IT was HIV-positive pregnant women, parents and babies who were the real winners when the Constitutional Court on Thursday refused the government leave to appeal against a Pretoria High Court execution order, Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) representative Mark Heywood said.

UNICEF has donated $2.2 million to support Ethiopian efforts to eradicate polio by 2005. The agency said that the country is entering the final stretch in its race to wipe the disease out.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) and the United Nations Aid (Unaid) would continue supporting the use of nevirapine for prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV, despite irregularities found to have characterised the Ugandan study on the use of drug, the two organisations have said.

The use of nevirapine to prevent mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) of HIV in South Africa has come under threat after reports last week of irregularities during trials of the drug in Uganda.

Dramatic and rapid changes in the nature and structure of health care financing, organization, and delivery have continued to increase demand worldwide for high quality information about the cost, quality, and access to health care. Academia has responded to this need with an increasing number of programs in health services and health policy, especially at the masters and doctoral levels. This 2002 Directory responds to a growing interest in health services research and health policy and increasing demand for information about Post Baccalaureate certificates, Master's programs, Doctoral programs, and Postdoctoral programs in these fields. It has been expanded to include health policy research programs and the health policy tracks in public policy programs as well as the core health services research programs included in our two earlier editions-1997 and 1992. Additionally, when possible, we have included more descriptive information about the programs. While the 2002 edition does not include international programs, other than the eight Canadian programs profiled, future editions may be expanded to include programs outside North America.

The Directory is available in two formats: a print copy, and an online, searchable version. The print version is meant to serve as a companion piece. The online version is continuously maintained. The print version is revised once every two years. We see this as a valuable resource for all those interested in learning more about training programs in health services research and health policy.

Border technikon, one of the three technikons in East London, announced it's intention to offer its students free HIV testing, counseling and triple anti-retroviral therapy (ART) where necessary.

A leading AIDS activist organisation in Tanzania has expressed concern at the country's religious leaders recent statement that they were implacably against the use of condoms in the fight against HIV/AIDS, a key tenet of national policy on tackling the disease.

There have been a total of 91 confirmed cases of the Ebola virus in the Republic of Congo (RoC) and neighbouring Gabon, the World Health Organisation (WHO) reported in its latest situation update on 15 March.

Topsy Foundation, a private and corporate initiative providing a multi-faceted approach to HIV/Aids, has launched a fundraising initiative using a brilliant red newly-bred hybrid T bush rose. The Topsy Rose of the Nation was launched at the Topsy Sanctuary for HIV/Aids-infected children at Grootvlei in Mpumalanga.

Tearfund partners in Southern Africa are becoming increasingly concerned about food shortages. The Evangelical Association of Malawi reports that in some central districts people have collapsed and died from hunger while foraging in the bush, and that there is a big influx of people to the towns and cities begging for food. About 300 people have died so far and the crisis will get worse before it gets any better. The harvest, which will be gathered in April, is poor due to lack of rain. People are migrating from the poorer districts and theft is on the increase. In some villages people are too weak to dig individual graves, and two or three bodies are buried together.

Over 40% of Malawi's national budget is dependent on aid, but international aid has dropped in recent years, due to concerns about the way the economy is run. The government now needs £10 million to tackle the crisis: only the UK, China and Japan have committed funds so far.

The chasm that opened up between the various teams of observers at the Zimbabwean elections shows the urgency of reformulating one of the oldest questions of political philosophy: who observes the observers? For over the last decade, election observing has become little more than a tool for powerful states to interfere in the internal affairs of weak ones. Monitors delegitimise elections which elect a candidate the west does not like, while turning a blind eye to the deficiencies of polls that produce the desired outcome.

Hopes of being provided with antiretroviral drugs at the new Qaukeni clinic near Lusikisiki, Eastern Cape, have been dashed after the provincial health authorities said the drugs would not be made available beyond its two official test sites.

How can rural radio help to construct better relationships between technical science and humanity? Could a project link up and begin to improve the attitudes, skills and knowledge-sharing of scientists and farmers through rural radio? These were some of the questions asked by ISNAR and its partners in a new effort to support researchers working together with radio broadcasters and rural societies.

HIV-positive individuals cannot be recruited into the armed forces, a Department of Defence (DoD) spokesman has said.

Almost 11 million children, most of them babies, die each year of preventable causes, according to United Nations officials meeting to hammer out a strategy to save more young lives.

Corruption among governments, politicians and businessmen endangers the world's efforts to ease poverty, according to leaders of a United Nations conference on aid and economic development that opened on Tuesday.

In all countries of the world there exists traditional knowledge related to the health of humans and animals. The interest in traditional knowledge is more and more widely recognised in development policies, the media and scientific literature. In Africa, traditional healers and remedies made from plants play an important role in the health of millions of people.

Delivery delays, adverse weather, low production levels and high maize prices continue to contribute to rising hunger levels in southern Africa, say researchers and aid organisations.