As the HIV epidemic continues to unfold across southern Africa, countries are still struggling to find effective means to address many of its negative impacts at individual, family and community levels. One of the most complicated challenges is how to support the growing number of orphans and other children made vulnerable, or made more vulnerable, by the direct and indirect effects of HIV on their households. In particular, there have been many individual and institutional efforts to assist these children through schools and other educational services and institutions.

Additional Investments in Family Planning Would Save Developing Countries More Than $11 Billion a Year

Access to family planning is an essential human right that unlocks unprecedented rewards for economic development, says new UNFPA report

• 222 million women in developing countries have an unmet need for family planning
• Additional $4.1 billion in funding is needed to address current needs and those of the growing youth population

Atlas of health and climate launches new collaboration between public health and meteorological communities

Atlas provides maps, tables and graphs showing links between health and climate

Geneva, 29 October 2012 (WHO/WMO) – As the world’s climate continues to change, hazards to human health are increasing. The Atlas of Health and Climate, published today jointly by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), illustrates some of the most pressing current and emerging challenges.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

KEY RESULTS INCLUDE:

3.6 million people currently receiving antiretroviral therapy

9.3 million people treated for tuberculosis

270 million insecticide-treated nets distributed to protect families from malaria

8.7 million lives saved

Résumé du Rapport

I. Introduction

From the Robert S. Strauss Center for International Security and Law

Executive Summary

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, climate change will disproportionately affect the most vulnerable populations in the developing world. Rising temperatures, increasingly severe floods and droughts, and sea-level rise threaten economies that are reliant on agriculture, in countries whose governments lack adaptive capacity, and in areas where populations have little access to healthcare and education.

In 2003 the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) was established by the assembly of the African Union (AU) aiming to raise agricultural productivity by at least 6% per year and increasing public investment in agriculture to 10% of national budgets per year. After an initial phase focused primarily on interventions at the national level, there is growing awareness on the need to work more on the regional dimensions of the CAADP.

Foreword

HIV/AIDS imposes enormous economic, social, health, and human costs and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. The challenge is particularly acute in Sub-Saharan Africa, home to two-thirds (22.5 million) of the people living with HIV/AIDS globally, and where HIV/AIDS has become the leading cause of premature death.