Kenya is facing a nationwide shortage of anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs as a court case continues to hold up the purchase of the life-prolonging medication. The High Court in the capital, Nairobi, barred the Ministry of Health from procuring ARVs after a consortium of drug suppliers challenged the tender process.

Incorrect use in routine practice of a World Health Organization (WHO)/UNICEF HIV screening tool for children at primary health care clinics in Limpopo and KwaZulu Natal provinces, South Africa leads to the failure of life saving interventions, Christiane Horwood and colleagues reported in a study in the September 22 2009 edition of BMC Pediatrics.

Nearly 35 participants from UNFPA country offices in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, the Arab States, Asia and Europe, along with partners from governments and the civil society, met here this week to reflect on the most appropriate and efficient strategies to fully engage men and boys in the promotion of gender equality and in the prevention of HIV. This consultation will inform UNFPA strategy for engaging men and boys in gender equality and HIV.

FIAN is pleased to announce the release of the new issue of the Right to Food and Nutrition WATCH. This year's edition focuses on the question of "Who controls the governance of the world food system?" - a burning issue in light of the current World Food Crisis. The WATCH, available in three languages, is a common endeavor of a Consortium of human rights organizations, social movements and development agencies.

Alemayehu G. Mariam calls our attention to the dire state of the healthcare sector in Ethiopia. His account is based on and inspired by an article from Hanna Ingber Win, the world editor of the Huffington Post who has reported on the Ethiopian malaise. This well-informed article also draws on data from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and comes to shocking conclusions about the healthcare situation in the country. Mariam calls us to action on this issue and argues that there is hope for ending child malnutrition and poor maternal and child health in Ethiopia, provided we ‘work together in unity – with malice towards none and charity for all’.

Three years ago, the Church of Scotland Hospital at Tugela Ferry, in the rural Umsinga area of South Africa's KwaZulu-Natal Province, was the focus of international media attention as the epicentre of a deadly outbreak of extremely drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB). It was reported that 52 of the 53 patients initially diagnosed died within a month of contracting this strain of TB, which is resistant to both of the first-line antibiotics used to treat the disease, as well as two classes of second-line drugs.

Ten years ago, a move to legalise abortion in Namibia failed. The number of unwanted pregnancies remains high, with many people unwilling or unable to use contraception. Despite the risks, illegal abortions remain common. Misoprostol - a drug used to control ulcers, more usually known by the brand name Cytotec - has become a favoured method for inducing abortion.

Panic has gripped the Far North Region of Cameroon after five people died of what has been reported to be cholera. A cholera epidemic was recently reported in Mayo Tsanaga division in the Far North Region of the country. The outbreak first reported on 2 September 2009 has now spread to Mayor Sawa Division still in the Far North region.

Following the students unrest on early march in Kenyatta University, four students and a lecturer were arrested after getting their suspension and expulsion letters charged with incitement and obstructing police from doing its duties.

Yesterday we received a phone call from a Kenyatta University student about the severe stabbing and strangulation of Moses Nandwale, the secretary general of University Students Leader Association. He is hospitalised; we are trying to locate the hospital he is admitted in since his phone line is not operational. Up to now there is a student still remanded in Industrial Remand Prison waiting for a 20,000 Ksh Bond. The last time we talked with Moses Nandwale was last Friday while we were in court for the mention of the five who were arrested while taking tea in Githurai 45 Hotel. Over the days Shalmat Kasim Naumi has been living in fear; even in court she was scared. Yesterday the stabbing of their fellow comrade leader shows the magnitude of the problem and the threats the students from Kenyatta University are facing.

In the meanwhile Professor Mugenda Olive – whose removal from managing Kenyatta University the students have been fighting for – yesterday heard a case brought against her by two lecturers to the industrial court over their reinstation to the institution after they lost their jobs illegally in 2006. She refused to heed the court order for the reinstatement and that’s why the judge committed her for a two-month jail term for contempt of court.

We are thankful to all the people who have shown a willingness to assist through the R.P.P secretariat. Among the students wishes is to challenge their illegal expulsion and the threats towards them.

Patrick Kamotho Githinji

A study of patients who failed to return to their HIV clinic in Uganda found that the majority were still alive after one year, contrary to assumptions, and in many cases had either transferred to other clinics or faced transport and access difficulties in getting to the clinic, according to research by Elvin Geng and colleagues in a paper published in advance online by the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes.

Less than half of adults and children needing antiretroviral treatment (ART) in sub-Saharan Africa - where two-thirds of all global HIV infections occur - are receiving it. This is despite the region showing the greatest gains worldwide in terms of access to the lifesaving drugs. According to a report released today, (Wed) 45% of HIV positive pregnant women received the drugs needed to prevent them from passing the virus on to their baby, up from 35% the year before.

Botswana – where nearly one quarter of people between the ages of 15 and 49 are living with HIV – is taking steps with the help of international assistance to combat the devastating AIDS pandemic, an official from the Southern African nation told the General Assembly. “HIV/AIDS undoubtedly continues to be one of the most daunting challenges of our time,” Charles Thembani Ntwaagae, Botswana’s Ambassador to the United Nations, told the Assembly’s annual high-level gathering.

Small scale farmers have accused the Kenyan Government of failing to act to address persistent food insecurity. Further, they want policies that discourage use of chemical fertilisers and other substances that damage soil fertility to be introduced. Under the auspices of the Sustainable Agriculture and Community Development Programme, the group also opposed the leasing of agricultural land to foreigners.

The Government of Japan, in association with the World Bank, FAO, IFAD and UNCTAD, hosted a Roundtable “Promoting Responsible International Investment in Agriculture” on Wednesday 23 September in the Millennium Hotel, New York. The meeting was intended to initiate a coordinated global response to the growing trend of major agricultural investment associated with acquisition of rights to land and related resources, particularly in the developing world.

Angelina Silva doesn’t remember the exact dates when her sons died. She just remembers their ages. "One was one year old, the other was one year and nine months," she said. "They had an illness. We think it was malaria, but we don’t know for sure." The 30-year-old, who has five other children and lives in a shantytown on the outskirts of Angola’s capital Luanda, is unsentimental.

Last week’s United Nations General Assembly Special Session saw President Obama place America back on a multi-lateral path. But something else important took place at the session, L. Muthoni Wanyeki writes in Pambazuka News – the opening for signatures of the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, a treaty pushed for largely by newly independent states emerging from colonialism and aimed at delivering ‘real changes in citizens’ material condition and realities.’

The World Food Programme says that, for the first time, the number of people facing hunger worldwide has topped one billion, but who is to blame for this and what can be done to stem the flow of starvation? Inside Story speaks to Bettina Luescher, Christina Schiavoni, and Pambazuka's Firoze Manji.

Kenya's older citizens are not safe from the HIV/AIDS epidemic, according to the final report of the 2007 Kenya AIDS Indicator Survey. The survey, released on 24 September, also showed that the country's epidemic varies greatly from region to region, while HIV testing remains low due to low risk perception among the population.

Multiple partnerships may not be as common in South Africa as previously thought, according to a study presented at the recent AIDS Research Symposium at the University the Witwatersrand, in Johannesburg. Saul Johnson, managing director of Health & Development Africa (HDA), a health consultancy which conducted the research, said findings from four sites across the country showed about 26 percent of men and 5 percent of women reported having had more than one partner in the past year.

A six-year clinical trial in Thailand has yielded the first ever evidence that an AIDS vaccine can provide some protection against HIV infection. The trial team in Bangkok, Thailand's capital announced on 24 September that rates of HIV infection were 31 percent lower in trial participants who got the vaccine than in those who received a placebo.