Experts from around the world met here this week to highlight the importance of including persons with disabilities—particularly their right to sexual and reproductive health—in national policies and programmes around the world. The Global Expert Group Meeting on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Persons with Disabilities discussed ways to promote the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities that was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in December 2006.

The Regional Network for Equity in Health in East and Southern Africa (EQUINET) together with the Training and Research Support Centre (TARSC) and the Law of Faculty, Makerere University are carrying out a commissioned review of the Public Health Laws in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania in relation to policy areas relevant to equity in health.

This study will introduce an analytic framework used across the three countries and the major global, international, regional and public health principles being reviewed. It will provide for each country and under each of the headings above, an accessible, easily understood outline of the coverage of and gaps in national law within that area, citing the relevant law or source.

This study will also provide for each country a summary of coverage, inconsistencies, contradictions, redundancies and gaps to be addressed in law and where relevant, in the enforcement mechanisms. It will give an overall summary for the three countries of coverage, inconsistencies, contradictions, redundancies and gaps to be addressed in law and where relevant, in the enforcement mechanisms; and identify areas for follow up stakeholder consultation, listing key stakeholders, for advocacy and for follow up research.

The study will be a detailed review and analysis of the public health laws of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. It will thus involve collating information on Public Health Laws of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania which will be used to prepare the final paper.

The researchers are therefore requesting any organisation or individual with information that will help them in this study to contact Mulumba Moses. The contact email address is [email][email protected]

Mulumba, Moses,
Faculty of Law,
Makerere University,
Kampala - Uganda

Regional Network for Equity in Health in East and Southern Africa (EQUINET) Steering committee (2007), Reclaiming the Resources for Health – A regional analysis of equity in health in East and Southern Africa, EQUINET, Weaver Press, Zimbabwe, Fountain Publishers, Uganda, Jacana, South Africa, 228 pages.

The authors and one of the publishers of Reclaiming the Resources for Health – A regional analysis of equity in health in East and Southern Africa, EQUINET, are clear about their intention right from the onset. They write, “It is possible to learn from existing experiences in order to act.” This statement defines the book as one that stimulates social action and not some coffee table kind that one browses through while waiting for the doctor’s appointment or in a petrol or bread queue depending on which part of East and Southern Africa (ESA) one hails from.

Written by EQUINET’s steering committee (the acknowledgements section gives the names of the principal author and contributors), the book draws from a wealth of experience from this diverse and expert group. Most of the analysis comes from positions of authority and knowledge, backed by substantial research.

Reclaiming the Resources for Health is a critical resource book and a must read for policy makers and those working in equity in health in ESA countries such as civil society organisations (CSOs), faith-based organisations and community or grassroots level social actors.

Academics can also comprise another group that this publication will be of immense value to as the book pulls together sources that include work in progress by institutions working in health equity in ESA. The book refers to published reports, surveys, testimonials and experiences’ from communities, health workers, state and CSOs and country case studies and stories.

Comparative analysis of country case stories is critical to regional integration and economic development especially if ESA policymakers can learn from each other and replicate good practices in their own neighbourhoods. Such case stories feature in all sections of the publication together with other comparative information and data cited in the text.

For the social activist in health equity the book is a tool kit. It has all the ammunition one needs to understand the dynamics of health equity and captures important statistics in intelligent ways when presenting arguments. Furthermore, definitions of terminologies are beneficial to non-academics.

The media rarely covers the development story in detail and recently there has been renewed interest in highlighting issues such as poverty and its links to HIV and AIDS. Social determinants of poverty such as inequalities in wealth and limited provision of affordable and accessible health care and other social services are critical to fighting the pandemic.

Arguably health and citizen journalists will find the book a good source of information in understanding the multi-dimensional issues surrounding equity in health issues in ESA. Importantly also, after reading the book journalists will be able to critique international agreements by the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, World Trade Organisation and Economic Partnership Agreements in the context of health equity.

Reclaiming the resources for health refers to grey material that can be a good starting point for further academic research. In most instances, such material is difficult to access as it is mainly unpublished thus gathering dust in some offices. It provides the references used at the end of each section. Even from a cursory reading, consultation of wide sources is evident from the analysis and the book might meet the rigorous standards synonymous with social science and academic research.

Although produced in expensive full-colour format, the design is eye-catching with cartograms, charts, illustrations, maps, photographs, pull-quotations, tables, figures and statistics that make the book reader friendly. The index also provides a quick reference to information in the book.

