Prostitution is not a new trade in Rangwe, South Nyanza, but social workers are astounded by its meteoric rise in the height of the Aids pandemic. Nearly 500 orphaned girls in the district have become sex workers. "The epidemic has left them fending for themselves," says Ms Nereah Seda, a community worker. Neglected by relatives, their behaviour is reactive and reckless.

The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, has said it will continue to administer to refugees in Dadaab camp, northeastern Kenya, despite threats by local politicians who this week accused the agency of ignoring the welfare of local communities around camp.

We are looking for a dynamic person to manage the delivery of all aspects of its programming across 18 countries in Africa and through four cross-cutting thematic programmes and a global programme which gives the overall strategic framework to our programming.

ACORD is looking for a new Executive Director to be responsible for the strategic leadership and overall organisational management of all areas of ACORD’s work. S/He will continue the process of change we have been undergoing. This involves changing the focus of our programming to working with communities and social movements in both the North and South and using advocacy and research as tools for change. We are relocating the secretariat from the UK to Africa by the end of 2004 and increasing the status, skills and responsibility of our Programme Managers to strategically manage their programmes.

Activists in Kenya are seeking ways to reverse a new law which they say blocks the importation and local manufacture of much-needed cheaper, generic AIDS drugs.

The Eastern and Southern African Symposium on Young Women and HIV/AIDS, will take place in Nairobi, Kenya between 27-29 November. The theme is HIV/AIDS, Education and Youth.

Orphans at the Juvenile Remand Home savour a rare meal. An UNAids report says 15 per cent of Kenya's adult population (about 2.5 million) are living with Aids. Only South Africa and Nigeria have more infected people. Kenya has the third highest number of Aids orphans in the world, estimated at 890,000, a shocking new report by the United Nations says. Only Nigeria with a million orphans and Ethiopia with 990,000 have more.

Insecticide-treated bednets (ITNs) are widely promoted as a malaria prevention tool. The role and cost-effectiveness of indoor residual house spraying (IRS) for malaria control have received less attention. Research by the Kenya Medical Research Institute and other institutions found that IRS might be more effective and cheaper than ITNs in communities prone to epidemics of infection.

A Kenyan government decision to alter forest boundaries by excising nearly 170,000 acres has been termed unconstitutional. Kenya Forests Working Group, a sub-committee of East African Wildlife Society in conjunction with others believe the Government's action will be detrimental to important catchment areas and places for protection of diverse flora and fauna.

The Kenyan government has released a report warning that millions of Kenyans are increasingly threatened by desertification. In its latest National Action Programme on desertification, the environment and natural resources ministry said the phenomenon had "intensified and spread" in recent years, putting a severe strain on agriculture in the country.

The Government will recruit an additional 5,000 fresh graduates for secondary schools by September this year, it has been announced. And nearly 2,500 teachers listed for retirement will be eased out of the profession in the next two months, the Teachers' Service Commission said. The Government also told teachers to seek employment in neighbouring countries where they are in demand.

The training of teachers in the six public universities could change drastically if the institutions adopt proposals made by educationists to review their curriculum. During the Strengthening of Science and Mathematics in Secondary Schools (Smasse) conference held in Nairobi last week, participants suggested that teaching practice (TP) be extended to cover a full academic year. This means that undergraduate students in education courses should take at least five years unlike the case now where they, like others studying other courses, take four years.

Kanu will give financial backing to its women candidates in the forthcoming general elections, Secretary General, Raila Odinga, has said. Raila said Kanu will give women an equal chance in campaigning for parliamentary and civic seats.

Bureacrats rarely venture into Kibera, a Nairobi slum of narrow, muddy alleys. When they do, David Mutua closes and locks his shoe shop. However, every week he has to visit a wholesaler in the city, and when city officials see him carrying a big bag of shoes, they harangue him until they find some rule he has broken, and then demand bribes to let him off. "They never ask for less than 500 shillings ($6)," he laments, "And sometimes as much as 20,000. We try to avoid them, but sometimes they get you five times in a month. They are bad people."

Politician Geoffrey Asanyo and former Nairobi Town Clerk Zipporah Wandera have been arrested. Officers from the Kenya Anti-Corruption Police Unit accompanied by their colleagues from the Nakuru Criminal Investigations Department seized Mr Asanyo at his Nakuru office .

A news agency in Kenya has moved to court to challenge the law requiring publishers to execute bonds of Sh1 million to run newspapers and magazines. Kenya Eyes News Services wants a Constitutional Court to declare the Statute Law (Miscellaneous Amendment) Act 2002 illegal.

The government has been told to provide security for journalists covering the coming General Election. Journalists from both public and private media organisations complained that they were being harassed and intimidated by State officials and political party operatives even before the elections are called.

Twenty girls have been admitted at Ortum Mission Hospital in West Pokot after undergoing female genital mutilation (FGM). And among them, 10 have successfully been operated on by a team of doctors from University of Nairobi led by Dr Hillary Mabeya. The girls aged between 10 and 16 were rescued from bleeding to death by a local NGO, Setat Women Group - North Rift Chapter.

Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) has acknowledged an upsurge in human-wildlife conflict in the country. A communications officer, Mr Daniel Njaga, said the service is concerned by the sharp increase in the human-wildlife conflict that has seen several people lose their lives.

The Eastern and Southern African Symposium on Young Women and HIV/AIDS, will take place in Nairobi, Kenya between 27-29 November. The theme is HIV/AIDS, Education and Youth.