Kenyan lawmakers are set to debate proposed amendments to a bill that, if passed, would prevent the government from issuing compulsory licenses to produce urgently needed medicines without seeking approval from the patent holder. The amendments, which involve deleting parts of Kenya’s Industrial Property Act of 2001, were first expected to be debated Thursday. But Peter Munyi, an intellectual property lawyer in Nairobi close to the issue, told Intellectual Property Watch that parliamentarians were meeting late Wednesday to discuss the proposed changes.

The high cost antiretroviral (ARV) drugs and inadequate control mechanisms in Zimbabwe are driving a flourishing trade in fake ARVs by unlicensed dealers, activists have warned. The Medicines Control Authority of Zimbabwe (MCAZ) recently issued a statement warning the public that the dealers were importing and selling counterfeit ARVs to unsuspecting HIV-positive people who needed the life-prolonging medication.

In Uganda, the areas worst affected by the violence were close to the border with Sudan, far from the urban centres around which most camps for internally displaced persons (IDP) grew. It is the urban areas, such as Gulu in northern Uganda and Yei in southern Sudan, which have the highest HIV prevalence rates. Years of encampment and dependency on relief handouts have had a profound effect on the traditionally conservative Acholi.

The problem of HIV in Kenya's prisons - where prevalence is about twice the national average - will remain unsolved as long as homosexuality is illegal, and prevention efforts remain out of reach, experts have warned. "We know homosexuality exists in the prisons, but our hands are tied because of the illegal nature of sodomy under our laws," says Mary Chepkong'a, head of the Kenya Prisons Service AIDS Control Unit.

Providing risk reduction services to female sex workers leads to sustained changes in behaviour, even after the level of that service is substantially reduced, according to follow-up data from a Kenyan trial published in the August 15th edition of the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes.

Africa's Health in 2010 is pleased to announce the launching of its website. The site provides information about the project's purpose, a description of the technical areas in which the project works, information about the African partners with which the project works, and the capability to download publications produced by the project. The purpose of Africa's Health in 2010 project is to provide strategic, analytical, communications and advocacy, and monitoring and evaluation technical assistance to African public and private institutions and networks to improve the health status of Africans.

Without better uptake of condoms among older men, the promotion of later sexual debut and discouragement of cross-generational sexual partnerships may do little to limit the spread of HIV in African countries, according to epidemiological modelling carried out by researchers from Imperial College, London.

An extensive analysis of all scientific research on the links between improved nutrition and the treatment of both HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis (TB) has found no evidence that healthier eating is any substitute for correctly-used medication.

The issue of civil society’s participation or not to the advocated political dialogue is dividing Central African Republic stakeholders as two opposed camps are confronting their viewpoints on the issue in a debate took place last week. Organised by the UN Peace Building Support Office in the CAR, BONUCA, at the National Assembly’s palace, the 22-24 consultation meeting focused on the political dialogue that many have called for to discuss national issues.

The software battle that has been raging for a while among online communities and computer users in general on whether to adopt open source or closed source software is unlikely to end soon. It is a war mainly between the proponents of proprietary software like Microsoft Word and the free and open-source software (FOSS) which offer similar products like openoffice.org.

Improving maternal health remains the most elusive of the Millennium Development Goals. Every minute, at least one woman dies from pregnancy-related causes: 99 percent of these are in developing countries. The majority of these deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa and south Asia, and are avoidable through using standard interventions and health care which all pregnant women and their newborns need.

More than at any previous time in history, global public health security depends on international cooperation and the willingness of all countries to act effectively in tackling new and emerging threats. That is the clear message of this year's World health report entitled A safer future: global public health security in the 21st century.

With the major public health challenges that are found in Africa, making progress in public health clearly demands a significant spread of public health skills. While health workers are making tireless efforts to address preventable diseases across the continent, and many successful experiences exist, revitalizing primary health care oriented systems calls for revitalized public health leadership and skills.

The MilAIDS Project of the Defence Sector Programme (DSP) at the ISS is planning to host a three-day conference from Wednesday 21 November until Friday 23 November 2007 in Tshwane (Pretoria). The conference is designed to harness multi-disciplinary research skills within the field of HIV/AIDS and the Armed Forces in Africa, bringing together policy-makers, practitioners and scholars whose research interests coincide with the activities of the Security Sector and Peacekeeping Missions in Africa.

HIV-positive children taking antiretroviral therapy in rural Uganda often have poor adherence, a detectable viral load and extensive resistance to anti-HIV drugs, according to a study conducted by Medecins Sans Frontieres and presented as a poster to the recent International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention in Sydney.

Since the first HIV test was licensed in 1985 there has been a constant tug of war between those who advocate the widest possible use of HIV testing, and those who argue that testing throws up a raft of ethical issues that need to be considered before testing can be expanded. In an effort to increase access to and uptake of HIV testing, there has been growing support for implementation of provider-initiated testing and counselling (PITC).

Maternal HIV and malaria infection during pregnancy reduces tetanus antibody levels in newborns and mothers thereby exposing them to an increased risk of tetanus, according to the findings of a study published in the August 15th edition of the Journal of Infectious Diseases. According to the paper and an accompanying editorial, the control of these diseases in child-bearing women have an important role to play in the elimination of maternal and neonatal tetanus which causes 213,000 deaths annually.

EQUINET/SEATINI have produced a policy brief to outline the health implications presented by the EPAs being negotiated between the EU and ACP states. The brief suggests ways forward to safeguard public health within the EPA.

The director of a private newspaper in Libreville, the capital of Gabon, was handed a suspended prison term and a fine today, but could not appear in court after he was hospitalized as the result of poor detention conditions, local journalists told CPJ. "We condemn this verdict and call on Gabonese President Omar Bongo to deliver on his 2004 pledge to eliminate prison sentences for press offences," said CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon.

There is standing room only in Room 3 of the urology clinic at University Teaching Hospital (UTH) in Lusaka, Zambia's capital. About 30 young men and a handful of mothers with male children listen attentively as Sitali Mulope, clinical officer, briefs them on the benefits of surgically removing the foreskin of the penis.