Its seven sections, consisting 30-odd pages each, cover the entire spectrum of issues dealing with health equity and constitute the main theme of the book. A summary of key issues introduces each section thus providing the reader with a gist of the information and data. One can read a section as a stand-alone chapter or module because of the references at the end. This is useful to those interested in particular sections relevant to their work or adapting the book for training purposes.

Reclaiming the resources for health touches on key development issues that groupings such as the World Social Forum continue to grapple with. These include the negative impact of neo-liberal globalisation and structural adjustment policies; resource outflows caused by debt and unfair trade regimes promoted by the World Trade Organisation (WTO); difficulties in attaining Millennium Development Goals in the absence of equity; and most importantly building alternatives to the status quo by demanding more resources for health.

Abuja PLUS strategies mentioned in the book are an example of initiatives that can go a long way towards achieving equity. The strategies call for more resources for health, especially from debt cancellation, which governments can direct to primary health care. This is in addition to the fifteen per cent as stipulated in the Abuja agreement.

The book points out that inequalities put a brake on poverty reduction, and that absolute poverty is a challenge to health equity but that so too are the growing gaps between rich and poor. The publication identifies manifestations of poverty and its various forms. These include lack of income and productive resources sufficient to ensure sustainable livelihoods; hunger and malnutrition; and ill health; limited or lack of access to education and other basic services; increased morbidity and mortality from illness; and homelessness and inadequate housing. Social discrimination, exclusion and lack of popular participation in decision-making processes are additional impediments to achieving health equity.

The publication further amplifies the need for governments to grab opportunities for health equity such as those provided by WTO trade related intellectual property rights flexibilities in Doha agreement 2001 to produce affordable generic drugs especially antiretrovirals. Compulsory licensing by government allows for the production of drugs at reduced cost.

Reclaiming resources for health identifies the central role of health workers and calls for measures to arrest the brain drain especially migration to high-income countries. These include improving salaries and conditions of service inclusive of access to antiretroviral therapy and training for health workers.

The book advocates for people centred health systems. “When health systems are organised to involve and empower people, as people centred health systems they can create powerful constituencies to protect public interests in health.” (Page 172).

Reclaiming the resources for health identifies that the realisation of socio-economic rights in health equity requires not only resource-allocations but also accountability and commitment by ESA governments. The onus falls on the state not to only give lip service but fulfil policy or legally binding obligations.

Whilst some ESA countries are signatory to international instruments that promote health equity, others have adapted the obligations into their domestic law. However, limited resources affect the need for progressive realisation of economic and social rights in ESA countries. Additionally, although states are ultimately responsible as duty-bearers, non-state actors, notably the private sector and civil society organisations, also have a role in meeting citizens’ socio-economic needs.

The book also reviews achievements made so far since the regional meeting on ‘Equity in Health – Policies for survival in Southern Africa’ held in Kasane, Botswana in 1997. The meeting, which committed itself to regional networking and equity in health, formed the basis upon which EQUINET, the book’s author and publisher, came into existence.

EQUINET, which promotes knowledge and policy dialogue through social partners, clearly spells out its agenda in the book.

“Our concept of equity includes the power and ability people (social groups) have to direct resources to their health needs, particularly for those with worst health. This refers to people’s collective ability to assert their own needs and interests, influence the allocation of societal resources towards their needs, and challenge the distribution of power and resources that block their development.” (Page 211).

As mentioned earlier, the book does not only identify problems, it provides solutions in the form of alternatives and possible choices in reclaiming resources for health. The book lists three central points. The first one is that poor people should claim a fairer share of national resources. Secondly, there should be a return by east and southern Africa countries from the global economy. Thirdly, investments should be committed at global and national resources towards health systems. In return, such health systems should allocate resources to those with greater health needs.

In conclusion, one may easily say that EQUINET achieved its objectives in this book as the publication goes beyond assessing achievements made so far since Kasane 1997. It calls for an evaluation of strategies to achieve health equity by identifying what has worked out and what failed. In a sense, the publication is radical as it calls for social action, a proactive state and an alternative global economic order.

