Q&A: "A World &#39Unfit&#39 for 2.2 Billion Children"

As the United Nations plans to commemorate the 20th anniversary of its landmark Convention on the Rights of the Child next year, the world's 2.2 billion children continue to suffer the consequences of growing poverty, rising illiteracy, increasing sexual abuse and widespread military conscription in conflicts worldwide.

BURKINA FASO: Ensuring That the Origin of Life Isn’t Also the End of It

"Water is the origin of life...I come from Central Africa where we have a lot of water, but it was when I came here that I really understood the meaning of this expression," says Antoinette Dinga Dzongo, the African Development Bank's representative in Burkina Faso, in reference to the need for improved water provision in this West African country.

WEST AFRICA: Check Point &#39&#39Friendships&#39&#39 Hobble Regional Trade

''Give It To God''. These are the words inscribed on the front of the huge truck that goods transporter David Agbalanyo drives between the Ghanaian capital Accra and its northern neighbour, Burkina Faso’s capital Ouagadougou.

POLITICS: Parliamentarians to Tackle Poverty

The link between global warming and poverty, and the effects of poverty on women, will be among the topics put in the spotlight during the 118th assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), which takes place next month in the South African port city of Cape Town.

HEALTH-AFRICA: Training Anaesthesiologists to Do, And To Train

The need for a global effort to address the shortage of anaesthesiologists in Africa was highlighted over the past week during the World Congress of Anaesthesiologists - which took place in Cape Town, South Africa.

HEALTH-AFRICA: Anaesthesiology on Life Support

A discussion about anaesthesiology and anaesthesiologists is something that could bring on drowsiness, even sleep...Until, that is, the talk turns to shortages of anaesthesiologists in Africa and how this can increase surgical mortality. Statistics on this matter are frightening enough to keep anyone awake.

RIGHTS-NIGERIA: The Threat of Death Hangs Over Thousands

Three months after the U.N. General Assembly called on states which practice capital punishment to adopt a moratorium on executions, several thousand Nigerians continue to live in fear of the gallows, with activists accusing the government of inertia - and even of failing to carry out its past promises to free the aged on death row.

BURKINA FASO: Rights Abuses Perhaps the Cost of Rising Prices

Fears have been expressed this week that rights abuses are being committed against people detained in connection with protests against the rising cost of living in Burkina Faso.

Q&A: "I Fear That Chad Will One Day Lose Its Sovereignty"

In the wake of a failed rebel attack three weeks ago, the Chadian capital of N'Djamena is feeling the effects of a clampdown on opposition leaders, activists and reporters - this as authorities scour the city for any remaining rebels.

CAMEROON: Shelter, Medical Attention for Chadian Refugees

The situation of thousands of Chadian refugees who have fled to the north Cameroonian town of Kousseri continues to be a source of concern to aid workers, although the picture is not uniformly dismal.

Q&A: "Vitamin A and Zinc Should Be an Essential Part of Malaria Control Strategies"

Malaria continues to cut a swathe through Africa, which accounts for most cases of the disease and the majority of malaria-related deaths. Globally, more than a million people die from malaria each year. In the case of children, this translates into a death every 30 seconds, according to the World Health Organisation.

RIGHTS-AFRICA: No Sex, Please – You&#39re HIV-Positive

HIV/AIDS policies and programmes disregard the sexual needs of people living with the virus, claim a number of HIV-positive women who attended the third Africa Conference on Sexual Health and Rights - held this week in Nigeria.

GHANA: Pollution Forcing Farmers Into Illegal Mining?

Environmental groups have for several years accused mining companies in Ghana of destroying the environment. In a strange twist of events, it now seems that farmers have turned to illegal mining as a result of the devastation of the pollution caused by mining activities.

ENVIRONMENT-NIGERIA: As E-Waste Dump, Lagos Imperils People

Nigeria’s commercial capital is arguably one of the largest dumps for obsolete electronic items otherwise called e-wastes.

GHANA: Rapid ‘Development’ Leaves Poor Without Toilets

There are many things that confirm the rich-poor divide in the Ghanaian capital.

ARTS-MALI: Festival Fosters Cultural Exchange in the Desert

A polar bear is in the middle of the Sahara desert. It is not a mirage.

Q&A: ‘I Need the Support of the People To Get the Big Fish’

Since assuming office last September, Sierra Leone’s new president, Ernest Bai Koroma has publicly vowed to fight corruption. Koroma recently appointed Abdul Tejan Cole as the Anti Corruption Commissioner.

CLIMATE-NIGERIA: Inefficient Gas Flaring Remains Unchecked

"The Federal Government policy to stop gas flaring commences on Jan. 1, 2008, and any company which flares gas after that time would be shut down." This was the strong warning from the Nigerian government in October last year to multinational oil companies operating in the country.

CONGO: Fear, Stigma Undermine Fight Against Mother-to-Child HIV Transmission

At the Integrated Health Centre of Bissita, located in the Bacongo area of Brazzaville, the capital of the Republic of Congo, pregnant women seated on a long bench wait to have prenatal examinations.

Q&A: Cape Verde – Good Student, Reluctant ‘Example’

Cape Verde Foreign Minister Víctor Barbosa Borges dismisses out of hand the label placed by various international institutions on this small Atlantic archipelago, which are calling it an example for the rest of Africa.

DEVELOPMENT-BURKINA FASO: “Sanitation Costs a Lot, But It’s Not a Luxury”

For some in Burkina Faso's capital, Ouagadougou, rainy seasons have spelt trouble - at least from the point of view of sanitation.