A recent "Sustainable Food Security for All by 2020" conference, held in Germany, further strengthened the belief that Northern countries are not totally committed to attaining global food security but rather, more interested in increasing their profits.

The Namibian cabinet this week instructed Health Minister Libertina Amathila to go ahead with the introduction of a pilot programme for Aids drugs.

The South African government's oil agency, the Central Energy Fund, has pumped at least R80-million into an unproven, coal-based HIV/Aids treatment that is being tested on Tanzanian soldiers.

The Angolan government has warned that at least four million Angolans run the risk of catching sleeping disease, due to the precarious conditions of housing and sanitation.

Between 40,000 and 60,000 children are born HIV positive in Zimbabwe every year, according to a senior health official.

At the request of UNDP and Markle, I am leading a team searching for innovative and practical examples of the use of information and communications technology in the fight against HIV/AIDS in developing countries. I have searched the newsletter for examples, but I would certainly appreciate your own recommendations of particularly good examples from Africa. The examples will be made available publicly on a UNDP website and shared with WHO and the UNAIDS best practices collection. And, they will be used by a new global public and private coalition that will mobilize public and private partners to support the use of ICT for HIV/AIDS. You can e-mail a short description or a contact e-mail
address, or, if you prefer, you can enter the information directly into the UNDP data base.

A new website for HIV/AIDS in Africa. Compiles individual sites of all African countries, with links to key HIV/AIDS info. Also features a daily HIV/AIDS news page (updated daily), a discussion forum and other scientific articles.

Save the Children, a leading US and international child focused relief & development agency has immediate vacancy, which will provide you the opportunity to be an integral part of exciting Food Security Project in Nampula province.

Within the SARO region, the top priority for this is to provide assistance to the South Africa HIV/AIDS Program Office, which is responsible for the countries of Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa and Swaziland.

USAID's Population Technical Assistance Project (POPTECH) is currently recruiting a team to evaluate USAID/Malawi's STAFP project. This assignment was to have begun next week but has been postponed. The new start-up date is not known, but will hopefully be within the next few weeks. Knowledge of USAID a must.

In Ghana, the Ministry of Health, the School of Public Health and the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research (both institutions within the University of Ghana) will work with the other Gates partners to develop an innovative training programme to contribute to capacity building within the national malaria control Programme. Following a needs assessment, training materials will be developed and targeted at the most needy groups. The Training Manager would therefore be required to co-ordinate tasks aimed across the full spectrum of health worker and community needs. In addition he will need to be capable of forming strong links with in-country partners and other relevant organisations.

Rural Zimbabweans are facing a desperate food security situation due to a combination of a bad harvest and deepening poverty.

In a strikingly frank internal document, South Africa's health department has admitted that it has neglected large numbers of people infected with HIV because it lacks resources.

Applications are invited from African scientists employed by African health research/teaching institutions, who are interested in participating in future malaria vaccine trials in Africa. The 5-day Workshop on Molecular Biology and Immunology of Malaria Vaccines will mainly be organized by the Manhica Health Research Centre, in collaboration with the National Institute of Health and the Faculty of Medicine, University Eduardo Mondlane in Mozambique is targeted at a selected group of advanced pre-doctoral or post-doctoral African scientists: it will update them on the latest developments in malaria vaccine research. The workshop will present the basic science and underlying rationale for the development of particular types of candidate malaria vaccines.

Official South African mortality figures for 1997 through 2000, which could lend support to a new report labeling Aids the nation's leading killer, will be released by the end of the year, according to Statistician-General Pali Lehohla, the country's Business Day reports.

HIV/AIDS poses the "greatest threat to food security" and life in Africa, U.S. Ambassador to the Food and Agriculture Organization George McGovern said yesterday.

TANZANIA is far behind other East African countries to achieve World Health Organization (WHO) standards as far as the ratio of doctor to patient is concerned and the Ministry of Health is now inviting private investors to train more doctors.

The Southern African Regional Poverty Network (SARPN) is pleased to post an invitation to a forthcoming conference organised by the Centre for Rural Legal Studies (CRLS). The conference, entitled “International Agricultural Trade and Rural Livelihoods”, will take place 9-11 October 2001 at the Lord Charles Hotel in Somerset West, just outside Cape Town. The purpose of the conference is to build understanding of how international trade issues are affecting agriculture in South Africa and to provide a space where common interests and innovative ways to support rural development in a globalised economy, can be
identified.

Swaziland has been identified as one of the countries in SADC which has been the hardest hit by the HIV/Aids pandemic. According to a recent report 24% to 36% of the population aged between 15-49 are living with Aids.

The Mozambiquan Health Ministry estimates that 12,2% of the population aged between 15 and 49 are infected with HIV.