For more information on EQUINET you can visit To order a copy of the book contact [email][email protected] Alternatively contact one of the African co-publishers: Fountain publishers in east and central Africa ([email protected]); Jacana media in South Africa, Botswana, Swaziland and Lesotho ([email protected]; please note if you are a non profit organisation) and Weaver press for all other countries ([email protected])

* Elijah Chiwota works with MWENGO, Zimbabwe

A desperate shortage of antiretroviral (ARV) drugs in the West African country of Togo has temporarily eased with the arrival of a two-month supply of the life-prolonging medication. The stopgap consignment of the generic drug, Triomune, arrived from its Indian manufacturer on 28 November, four months after the original order had been placed; distribution began the next day. "They are making efforts to try to catch up on lost time," said Augustin Dokla, president of RAS+ (the network for people living with HIV in Togo).

The world is running a deficit of more than 4 million healthcare workers, but a proposed new shift in healthcare delivery may alleviate the shortage and bring new players to the field. An article in the 13 December edition of the New England Journal of Medicine, Rapid Expansion of the Health Workforce in Response to the HIV Epidemic, introduces the World Health Organisation's battle plan to combat the shortage and revolutionise the way we think of healthcare.

The Clinton Foundation has given Kenya a blank medical cheque with a pledge to pay for the treatment of all HIV-infected children, easing the financial burden on their families. Direct costs of buying medicine is estimated to be more than Sh2 billion annually. This excludes costs associated with awareness campaigns and nutrition.

Have traditional restrictive macroeconomic policies and budget ceilings limited some governments from giving HIV/AIDS the attention it deserves? This paper published by African Forum and Network on Debt and Development (AFRODAD) analyses the links between macroeconomic frameworks provided by the International Financial Institutions (IFIs) and HIV/AIDS social spending in Ghana and Malawi.

Starting antiretroviral therapy is associated with increased sexual risk taking, according to a study conducted in Cote d’Ivoire and published in the January 2008 edition of AIDS. Younger age and alcohol consumption were also associated with unprotected sex. Several studies in industrialised countries have noted increased levels of unprotected sex since effective antiretroviral therapy became available. The exact reasons for this are unclear and a meta-analysis found that levels of unprotected sex were not increased amongst HIV-positive individuals taking anti-HIV treatment.

China has tightened the quality control on anti-malaria drugs sold to African countries with a newly-issued regulation and other efforts, according to the State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA). According to the new regulation, China will only export anti-malaria drugs produced through a group of government-appointed pharmacy companies to African clients and carefully examine their products before export, said Wu Zhen, the SFDA deputy Director, at a press conference.

The authors of the article argue that giving Africans ready access to the kind of information contained in the archives will play a part in fighting the apathy that catapulted events in Rwanda from civil strife to genocide.

All persons interested in ending mass atrocities in Africa must take active interest in the question of where the archives of the ICTR – and, for that matter, the archives of the Special Court for Sierra Leone – are located. As the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) winds down – according to its Completion Strategy - by 2010, the major question now emerging is where its archives and records will be located.

The United Nations has established a committee headed by Richard Goldstone, former judge of the South African Constitutional Court and former prosecutor for the ICTR and the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) to assess both tribunals, consult various stakeholders and evaluate relevant issues to inform its decision as to where the archives of both organs would eventually be sited. The committee will develop a set of parameters for assessing proposed locations to host the archives and determining the location most suited for that purpose.

It has been suggested that Africa is an unsuitable location for the archives of the ICTR; that the archives of the ICTR and the ICTY should be unified in one place, and that “natural” location for these archives should be The Hague, considered to be the judicial headquarters of the world. One suggestion is that Africa does not have the skills or capacities to host such records or guarantee that they will be accessible to the rest of the world.

The ICTR has housed its own records for the past eleven years that the Tribunal has been in existence. For this period, obviously, those records have enjoyed confidentiality that is essential both for the functioning of the Tribunal and for assuring the safety of witnesses, victims, and suspects before the Tribunal. Those records have been quite secure. After the Court has completed its work, it will be necessary to also assure that the records are classified, stored, and managed in such a way to ensure that they will be accessible to all interested in learning from them.

The Goldstone Committee will most probably focus on identifying institutions that will manage the archives. That institution, we submit, must be located and based in Africa. The reasons for this are overwhelming.

The circumstances leading to the establishment of the ICTR are well worth recalling here. Apathy defined the response of the world to the Rwanda genocide. The Oxford English Dictionary defines apathy as: ‘lacking interest or enthusiasm’. The people of Rwanda lived the consequences of global apathy during those eventful months of 1994. The tragic events that occurred have been well-documented. As those events occurred, the rest of the world in Africa and beyond watched. Estimates of the number of people killed during the genocide are somewhere between seven hundred thousand to one million.

