Every year thousands of Kenyans go without essential medicines because of poor supply chain management, corruption and insufficient funding of the health service, say civil society members. 'The health system lacks the capacity to run effectively - many health workers are not skilled enough, for example, to request for drugs before they run out,' said Christa Cepuch, programmes director for Health Action International (HAI) Africa. She noted that according to a 2008 government survey, 42 per cent of people administering drugs in the public health system are untrained.

Foreign aids inflow from donor countries are drying up and in the next 15 years, many poor African countries may not be able to access the window, Chief Economist of the African Development Bank Group (AfDB) Professor Mthuli Ncube has alerted. He attributed the new trend to several economic factors that are redefining economic relations around the world, some of which include the economic recession in Europe and America, and Africa's new economic partner - China.

On 16 November 2010, Morocco and Mali, on behalf of African and Islamic (OIC) states, introduced an amendment to the General Assembly resolution condemning extrajudicial, summary and arbitrary executions and other killings deleting specific reference to killings due to sexual orientation.  This is a retrogressive step following the inclusion of this reference in the 2008 resolution.  While continuing to specify killings for racial, national, ethnic, religious or linguistic reasons and of refugees, indigenous people and other groups, the amendment to the 2010 resolution has replaced mention of sexual orientation with 'discriminatory reasons on any basis'.  The amendment passed 79-70 and is expected to be formally adopted by the General Assembly next month.

A coalition of Mozambican non-governmental organisations has reported mining giant BHP Billiton to the Johannesburg Stock Exchange's Socially Responsible Investment Index (SRI) for 'intolerable conduct' in planned pollution at its aluminium smelter in Mozambique, a spokesperson said on Tuesday. The coalition of environmental and human rights NGOs sent a formal complaint to the JSE at the end of October, Vanessa Cabanelas, spokesperson for the environmental organisation Justica Ambiental, told the South African Press Association (Sapa).

South Africa is Africa's largest economy and the continent's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases. But at the just opened climate negotiations, South Africa most likely will try to avoid reducing emissions. South Africa's CO2 emissions per capita are on par with those of the United Kingdom, and more than twice as high as China's emissions by the same measure. The country is presently responsible for about half of Africa's emissions, with 80 per cent of its estimated 400 million metric tonnes of CO2 coming from the energy sector alone.

In 2008, only six Somali women received prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission (PMTCT) services, although more than 2,600 women were estimated to need them. Not a single health centre delivered the complete PMTCT package which includes HIV counselling and testing, antiretroviral prophylaxis and infant feeding support. Earlier this year, however, a programme finally got off the ground, with PMTCT services starting to be offered at 21 sites in all three Somali regions - Puntland in the northeast, Somaliland in the northwest and south-central Somalia.

The country’s agricultural sector will still be in a dilemma should the government continue to implement a temporary ban on food crop exportation. The government has stuck to its guns on the policy because it believes that it is crucial to safeguard food security in the region. But local experts on agriculture and economics have been challenging the authorities on the policy. They want the government to let farmers sell their agricultural produce across the borders to widen the market and develop the sector.

The theme of this year's event, to be held between 22 February and 4 March 2011, is 'Access and Participation of women and girls to Education, Training, Science and Technology, including for the promotion of women's equal access to full employment and decent work. This Femnet update on the event has information about registration, parallel events and advocacy.

Meles Zenawi, the Ethiopian prime minister, has told Reuters that Egypt could not win a war with Ethiopia over the Nile river. In an interview on Tuesday, Meles also accused Egypt of trying to destabilise his country by supporting several small rebel groups, but said it was a tactic that would no longer work. In response, Egypt said it was 'amazed' by Ethiopia's suggestion that Cairo might turn to military action in a row over the Nile waters, saying it did not want confrontation and that it was not backing rebels there.

More secret United States files due to be published on Wikileaks are believed to contain strong criticism of former president Nelson Mandela. Wikileaks has already published over a quarter of a million confidential cables sending shockwaves around the world and angering several governments. The secret documents that have yet to be released are expected to reveal that Mandela suggested US President George W. Bush had ignored calls by the United Nations for restraint on the Iraq war.

