Uganda's largest university will begin a two-year study this month (January) of how to improve health research and health service delivery in the country. The two-year needs assessment will define how to align Makerere University's activities with the goals and needs of the country's health system, and devise teaching and research strategies for the university.

This paper examines the effect of AIDS-related mortality of the prime-age adult population on marriage behaviour among women in Malawi. A rise in prime-age adult mortality increases risks associated with the search for a marriage partner in the marriage market.

This paper presents key findings from a study of pro-poor agricultural growth (PPAG). Over the past few decades changes such as those surrounding ecology, liberalisation and HIV and AIDS have increased the challenges facing the rural poor. The authors outline a framework for new responses to these challenges in the context of PPAG.

A quarter of Ugandan HIV-positive patients with active tuberculosis (TB) had a viral load below 10,000 copies/ml, investigators report in a letter published in the December 1st edition of the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes. Furthermore, the investigators found that viral load increased in a significant proportion of patients whose viral load was below 1000 copies/ml after they started treatment with anti-TB drugs.

The declines in HIV prevalence and incidence seen in recent years in some countries may be largely due to differences in people’s susceptibility to the virus rather than behaviour change, according to a mathematical model based on a survey of Kenyan sex workers, published in the January 14th edition of AIDS.

Measles outbreak has hit the town of Maroua in northern Cameroon, leaving two dead and over 160 infected. Medical officials in the town are on high alert to abate the progress of what they now refer to as an epidemic.

The United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) says the number of suspected cases of cholera in Zimbabwe has now reached almost 36,000 while nearly 1,780 people have died from the infection since the outbreak began over five months ago. The relief community has boosted its response capacity and coordination in order to manage the outbreak, the worst ever in the country’s history, amid a collapsing health system and worsening humanitarian situation.

Susie Smith, a pioneer in the fight against HIV and AIDS, worked for Oxfam GB for 30 years. With this prize, Oxfam wants to acknowledge her commitment to sub-Saharan Africa and her constant willingness to challenge conventional thinking. The prize of £3,000 will be awarded for a single piece of writing on HIV and AIDS from sub-Saharan Africa, which has already been published. Any writing – possibly an article, poetry, fiction or a chapter of a book – of up to 10,000 words and published in English since 2006 will be eligible. The judges will focus on the quality of the submissions and on the impact the writing has had. All submissions must be received by March 31st 2009. Please include a cover letter outlining the impact your piece has had. We expect to announce the winner in July 2009. To enter, send your submission, with a cover letter, to: [email][email protected]

Angola has increased border restrictions with the Democratic Republic of Congo where an outbreak of the highly contagious and deadly Ebola virus is believed to have infected 40 people and killed 13. State-owned daily Jornal de Angola said migratory movements between part of Angola's eastern province of Moxico and the DRC were suspended, days after authorities closed the border of its Lunda Norte province with the DRC.

Thank you Prof. Mamdani for, one of the few comprehensive articles on Zimbabwe. My focus, however, will be a point by point rebuttal to some of the falsehoods that

3) Kashiri is correct. The constitutional project was in response to the NCA. And no, the NCA was not, and is not a "democratic force". 100% of its funding comes from the US and the EU. While many members honestly believe they are fighting for democracy, their sponsors have always been focused on regime change. The NCA gained prominence when the West decided Mugabe had to go for disturbing western economic interests by fighting off the invasion of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Back then, there was no other credible political organization to use to get at Mugabe, thus the NCA became that vehicle.

4) True, there were Ndebele leaders/peasantscitizens in the liberation struggle.

5) True again, gukurahundi lasted between 1983 to 1987. While the atrocities that occured then (from both sides) were inexcusable, the war itself was justified. Many western nations SUPPORTED Mugabe during that dissident era. There is evidence to show that elements within Zapu were unhappy with being led by the "junior" that was Mugabe from the "inferior" Shona tribe. Sustained uprisings by these elements at Entumbane, Connemara, and the discovery of massive arms caches at Zapu farms (which Zapu now claims were for ANC use!!), made it imperative that Mugabe execute that campaign against the dissidents. Nkomo signed the Unity Accord (with the dissidents suspiciously dropping their arms at the same time!), not because he was pressured to (he was living good in exile in the UK), but because he saw the futility of this war.

6) ZCTU did not distance itself from Mugabe because of "corruption" and the other nonsense Kashiri says. I was there, I know!! Many of us were opposed to ESAP from the IMF and the low salary raises Mugabe's neoliberal Finance Minister, Dr. Chidzero, was recommending. He was trying to control inflation on the backs of the poor and was protecting business (largely white) as any neoliberal of that era would do. We broke away from Mugabe (who had agressively nurtured and helped grow the ZCTU since 1980) because he was now, thru ESAP, deviating from the socialist principles we all wished for (especially our leader, the now neoliberal Morgan Tsvangirai {an almost communist at that time}!)