Eventually galvanised into action after its stupor, the world in the United Nations created a tribunal to try those most responsible for the international crimes committed during those months of horror. The tribunal was established in Arusha, a small northern city in Tanzania, a country that has not known civil war or strife. Both the United Nations and the now defunct Organisation of African Unity (OAU) established panels to investigate why they were unable to mobilise effective action against such atrocity.

Arusha has played host to the ICTR for over one decade. During this time, it has quietly established itself as The Hague of Africa, hosting three international judicial bodies, one international, one regional, and one sub-regional. In addition to the ICTR, Arusha has also become host to the East African Court of Justice and, most recently, to the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights. It is the headquarters of Africa’s emerging regional judicial architecture.

This regional judicial system requires close monitoring and study by and for the benefit of people in Africa. The atrocities in Rwanda were committed by Africans against Africans. The archives of the judicial process of accountability - which is what the ICTR is - are an African heritage that must remain in Africa. There are several institutions in Africa – universities, research institutes, and regional institutions – within the region that can host it.

If the ICTR’s archives were to be re-relocated outside the continent, to, say, The Hague, access to them will be denied to an overwhelming majority of Africans, including most victims and survivors. With each passing year, Africans find it more difficult to gain entrance to European countries. European regimes for entry visas for Africans have become an obstacle course that only the rich and well-connected are confident of completing, and only few can breach. For the rest, it is a matter of ‘break a leg’. The price of international air travel is forbidding for most Africans.

Quite clearly, to even contemplate transferring the archives of the ICTR to anywhere outside Africa is the easiest way to exclude Africans from access to them. It dishonours all those who were killed while the world watched; and ensures that we learn no lessons from what happened. African’s will cease to have a stake in this particular heritage.

Global apathy catapulted the events in Rwanda from civil strife to genocide. It is important that we avoid another form of apathy from denying Africans the records of those horrific events. Citizen groups, governments, civic leaders, academic communities, activists, survivors groups, regional institutions, and friends of Africa everywhere must take the work of the Goldstone Committee seriously and demand that the archives of the ICTR remain in Africa. African governments, especially the governments of the East African Community countries must come together to identify an institution to play this role and mobilise the resources to support it. Nothing less will suffice.

* Yitiha Simbeye is a Tanzanian expert in international criminal law. Chidi Odinkalu is a Nigerian lawyer

* Please send comments to or comment online at www.pambazuka.org

On 18 October 2007, the Human Rights Committee completed its review of Libya’s fourth periodic report, which was due for consideration in 2002. Libya not only submitted its report five years after the deadline but also, more importantly, did not comply with the recommendations of the Committee made in 1998 on the conclusion of the review of the country’s third periodic report. In the words of the Committee, “the recommendations of 1998 have not been fully taken into consideration and [the Committee] regrets that almost all subjects of concern remain unchanged”.

Mukoma Wa Ngugi speaks to the dangers surrounding the Bill Gates initiative - Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA)

"Food sovereignty is the right of peoples to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and their right to define their own food and agriculture systems. It puts the aspirations and needs of those who produce, distribute and consume food at the heart of food systems and policies rather than the demands of markets and corporations. It ensures that the rights to use and manage lands, territories, waters, seeds, livestock and biodiversity are in the hands of those of us who produce food" – Declaration of the Forum for Food Sovereignty, Nyeleni , February 2007

From November 25th to December 2nd African farmer-, agricultural-, and pastoralist organizations from over 25 countries gathered at the Nyeleni Center in Selengue, Mali to, amongst other things, discuss the pitfalls of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) -- the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Rockefeller Foundation initiative now chaired by former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan. With around 100 organizations present, thousands of Africans concerned with social justice and agriculture were represented.

Now, the theme of the conference might at first glance seem outrageous. After all, we are talking about Bill Gates here – a man who has become the poster child of good philanthropy. But this is precisely my point: because AGRA is a Bill Gates initiative with widely respected Kofi Annan as the chair, most of us are not going beyond the first glance. But it is important that we send a second glance AGRA’s way because what is at stake here is the very future of the continent’s agricultural practices - what is grown, how it is grown, who gets to grow it, who processes it, who sells it and where and how much the African consumer will pay. Simply put, if food is the basis of life, what is at stake is the very sustenance of the continent.

