Cameroon became the fifth African country on Wednesday to strike a deal with
major pharmaceutical companies to ensure cheap access to AIDS drugs.
GlaxoSmithKline, the world's largest supplier of HIV/AIDS medicines, said
the West African country had reached agreement with five leading drug firms
under a UN initiative.

We People Living with HIV/AIDS in Uganda wish to register our concern at the consistent derogatory remarks made by the President and members of his cabinet.
For a long time we have complained about the cynicism, conspiracy, discrimination and condemnation of People Living with HIV/AIDS. The
statements, which have been made recently by the President, are intended to incite the public and society to marginalize, discriminate and ostracize us.

The joint FAO/WHO Codex Alimentarius Commission's Ad Hoc Intergovernmental Task Force on Foods Derived from Biotechnology have made significant progress in setting standards for foods derived from biotechnology, the two UN agencies announced this week.

All operational research studies as well as planning documents and some background information of the Reproductive Health Project in Tanzania are now available on the AFRO-NETS Server for downloading. Study topics include service quality (including youth friendliness), community based activities and adolescent reproductive health.

Sachs to Announce Plan for 'Massive New Effort' Aimed at Fighting AIDS in Africa. Conference to Address Children Orphaned by AIDS Begins in Uganda.

DATE: Wednesdays 6:30-8:30 pm: April 18th -June 27th 2001
LOCATION: London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine,
Keppel St, London, WC1 United Kingdom
FEE: Conference Fee - £100. Individual session fees - £20 each
APPLICATION CLOSING DATE: Thursday 12 April, 2001
A Health and Human Rights Course over 10 weeks
organised by Physicians for Human Rights-UK
(CME approved by the Royal College of Physicians.
PGEA approval being sought)
The course will provide students with a good understanding of some
of the most important health and human rights issues of the day.

One of the major issues discussed at the international AIDS conference in Durban last year was the question of making anti-AIDS drugs available at a more affordable price to people living with HIV/AIDS - the majority of whom are in sub-Saharan Africa. But even before the conference there was a realisation among activists that bold new steps had to be taken to not only make the life-saving drugs more available, but also to develop a more coordinated response to ensure they are accessible to the poor.

An international conference Bonn, Germany, September 4-6, 2001. With 800 million people lacking enough food to lead healthy, productive
lives, food insecurity remains a global threat and a humanitarian tragedy.
This conference will focus on why hunger persists, what emerging forces are
influencing the prospects for food security in the next two decades, and how
we need to realign priorities to eliminate hunger once and for all.

The Global Forum for Health Research will hold its fifth annual meet-
ing in Geneva this October.
DATE: 9-12 October 2001
LOCATION: Forum 5: Geneva, Switzerland

A new memingitis epidemic is developing in large parts of Africa. In Burkina Faso the epidemic has already claimed 600 lives this year and the government appealed for International Aid.

The UN World Food Programme said on Friday it had been unable to deliver food to thousands of refugees in the south of Guinea because of fighting in the so-called Parrot's Beak over the last three weeks. "WFP is extremely concerned about the fate of tens of thousands of mostly Sierra Leonean refugees, previously sheltered in refugee camps in the area," Ramin Rafirasme, the WFP regional spokesman, said in Abidjan.

The UK has aligned itself firmly on the side of the pharmaceutical industry in the battle over cheap drugs for developing countries, declaring that patents on medicines must be upheld even in poor countries where millions are dying of diseases such as tuberculosis and Aids.

The "Health Training" website is an internet-based inventory providing comprehensive information on postgraduate training and further education opportunities in the field of International Health.

An important component of HIV voluntary counselling and testing (VCT) programs is encouraging clients to inform partners of their serostatus. Yet many clients do not disclose results to partners. Researchers have found that a serious barrier to disclosure for women is fear of a violent reaction by male partners and that HIV-infected women are at increased risk for partner violence. Building on previous research, this study explores the links between HIV infection, serostatus disclosure, and partner violence among women attending the Muhimbili Health Information Center (MHIC), a VCT clinic in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

The Horizons Project and PSI have conducted a descriptive, cross-sectional study of female condom users, male condom users, and non-users of either barrier method. The goal of this research is to increase understanding of the patterns and dynamics of female condom use in order to inform policymakers and program planners involved in decisions about promotion and distribution of the female condom.

Thirty-nine pharmaceutical companies are suing the South African government in a move that would stop South Africans from receiving lifesaving AIDS drugs. Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) asks you to support South Africa's efforts to make essential medicines more accessible to its people by signing the global "Drop the Case" petition by April 15.

This study explores the merits of HIV/AIDS prevention and control on health-care reform and concludes that to efficiently fight HIV/AIDS, effective health-care reform is a must. The study also discusses the human resource management issues inherent in health-care reform and HIV/AIDS.

the second instalment in the NGO Networks for Health Resources series is now available. The document, 'Resources for Primary Health Care and Other Health Programs', describes resources available on the topic of primary health care and newsletters and periodicals on a range of health issues, including family planning, reproductive health, HIV/AIDS, child health, primary health care, pharmaceuticals, disabilities, and eye health.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has agreed to provide Sudan with $282,000 worth of assistance for projects aimed at sustainable agricultural development and enhanced food production. The government of Sudan, with support from FAO, has designed a project that will be implemented under the umbrella of FAO's Special Programme for Food Security (SPFS).

Johns Hopkins Population Information Program Announces:
"The PopReporter" - Linking You to Health News Around the World. Each week our research staff will prepare an electronic magazine
loaded with links to key news stories, reports, and related develop-
ments around the globe. The focus will be on reproductive health,
family planning, and related health communication topics.