Lack of affordable and accessible transport is emerging as a major hindrance towards poorer South Africans accessing state health care, especially for those living in rural areas. The Western Cape is perceived as a well resourced province, but for some HIV-positive patients living in Mooreesburg, accessing treatment means relying on the goodwill of strangers for a lift and running the danger of defaulting on their treatment.

China has tried to suppress a UN report that says Chinese bullets were used in attacks on peacekeepers in Sudan's conflict-torn Darfur region, diplomats said on Tuesday. The UN Security Council's Sudan sanctions committee will discuss the latest report and recommendations from the so-called Panel of Experts on Sudan. The group monitors compliance with a 2005 arms embargo in place for Darfur.

Beginning today, hundreds of inspired Canadians will take on personal and group challenges to raise funds for community-based organisations turning the tide of AIDS in Africa, as part of the Stephen Lewis Foundation’s 'A Dare to Remember' campaign. Now in its second year, the national campaign extends to World AIDS Day (December 1), engaging communities in a meaningful dialogue about HIV/AIDS.

AWID is currently seeking an activist/researcher with a strong background in economics and development to work with our Influencing Development Actors and Practices for Women’s Rights (IDeA) strategic initiative. IDeA is engaged in an exciting action-research agenda that is attempting to connect theoretical debates on development and the need for alternative models with concrete experiences, lessons learned and analysis from a women’s rights perspective.

We are seeking a dynamic professional for a key specialist position in Dakar, Senegal. As the Senior Program Specialist, you will collaborate in managing research activities that support broader Program challenges around promoting inclusive growth, including labour market issues, institutional frameworks for investment, competition and entrepreneurial activity, and the role of social protection policies. Reporting to the Program Leader and the Regional Director, you will develop, manage and monitor a portfolio of research projects in West and Central Africa. As part of a global team and a corporate Program Area, you may have selected responsibilities for projects in other regions as well as working in collaboration with the Think Tank Initiative. You will also interact with experts in the field and represent IDRC in a variety of fora, draw attention to new developments in economic policies and research, and play a key role in the progress of strategic thinking in this area.

MISA-Zimbabwe on 16 October 2010 set up the first rural community radio in Ntepe, 40kms South-West of Gwanda town. Ntepe community radio station is the first rural community radio initiative in Zimbabwe. All the other community radio initiatives in the country are located in the urban areas of Harare, Bulawayo, Gweru, Kwekwe, Mutare, Hwange, Kadoma and Mutare. MISA-Zimbabwe is currently running a broadcasting campaign, calling upon the authorities to open up the airwaves for Zimbabwe to have a three-tier broadcasting system that includes public, commercial and community broadcasting.

In April, Rwanda's media council suspended Umuseso, the nation's once-leading independent weekly paper, for a period of six months. By June, life had become too difficult for the main players behind Umuseso. Chief editor Charles Kabonero and web editor Richard Kayigamba found themselves in exile along with Gasana. Undeterred, the exiled editors launched a new independent weekly called The Newsline. Their first edition was ready in July, and they attempted to ship it into Kigali in advance of Rwanda's elections.

On Saturday the 23rd October 2010 Congolese women will be speaking about the situation in the Congo and would like to invite you to join them between 3pm and 6pm at the Church Hall, Lancing Street off Eversholt Street, NW1 (Opposite Euston Station).

Many of Congo's rape survivors took to the streets Sunday to speak out against sexual violence in a country where it has become a weapon of war. Sunday's march was organised by the World March of Women in association with local women's groups. Organisers hoped the march would combat the stigma attached to rape victims and draw international attention to the problem of rape as a war tactic. (This post contains a video)

Southern African nations need to agree on a common operational system to manage energy in the region, environmental experts advise. If they don’t, the region could experience power shortages and resulting economic deficits. The Southern African Power Pool (SAPP), which was formed in 1995 as part of an inter-governmental agreement between the twelve mainland SADC countries, is an ambitious regional initiative that encourages electricity sharing and the selling of surplus to their neighbours who experience power deficiencies.

The UN's release of a long awaited report on crimes committed in the Democratic Republic of Congo between 1993-2003 is not only an opportunity to re-examine the historical record of mass violence in DRC - the scale and nature of which was often overlooked in the wake of the genocide in neighbouring Rwanda - but is also a chance to correct the terms of the deceptive and fragile peace some leaders wish to proclaim in the resource-rich Great Lakes region of Africa, writes Fabienne Hara, the vice president for multicultural affairs at the International Crisis Group.

A failed harvest and the effects of prolonged flooding may be fuelling an outbreak of Visceral leishmaniasis, also known as Kala-azar, in parts of Southern Sudan, say health officials. Some 6,363 Kala-azar cases and 303 deaths have been reported since the outbreaks began in September 2009, according to a UN World Health Organization (WHO) update from 8 October.

Seven presidential candidates will take part in the 31 October general elections in Tanzania, with incumbent President Jakaya Kikwete being the clear favourite. But the opposition may make important gains. Education, health and employment are some of the main issues dominating the election campaign as Tanzanians prepare for the 31 October election. President Kikwete and the CCM are expected to be rewarded by voters for the positive economic development in Tanzania during his first period.

Islamist militant group al-Shabab said on Monday it would ban all mobile phone cash transfers in Somalia. The rebels released a statement ordering three local mobile phone companies which have developed the popular service in the country to stop mobile money transfers within three months. Al-Shabab argued that the transfers were 'unIslamic'.

Fairtrade has assisted greatly in steering agricultural in a developmental direction, despite its lack of a bottom–up approach, says this post on the blog of the Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies at the University of the Western Cape. However, in South Africa, with its stark legacy of oppression more is needed. However, Fairtrade beneficiaries need to lead the process of bottom up development, to direct the Fairtrade movement in terms of their reality and their needs.

Nigerian security forces have arrested the brother of Henry Okah, a former leader of the rebel Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend), over his suspected involvement in deadly bombings in Abuja, the capital, on October 1. Charles Okah was taken into custody at his home in the southern city of Lagos on Sunday.

With many African countries marking the 50th anniversary of their independence, 2010 should have been a year of celebration but the continent’s journalists were not invited to the party. The Horn of Africa continues to be the region with the least press freedom but there were disturbing reverses in the Great Lakes region and East Africa.

On 14 October 2009 the draft Anti Homosexuality Bill was introduced to the Parliament of Uganda by Ndoorwa West MP David Bahati. Bahati’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill stipulates the death penalty for repeated same-sex relations and life imprisonment for all other homosexual acts. A person in authority who fails to report an offender to the police within 24 hours will face three years in jail. Likewise, the promotion of homosexuality carries a sentence of five to seven years in jail.

Inter Press Service (IPS) Africa has created a new multimedia website to present the story of Africa’s development. The website launch in Africa will coincide with the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, commemorated on October 17.

The African Women’s Development and Communication Network (FEMNET) will hold its 5th Programming Conference and General Assembly from 16 - 18 October 2010, at Crowne Plaza Hotel, Nairobi under the theme: ‘The African Women’s Decade- A Road Map for Bigger Dreams’. The conference which brings together over 120 women rights activities from across Africa.