There should be greater teacher education and development in Sub-Saharan Africa, with distance education a possible solution to the recruiting and retaining of teachers, says a paper from the International Extension College (IEC). Distance education, argues the paper, remains on the sidelines and governments should embrace new, computer based forms of teacher training and development.

Life expectancy among Zambian adults is falling, according to the findings of two new databases, raising concerns over the impact of HIV/AIDS. The recently published Demographic Health Survey and the 2000 Census of Population and Housing have revealed a "significant deterioration in adult survivorship", the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) said in a report.

The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) is preparing to launch a blanket supplementary feeding programme this month in seven provinces in Mozambique, in collaboration with the World Food Programme (WFP) and development NGOs. The beneficiaries are an estimated 141,000 children aged six to 59 months and 71,000 pregnant and lactating women in 22 of the country's poorest food deficit districts, UNICEF said in a report released on Monday.

This one year full-time (or two years part-time) Programme in Understanding & Securing Human Rights is open to graduates of any discipline who seek training in human rights. This inter-disciplinary course, which has now been running for almost a decade, is based in Central London & consists of three written papers and a dissertation. Speakers come from international agencies & the academic community.

The conference promises to close the loop between research and practice, revealing what has actually been achieved in Africa using information and communication technologies (ICTs) for development. It will focus on key emerging themes such as alleviating poverty through ICTs, schoolnets, telecentres, policy issues and innovation. Entitled "Networking Africa's Future", the event will be held in rural South Africa  at the Kwa Maritane game lodge, and will feature a state-of-the-art Internet satellite system as the platform for a website covering the discussions.

The International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA) will convene the fourth HELINA conference in South Africa from 13 to 15 October 2003, focused on communication and information technologies (ICT) in the fight against HIV/AIDS in Africa. The International Medical Informatics Association and the South African Health Informatics Association will organise the conference, in partnership with Harvard Medical International (HMI) and the National Library of Medicine (NLM) in the United States, the South African Medical Research Council (MRC), and the Centers for Disease Control and Preven-
tion (CDC) in the United States. Additional partner organisations are being sought for this exciting and challenging initiative, which forms part of the drive by IMIA to stimulate the development of Health Informatics activities in Africa.

Zimbabwe's leading independent daily newspaper, the Daily News, is back on sale after a 10-day strike. The Daily News has been a strong critic of President Robert Mugabe's government, and is the best selling newspaper in the country.

Reporters sans frontières (RSF) has protested the closure of the independent daily newspaper "Al Watan", which the authorities say was shut down based on national security and state of emergency regulations. RSF also protested that the editions of two other independent newspapers, "Al Horriya" and "As Sahafa", failed to appear after having received threats from state security officials.

Attainment of Universal Primary Education has been a long-term objective for the Government of Kenya (GoK) since independence. But declining gross enrolment rates and completion rates of less than 50 per cent over the past 10 years present a considerable challenge to policy-makers. Why are children dropping out of school? Is poverty solely to blame?

The Community Chest street collection here raised R3831, which executive director Joss Hamilton says compares poorly with the more than R1 100 brought in by King William's Town and Queenstown. Hamilton said support for the Christmas raffle was better.

SPCA fundraiser Glynis Markus and local casino official Jose Maponyane tried to catch banknotes blown by a money machine in East London recently to raise funds for homeless cats and dogs. Following a call by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA), the casino hosted a fundraising bid to assist the organisation.

Tony Blair would recognise the message at once: education, education, education. He might be a little less familiar with Taklitin walet Farati's means of delivery, which is from the back of a dusty donkey as she plods from village to village in northern Mali. All educators face obstacles, but this 40-year-old widow faces more than most in one of the remotest regions of one of Africa's poorest countries, where 70 per cent of the population is illiterate. Her specific mission is the schooling of young girls, and both the poverty and the traditions of the people are against her.

A statistical analysis conducted by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) of a number of nutritional surveys carried out in Eritrea in the last six months indicates that 2.8 million Eritreans - over half the population - are experiencing pre-famine conditions. One-fifth of the population is immediately confronting food shortages that are leading to critical levels of malnutrition among children.

When challenged by World Bank officials about the failure of his policies, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, Tanzania's first president and a strong advocate of education, is reported to have said: "The British Empire left us a country with 85 percent illiterates, two engineers and twelve doctors. When I left office, we had nine percent illiterates and thousands of engineers and doctors." However, over the next 15 years education was practically forgotten and, by 2000, just 55 percent of seven-year-olds were enrolling in primary schools, most of which were poorly maintained and lacking teachers, according to government figures.

Older people in most African societies are a vulnerable group as a result of a lifetime of hardship, malnutrition, and poverty. The Aids pandemic is now posing an additional burden on them. In their old age, when they may require support and expect to be looked after, they have to take on the role of caring for others.

The Women’s Dignity Project (WDP) is seeking two interns to work with WDP for six-month to one-year internships in 2003 and 2004 (internships for shorter periods are generally not available). A modest stipend will be paid to interns, but the bulk of costs will be the responsibility of the intern. If interested, please contact the Executive Director of WDP at [email][email protected] or at PO Box 79402, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

A group of more than 30 researchers from Africa and the United States has demanded that participants in medical trials in developing countries receive "fair benefits" from the research. Communities involved in medical trials must determine whether they will receive a fair level of benefits, both during and after the research, they say.

Members of the armed forces of 13 West African countries and of non-governmental organisations ended a five-day meeting in Dakar, Senegal, on Saturday with a call for the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to request member states to reaffirm their commitment to international legal standards that protect children affected by armed conflict.

Human rights activists in Angola have released details of widespread allegations of human rights abuses in the northern enclave of Cabinda, where the Angolan government recently renewed its military campaign against separatist rebels in the oil-rich territory.

Namibia's biggest trade union federation has accused the government of contributing to the flight of qualified nurses and teachers to overseas countries. The union says poor government salaries do not encourage professionals to stay in the country.