SciDev.Net and UNESCO are pleased to announce a five-day training workshop on the use of information and communications technologies - in particular the Internet - to improve reporting on HIV/AIDS, which will take place in Uganda in April 2003.

Most mother-to-child transmission prevention efforts have focused on the potential danger of HIV infection to the fetus, not the mother. "HIV-infected pregnant women have received a great deal of attention," reads a report from the Aids Office of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, but this has mostly been focused on their role in preventing transmission to their offspring. Less attention has been given to these women as women.

The disregard for the rights of women and girls by the king of Swaziland - where the King can abduct legal minors with a view to taking them as wives - is tied to a deeper disregard for the human rights of Swazi citizens.

Oprah Winfrey, television talk show host, says the school she is helping to build must be regarded as an institutional symbol of the rejection of violence against women and girls.

The National Maendeleo ya Wanawake Organisation (MYWO) programme manager, Mrs Anne Nzomo, has said more than 88 per cent of people in the South Rift region are still practising female genital mutilation.

Elderly people are more vulnerable during crises and disasters, and their special needs should be better reflected in relief operations, Helpage International says. Research shows that older women faced chronic vulnerability due to a lifetime of gender-based disadvantage. A large proportion was likely not to have had any formal education and to suffer chronic untreated health conditions.

The final results of the Sharing Knowledge to Combat Violence Against Women (VAW)project has been launched on the web. Experiences from different countries, policy guidelines and definitions are among the highlights of the report, which will assist everyone involved or interested in combating VAW.

Immediate action is needed to protect Southern African women from the combined effects of violence and HIV/AIDS, Amnesty International says. Despite commitment by Southern African governments to eliminate 'all forms of discrimination [and] all forms of violence against women and girls' to reduce their vulnerability to HIV/AIDS, there continues to be evidence of widespread economic, social and legal discrimination along with high levels of violence, including sexual violence, against women and girls in Southern African countries, Amnesty International said.

Raising Voices and UN-Habitat are undertaking a field review of organisations and institutions working to prevent gender-based violence (GBV) in East and Southern Africa. The aim is to create networks and alliances between those working to prevent GBV through conferences and partnerships and to produce a publication that highlights successful approaches to preventing GBV in the region. All NGOs, government agencies, local authorities and other groups working on the prevention of gender-based violence are warmly invited to share experiences with them. Contact [email protected] for more information or follow the link www.raisingvoices.org/FieldReview.doc to complete a simple questionnaire.

The decision last month to extend Operation Iron Fist into 2003 is more likely to subject women and girls in Northern Uganda to further violence than bring peace to the region. In March, the Ugandan government obtained approval from the Sudanese government to launch a military offensive against the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), whose bases are located in southern Sudan.

Zimbabwe's economic problems are exacerbating violence against women and their sexual exploitation, women's groups say. "With all the economic problems, violence has taken a new twist," matrimonial lawyer Nomsa Ncube told IRIN.

The Organisation des femmes centrafricaines, a women's association in the Central African Republic (CAR), launched an aid appeal on 5 December for women raped during the October rebel uprising. "They need urgent humanitarian assistance, including medicines and food," Helene Kaine, chairwoman of the association, told IRIN. "Among them were children aged between nine and 14."

What discussions, dilemmas and ideas are surfacing around the Beijing +10/Fifth World Conference debate? We at AWID, would like to invite and engage you, our members and forum participants, in a timely and ongoing dialogue around the pros, cons and alternatives to the proposed 2005 Conference. This four-week online discussion will be moderated and will include weekly summaries and discussion topics relevant to the individual postings and contributions made throughout the week. To participate please subscribe by sending a message to [email protected]. Please leave the subject line blank and write "subscribe
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The first conference dedicated to African Women's Sexual and Reproductive Health & Rights will take place in Johannesburg, South Africa, February 4th to 7th 2003. The conference represents an opportunity to bring together policy makers, women's organisations, donor agencies, researchers and health-care providers to debate and strategise around gender and health in Africa. Africa is currently in a state of reproductive health crisis facing the highest rates of maternal mortality and the spread of HIV / AIDS and low availability of and use of fertility regulation methods. This conference is an attempt to address the emergency in the region and raise awareness of the connection between this crisis and women's sexual and reproductive health and rights issues and mobilize pan-African public opinion to support them.

Reducing the gender gap in health and education can significantly reduce personal and household poverty and generate national economic growth, according to a report issued by the United Nations Population Fund.

Rural women, most of whom are farmers speaking only the local language of their region, are among the most isolated groups in Africa. Anne Walker describes the rationale and methodology used in developing the CD-ROM "Rural Women in Africa: Ideas for Earning Money" designed to meet the needs of rural women in Africa to have access to relevant and appropriate information that will improve their marketing and survival skills.

The curtain has now closed on the 2002 electoral nominations. There are those who have fairly won or lost and others who have clearly been rigged out. Many accuse major political party players of lack of democracy, manifested through the flouting of democratic rules and fair play. Women candidates, as expected, given their marginality in the top decision-making party hierarchy combined with the traditional socio-economic hurdles and highly patriarchal political theatres of electoral engagement, fared more poorly than their male counterparts, with only about 30 survivors.

Sheila Makumbo, a former soldier popularly known as "Yondo Sister" counts herself among the lucky few women who have benefited from Zimbabwe's land reform programme. However, Makumbo is frustrated that more women have not been given the opportunity. According to official figures, only about 16 percent of land redistributed by the government has gone to women.

Declaring that “the education of girls is key to real progress in overcoming poverty,” UNICEF announced a major initiative to get girls into school in 25 priority countries, mainly in Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia.

Gender concerns have been markedly lacking in the development of a new national policy on international migration to South Africa. This paper, from the Southern African Migration Project, assesses the situation in the policy-making process and the content of the policy, and asks why this is so.