<img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/199502/Zim_icon.GIF" align=left>Zimbabwe’s last parliamentary election, held in 2000, transfixed the attention of the international community. A substantial number of column inches were devoted to the campaign of farm occupations and human rights abuses that preceded the ballot — and the allegations of vote rigging that followed. Now, the Southern African country is going to the polls for its next legislative election, on Thursday.
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/ 8 September 2004
Countdown 2015: Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights for All — a conference that wrapped up in London last week — was awash with enlightening and frightening statistics. One statistic had particular resonance, however –namely that men in sub-Saharan Africa only have access to an average of three condoms a year. This is despite the fact that condoms cost, on average, about three cents a unit.
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/ 2 September 2004
It’s not as if men are conspicuous by their absence at Countdown 2015: Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights for All: quite a few have braved the meeting, even though it must be disheartening to hear the shortcomings of their gender so thoroughly dissected. The same cannot be said of the extent to which men feature in sexual and reproductive health programmes, however.
The flight of nurses and doctors from South Africa — and other African states — has long been a source of concern for the governments of these countries. And, the advent of Aids has sharpened fears about the effects of this migration. Should donor agencies and NGOs start supplementing the salaries of health workers?
It may not have had the size or cachet of the World Social Forum held earlier this year, but the recent biennial conference of the World Alliance for Citizen Participation (Civicus) also threw a spotlight on the role — and effectiveness — of civil society. Civicus pledges to maintain good relations with governments while fighting for human rights.