ISLAMABAD, 17 Dec 2004 (IRIN) - HIV/AIDS awareness needs to be taught in the context of wider health education, according to practitioners. "HIV/AIDS education is not something isolated. Its all about avoiding risky behaviour, learning healthy life skills and decision making, which are not only responsible for HIV/AIDS but can cause several other physical and mental disorders," Naureen Butt, programme officer at the Aga Khan Education Services Pakistan (AKESP) told IRIN from southern port city of Karachi, capital of Sindh province, on Friday. Full report

ANKARA, 17 Dec 2004 (IRIN) - This week in Central Asia the BBC reported that anti-government feeling is still running high in Uzbekistan's markets and bazaars nearly after an unprecedented outbreak of violence in the republic last month. In early November, merchants in the Fergana Valley, Uzbekistan's most populous region, set fire to cars and chased customs police out of bazaars after officials tried to impose a series of new trading restrictions. Full report

ANKARA, 17 Dec 2004 (IRIN) - CONTENTS: AFGHANISTAN: Concern at ministerial proposal to dissolve 2,000 NGOs Full report

MUZZAFFARABAD, 16 Dec 2004 (IRIN) - A 26-member humanitarian mission of renowned French surgeons has treated some 30 patients with complicated surgical disorders, at the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) in Muzzaffarabad, capital of Pakistani-administered Kashmir. Full report

KABUL, 16 Dec 2004 (IRIN) - Nearly 4,000 child soldiers have been demobilised in 15 provinces of Afghanistan under a UN-backed programme, a United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) spokesman told IRIN on Thursday. Full report

ALMATY, 15 Dec 2004 (IRIN) - A new report by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) revealed that education in Kazakhstan, a nation of 15 million, was in need of reform. Full report

LAHORE, 15 Dec 2004 (IRIN) - Tens of thousands of people in the eastern city of Lahore and other cities of the Punjab face a threat from unsafe ground water, which contains dangerously high levels of arsenic. So far, little tangible effort has been made at the official level to counter the problem. Full report

KABUL, 15 Dec 2004 (IRIN) - In an interview with IRIN, Sadako Ogata, Japan's special envoy to Afghanistan and head of Tokyo's International Cooperation Agency (JICA), said there was a need for massive donor input to fund infrastructural development such as roads, bridges and power lines to help boost the economy. Full report

LAHORE, 15 Dec 2004 (IRIN) - With a global under-five mortality ranking of 46, Pakistan could avoid 60 percent of child deaths by focusing on a limited number of treatable diseases like diarrhoea, pneumonia and neonatal infections, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said. Full report

KABUL, 15 Dec 2004 (IRIN) - A Turkish road construction engineer was killed after he was kidnapped by a group of terrorists as he travelled with his translator and driver on the Jalalabad-Kunar road in eastern Afghanistan, the interior ministry confirmed to IRIN on Wednesday. Full report

PAKISTAN: Focus on poisoned water and disabilities

PAKISTAN: Interview with the head of UN's volunteer agency, Ad de Raad

KAZAKHSTAN: Interview with UN Resident Coordinator, Yuriko Shoji

KAZAKHSTAN: Interview on Almaty earthquake preparedness

AFGHANISTAN: Interview with UN drug agency on opium proliferation