FAO chief addresses summit of Portugese-speaking countries in Maputo

20 July 2012, Maputo - Portuguese-speaking countries have found the right approach to tackling the hunger problem - by a combined effort of governments, civil society and the private sector, FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva told the Conference of Heads of State and Government of the Community of Portuguese-speaking Countries (CPLP) today.

BANGKOK, 25 May 2012 - Early next week in Bangkok, Asian and Pacfic media and 10 UN agencies will participate in a special pre-session of a media summit organized by the Asia Pacific Institute for Broadcasting Development (APIBD), to review regional progress on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

At this pre-session, media and the UN agencies, including the UN Disaster Risk Reduction Office (UNISDR), will look at how they can work more closely to contribute towards the MDGs and its outcomes beyond 2015.

AFRICA: Snake oil salesmen and dodgy HIV "cures"

NAIROBI/JOHANNESBURG, 19 January 2012 (PLUSNEWS) - Uganda's National Drug Authority recently arrested sales representatives of a company selling a drug that purports to cure HIV; the firm's owners are not licensed to sell medicine and are being sought by the police.

The drug, known as Virol ZAPPER, was being sold in 37ml liquid doses, each costing about US$210; patients were advised to take 10 drops daily. It was being advertised on local radio and TV stations as a miracle cure for HIV.

WHO/AFRO welcome preliminary results of malaria vaccine trials

The World Health Organization’s Regional Office for Africa has welcomed the announcement that trials of a malaria candidate vaccine show promising results by providing protection against clinical malaria in children.

The results were announced at the Global Malaria Forum hosted by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in Seattle, USA and published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

I. Introduction

Context, objectives and methodology

São Tomé and Príncipe is a small insular country with an overall population of 164,000 inhabitants; its economy is largely dependent on foreign investments and Official Development Assistance (ODA). The country has limited food and cash crop production. As a result, rice and wheat flour imports account for the overwhelming share of domestic food availability. Although availability and stability of food items on the markets is usually adequate, shortages do occur.

SAO TOME AND PRINCIPE, 17 March (Office for Disarmament Affairs) - On 16 March, at its thirty-second ministerial meeting held in Sao Tomé, the United Nations Standing Advisory Committee on Security Questions in Central Africa adopted the "Sao Tomé Declaration on a Central African Common Position on the Arms Trade Treaty".

The United Nations Committee is composed of the following Member States: Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Rwanda and Sao Tome and Principe.