November 25 marked the beginning of 16 days of activism for ending gender-based violence against women, and also the Take Back the Tech! (TBTT) campaign. Take Back the Tech! is a collaborative campaign to reclaim information and communication technologies (ICT) to end violence against women.

What exactly can Twitter do for American imperialism? How is the US State Department deploying social media in their propaganda war? And is the contention that social media is a powerful tool for activists fighting against repressive regimes even true? In this review from the London Review of Books, these questions are answered through a look at three books: Death to the Dictator!: Witnessing Iran’s Election and the Crippling of the Islamic Republic by Afsaneh Moqadam; Net Delusion: The Dark Side of Internet Freedom by Evgeny Morozov and The Internet and Politics in Iran by Annabelle Sreberny and Gholam Khiabany.

The World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) participated in the 48th session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) which took place from 10 - 24 November 2010 in Banjul, The Gambia. During that session, OMCT, along with partner organisations, delivered several oral statements denouncing, among other serious violations of human rights, the occurrence of torture and ill-treatment in Africa, the use of the death penalty across the continent, and the lack of adequate cooperation between the African Commission and the NGOs in connection with the Commission’s country missions.

There will be little surprise in the results of Egypt's elections today, says the latest edition of the AfricaFocus Bulletin, as the ruling party has taken all the repressive steps necessary to ensure that it will have no problem in winning. But, says Egyptian human rights analyst Bahey Eldin Hassan, there will be four significant battles to watch: the legitimacy battle, the battle to monitor, the media battle, and the extent of violence. Opposition to the regime is widespread and growing, although its expression at the polls will be limited. Judges, bloggers, Facebook groups, the Muslim Brotherhood, and supporters of opposition figure Mohamed ElBaradei, the former director of the International Atomic Energy Commission all represent stirrings in Egyptian society that will likely be significant for the future, despite their exclusion from political power.

Prime Minister Raila Odinga on Sunday ordered for the arrest of gay couples. The PM asserted that the recent census showed there were more women than men and there was no need for same sex relationships.

Rights groups contested on Monday an official turnout of 25 per cent in an Egyptian parliamentary election that was marred by opposition charges of ballot stuffing, bullying and trickery. The ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) always deals heavy defeats to its opponents but the two-round elections are being watched for the space given to the government's critics and clues to the NDP's strategy in a 2011 presidential vote.

'Land seizures by the Ethiopian regime, with the pretext of modernizing the country, is really intended to tear down the foundation of the Ethiopian society. Today, entire communities in Ethiopia are being forced out of their land and neighborhoods, and pushed into internal displacement and exile. Land and property owners are evicted by governmental decrees, and often paid only a fraction of what their properties are worth in compensations.'

At least three people have been killed in the Cote d'Ivoire capital Abidjan when police opened fire on a crowd, despite efforts to maintain calm before Sunday's presidential run-off. Phillipe Mangou, the army chief of staff general, said on Saturday that a night-time curfew would take effect from Saturday through to the end of Wednesday, citing scuffles between youths wielding sticks, machetes and guns in and around Abidjan. Ivorians voted on Sunday.

Fahamu’s Refugee Programme is pleased to announce the December issue of the [1.1 MB pdf], a monthly publication that aims to provide a forum for providers of refugee legal aid. With a focus on the global South, it aims to serve the needs of legal aid providers as well as raise awareness of refugee concerns among the wider readership of Pambazuka News.

The Sudanese government on Sunday issued a strongly worded statement after president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir was forced to cancel his attendance at the 3rd Africa-European Union (EU) summit that starts Monday in the Libyan capital. Bashir was indicted in March 2009 for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity, and in July 2010 on charges of genocide, linked to atrocities committed by Khartoum’s forces in Darfur. Many officials around the world including ones from the EU have avoided appearing with the Sudanese president after the warrants.