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) and World Health Organisation (WHO) revealed that diarrhoea and respiratory infections are the major causes of child mortality.

With nearly 10 million square kilometres of Africa infested by tsetse fly, a new method, the sterile insect technique, has proved successful in combating tsetse fly especially when used in combination with traditional methods such as traps and insecticides. The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said on 10 May, that the technique, whereby male flies are sterilised through radiation and then released into the tsetse-infested areas where they mate, brings down the reproductive rate of the whole population leading to extinction.

The United States is to provide Malawi with US $5.4 million in emergency food aid in response to the government's appeal for international assistance to help overcome the country's food crisis.

Organisations of all sizes are faced with the challenge of having to manage employees infected or affected by HIV/AIDS. The sensitivities and complexities of HIV/AIDS can pose a special challenge to manage-
ment and staff of all organisations. Addressing the effects and impacts of HIV/AIDS is critical in ensur-
ing smooth running of an organisations' activities and maximising investment in human resource; development. This course provides managers from both the private and public sector with skills to plan, implement and evaluate HIV/AIDS workplace efforts.

The top decision-making body of the World Health Organization begins its annual meeting Monday in Geneva. Humanitarian groups like Doctors Without Borders are appealing to the organization to encourage more research and development into new drugs to fight disease, especially in the developing world.

Pervasive Poverty and the Aids epidemic are frustrating many of the efforts by East African governments to improve living conditions for children, leaders of Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania told a United Nations conference last week.

A new report demonstrates just how devastating the health impact will be on adolescents worldwide if the Bush administration succeeds in dismantling existing international agreements on adolescent reproductive rights at the United Nations Special Session on Children, May 8-10.

This seminar covers core management features and tools of health financing.
The main focus is led on health insurance, whereas the management tools
might be of interest for any financing aspect of health management (hospital
management, management of the Ministry of Health, pharmacy, project management, financial management of AIDS prevention, reproductive health, etc.). Target Group: Participants of the GTZ-supported Health Projects in Africa, Health profes-
sionals and health insurance managers with a minimum of 2 years experience.
The course will be taught in English and French. Please send your application latest by 22 May 2002 to the GTZ project.

Eritrea faces a rapid expansion of the HIV/AIDS
pandemic within the next few years, the Joint United Nations Programme on
HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) warned on Tuesday. Dominique Mathiot, the UNAIDS Country
Programme Adviser, believes the number of people infected by HIV could increase significantly.

Slowing the spread of HIV and coping with the consequences of AIDS are major challenges for many developing countries. There are now many examples of successful small-scale responses to the disease. Could these strategies work for a larger population? How can non-governmental or community-based organisations (NGOs/CBOs) broaden the impact of their programmes?

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) has started distributing food aid to thousands of severely malnourished people who are being discovered in areas of Angola now open to aid workers after last month's peace agreement.

The Senegal's African Women's Media Center (AWMC) has launched a comprehensive new manual to help women journalists report more effectively on HIV/AIDS.

In a country long-sickened by the level of sexual violence, a shocking series of child rapes has stunned South Africa and left people grasping for answers.