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 Magistrate's Court in Lilongwe acquitted Nation Publications journalist Maxwell Ng'ambi of the charge of providing false information to a public officer. Ng'ambi was arrested on 17 May, 2008 at Maula Prison where he was suspected of planning to interview a former speaker and minister of education, Sam Mpasu, who is serving a jail term.

Police have arrested a hospital technician on charges of conducting unauthorised and unsupervised chemotherapy drug trials on cancer-suffering HIV/AIDS patients in a hospital in southern Malawi. Investigations are underway into six deaths among 20 patients being treated for AIDS-related Kaposi's sarcoma at St Luke's Hospital near Mount Malosa.

Two Malawian journalists have been adjudged winners of this year`s John Manyarara Investigative Journalism Award in South Africa. Charles Mpaka and Mike Chipalasa both work for Blantyre Newspapers Limited. They won the regional award organized by the Media Institute of Southern Africa (Misa), for their impressive coverage on the country’s leakage of the Malawi School Certificate of Education last year.

A new political party comprising of youths has been formed in Lilongwe, Malawi, as the country gears for its elections next year. Interim president of the yet to be registered Peoples Democratic Party Hebrews Misomali said the formation of the new party is the beginning of a new era in the country's politics.

Women suffering from obstetric fistula in Malawi received free medical care to reverse their condition during the country’s Fistula Week. Between Oct. 12 and 18, the Malawian government, with technical and financial assistance from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), treated more than 130 destitute women who have no or little access to health care services.

Malawi is said to be struggling to fight the stigma against HIV/AIDS. The Malawi government has managed to effectively respond to HIV/AIDS beyond what activists call average levels, but the country has failed to address human rights issues surrounding the pandemic in that country.

Tuberculosis patients who are also HIV positive and require being booked for Anti Retroviral drugs should can do that, Amon Nkhata, ART officer responsible for sexually transmitted infections has said. He said it is safe to combine the two treatments and added that earlier deaths reported were rumour.

Grassroots AIDS organisations in Malawi are facing uncertainty as the National AIDS Commission (NAC) ends its dependence on international non-governmental organisations (NGOs) for dispersing grants. The responsibility for channelling funds to more than 3,000 AIDS organisations working to alleviate the impacts of HIV and AIDS in Malawi has now shifted to local government authorities known as district assemblies.

A chronic lack of healthcare workers in Malawi has crippled the health system, but a different way of doing things has alleviated the shortages, bringing new players to the field. Many Malawian doctors and nurses head to wealthier countries in search of greener pastures, so the government has been forced to come up with a plan driven by an idea known as "task shifting".

There may be limits to which medical tasks can be shifted to non-medical staff in resource-limited settings with only limited training and supervision, according to a report from The Lighthouse Trust in Malawi presented at the XVII International AIDS Conference last month.

Malawi has a tough mission ahead of 2009 general election, to register afresh seven million people on to its new voter's roll. Registration for elections, which is expected to take three and half months, starting from 18 August and close on 29 November will cover the country's 28 districts, Fegus Lipenga, spokesperson for Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) reported.

On 10 July 2008 immigration authorities raided Joy Radio premises, searching for foreigners allegedly employed by the station. The incident happened barely a day after State House Press Officer Chikumbutso Mtumodzi warned the station against what he termed "embarking on a disinformation crusade, airing libellous and slanderous programmes and playing derogatory songs" against President Bingu wa Mutharika.

While lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people in countries such as Uganda continue to fight for their inclusion in the HIV and Aids programmes, Malawian LGBTI community is making noticeable strides towards recognition. This comes after the Center for the Development of People (CEDEP), a Malawian human rights organisation, presented research findings on HIV sero- prevalence study among men who have sex with other men (MSM) in Malawi.

This study aimed to assess equity in uptake of antiretroviral therapy in Malawi in 2005, especially according to age (children vs. adults), gender (men vs. women) and income. Particular reference is made to the scaling up of ART and the removal of fees for ART in 2004. Informal interviews were conducted with health sector antiretroviral programme implementers and key policy makers in the Ministry of Health.

Malawi's President Bingu wa Mutharika has suspended parliament until opposition legislators give him guarantees that they will adopt the 2008/09 budget, stalled over a political feud. The opposition alliance of United Democratic Front (UDF) and Malawi Congress Party say that under the constitution, wa Mutharika's Democratic Progressive Party should lose 60 legislators they accuse him of poaching when he quit the UDF.

The wireless school connectivity project is an initiative that has connected a secondary school in a poor township of Harare to the internet, using wireless technologies. The genesis of this project was a result of the wireless skills training workshop, which took place in Pretoria, South Africa in 2005 and was facilitated by APC. Muroro Dziruni of Connect Africa in Zimbabwe tells the story of how wireless technology can work in Africa, when everyone joins in and cooperates.

The death rate among adults in rural Malawi has declined by 10% since the introduction of antiretroviral therapy, and in areas with the highest death rate, it may have declined by up to 35%, according to findings from a London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine study published in the May 10th edition of The Lancet. The study also showed a much higher death rate and lower treatment access among those who lived in more remote areas, suggesting that the chief gap in equity of treatment access is between those who live in rural areas and those who live in larger villages or close to highways, rather than along the lines of gender.

The governments of Malawi and China have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) which would now engage the private sector from the South Asian country to invest in the southern African country's various investment sectors including cotton and tobacco.

Free antiretroviral therapy had significantly reduced mortality in rural Malawi , a study published in the latest Lancet journal has shown. Malawi, which records about 80 000 deaths from AIDS every year, made free ARV therapy available to more than 80 000 patients between 2004 and 2006.