In Mali yesterday, Secretary of State Colin Powell said that the $200 million contribution to the global AIDS fund recently pledged by President Bush is "evidence that the Bush administration won't skimp when it comes to fighting AIDS" and reassured observers that Africa remains a "priority" for the new administration, the Wall Street Journal reports. The visit to Mali is the first stop on a tour that will take Powell, one of the administration's "most vocal supporters" of Africa, to the "AIDS hot spots" of South Africa, Kenya and Uganda.

In an address to the fifty-second World Health Assembly in Geneva, United Nations secretary-general Kofi Annan detailed plans for the Global Aids and Health Fund. "The Fund would be governed by an independent Board, on which all significant stakeholders would be represented — including, of course, the governments of developing countries," Annan said. "In addition, there would be a small secretariat, to do the day-to-day administration, and a strong advisory body, on which the best international experts would be asked to serve."

Measles infections rose by 670 percent in northern Nigeria's biggest city, Kano, in the first 21 weeks of this year over the same period in 2000, the international medical organisation, Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF), said on Tuesday.

This is the first edition of the largest global listing of health information resource centres, with data pertaining to about 1,000 centres. The focus is on their missions and objectives, with particular reference to their attitudes to technology, and their capabilities and requirements. You may consult or download the entire Directory at the site, or just pick out letters of the alphabet to select countries that are of interest.

In Mali, Powell Pledges Administration's Support for Africa; AIDS Activist Nkosi Johnson's Foster Mother Answers Public's Questions on BBC.

Addressing the contract between society and agriculture at the World Agricultural Forum in St. Louis, Dr. Jacques Diouf, Director-General of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), called on Sunday (20 May) for increased efforts towards ensuring all people regular access to safe and nutritious food. "Unless efforts are stepped up by national governments, international bodies and organizations of the civil society, widespread hunger - a stain on the world's conscience and a constraint to security, stability and economic growth - will remain with us in the decades to come," warned Dr. Diouf.

Salary : £24,850
Location : Kigali, Rwanda
Closing Date : 25 May 2001
Job posted on : 2 May 2001

The World Health Assembly (WHA) is the annual meeting of the 191 Member States of the World Health Organization (WHO) and its highest governing body. The 54th WHA takes place this year from 14 to 22 May at the United Nations "Palais des Nations" in Geneva, Switzerland.

Families affected by floods earlier this year continue to return to their homes, but their living conditions are getting more difficult as winter approaches, according to OCHA. The agency said in its latest situation report that because the floods had washed away crops, and relief aid had consisted of mainly non-food items, food had become a priority. "Relief items so far received and distributed by the government have mainly been non-food items. Malnutrition especially among children and pregnant women for the coming months is of great concern. The food resources of the Department for Disaster Preparedness, Rehabilitation and Relief have almost been exhausted."

WFP has distributed 15 days' worth of emergency rations to about 3,000 people who fled Caxito in Bengo province after a UNITA attack on 5 May. The Cacuaco municipal authority, just outside the capital Luanda, resettled about 2,500 internally displaced persons (IDPs) from Caxito on four hectares of land in Bairro Caop Velho, Funda, WFP said in its latest situation report.

IRIN is developing an HIV/AIDS information service for sub-Saharan Africa. The challenge is to build a partnership between civil society and the media for the dissemination of accurate, contextualized and relevant information on HIV/AIDS. The inclusion of the voices of those living with HIV/AIDS is a vital component, transforming the traditional 'top-down' flow of information into an interactive information channel that empowers HIV-positive people and AIDS organisations. As a first step, IRIN invites all those working in the field of HIV/AIDS to contribute to the service by providing their news, views and analysis for inclusion in our weekly bulletin.

Epi Info and Epi Map are public domain software packages designed for the global community of public health practitioners and researchers. Both provide for easy form and database construction, data entry, and analysis with epidemiologic statistics, maps, and graphs. Although "Epi Info" is a CDC trademark, the programs, documentation, and teaching materials are in the public domain and may be freely copied, distributed, and translated. A new version of Epi Info 2000 has been released on the CDC web site. This version is an update to Version 1.05. Please download the patches (7 floppies) from the web site to update your software to Version1.1.

Two prestigious U.S. policy groups are calling for health issues to have a higher priority in foreign policy and national security planning. The recommendation comes from a study group launched by the Council on Foreign Relations and the Milbank Memorial Fund, a health policy organization.

For the younger African generations, there is a need to design sustainable ways to spark interest for reading the scientific literature on HIV/Aids even in the absence of a sufficient number of graduate research stipends. Under the following URL, you will find the description of a virtual seminar concept in which a free solution is suggested (in English and French).

South African Generic Drug Manufacturer Requests Permission to Produce Patented AIDS Drugs; 'NewsHour' Continues Examination of AIDS in Africa, Addresses Distribution of Antiretroviral Drugs in Botswana; Bianca Jagger Works to Fight 'Human Catastrophe' of AIDS in Africa; South African Department of Health Has Not 'Killed' Possibility of AIDS Drug Provision, Letter Says.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) today proposed setting up a US$98 million fund to help the world's least developed countries (LDCs) improve the safety and quality of their food products. The proposal was made at the third UN Conference on the LDCs (Brussels, 14-20 May) .

An international fund to combat HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria will be a major tool for economic growth in the developing world, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said today in Geneva.
In a speech to the World Health Assembly, Mr Annan said that in order to encourage development in many countries, the runaway contagion of HIV/AIDS, and other diseases must be contained.

COSATU expresses its appreciation to the University of the Witwatersrand for committing its support to the Treatment Action Campaign against the closure of the Johannesburg Hospital HIV/Aid clinic. The federation views the closure of the clinic as a ‘punch below the belt’ to the Johannesburg HIV/Aids sufferers, especially in an area where an alarming number of infected people live.

The organization that brought the world the green revolution is now struggling to survive the gene revolution. Few organizations have affected the lives of as many people as the little-known Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, which plays a major role in developing better crops for poor countries.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Monday welcomed the results of a just-published study on malaria, which, it said, could offer new hope in reducing the toll of the illness among infants. The study of 701 children in Ifakara, southern Tanzania, published in 'The Lancet' medical journal "opens up an exciting new possibility of reducing the impact of malaria in young children", WHO stated.