But in order to fully appreciate the role the sweet sounding Alliance for a Green Revolution is playing in Africa, we need to take a step back and situate AGRA in the context of other international and national forces that are undermining the well-being and sovereignty of African nations – forces that are in fact part of the problem, even as they present themselves as part of the solution.
Amongst the international forces undermining Africa’s well being is an overt US foreign policy whose goal is to consolidate a growing Empire through the pipeline of the war on terror – under the guise of spreading democracy. We have seen how well this is working in Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia. But even more insidious is the arm-twisting of African governments to pass anti-terror bills that tie African domestic policies to US foreign policy goals.

On top of this we must add US foreign policy-led organizations such as the USAID, and the International Republican Institute, currently active in over 40 African countries. Organizations such as the IRI build on the tracks laid down by missionaries. The missionaries came to Christianize and civilize, the IRI types come to democratize, liberalize and westernize. The missionaries paved the way for the colonialists our history teachers were fond of saying. In the future, they will be saying that organizations such as the IRI paved the way for the US Empire.

Lest this seems far-fetched, here is an example of these seemingly disparate forces at work. The IRI in 2006 helps Africa’s first woman president, Liberia’s Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf into power. So instrumental is the IRI that when receiving a Freedom Award from them, she declares that the “IRI was particularly active in promoting these elections. Very quickly an office was established. They came, they did workshops. They brought political groups together. They worked with the media. They educated. They instructed. They supported. They assisted the process.” [1] But even before the democracy solidified, Liberia becomes the first country to offer the United States a military base for its African Command Center. There are no coincidences here – the IRI paved the way for US further militarization of Africa using Liberia as a launching pad.

Meanwhile in Liberia, Firestone has the gall to invite the Liberian people into its website with a photograph captioned “since 1926 we have succeeded together and we have suffered together, now that peace has returned, learn how we are working for a better future for Liberia.” [2] Firestone, much like Shell, has a philanthropic arm used to cover up the actions of the other heavy, hungry and brutal arm. Under the exploitation of colonialism, industries and corporations served the nation-state. Today it is the other way around: the nation-state serves industries and corporations.

It is into this mix that we need to throw initiatives such as AGRA. An outcome statement produced by the Selingue conference organizers states that “AGRA is actually the philanthropic flagship of a large network of chemical-seed, and fertilizer companies” and is designed to “attract private investment, enroll African governments, and convince African farmers to buy new seeds and fertilizers.” [3]

Waiting at the wings, or more correctly, waiting in the AGRA boardrooms, are seed and fertilizer organizations such as Syngenta (with total sales of 1.2 billion dollars in 2004) and Monsanto (a multi billion dollar seed company), amongst other players. AGRA claims that it will help “millions lift themselves out of poverty and hunger by dramatically increasing the productivity of hundreds of millions of small-scale farmers and improving livelihoods.” [4]

AGRA further states that it will “develop and strengthen Africa’s small and medium-scale seed companies to develop and sell appropriate seeds to farmers, [it will also] develop rural agro-dealers (small rural shops, mainly owned by women) and work with local food processors that can add value to products [and] and with local micro-finance institutions.”

Pointing to Asia, AGRA claims that the green revolution there lifted millions from poverty. This claim was refuted by the Mali conference participants who pointed out the tragic case of Indian farmers. In India, farmers initially flourished under the green revolution because millions of dollars were used to buoy up the farms. But as soon as the money stopped being pumped, Indian farmers found that they could not afford hybrid seeds, or the high price of pesticides, and they entered into debt, eventually losing their land to banks. The green revolution in India really was the pauperization of the poor Indian farmer. AGRA’s promise of Agro-dealers in Africa, and its promise to follow the Asian model means small scale African farmers will be strangled by ever widening circles of dependency and debt.

AGRA claims to be African led because it appointed Kofi Annan as its chair. In Selengue, conference participants responded by saying Kofi Annan surely cannot be seen as speaking for over 50 countries and 680 million people. In any case as African American poet Sonia Sanchez, quoting Martin Luther King Jr. said in response to a question on Condoleezza Rice and Clarence Thomas “We should not fight for equal rights in order to do wrong with them.”

In this same sense, women presidents (as in the case of Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf) and African UN Secretaries General (as in Kofi Annan) do not automatically do good for the continent. With Kofi Annan as the chairman of AGRA, AGRA will still do harm. And it will not be any better because he is African.

