EDUCATION-AFRICA: “Change the System to Fit the Child”

Teachers in Africa need to be trained to teach pupils from multiple grades simultaneously because although this is a common form of instruction on the continent, many teachers are not educated to do this.

HEALTH-SOUTH AFRICA: More Funds Needed for HIV Prevention and Treatment

Decreasing or levelling HIV funding will destabilise developing countries’ health systems, a group of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) warned. They demand that governments worldwide own up to their promise of achieving universal access to HIV treatment.

SOUTH AFRICA: Increase in Social Grants Will Benefit Children

South Africa’s children, the country’s most vulnerable population group, will benefit through the increase in social grants recently outlined in the national budget.

SOUTH AFRICA: HIV Stigma Persists

HIV-related stigma and discrimination remain a key concern in South Africa, despite the multitude of HIV awareness campaigns that have been launched by government and civil society organisations throughout the years, health experts say.

SOUTH AFRICA: Late Start For Crayfish Season

Long after the official opening of the crayfish season in South Africa on November 15, the boats lay idle on the beach in West Coast fishing villages like Paternoster. Fishing permits from the Marine and Coastal Managment unit (MCM) of the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism had not been issued.

SOUTH AFRICA: ‘They Haven’t Got a Choice: They Must Go to Sea’

Because of an unfair fishing quota system, more and more small South African fishing communities struggle to survive.

SOUTH AFRICA: Hard Lessons for Small Business on the West Coast

The sound of sewing machines fills the room with a low, continuous hum. A handful of women sit behind the machines, their heads bent in concentration on their work.

CLIMATE CHANGE: Africa Told ‘Stop Playing the Victim’

Critics of carbon trading, a strategy meant to combat global warming, say the buying and selling of carbon credits is being exploited.

CLIMATE CHANGE: Africa In the Global Carbon Trade

Carbon trading, as promoted by the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), has become a key global strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

SOUTH AFRICA: GMOs – Strategic Priority in Whose Interest?

The South African government is in the process of drafting regulations to police genetically modified organisms (GMO) as part of the national Consumer Protection Act, but environmental experts are worried the GMO section of the new Act, which was signed into law last April, will not be put into practice.

HEALTH: Criminalisation of Abortion 'The Wrong Concept'

One hundred African women and girls die unnecessarily from unsafe abortions every day because they have to rely on unqualified medical practitioners or self-induce abortion by ingesting poisonous substances or inserting tools into their uterus.

ZAMBIA: 'Clear Lack of Commitment to HIV'

A United Nations mid-point review of Zambia's efforts towards reaching the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), released in September, has revealed that HIV/AIDS might prevent the southern African country from meeting the targets.

HEALTH-AFRICA: Financial Crisis Scapegoat for ARV Stockouts?

Shortages in supply of antiretroviral (ARV) drugs are caused by lack of political will and bad supply management, not by the global economic crisis, health experts say.

DRC: Respect and Protect Civilians

A government offensive against rebels in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo that began in January has dramatically increased sexual violence in the provinces of North and South Kivu.

HEALTH-AFRICA: Phoney Choice Between Life and Death

Failure to sustain funding for HIV/AIDS treatment programmes could lead to a rising number of deaths, particularly in Africa.

HEALTH-AFRICA: Where To Find A Million New Nurses?

If developing countries want to succeed in improving their health systems, they urgently need to decentralise them and shift tasks from doctors to nurses and community health workers, said experts at the Fifth International AIDS Society (IAS) Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention in Cape Town.

POLITICS-SUDAN: 'Darfur Was Just A Place Where Evil Lived'

Analysing the colonial and historical roots of the violence in Darfur, Mahmood Mamdani concludes that the crisis in Darfur is not genocide, but a fight for land, triggered by drought, which has been racialised by outside powers.

Q&A: The Key is Economic Growth for People

Countries around the world have committed themselves to reach eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015. MDG 8 seeks to develop a global partnership for development, including sustainable debt and an open, rule-based and non-discriminatory system of trade and finance.

ECONOMY-AFRICA: One of These States Is Not Like the Others…

African economic experts at the World Economic Forum on Africa have called for a regional approach to the global financial crisis, but South Africa - the continent’s strongest economy - does not want to play ball.

ECONOMY-AFRICA: Economies Must Diversify, Reduce Focus on Mining

The global financial crisis has taught African governments a lesson. More than ever, they recognise the need to diversify their countries’ mining operations as a key defence against economic instability and cyclical swings.

HEALTH-SOUTH AFRICA: Mental Illness in HIV-Positive Patients Largely Ignored

Although mental disorders, such as depression and dementia, are a commonly associated with HIV, they remain largely undiagnosed in South Africa. Lack of human and financial resources for mental health are the main reason for this, researchers say.