Civil rights activists warned of a possible surge of violence if elections - hinted at by President Robert Mugabe -

Microbicide breakthrough - After years of disappointing results, this year saw the first clinical evidence that

The government recently conceded that unemployment was running at 40 percent, despite doggedly maintaining for many years that it was 26 percent, but economists expect this to rise, pushing up already high poverty levels - about two-thirds of Swazis live in chronic poverty.

Subsistence farmers on communal Swazi

Climate change represents the medium and long-term changes in average weather patterns. It is the result of both external forces and human activity. The major external forces that influence climate change include such processes as variations in solar radiation, deviations in the earth's orbit, and variations in the level of Green House Gas (GHG) concentrations, which lead to changes in the global mean temperature and the amount of precipitation. In contrast human activities including use of fossil fuels, land use changes and waste management are

LONDON (AlertNet) - Swaziland is suffering a dual epidemic of HIV and tuberculosis, an emergency of "huge proportions" that threatens to wipe out generations, medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said on Thursday.

The southern African kingdom of 1 million people has the world's highest HIV prevalence rate, with around 26 percent of the adult population infected with the virus that causes AIDS.

Swaziland also has one of the highest incidence rates of tuberculosis (TB). Not only are more than 83 percent

Phase 2 of the Global Health Research Initiative's Capacity Building for HIV/AIDS Prevention Trials in Africa program (2009-2014) is designed to strengthen research capacity for African-led HIV/AIDS prevention trials in sub-Saharan Africa, a region which remains at the centre of the global HIV/AIDS epidemic.

Following the launch of the new five year program in 2009, a call for proposals was developed and a merit review competition was held in early 2010. Seven research proposals were selected for funding and will receive grants of up to CAD $1.8 million over four years.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC)'s Africa Zone (Zone) covers 48 countries in sub-Saharan Africa and is divided into six functional/geographical regions namely the Southern Africa (Johannesburg), Central Africa (Yaoundé), Sahel (Dakar), Indian Ocean Islands (Mauritius), West Coast (Abuja) and East Africa (Nairobi). Southern Africa Regional Representation Office (SARRO) covers ten countries in Southern Africa1. The Southern Africa hosts the Africa Zone office in Johannesburg, which provides zone level services

=B7 Baseline assessment for the Joint UN Nutrition programme started on 24 October 2010. Final results expected towards end of November.

=B7 Due to delayed start of the rainy season, planting started a month later than normal. As a result, the Food Security condition will have to be closely monitored in the coming months

=B7 No other information received for this period

Madagascar

=B7 Most of Madagascar has a higher chance of Normal to above normal rainfall, in southern drought prone areas recent high rainfall has been benefical