HIV care and treatment has come a long way in the past decade, write Brian Honermann and Mark Heywood in this opinion piece marking 10 years since South Africa's Constitutional Court upheld the constitutional right of all HIV positive pregnant women to access health care services to prevent mother to child transmission of HIV (PMTCT). 'In 2002, an HIV positive mother would pass on HIV to her baby about 30% of the time. With access to Nevirapine the transmission rate was cut in half. Now, with better drug regimens being used, transmission of HIV from mothers to babies happens in only about 4% of cases during or shortly after birth.'

The Rio+20 summit from 13 to 22 June was disappointing to many, but it could still succeed through the mandated follow-up actions on a high-level political forum, sustainable development goals, finance and technology, says The South Centre, which gives an in-depth assessment in its latest bulletin. Individual articles include:
- The Rio+20 Summit and its Follow Up
- Rio+20: Summit Adopts Text, Ends With Positive Speeches
- Rio+20: An Inside View on the Tough Fight Over Means of Implementation (Finance and Technology)
- Sustainable Development As An Answer To Economic And Financial Crises
- Food Issues in the Rio+20 Spotlight
- 'It's Not Fair to Require Emerging Countries to Contribute As Much As Rich Countries,' Says South Centre
- Indian PM’s Speech at Rio+20
- Chinese PM’s Speech at Rio+20
- South Centre Seminar in Rio on World Economy

Kenyan women match men almost coin for coin in the now vibrant mobile money transfer market, surveys published by an international polling firm show. According to three studies on payments and money transfer behaviour carried out in Kenya and another 10 sub-Saharan African countries carried out by Gallup and funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, both genders are involved in mobile money transfers in equal measure.

Gunmen killed several people in an attack on two Christian villages in central Nigeria's Plateau State early Saturday, officials said. Although police and army spokesmen could not give an exact toll, one politician said at least 23 people had been killed and blamed Muslim herdsmen for the attacks.

The battle for supremacy between Nigeria and South Africa and an attempt by France to play a bigger role in African issues, are likely to influence who becomes the next head of the African Union Commission in this week’s polls. There is a growing competition between Nigeria and South Africa for the control of the continent’s economic and political scene after South Africa offered the candidature of Home Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, contrary to the unwritten rule that big economies should stay away from the leadership.

A large tract of near-pristine Afromontane forest has been found in Angola's Namba Mountains, tripling the amount of this habitat that was thought to survive in Angola. The site meets the criteria for a new Important Bird Area (IBA), holding one globally threatened species, and assemblages of restricted range and biome-restricted bird species. Afromontane forest is the most localised and threatened habitat type in Angola. By the early 1970s, only 200 hectares was estimated to remain, mainly at the Mount Moco IBA, and perhaps in the Namba Mountains, where most forest was thought to be degraded by logging.

A former Zimbabwean diplomat has warned that the country’s massive international debt is a 'ticking time bomb', which threatens to destroy any hope of economic recovery. The country’s bill is believed to be hovering between 8 and 10 billion dollars, which Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono warned in May was 'a serious developmental constraint for the economy'. According to former diplomat Clifford Chitupa Mashiri, the lack of agreement on solutions to the staggering debt 'could trigger civil strife and instability in the not so distant future'.

While Botswana’s government has never officially admitted to forcibly relocating the G/wi and G//ana communities of the Basarwa indigenous group to make way for diamond-mining operations in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR), critics have long suspected this to be the main motivation for the removals. When it became known in late 2010 that Gem Diamonds would begin mining operations in the CKGR, suspicions seem to have been confirmed. Basarwa were granted the rights to occupy land within the CKGR, as a result of a court ruling in 2006, after years of attempted negotiations, struggle and litigation. There is concern over monitoring and ensuring that the needs of the communities in the CKGR are met, says this article from

The United Nations has in a new report expressed grave doubts about the widespread practice of detaining migrants. States use a variety of reasons to justify this practice and some see irregular migration as a national security problem or a criminal issue, notes the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, François Crépeau, in his latest report to the Human Rights Council. However, he warns, there are a number of human rights issues at stake. Different categories of migrants are subjected to detention, including migrants who are undocumented or in an irregular situation, asylum-seekers awaiting the outcome of their asylum application and failed asylum-seekers awaiting removal.

The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information ANHRI has condemned a 4 July 2012 ruling issued by the Helwan Misdemeanor Court sentencing Ashraf Nabil and his assistant, Ahmed Helmy Abdulsamd, to six-month suspended prison terms, as well as a fine of EGP 200 (approx. US$33). In early June, Nabil and Helmy were in Helwan filming a short movie about election bribery, entitled 'Do not Sell', when they were attacked by supporters of former presidential candidate Ahmed Shafik. They were then detained by members of Shafik's campaign team and taken to the Helwan police station.