7) Kashiri creates fiction here. The people of Zimbabwe were NOT strongly anti-Zanu in 2000. Sure, there were many who were against the party, but nowhere near a majority! If Kashiri remembers well, less than 900 000 out of a possible 6 million people participated in the referendum. While the opposition did their greatest campaigning amoung the 300 000 laborers at white-owned farms, Mugabe neglected his rural base and assumed they would still vote with him. The NO vote won with only about 480 000 people voting for it.
And no, there was no evidence of "rigging" in 2000 as Kashiri says. The commonwealth report on those elections clearly says so. However, they also claimed that because Zanu had unhindered access to the media, was more aggressive in its campaigns, and that the farm invasions had brought a "climate of fear", therefore they declared the elections "would not be free and fair". What the commonwealth forgot to include was the illegal funding of the opposition by foreign forces, a blatantly pro-opposition locally listened to foreign media (BBC, CNN, SABC, etc) and the strongly pro-opposition foreign-sponsored local "independent" media.

8) Prof. Mamdani is infact correct. Land reform as of 2000 was designed to go after underutilized land, lands near rural areas and multiple farm owners. The CFU (white farmers union) would not compromise, they took an all or nothing posture. Needless to say, Mugabe then took them on their challenge, where he obviously won!

9) Kashiri confuses "fast-track" with the longer-term land reform. "Fast-track" allowed for land occupiers to seize lands and remain on them. The reforms that Kashiri talks about which has gone on into 2008 no longer involve ad hoc peasant occupations, but are deliberative transfers that go thru cumbersome documentation processes before one is offered a farm or relieved from it for failing to be productive.

10) Food shortages in Zimbabwe have largely been due to "droughts" since 2001. I put "drought" in qoutations because of the unique nature they have occured. The total annual rainfall in Zimbabwe has not been that different from before. However, what seems to have changed over the past 10 years the the SPREAD of rainfall intervals. Rains continue to fall normally between November and early January. However, between January and late February, these rains have consistently disappeared, only to come back later in March, by which time the crops that were once vibrant have suffered from moisture stress and have withered.

Kashiri knows that pre 1999, Zimbabwe's rural population was 70% of the population and did not buy processed maize meal. That fact alone is enough to convince anyone that these peasants therefore produced at least 70% of the nation's food needs (for themselves, off course). Not only did they produce enough to feed themselves, they also had a little surplus that was sold for urban consumption, and in some good years for export. Kashiri also knows that most white farmers stayed away from maize production because of the controlled prices, limited profits and the better opportunity costs offered by cash crops such as tobacco.
If Kashiri knows this, and also knows that land reform ONLY affected commercial farms, not rural plots, what other reason besides drought does he think these hitherto very productive peasants were suddenly failing to produce the food they could before?

11) Kashiri's question has already been answered in 10) above.

12) Kashiri, here is your answer, one can buy sugar made in Zimbabwe from MOZAMBIQUE or ZAMBIA!! If you live in Zimbabwe, you fully well know that production of many Zimbabwean products has hardly decreased at all. What has changed is that many of our manufacturers are smuggling their produce to neighboring countries, prefering to sell their product in us$ there than at the controlled zim$ within the country! Now that the economy is dollarizing, I expect this trend to reverse and most of these goods to eventually start competing with the foreign imports currently on our store shelves.

13) Kashiri obviously looks like an opposition supporter, judging from the talking points he spews here. The opposition called for sanctions against the country. The country's education, healthcare, transportation system, etc was partly financed by NGOs and western aid. How does Kashiri expect the same standards of life to maintain once this source of financing was removed? Zimbabwe is now on its own, and unsuprisingly, its hospitals, schools, roads, etc will not be as good with sanctions imposed on it, and deliberate economic sabotage against it.

It seems Kashiri believes that if the rich in Zimbabwe stopped driving Mercedes Benz and Hummers, then there will be enough money to cover our current deficits!

What also needs to be made plain to readers here is that while there are a few rich Mugabe "cronies", the vast majority of people driving the posh cars Kashiri is talking about are infact opposition supporters in the NGO industry and in corporate Zimbabwe!! The remainder are alleged credit card criminals, stealing cards in the UK and using those funds to return to Zimbabwe in a life of luxury. Most of these people went to these western countries on the back of the opposition, claiming "prosecution" from Mugabe.

, it is understandable that you are very upset with professor Mamdani, who so eloquently puncture all the lies you are peddling about Zimbabwe. But please, stop portraying yourself as a friend of Zimbabwe and an anti-imperialist. You are neither in the way you act in the case of Zimbabwe.

In your article you are mixing up things in order to pretend being an anti-imperialist.

You are of course totally right when you talk about the “pseudo-humanitarianism of the so-called international non-governmental structure." I suppose you have in view the so called international NGO-community, heavily supported by Western governments. In Sweden for example, the most NGOs engaged in developmental business are funded by the (conservative) government (between 80 to 95 percent). Western governments in many cases use the NGOs as a tool and human rights as a pretext to destabilise intransigent countries that oppose a neo-liberal agenda. Zimbabwe is a showcase and WOZA epitomize these organisations, wholly funded by the British as it is.

