The HIV and AIDS discussion needs to become inclusive of citizens so that their needs can be reflected in policy design at every level of government, says this report. When citizens become active in facing up to problems such as HIV with policy makers and planners, they develop capacity and confidence to take ownership and responsibility for common concerns in public life.

Since 2007, Blog Action Day has focused bloggers around the world to blog about one important global topic on the same day. Past topics have included water, climate change and poverty. This year, Blog Action Day will be held on 16 October, which coincides with World Food Day, so the theme is food.

Climate negotiators said they made progress on laying out ways to help poor countries but deep differences remained on core issues ahead of a make-or-break talks in South Africa. With scientists warning that the planet is far behind on meeting pledges to control climate change, officials from around the world held a week of talks in Panama City to float ideas before the Durban conference opens on 28 November. UN climate chief Christiana Figueres said that the talks made 'good progress' and pointed to technical work on the shape of a Green Climate Fund that will assist the poorest nations seen as worst impacted by climate change.

Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams presented Robert Mugabe with a dossier of alleged abuses perpetrated against worshippers over the past four years. In response, the president delivered a history lesson on Anglo-Zimbabwean relations, detailed his own religious upbringing and reminded Williams that the Church of England is 'a breakaway group' from the Catholic church. Despite persistent rumours over the 87-year-old president's health, Williams commented: 'He's on top of things intellectually.'

As Parliament resumes, one of the motions lined up for debate is the proposed amendment to the Constitution to change the election date and the one-third gender representation clause. Already, the government has published the proposed amendments, and despite stiff opposition from lobbyists, religious groups, the private sector and the Constitution Implementation Commission, it is hell-bent on pushing them through, says this Daily Nation article. 'If the amendments go through, the government will have a set a very bad precedent, where it resorts to changing laws whenever it is faced with difficult choices.'

More than 500 US residents with a blood connection to Kenya gathered in Washington recently in the first conference focused on the diaspora's relationship with the homeland. One particularly prominent figure was absent however: President Barack Obama. Kenya's US Ambassador Elkanah Odembo said organisers had invited Mr Obama, whose father was Kenyan, to attend the event. The White House replied that the president's schedule did not allow for such an appearance.

Egypt is still set to hold parliamentary elections according to schedule, despite heightened tensions in Egypt following a military attack on a Coptic Christian demonstration last Sunday that left 25 dead and hundreds injured. Some have expressed fears that the incident and its aftermath could further obstruct the long-delayed election process.

Blog Africa is a Country has a post showing a global gay marriage map. South Africa is the only African country of 10 worldwide to have national laws extending marriage rights to gays and lesbians. 'And as we know South Africa is not the most gay friendly countries,' the post states.

Phyllis Hakola Jimmy lost her husband in a road accident ten years ago. With six children to look after, life was not easy for the 57-year-old widow. Hakola struggled to feed her children and pay their school fees. Then in 2006, she decided to act, reports Farm Radio Weekly. She met with three other widows. She says, 'I...told them that we cannot just stay with the children without looking for ways to make ends meet.' She asked them to help her form a widows’ group. She wanted to find a way for widows to help themselves and improve their livelihoods. For three years, the widows’ group has been able to access bank loans. Each widow manages her own income-generating activities. But the women also farm collectively. Every member repays a specified amount on pre-determined dates. In this way, each of them contributes to repaying the loan.

According to local sources from Sahn Malen Chiefdom, Pujehun district, the police have arrested up to 30 peaceful protesters including their spokesman Eddie Amara and took them to Pujehun. They are accused of public disorder according to the local unit commander. Land owning families are blocking the Socfin (SAC) operation area in Sahn Malen, south of the country. The company is one of the large scale investors in oil palm plantation in Sierra Leone.

Heavy fighting between government forces and militant Islamists in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, has forced the closure of a hospital, an aid group says. Dr Ahmed Mohamed said the shelling of a maternity unit run by SOS Children on 10 October killed one staff member and forced patients and staff to flee. This was the first time in 25 years that the hospital had closed, he said.

A controversial hormone drug, long opposed by several Black, Latina and Native American women’s health groups, has found its way to Africa where new research has made some alarming discoveries. In the just-published study of seven African countries, researchers at the University of Washington in Seattle found that women who used the Pfizer drug Depo Provera – a hormone-based contraceptive injection - were twice as likely to acquire and pass on HIV as those who didn’t.

Discontent with political leaders is mounting in Botswana, which has long been held up as a model of democratic governance in Africa. The ruling Botswana Democratic Party's (BDP) secretary-general Kentse Rammidi plunged his party into a crisis by his resignation recently, bemoaning a lack of internal democracy. Rammidi's decision followed a move by Labour and Home Affairs Minister Peter Siele to declare teaching, veterinary services and diamond sorting to be essential services.

Former Vice President Gilbert Bukenya has been granted bail pending trial, after spending a week on remand. Bukenya is charged with abuse of office for his role in the award of a deal worth Shs9.4b to supply 204 executive vehicles four years ago during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting to Motorcare.

One of the post election violence suspects at the Hague, Uhuru Kenyatta, says that Raila Odinga, the Kenyan prime minister should take political responsibility for ordering a mass action after the announcement of presidential election winner in 2007 in which President Kibaki was declared the winner. Uhuru said that the violence could have been stopped had Raila ordered so.

Sick people have been left to their fate as Ghana’s doctors continue with their strike that began on 7 October over a salaries dispute, a move backed by the Ghana Medical Association (GMA). The actual dispute is with the government’s Fair Wages Commission (FWC) which the GMA is accusing of putting professionals with similar skills and job descriptions in different salary scales.

A statement authored by Ruth Hall and Andries du Toit from the Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS) has described a proposal by the Democratic Alliance on tenure rights for poor people in former Bantustans as 'entirely unrealistic and probably almost impossible to implement'. 'The proposals they put forth are misguided, outmoded, and based on a mistaken analysis of the problem. They are likely to make matters worse, not better.'

The effects of the global financial crisis, which has hit Angola since 2009, has contributed to the slump of the average Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate from 17 per cent in 2008 to two per cent in 2009 and three per cent in 2011, according to the minister of economy, Abraao Pio Gourgel.
According to the government official, this situation has occurred despite government's stimulus to economic activity, due to the dependence on the oil sector, which accounts for 45 to 50 per cent of GDP and over 75 per cent of state revenues and 98 per cent of total exports.

Participants at a two-day High-Level Forum on Foreign Direct Investments in Land in Africa have resolved to promote land-based investment models that increase agricultural productivity and maximize opportunities for Africa’s farmers. The traditional leaders, government representatives, private sector and civil society actors at the Forum stressed that the majority of Africans derive their livelihoods from agriculture, including pastoralism, and that women comprise the majority of smallholder famers. The outcome - dubbed the Nairobi Action Plan - underscores the need to minimize the negative impacts of large-scale land acquisitions.

After 23 years of enforced silence, media professionals and artists in Tunisia are enjoying a period in which their freedom of expression is being respected for the first time. Hundreds of cyber-activists from across the Arab world gathered in the birthplace of the Arab Spring last week at the third meeting of Arab bloggers to discuss the role of social media and cyber-activism during popular revolts that toppled dictators in North Africa.