The lack of clean drinking water and proper hygiene fuelled the spread of cholera in the south and southwest of the Republic of Congo, says the Congolese Red Cross, which has just completed a campaign to teach people how to recognise and stem the spread of the disease. It said the cholera outbreak began in the Boeunza region in February 2008 and that by the end of November 127 cases of the disease and three deaths had been registered.

The current political and economic crisis in Zimbabwe is dealing a blow to the provision of free treatment and care to people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHAs). While there has been a significant decline in the country’s HIV prevalence rate from 18.1 percent in 2005 to 15.6 percent in 2007, activists believe this has been "the most difficult year" for HIV-positive persons.

Governments in southern Africa are still failing to honour their own commitments to scale up access to antiretroviral therapy despite the growing availability of international donor support to do so, according to a new report from the Southern Africa Treatment Access Movement (SATAMo). The Southern African Treatment Access Movement, a network of community-based activists in eleven countries, is calling on regional leaders to keep the promises they made towards provision of HIV treatment by committing the necessary resources.

Despite improvements in living conditions over the past decade, the health of South Africans has worsened, according to the SA Health Review 2008 which was launched last night (Dec 10) in Pretoria. “There have been clear improvements in access to water and sanitation, services that are essential for good health,” reports researcher Debbie Bradshaw.

Botswana's President Ian Khama has said that the number of HIV-positive people accessing antiretroviral therapy in the country is expected to nearly double over the next eight years, Mmegi/AllAfrica.com reports. If current HIV and Aids rates continue, the number of HIV-positive people accessing the drugs could increase to 220 600, up from an estimated 145 000 currently, according to Khama.

Maurine Kamau* lost her first child immediately after birth but did not discover why the baby had died until she fell pregnant a second time and tested positive for HIV at the Nazareth Mission Hospital, on the outskirts of Nairobi, the capital of Kenya. She received counselling at the hospital's prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission (PMTCT) unit and her second child tested negative for HIV. Now four months old, the baby is doing well and has regular checkups at the hospital.

Civil society calls for action to remove HIV related travel and residence regulations for people living with HIV in time for the Vienna World Aids Conference in 2010. States should do whatever possible to insure that legal discrimination of people with HIV ceases to exist. People with HIV should have the same rights than others.

Cameroon has budgeted $309 million for the military in 2009 and $105 million for the president’s office and services to the presidency, compared with $106 million for agriculture, which employs 70 percent of its people… In smaller villages, such as Mvomeka’a in the South Province, most Cameroonians live in shacks made of mud bricks and sticks. Only 20 percent of Cameroon’s households have electricity.

There are not many refugee camps where money litters the floor, but you do not have to look far at the showground in the border town of Musina. Fragments of worthless 50,000 and 100,000 Zimbabwe dollar notes are everywhere, constant reminders of the hyper-inflation which has accompanied the country's collapse.

Anti-retroviral drugs used to treat HIV/Aids are being bought and smoked by teenagers in South Africa to get high. Reports suggest that the drugs are being sold by patients and even healthcare staff for money. Schoolchildren have been spotted smoking the drugs, which are ground into powder and sometimes mixed with painkillers or marijuana.

Not On Our Watch, founded by Don Cheadle, George Clooney, Matt Damon, Brad Pitt, Jerry Weintraub and David Pressman, has awarded the International Rescue Committee $260,000 to support critical health services at seven clinics in North Darfur. “As the conflict in Darfur continues, victims of violence remain desperately in need of basic support services,” says Matt Damon.

Malawi is a land-locked country in southern Africa. With a population of between 11.5 to 12.5 million and is among the poorest countries in the world. Like many other sub Saharan countries, Malawi is grappling with the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Women are most affected by the pandemic - out of 809, 833 persons living with HIV in the country, 473, 000 are women.

The civil service is the worst hit sector in the country. The Malawi police service has a high HIV prevalence rate among its service women; an update on the Malawi National Response to HIV/AIDS indicates that 32 percent of female police officers are currently infected with HIV.

There has been marked success within development organizations that are able to design HIV/AIDS mainstreaming strategies in an effort to prevent, and mitigate the effects of HIV/AIDS. These lessons along with the strategies employed by a handful of dedicated individuals have the potential to make real change in ho Malawi and other African countries address HIV/AIDS.

As the world commemorates World AIDS Day, The African Women’s Development and Communication Network (FEMNET) celebrates the role of dedicated women in Africa who work tirelessly to fight HIV/AIDS. Eluby Jere, a policewoman based in Malawi’s commercial capital Blantyre, is one such person who has worked hard, with little recognition.

The Moroccan Ministry of Health called on all artists to help raise public awareness about AIDS, in an effort to curb the spread of the disease. A large number of artists signed the "Artists' AIDS Pact" on World AIDS Day (December 1st).

Zambia has not been spared by HIV and AIDS. 17 percent of the 12 million Zambians are HIV/AIDS. The government and other stakeholders put concerted efforts to fight this deadly disease. "They were there, when I needed them."Care International is one of the NGOs that have embarked on HIV/AIDS. Care International regional office in the boarder town of Livingstone, is running a Home Based Care (HBC) programme for HIV/AIDS patients. The boarder towns are the most affected areas.

'Web 2.0 in Africa' is an eight minute Business Africa/CTA video production documenting actual cases on the use of Web 2.0 applications in the development sector, specifically among farmers in Africa. The documentary which highlights the experiences of the interaction with farmers such as BROSDI does in Uganda is available in English and has been translated into Langi (Luo) by WOUGNET/Kubere Information Centre.

In an article exploring the history of socio-economic inequality, Jacques Depelchin calls for an interpretation of the current food crisis over the historical longue durée. As a direct consequence of an entrenched, centuries-old capitalist system, the author argues, the market as a ‘modernising’ force has consistently enriched the lives of a few while impoverishing a poor majority. Understanding the food crisis, Depelchin contends, rests first and foremost on re-considering humanity’s relationship to nature and championing historical narratives true to the voices and experiences of the global poorest of the poor.

As Zimbabwe’s ministry of home affairs has become the centre of political attention in the tug of war between Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC and Mugabe’s ZANU PF, what has become of the countries health and education? Silence Chihuri reflects on why the police today matter more than doctors in a country grappling with a cholera epidemic and massive economic meltdown and why home affairs remain the gate keepers of Zimbabwe.

Nigerian medical authorities are flying in 100 doses of an antidote to try and stem the deaths of babies poisoned by a contaminated teething syrup. The number of children who have died from kidney failure after being given the tainted paracetamol-based remedy called "My Pikin" has risen to 34.

Africa could be the breadbasket for the GCC - providing valuable water and food supplies to the entire region, a Bahraini expert claimed. He said the huge continent could be the answer to the region's prayers, since the Gulf is facing massive water shortages and its harsh climate is unsuitable for large-scale agriculture.

Thousands of people with HIV and AIDS are being forced further into misery in Zimbabwe, as drastic food shortages and spiralling prices make it difficult to follow antiretroviral (ARV) treatment regimes, the potent medications essential to manage HIV infection. Five local organisations partnered by international development agency Progressio report that “scores” are having to quit or skip medication due, in part, to side effects associated with lack of nutrition and the soaring devaluation of the country’s currency, which is making poor people poorer.