Experts worry that African governments are failing to take the threat of HIV seriously enough by not dedicating enough of their resources to prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) efforts. For Graça Machel, Chair of the Campaign to End Pediatric AIDS (CEPA) Council, the struggle to stop the spread of the disease is a matter of inequality.

East African countries will face more devastating food crises in future unless governments take action now, international aid agency Oxfam warned Thursday in a new report aimed at tackling world hunger within the next five years.

The heads of the UN International Labour Organization (ILO) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have called for a broad global commitment to policies that focus on creating jobs to reverse the economic downturn be devilling the world. The call was made at a conference in the Norwegian capital, Oslo, hosted by the country's Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, and co-sponsored by the IMF and the ILO.

The head of the United Nations agency entrusted with defending press freedom has urged Ugandan authorities to launch a full investigation into this week’s murder of a radio news presenter, the second journalist

Ahead of the United Nations Summit on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on 20-22 September 2010, UNAIDS today released data on progress towards MDG 6 and called for leveraging the AIDS response to support all MDGs. The data shows that countries with the largest epidemics in Africa—Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Nigeria, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe—are leading the drop in new HIV infections. Between 2001 and 2009, 22 countries in sub-Saharan Africa have seen a decline of more than 25% in new HIV infections. The number of new HIV infections is steadily falling or stabilising in most parts of the world.

In this week's emerging powers new roundup, Fahamu Emerging Powers in Africa Programme launches its newsletter, AfDB to consider more funding for South Africa's Eskom, is land-grabbing, a new form of sharecropping?, China makes inroads into Zim bank sector, and India ups training slots for Africans.

"Even if globally the poverty rate is reduced by half by 2015, as the latest United Nations progress report on the MDGs [Millennium Development Goals] suggests, about one billion people will still be mired in extreme poverty by 2015. ... The report argues that current approaches to poverty often ignore its root causes, and consequently do not follow through the causal sequence. Rather, they focus on measuring things that people lack to the detriment of understanding why they lack them." - UNRISD Report on Combating Poverty and Inequality, September 2010

Reporters Without Borders condemns the jamming of some of the programmes of Short Wave Radio Africa (SWRA), a London-based radio station staffed by Zimbabwean exile journalists that broadcasts to Zimbabwe. Various sources said they thought Zimbabwe’s Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) was responsible for the interference, which began on 1 September.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has condemned the murder of Prime Radio anchorman, Dickson Ssentongo, who was severely beaten by unknown assailants and abandoned to die in a cassava plantation in Mukono District some 35km from the capital Kampala on Monday, 13 September 2010. 'The killing of Dickson Ssentongo signals a serious deterioration of the security of journalists and the Ugandan Government must reassure journalists and the public in general that the perpetrators of this heinous crime will be apprehended and brought to justice very quickly.'

Andrew Adam is 12 years old, and a fisherman by trade. In Malawi’s southern district of Zomba, Lake Chilwa is the lifeblood of its villagers. Since Adam left school more than a year ago, he has been working as a bila boy – a worker who dives underwater and pulls the nets in.

Poets from around South Africa, Africa and the world will descend on Durban for an exhilarating rollercoaster of words, rhythms and ideas at the 14th Poetry Africa international poetry festival, which takes place from 4 to 9 October. Organised by the Centre for Creative Arts (University of KwaZulu-Natal), and with principal support from the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund, Poetry Africa’s exciting week-long programme is preceded by a three-stop Poetry Africa tour to Cape Town, Zimbabwe and Malawi.

The IIE Scholar Rescue Fund (SRF) is pleased to announce a call for applications for threatened academics whose lives and work are in danger in their home countries. Fellowships support temporary academic positions at safe universities and colleges anywhere in the world. Professors, researchers, and lecturers from any country or field may apply. Please refer eligible candidates and forward this announcement to any academic colleagues who may be interested.

From 14-16 February 2011 the Right to Know, Right to Education project will host a regional conference to address the issues of quality basic education for all. The conference will provide a platform for regional bodies, academics, civil society organisations and international aid organisations to deliberate critical questions such as the role of international quality standards for Sub-Saharan African countries

West African ministers in charge of gender issues, as well as women organizations, have started a forum devoted to taking stock of the participation of women in the region in conflict prevention, peace-building and maintenance.

Liberia's government says the decision by a group of creditor nations to write off its debt will allow the country to write a "new Liberian story". The 19-nation Paris Club pardoned $1.2bn (£764m) worth of debt owed by the West African country. Liberia's Finance Minister, Augustine Ngafuan, told the BBC's Network Africa that debt servicing took up large amounts of its national budget.

Although there are signs of improvement in Niger, which is in the midst of a severe food crisis, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warned that child malnutrition rates are alarmingly high in neighbouring Chad.
“We’ve seen the positive impact of timely, well-coordinated food and nutrition assistance delivered in partnership with the Government in Niger,” where almost half of the 15-million strong population are hungry, said WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran. But in Chad, which experienced a long and crippling lean season, “children are weak and need to continue receiving food and nutritional support,” she stressed.

This year's rainy season in Mauritania damaged critical infrastructure and displaced hundreds of families, but it may have alleviated the threat of famine facing other countries in the Sahel. The considerable rainfall has led to widespread damage and cut the main routes linking the capital, Nouakchott, to the rest of the towns and cities in the country's interior.

The Centre for Rights Education and Awareness CREAW, and the Africa Community Development Media ACDM together with other partners have set up Safariafricaradio which is an online human rights radio station broadcasting online. This is in recognition of the need for a radical paradigm shift of the societal mindset that is anchored on core human rights values , democratic governance and developmental principles that shall drive the kind of change that Kenya needs to get it out of current challenges.

Following a joint statement with Human Rights Watch (HRW), calling for the decriminalisation of consensual sexual acts between adults of the same sex, Alternatives Cameroon, a gay rights organisation, says it has now chosen to use revendication rather than a confrontational approach, since attitudes towards homosexuality issues seem to be slowly changing in the country.

As part of their work in Uganda, the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) and Women of Uganda Network made a call for proposals for projects that seek to address the intersection between violence against women and girls, and/or to stop violence against women and girls through the strategic use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) during the month of June 2010. Four (4) organisations have been selected as beneficiaries of the small grants and they include Uganda Women Media’s Association, Mahyoro Rural Information Centre and Hope Case Foundation and Isis WICCE. Implementation of the activities is expected to commence September 2010 to June 2011.