The war against drugs is hurting the fight against HIV, according to a new report by the Global Commission on Drug policy, an international panel that advocates science-based strategies to reduce the harm caused by drugs. 'The public health implications of HIV treatment disruptions resulting from drug law enforcement tactics have not been appropriately recognized as a major impediment to efforts to control the global HIV/AIDS pandemic,' the authors said. 'The war on drugs has also led to a policy distortion, whereby evidence-based addiction treatment and public health measures have been downplayed or ignored.'

Reporters Without Borders has releasing a report – in English, French and Arabic – on the state of freedom of information in South Sudan, which will celebrate the first anniversary of its independence on 9 July. The product of a visit to the South Sudanese capital of Juba from 9 to 15 May, it says that the divorce with Khartoum is not entirely consummated and that independence has brought no significant improvement in media freedom. It looks at the media war being waged by the two Sudans and highlights the impact of the ubiquitous, heavy-handed security forces.

In 2010 and 2011, the International Land Coalition (ILC) supported five community-based projects promoting the legal empowerment of rural women. Projects piloted innovative ways to enhance women’s land rights, but also identified models for replication and scaling up. Activities included raising women’s legal awareness through grassroots mobilisation, community trainings, and consultations and the provision of paralegal services, with the aim of improving women’s ability to use legal and administrative processes and structures to gain or maintain land rights and to benefit from them. This briefing note captures lessons learned from these five projects and from the learning exchanges.

Sudan and South Sudan have pledged to cease hostilities along their disputed oil-rich border, but stopped short of actually signing an agreement, officials have said. The verbal agreement on Saturday came as the latest round of talks closed in the Ethiopian capital ahead of celebrations on Monday to mark one year of independence for South Sudan.

A free text messaging service called EcoChat has become popular with Zimbabweans living in South Africa, according to Econet. The service is free during 2012, and forms part of the Econet ‘Call Home’ SIM card. Similar to popular messenger service What’s App, subscribers only pay standard data rates, which works out to be the fraction of the cost of an SMS.

Liberian education law is silent on what should happen to girls who get pregnant while enrolled. Pregnancy and subsequently dropping out of school is just one of many problems limiting access to education for girls in Liberia. Girls in the rural areas have even more obstacles in their paths. Traditional practices along with a lack of schools and financial support are some of the challenges they must overcome.

Journaliste en Danger (JED) says it is outraged by the prolonged and illegal detention of Bruno Kabwe, interim director of Radio Parec, a community radio station based in Kalemie, in Katanga province, on the orders of a colonel of the armed forces (FARDC). According to information obtained by JED, Bruno Kabwe was arrested on 22 June 2012 and was immediately taken into custody at the headquarters of the 61st Brigade. He remains in detention and is prevented from having visitors. Kabwe is accused of having made 'rude' comments about Jean-Marie Izumbu, the colonel in question and the commander of the 61st Brigade of the FARDC.

Nigeria’s health services halved the maternal mortality rate between 1990 and 2010, but in parts of the predominantly Muslim north, which is less socio-economically advanced, women are 10 times more likely to die in childbirth than in the oil-rich, predominantly Christian south. Maternal health personnel are calling for more appropriate interventions to bridge the gap. Reasons for the divide mirror those in many West African states: too few referral facilities and health practitioners - especially midwives - and inadequate antenatal equipment; too few clinics and poor roads that make accessing clinics difficult and expensive; poverty and cultural barriers to visiting hospitals.

The Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI)-Wellcome Trust Research Programme is facing discrimination charges brought by six former employees. The group, dubbed the KEMRI six, are accusing the programme of exploiting African employees, impeding their career development, and giving preferential treatment and pay to researchers from developed countries. They also allege their work was stolen and given to researchers from developed countries. Many consider the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme to be a model North-South partnership, praising its substantial support of African researchers. But others criticise what they perceive to be a failure to promote African scientists, or to involve them in setting research agendas. According to scientists in Africa and Europe, partnerships between rich and poor nations often generate tensions.

One year after South Sudan declared independence, many humanitarian needs remain unmet. Communities lack access to basic health-care services. The situation is particularly difficult in northern regions close to the border with Sudan. Recent fighting in this area has had a direct impact on the availability and price of food, contributing to an increase in child deaths from malnutrition. 'In Malakal Teaching Hospital, there has been a dramatic rise in child malnutrition admissions over the past three months, since fighting escalated,' said Melker Mabeck, the head of the delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in South Sudan.