AGRA’s critics contend that the alliance will not take a definitive stand against Genetically Modified Foods. This was of grave concern to the organizations in attendance at Selengue. The AGRA website leaves a lot of wiggle room when it states that “Introduction of genetically engineered crops are not part of AGRA strategy at this time” but a little later states that “AGRA will not shy away from considering the potential of bio-technology in reducing hunger and poverty and we do not preclude future support for genetic engineering as an approach to crop variety improvement…”

Soon after he was appointed chair, Kofi Annan declared that AGRA will not use GMO’s – a statement that is contradicted in the website statement quoted above – and which he and AGRA retracted. [5] In a sense then, AGRA critics are right when they call it a “Trojan horse” for GMO’s.
Once the mask of philanthropy is removed, we find profit-hungry corporations vying to control the seed market in African countries, create a path for Genetically Modified seeds and foods and to pry open a market for chemical fertilizers – which in turn will have an adverse effect on African indigenous seed populations and destroy bio-diversity, not to mention the devastation of the environment and the salination of the soil. The philanthropic arm that Africa welcomes is in real terms paving the way for further exploitation of our resources.

In his latest novel, Wizard of the Crow, my father Ngugi Wa Thiong’o aptly talks of a corporony – a colony run by a corporation. Fiction is not so strange after all, because with AGRA we are looking at the corporatization of the food industry, from planting to production to selling and buying. With AGRA, what and how we plant and eat, and how much we pay for it will be decided in western corporate offices.

Africans should grasp what is at stake here and mobilize against AGRA. African leaders have already sold off the land and the right to natural resources. They have sealed off some parts of the continent into export processing zones. They have allowed foreign military bases onto African soil. They have given organizations such as the International Republican Institute free reign to determine the very nature of African political institutions. But here it should stop. Africans simply cannot let them sell off the right to food sovereignty. Because if they do, they will be selling off the very future of Africa.

* Mukoma Wa Ngugi is Co-Editor of Pambazuka News. He is also the author of Hurling Words at Consciousness (AWP, 2006) and a political columnist for the BBC Focus on Africa Magazine

* Please send comments to or comment online at www.pambazuka.org

For notes, see link below

Uganda now has more than 100 suspected cases of the lethal Ebola virus and 350 more people are being closely monitored because they were in contact with those infected, the Health Ministry said on Friday. There were no new deaths from the virulent haemorrhagic fever, which usually causes victims to die of bleeding through various orifices, Health Ministry spokesperson Paul Kabwa said.

Maria Antónia* began to wonder about her husband's frequent trips to neighbouring South Africa, especially when he was away for 15 days without contacting her on one occasion. She decided to investigate whether he was going to South Africa to see another woman, but discovered that he was going to get antiretroviral (ARV) medication because he was HIV positive.

Countries are shifting to biofuels in response to climate change and rising oil prices. But biofuel production poses new food security risks and challenges for poor people. Higher food prices, subsidies for biofuels, and environmental degradation will all be felt disproportionately by the developing world. So while developing and using biofuels is high on the global political agenda, policymakers, researchers and others must carefully assess the consequences for the poorest of the poor.

Inadequacies in HIV testing and treatment of pregnant women in South Africa means mother-to-child transmission is largely going unchecked in local clinics and hospitals, new research has found. The study was published in Aids Research and Therapy last month (November). Prevention of mother-to-child transmission programmes (PMTCT) are a standard protocol in South Africa. HIV-positive women take a dose of the antiretroviral drug nevirapine before delivery and the baby is given a dose within 72 hours of birth.

Single dose nevirapine given to the mother and infant are an essential part of HIV prevention in many poorer countries, including South Africa, but research has shown that a high percentage of women develop HIV resistance to the non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor class of drugs, a component of first-line antiretroviral regimens throughout the world.

Sub-Saharan Africa is an ideal transit area in the international drug trafficking network. Increasing volumes of illicit drugs, particularly heroin and cocaine, are being shipped through the region en route to their final destination: the thriving markets of Europe and North America. With lax border controls, inadequate law enforcement, and growing international transport connections and trade links, it was only a matter of time before traffickers took notice

The World Health Organisation expressed concern on Friday about the emergence of a new strain of the Ebola virus that has infected 51 people and killed 16 in western Uganda. The outbreak, announced by U.S. and Ugandan health officials on Thursday, is in Bundibugyo, near the border with Democratic Republic of Congo.

Soil fertility degradation has been described as the single most important constraint to food security in sub-Saharan Africa. This World Agroforestry Centre document examines the scientific and technological requirements for redressing these failures and for scaling up the widespread adoption of the use of soil management practices to conquer both the yield gap and environmental damage. The paper discusses the state of soil fertility in Sub-Saharan Africa and its relationship with declining crop yields.