Uganda is unlikely to meet health sector development targets made two years ago at the United Nations millennium summit, a new report by an economic research organisation has revealed.

Clinicians in the developed West have now settled into an environment in which they are able to address the problems in most cases of poisoning in a logical fashion. In the developing world the situation is far from clear. In many countries, including South Africa, the majority of the population resort to traditional remedies in the first instance. The composition of many of these remedies are completely unknown. Traditional remedies or muti may be prescribed on the basis of colour. Some remedies are effective, others are harmless, but a number of others have considerable toxicity, especially when administered to small children.

This issue of the Newsletter contains a call to the AMVTN/AMANET Joint Workshop on Health Research Ethics and Good Clinical Practice July 2002. Please bring it to the attention of your colleagues, students and whoever you feel would benefit from participation. The AMVTN will award full scholarships, including travel costs for those selected. The AMVTN Newsletter as an Adobe PDF file (281 kB) on the AFRO-NETS server for downloading.

The BMJ Publishing Group has for almost a year provided free access to the electronic version of its 23 specialist journals to anybody in the 50 poorest countries in the world. (The BMJ and the studentBMJ are, of course, free to everybody everywhere.) Now we are extending free access to over 100 of the poorest countries in the world, which between them include most of the world's population. Within a few weeks (once we have solved some technical problems) we will also provide free access to Clinical Evidence, our evidence based compendium of answers to commonly asked clinical questions.

As East African countries are about to change national malaria treatment protocols, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) releases a report in the hope of averting a fatal choice.

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) has welcomed President Mbeki's comments in relation to HIV made in his state of the Nation address recently. COSATU further made an "appeal to everyone concerned to get out of entrenched positions and public posturing on this grave national crisis and put the needs of the our people first."

AIDS has already claimed the lives of more than 18 million Africans. Despite promising developments in the past year, the situation is growing worse. More than 9,000 Africans are newly infected each day. Responding to this development threat, World Bank President James Wolfensohn recently noted that intensifying the fight against HIV/AIDS is central to the Bank's mission. On Thursday, the World Bank approved an additional $500 million for the second stage of its Multi-Country HIV/AIDS Program for Africa (MAP), bringing the amount of its no-interest HIV/AIDS lending to Africa through this program to $1 billion in the course of the current financial year.

Opposition leaders hurled ridicule and defiance at President Thabo Mbeki on Tuesday over his government's continued refusal to expand the use of drugs to prevent mother-to-child transmission of the AIDS virus. Mangosuthu Buthelezi, leader of the mainly Zulu Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), said he had instructed the IFP premier of KwaZulu-Natal province to dispense with testing and counseling if necessary and offer nevirapine to all pregnant women.

The Sparrow Rainbow Village, a village created to house and care for South Africans living with HIV/AIDS, opened on Thursday in Roodeport, South Africa, the Associated Press reports. The village, which is located near Johannesburg, will eventually house 450 people, including 100 children. Many of the residents will live in "igloo-like structures" in the village, while others will receive care in their own homes. "In the coming years we are going to need a great many more villages like this," Rev. Corine McClintock, founder of Sparrow Ministries, said.

The International Council of AIDS Service Organizations yesterday released an update for non-governmental organizations regarding progress with the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and how to apply for grants. The report, titled "The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria: Update and Next Steps," gives background information on the fund, as well as an outline of the fund's framework and structure. The report also provides NGOs with information on where to find eligibility rules, application forms and other key documents. The report then outlines the procedure for the funding application process, including necessary forms, deadlines and contact information. The deadline for the first round of applications is March 10, and the GFATM board will announce grant recipients during its next meeting on April 23-24.

A woman-focused method to prevent HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections can be available by 2007, according to a series of reports by the Rockefeller Foundation-funded Initiative on Microbicides. "We have the science and the road map, now we need the political will to fund this effort," said Geeta Rao Gupta, President of the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW), one of several groups participating in the Initiative.

By the year 2005, most Africans will die before they reach their 48th birthday, the fourth general assembly of the African Population Commission (APC) heard this week. Disease, the main killer, has become a risk to the national security of African countries, threatening the very survival of some communities, the conference in Addis Ababa was told. The spread of HIV/AIDS in particular, and wars and poverty, have driven down life expectancy by 15 years in the last two decades.

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria has announced the approval of its first request for funding proposals from country partnerships hard hit by the epidemics.

Addressing leaders at the World Economic Forum in New York City over the weekend, Bill Gates called on government, industry, and nonprofit organizations to substantially increase and sustain development funding for global health initiatives.

A major immunisation drive is planned in western Zambia and eastern Angola in response to new polio cases among young Angolan refugees, the World Health Organisation (WHO) and UNICEF said in a joint statement.

Ethiopia can never defeat AIDS alone and needs the help of the international community, the deputy speaker of the country’s House of Representatives admitted on Wednesday.

The Training and Research Support Centre (TARSC) based in Harare, Zimbabwe (www.tarsc.org) announces the creation of a new site linked to the TARSC website specifically developed for young people to engage in discussion and problem solving on issues related to their reproductive health. The website Auntie Stella: Teenagers talk about sex, life and relationships can be reached through the TARSC address above or directly on www.auntiestella.org. The site has been adapted from the print version of Auntie Stella which has been successfully used by youth in and out of school.

52nd Course (Anglophone): 3 June - 12 July, 2002
53rd Course (Francophone): 23 September - 1 November, 2002
The Mauritius Institute of Health is pleased to announce its Training of Trainers courses for Reproductive Health with emphasis on Family Planning. The present programme, adapted to better meet the WHO Regional Training activities in Family Health initiated in 1982, and
those of the UNFPA Regional Project RAF/96/P01. The Mauritius Institute of Health, with the collaboration/support of
the UNFPA, WHO and Government of Mauritius pursues its efforts/task in contributing to the upholding of the status of reproductive health
in the Sub-Saharan region and beyond.

With an estimated 40 million people infected with HIV worldwide and 26 million accumulated deaths, HIV now stands as the worst infectious disease pandemic in recorded history. The threat imposed by HIV is reflected not only in the tragedy of each individual case and his/her affected loved ones but on the global scale of human health and the potential for demographic, economic and political destabilization in many countries. Access to HIV prevention and care services have long been championed by international organizations, governments, non-governmental organizations and community groups. However, we are far short of providing HIV infected people worldwide with appropriate care. The purpose of this document is two-fold. The first is to set forth a clear framework for improving and accelerating access to care for HIV-infected women and men in the developing world. In particular, the document proposes near-term goals that are achievable. Specific priorities are outlined with a timeline of 18-36 months. The second purpose is to serve as a start for mobilizing organizations and people to an ongoing, progressive, sustainable action plan that will help to make the UNGASS declaration become a reality.

Corruption is far from being just the scourge of the Third World. It is quite common in Europe as well, so common in fact that it is almost an assumed perk of high office. Is corruption a Third World disorder? Not if the French are any guide.