A food security evaluation mission that worked throughout August in six central and southern provinces in Mozambique has recommended the urgent drafting of an integrated plan of action to mitigate the effects of food shortages in parts of the country.

One-hundred-and-thirty HIV-positive activists have declared their status publicly at a gathering in the border town of Rundu, insisting it is Aids, not the border war with Unita rebels, that is the real threat to their survival. IRIN filed the report.

The Angolan government hopes to re-integrate disabled people into the economy in an US$11,400 pilot project.

A conference, to be held in the Kruger National Park in October, will focus on international trends in agricultural research, modern methods of farming and available technologies, and the transformation and governance of higher education in South Africa.

Economic growth can be positively influenced by improved nutrition, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said today in a special section of its annual report, The State of Food and Agriculture 2001 (SOFA 2001). “The impact of nutrition on labour productivity, health and education ultimately filters through to higher levels of overall economic growth.”

Journalists Against AIDS (JAADS) Nigeria held a three-day workshop on the Science of HIV for journalists between August 30 and September 1 2001. The objectives of the workshop were: to expose Nigerian journalists to an understanding of the scientific basis of the HIV/AIDS epidemic; identify and discuss constraints facing journalists in reporting HIV science and equip journalists with the skills and tools to report effectively on the science of HIV/AIDS.

"On the Horizon" is an electronic news capsule from the Horizons Program. Recent Horizon publications include: Prevention of Trafficking and the Care and Support of Trafficked Persons; Making a Difference for Children Affected by AIDS: Baseline Findings from OR in Uganda; Transitions to Adulthood in the Context of AIDS in South Africa: Report of Wave I; HIV and Partner Violence: Implications for HIV Voluntary Counseling and Testing Programs in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania; The Female Condom: Dynamics of Use in Urban Zimbabwe. Several of the longer publications are only available as PDF files on the web. If you are not able to open a PDF file and would like to receive a text file, please contact us (please specify which version of word or other format that you need).

The Kenyan government announced yesterday that it does not have enough money to purchase antiretroviral drugs, even though the Kenyan Parliament recently passed legislation allowing the nation to import and manufacture cheaper generic drugs.

Date: - 19 - 23 November 2001, Venue: - Kenya College of Communications and Technology, Nairobi, Kenya. The Ministry of Health in January 2001 established a functional Department of Health Standards and Regulatory Services (DSRS) as provided for in the National Health Sector Strategic Plan. DSRS plans to organize the First National Congress on Quality Improvement in Health Care, Medical Research and Traditional Medicine with the following expected outputs: Consensus on assessment tools for Systematic Monitoring and Evaluation of Quality Improvement in Health Care; Definition of National Priority Medical Research Agenda; Consensus on Strategies for integration of Traditional Medicine
with Conventional Medicine; Health Sector Position paper for Constitutional Review Commission of Kenya.

Stephen Waithaka, who farms two acres of the rich volcanic soil on the foothills below Mount Kenya, brings in two crops of corn a year, but lives in constant fear of not having enough. The fear is well founded. A comprehensive study of whether the world will have enough to eat 20 years from now concludes that Africa, at least, probably will not.

The leading cause of death among teachers in the Central Africa Republic is HIV/AIDS according to a UNICEF study. The teacher shortage has forced numerous school closures, impacting the quality of education throughout the country.

The People's Health Assembly is an international grassroots network of organisations and individuals that came together in 2000 to reignite the call for Health for All Now! 1500 participants from 94 countries came to the inaugural assembly in Bangladesh in December 2000. The listserver is the crucial networking system set up to stay in touch to consolidate our work worldwide. We will exchange experiences, share educational materials, do solidarity work, coordinate our positions for international metings and for lobbying. In this day and age, the list is indispensable for our work as committed change agents. PHA-Exchange is hosted on Kabissa.

International Health Exchange's new website makes recruiting health workers for humanitarian posts much easier - benefiting aid agencies, international organisations and mission hospitals.

Within the framework of a HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Project in Mozambique, GFA-Medica is looking for a consultant with experience in HIV/AIDS school education programmes in order to design and implement an education programme for pupils in schools.

Within the Health Policy Unit, the Conflict and Health programme is looking for a short term (3 months) Research Fellow to contribute to the development of a joint London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) / World Health Organization (WHO) research initiative relating to health policy development in emergency situations. The study is part of a series on public health issues and humanitarian action, facilitated by WHO through the Department of Emergency and Humanitarian Action.

Is much of the talk about 'capacity building' woolly theorizing? What happens when capacity building is pursued and funded as an end in itself? Is enough known about what it really entails? Donors and international NGOs have often understood it to be simply training in accountancy and financial management. What do the clients - southern NGOs - want and expect to develop capacity?

A team of producers, scriptwriters and directors will gather this fall to begin drafting a dramatic series that will appeal to young adults, but the team isn't in Hollywood and the goal isn't ratings or advertising. These scriptwriters will meet in Uganda to craft a show that portrays young adults making healthy decisions about family planning, raising children, and preventing diseases such as malaria and HIV/AIDS.

A late donation to the World Food Programme (WFP) has guaranteed food rations to more than one million people in Angola until the end of December, according to WFP Public Affairs Officer in Luanda, Cristina Muller. However, Muller told IRIN on Thursday that there were still shortages on the horizon.