Grace Mwalabu lives in Chikalogwe, Balaka District, in southern Malawi. On a warm day, she stands smearing cucumber seeds on the outside wall of her kitchen. She explains, 'It is our tradition. I smear them one or two metres from the ground. The advantage is that the seeds dry quickly, do not rot and survive the dry season.' Hybrid seeds are popular in some areas of Malawi. They often yield more than local varieties. But they are expensive. Farmers need to buy them every year, so they are dependant on seed companies and distributors. They know that saving local seeds from harvest is cheaper and more reliable, reports Farm Radio Weekly.

Religious practices, cultural beliefs and stigmatisation by the general population hamper access to health care and HIV/Aids prevention for Malian Men who have Sex with other Men (MSM) and force them into bisexuality or underground sexual practices that put them at high risk of Sexually Transmitted and HIV infections, says Dr Dembelé Bintou Keita, Director of ARCAD/SIDA, an HIV/Aids organisation that also provides health care for MSM in Mali.

The Kenyatta International Conference Centre resembled one big nursery with parents and their crying babies. 'We’ve started the global rollout of these (pneumonia) vaccines that will save thousands of children’s lives. It is a very exciting day,' said Helen Evans, interim CEO of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI). The vaccine, already available in various private hospitals, has remained out of reach for many children. A full dose costs about 188 dollars, which for the many Kenyans living on less than a dollar a day is too expensive.

When the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria suspended funding to Zambia in late 2010 it made international headlines and rocked donor confidence, but the stock-outs and drug rationing in the wake of the scandal have received little attention. In March 2009 a whistle blower's allegations of corruption in the Zambian Ministry of Health (MoH) triggered an investigation by the auditor general, and a web of corruption in the health sector began to unravel. The audit found that the largely donor-funded ministry could not account for more than US$7.2 million, about five per cent of which was estimated to have come from Global Fund coffers.

Professor Anyang Nyong'o might have guessed that a trip to the United States for treatment for prostate cancer would provoke a furore: he is the Minister for Medical Services. Health activists are outraged that high-profile politicians are able to access world class facilities, whilst ordinary Kenyans can only dream of accessing such health care. 'We are glad that the minister is back and is exuding good health. But what choices does the ordinary Kenyan have at accessing quality treatment?' asks Nairobi resident, Milka Ondiek.

On 10 March 2011, in the case of Kiyutin v Russia, the European Court of Human Rights held that refusing a residence permit to a foreign national solely on the basis of their HIV-positive status amounted to unlawful discrimination, says this Interights statement. 'This landmark case is a significant boost to the rights of persons living with HIV/AIDS (PLHIV) in Europe, as the judgment contains two important "firsts": not only has it explicitly recognised that PLHIV are protected as a distinct group against discrimination in relation to their fundamental rights; but it has also recognised that PLHIV are a "vulnerable group" and any restriction of their rights attracts a higher degree of scrutiny on the part of the European Court.'

Ethiopia is boosting its health worker numbers, building thousands of health centres and working with donors to prioritize the prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission (PMTCT). Even so, most women still prefer to have their babies at home. An estimated 2.4 per cent of pregnant women in Ethiopia are thought to be HIV-positive - rising to 3.5 per cent in the 15-24 age group. The national average is just over 2 per cent. About 20 per cent of children born to HIV-positive mothers annually are also infected with HIV, according to government statistics.

Many people living with HIV continue to face unfair discrimination in various aspects of their lives, says social justice organisation SECTION27. 'SECTION27 often receives reports from people who are denied access to insurance products solely on the basis that they are HIV positive, or are offered cover at what appear to be highly inflated prices. The practice of denying cover has gone on for more than two decades, with little change. And yet the implications of HIV infection for health status and life expectancy have changed dramatically over the same period.'

The South Africa government is extremely concerned about the continued dissatisfaction of patients who often face rude staff, long queues as well as dirty and unsafe clinics and hospitals, the Director General of Health acknowledged at a meeting on healthcare standards and quality. Dr Precious Matsoso said South Africa’s healthcare outputs were very poor in relation to its inputs.

