Eight in 10 South Africans are concerned about contracting HIV/AIDS or another sexually transmitted infection, but many are not protecting themselves, a major international sex survey revealed.

Growing up in a loving family, with the affection and support of his best friend Levi, and universal boyhood exploits - shooting rats with ketis, learning karate, stoning street lamps. Also more sinister experiences: dodging stones and avoiding enemies when you had to cross territories, running the gauntlet of dogs, bullies and thugs. The world Chimeloane sketches contained both the 1976 rising and endless wonder: the Valiant Regal taxi which produced money from its back seat, the magic of seeing bioscope and emulating the starrings, a world where you shared sweets with your chomis. Kwela Books, 2001, 0795701233.

A newly formed human rights group charged this week that unscrupulous employers in Lusaka have sacked at least 45 workers since June 2000. because they tested HIV-positive.

The South African government was accused in court this week of sacrificing the lives of tens of thousands of babies by its "insane" policy of refusing to make anti-Aids drugs widely available to pregnant women.

In this study published in AIDS, the authors found an extremely high prevalence of HIV among young women (34%) and men (9%) aged 14-24 years from a township in the Carletonville district of South Africa. The authors suggest that these
remarkable findings are due to high rates of HIV transmission from
men to women, and the major role played by HSV-2 (herpes simplex virus type 2) in the spread of HIV in this population.

SAfAIDS (Southern Africa AIDS Information Dissemination Service) has planned the following activities as a way of addressing the 2001 World AIDS Campaign. If you are in the area where any of our activities for the World AIDS DAY are taking place, please join us.

AIDS activists from the Treatment Action Campaign and other groups will begin a court case Monday against the South African National Department of Health and eight of nine provincial health ministers, alleging that government health officials are "violating [AIDS] sufferers' constitutional right to life and health care" by not providing the antiretroviral drug nevirapine to the nation's pregnant women to reduce the risk of vertical transmission, Reuters/Contra Costa Times reports.

HIV prevention efforts in Mozambique have been hindered by poverty, taboo and sometimes "willfull" ignorance, Reuters reports. An average of 600 to 700 people a day are infected with HIV in the nation, which has 17 million citizens. Mozambique is among the world's poorest nations, where most people have never seen and do not know how to use condoms. In addition, it is considered taboo to talk openly about sex, and many people doubt the existence of HIV/AIDS, making it more difficult to alter sexual behavior.

Mortality and morbidity rates are similar for breastfed and formula-fed children of HIV-positive mothers, indicating that formula feeding can be a "safe alternative" to breastfeeding in resource-poor settings as long as women are properly educated and clean water exists, according to a study in today's Journal of the American Medical Association.

A new radio serial drama that begins airing this Sunday, Nov. 25, in Ethiopia is designed to encourage young adults to protect themselves from HIV/AIDS and unwanted pregnancies by depicting characters engaging in either risky or safe sexual behavior.

The national prevalence of HIV in Zambia is clearly on the decline and Zambia does have a story to tell. It is a story of a strong, active, and
highly developed community response to AIDS.

Virtually no new drugs are being developed for diseases that predominantly affect the poor, according to a report released by Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF). The report, "Fatal Imbalance" claims among others that from 11 companies surveyed, only one new tuberculosis (TB) drug was brought to the market in the last five years.

It has been taken for granted that Agriculture and the economies of countries in sub-Saharan Africa must remain liberalized irregardless of the consequences that arise from this process, argued participants at at a recent course in Sustainable Agriculture for East & Southern Africa held in Eldoret, Western Kenya.

This is a tool for searching the internet for updated news on medications, treatments and vaccines. Sites are listed in categories and further broken down into subcategories. Once a search is performed, you have the choice to further your search instantly on the world's major search engines or NEWS headlines sites. Please add your favourite HIV/AIDS websites to our database. Its online services will be particularly valuable in rural locations where no local organizations exist. People can log in privately from home and have a counsellor to chat with or get answers to questions from the online forum.

The Kenyan Ministry of Health is negotiating the importation of cheap generic Aids drugs from Pakistan.

Can Traditional and Formal Health Workers Tackle HIV Together? A study by the Kara Trust, Zambia, examined the knowledge and beliefs
of traditional healers and formal health workers through interviews and workshops.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is preparing to ship food aid to more than half a million people in Zimbabwe who it says are at risk of starvation. The news comes as further measures were announced by the Government to speed the take over of the country's farms for the purpose of land redistribution. The agency plans to start operations later this month, with food aid arriving in December.

The head of the UN World Health Organisation's operations in Burundi, Kassi Manlan of the Ivory Coast, was found dead in Bujumbura on Tuesday.

The National Women's Law Center seeks an advocate for its women's health and reproductive rights program for Monitoring and responding to key policy developments in the areas of women's health and reproductive rights; identifying opportunities to advance the goals of the Center; in collaboration with other staff, developing advocacy strategies utilizing the resources of the Center; will work on a broad range of women's health issues and will represent the Center in coalitions, with national and state policy makers, and in various public speaking fora.

Britain's Department for International Development (DFID) has allocated ActionAid, a British development charity, 2.95 million pounds sterling (US $4.29 million) for HIV/AIDS work in Rwanda, DFID reported on Tuesday.