But you are deadly wrong when you talk of the “Mugabe dictatorship” and blame it for all the malice in Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe has been ostracised from normal economic relations with the most powerful nations and financial institutions in the world for more than a decade. That is now taken its toll.

Then you mix things up. I follow you when you write that Idi Amin was manipulated by the British and eventually removed by Tanzania. A justified intervention, it seems.

But then it is not easy to grasp you. Do you really mean that the end goal of the present British Zimbabwe policy is, in connivance with Mugabe and Bredenkamp, to rob the Zimbabwean people? And that they will force Tsvangirai into a coalition government in order to perpetuate the scam? Isn’t there a spin to much in your machinations?

And in order to stop this heinous piracy you are calling on the Obama administration and US Justice department to prosecute the Britons who have been involved in corruption and fraud in southern Africa? Jesus! Aren’t you a little naïve here, Mr Campbell?

More interestingly and revealingly is that you are calling for the blocking of all international payments to Zimbabwe. Economic ostracism is partly to blame for the predicament in Zimbabwe and it is obvious how liberals change colours when they scent blood.

Recently Dagens Nyheter, the largest morning paper and leading liberal paper in Sweden, wrote:

“If the (Zimbabwean) borders were totally blocked, making it impossible to get food or money into the country, Mugabe would have difficulties to salary “his cronies” and would run the risk they may turn against himself.”

This way of putting things reveal of course a (white) liberal pipedream, namely that a deluge of blood would purify Zimbabwe from Mugabe and at the same time teach all the Africans and anti-imperialists elsewhere a lesson: stop support the cancer* in your midst or you will face the same destiny!

I remember when Madeleine Albright once got the question if the sanctions against Iraq were worth the price of 500.000 dead Iraqi children and answered: It’s a hard choice, but I think, we, think, it’s worth it.

Now, if the economic strangulation of Zimbabwe will succeed and the government of President Mugabe removed by this way of foreign intervention to the price of hundreds of thousands dead Zimbabweans, we will ask the Campbells around the world; Can you really justify such a price for the removal of Mugabe?

And most likely they will answer us: Yes, we can!

Hundreds of girls between seven and 17 are seeking refuge in church compounds in western Kenya to avoid the ritual removal of their clitorises, a practice that remains common despite its illegality. "Local authorities must ensure that these girls are not ostracised by the community and that their education is not disrupted," Andrew Timpson, a senior protection officer for the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) in Kenya, told IRIN on 16 December.

A portable, hand-held device can provide quick and accurate measurements of blood lactate levels, investigators report in the December 1st of the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes. Antiretroviral treatment programmes in resource-limited settings often include d4T (stavudine). Possible side-effects of d4T include increased lactate levels or lactic acidosis, a rare but potentially fatal condition.

This conference will reflect on the diverse and changing notions of ‘the public’, in relation to the production of medical knowledge and health in contemporary Africa. We hope that an improved understanding of this basic social and political concept will help strengthen the connection between public health and social progress and confront the power imbalances in global medical research and health care delivery.

This report by Mindy Schneider of Cornell University looks at food riots around the world, government responses, and states of democracy in 2008.

The national ART scale-up plan contains several measures to promote equity, considering also that there are insufficient resources to cover everyone who is eligible. Thus study focused on four of these covering ART enrolment on an open ‘first-come, first-served’ basis; targeted gender-sensitive health promotion of ART, measures to overcome specific geographical barriers to access for remote populations and prioritisation of people already on ART, pregnant women and young children.

This report has been produced within the capacity building programme on participatory research and action (PRA) for people centred health systems in EQUINET. It is part of a growing mentored network of PRA work and experience in east and southern Africa, aimed at strengthening people centred health systems and people’s empowerment in health. The report presents the work and outcomes from the follow up action research building on a pilot in 2006 that aimed to strengthen community-health centre partnership and accountability in two districts in Zambia.

In 2004, the Tanzanian government launched its Tanzania National Voucher Scheme (TNVS). The scheme aimed to subsidise the cost of anti-malaria nets for pregnant women and children across the country. But has the implementation of the scheme so far been equitable? This study used a case study approach to analyse the power relations between key implementers of the scheme and the mothers served in four rural district health facilities in Namtumbo and Mbinga districts.

The exclusion of disabled people living with HIV in Africa is so entrenched that they were even marginalised at the latest international conference on the disease, according to disabled rights activists. Rights groups claim that many of their members were shut out of the opening ceremony of the 15th International Conference on AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infections in Africa (ICASA) held in Dakar, Senegal, last week, because they could not access the room. The only entrance to the amphitheatre that did not have stairs was reserved for the President of Senegal.

Lino Matope, 23, is lying on a mangy cotton mattress in a tiny shack made of corrugated iron sheets at the Feira market in Chimoio, capital of central Mozambique's Manica Province, receiving his fourth illegal injection of benzatinic penicillin. "The injection is giving me muscle cramps," he says, kicking his legs. "But I have to continue taking them to cure the gonorrhoea I picked up."