A new programme, funded largely by the United States President's Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (Pepfar), will provide $130-million in grants to African institutions, with the aim of strengthening medical education and research training. Dr Francis Collins, director of the National Institute of Health (NIH), said the goals of the Medical Education Partnership Initiative (Mepi) are ambitious. 'The intention here is, over five years, to train no less than 140 000 healthcare workers and to provide a real platform for a wide variety of research activities going forward. This is not something that has been attempted before,' he said.

There is a ray of hope for millions of poor Zambians - thanks to the unwavering anti-corruption efforts of many organisations like Transparency International Zambia (TIZ) and the Medicines Transparency Alliance (MeTA). Supported by the UK’s development agency DFiD, since 2008, the international initiatives have been spearheading a project aimed at helping to increase access to essential medicines by low income and disadvantaged people in Zambia. MeTA and TIZ want to improve transparency and accountability in the selection, procurement, sale and distribution of essential medicines in Zambia. And it involves the key sectors in government, the pharmaceutical industry, civil society and the donor community.

On 8 March, Olivier De Schutter, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, presented his new report 'Agro-ecology and the right to food' before the UN Human Rights Council. Based on an extensive review of recent scientific literature, the report demonstrates that agroecology, if sufficiently supported, can double food production in entire regions within 10 years while mitigating climate change and alleviating rural poverty. The report therefore calls States for a fundamental shift towards agro-ecology as a way for countries to feed themselves while addressing climate and poverty challenges.

A shortage of money means Uganda is unlikely to shift its prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) programmes to a more efficient UN World Health Organisation (WHO) regimen soon, say government officials. In 2010, WHO recommended two equally effective options for PMTCT. The first, Option A, is fairly similar to the system Uganda currently uses. It involves single-dose antiretroviral (ARV) drugs for the mother - if her CD4 count is over 350 - from the 14th week, as well as ARVs during labour, delivery and one week post-partum. Pregnant women with CD4 counts below 350 are advised to start taking ARVs for their own health. Option B involves triple therapy ARVs from the 14th week of pregnancy until one week after breastfeeding has ended, which can be up to one year. The Ugandan government has expressed its intention to shift to Option B, which is simpler for health providers and mothers to implement than Option A. However, an already stressed HIV budget may make this impossible.

After months of lobbying and campaigning by Zambian activists, the government has announced that it will provide free third-line antiretroviral (ARV) drugs to people living with HIV. This week the government invited bids for supplying the drugs, which they at first had said were too expensive, and the number of people needing them still too small. It is expected that the drugs will be available by mid-2011. More than 300,000 people receive ARV treatment at over 1,400 counselling and testing sites across Zambia.

South Africa's genetically modified crop area for the 2010/11 season rose 6 per cent but perceptions make it hard for other African countries to adopt the practice, the deputy agriculture minister said on Thursday (03 March). South Africa, the world's seventh-largest producer of GM crops but Africa's biggest, has seen a rapid increase in gene-altered crop output since it started growing GM farm produce in 1998.

While Tanzania's health indicators in some key areas have shown improvement, challenges abound within the health system, a new study shows. The report lists 36 factors impeding the development of the health sector in the country. Limited financial and human resources, administrative shortcomings and unfulfilled plans and promises are among the reasons. Giving local authorities some mandate on decision-making, functional responsibility and resources from central to local government authorities also contribute to the sector's underperformance. The 'Tanzania Health System Assessment 2010' report reveals that there has been a layer of complexity arising from the managerial ability of staff to coordinate across different ministries and fulfil their roles within the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare and the Prime Minister's Office, Regional Administration and Local Governments (RALG), administration structures.

Afya Mtandao, Tanzania’s national ICT for Development (ICT4D) health network, is testing a new social health website. With the website, hospitals and health institutions using ICT tools can share their experiences and read news about ICT in the health sector. The website was set up together with Dutch IT company InterAccess by using the Ning platform (an online platform for people to create their own websites and social networks).

After decades of political violence, displacement and insecurity caused by clashes between rebel groups and government forces, as well as armed bandits, thousands of people in Central African Republic (CAR) are vulnerable to disease and have little access to health services, aid agencies say. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), many health centres in the north and southeast of CAR are either looted or not operational because medical workers are often compelled to leave the area.

Access to affordable medicine for millions of people in the South could be at risk if the production and distribution of generic medicine from India is restricted. Campaigners say both Kenyan legislation and a European Union-India trade agreement to be concluded this year will block access to affordable drugs.

Gaddafi's running out of scapegoats, says Gado.