ANGOLA-MALAWI: IRIN-SA Weekly Round-up 347 for 18 - 24 August 2007
JOHANNESBURG, 24 August 2007 (IRIN) - CONTENTS:
MALAWI: Former drought-hit country turns donor
ANGOLA: Clean water is scarce despite oil wealth
SOUTH AFRICA: Too many babies die
MALAWI: Parliament begins budget debate
ANGOLA: Luanda's residents drink suspect water, say surveys
SOUTH AFRICA: New report confirms nutrition no substitute for treatment
ZIMBABWE: Untreated sewage makes its way into drinking water
ZIMBABWE: Relaxing price controls "too little, too late"
GLOBAL: Microbes don't know geography - WHO report
MALAWI: Former drought-hit country turns donor
Malawi, which has had a bumper crop this year, is to donate 10,000 metric tonnes (mt) of maize to drought-hit Lesotho and Swaziland.
The country has a surplus of about 1.5 million mt but only requires around two million mt of maize annually to feed its 12 million-plus people. It has made an almost complete recovery from a drought in 2005 that left close to five million people in need of food aid. The 2007 maize crop has seen a 22 percent increase over last year's.
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ANGOLA: Clean water is scarce despite oil wealth
Two types of tankers compete for space on the roads lined with shacks that lead to the docks in Luanda, the Angolan capital: water and oil.
More than half the people living in informal settlements, called musseques, depend on private tankers for their daily water in the oil-rich country. The public-sector water company in Luanda, EPAL (Empresa Publica de Aguas de Luanda), was hobbled by almost three decades of conflict that ended in 2002, and has not recovered.
More than 300 privately owned trucks bring water into the city every day from a pumping station in Kifangondo, 20km outside Luanda on the Bengo River, and the pumping station is run by the National Association of Truck Water Distributors.
Full report
SOUTH AFRICA: Too many babies die
Every year almost 23,000 South African babies die in their first month of life, yet one in five of these deaths could have been avoided with better education, and relatively inexpensive and easily implemented changes in healthcare, says a new study by the Medical Research Council (MRC).
The data shows that each year, out of every 1,000 babies born alive, 21 will die within four weeks. This is better than the average neonatal mortality rate of 41 babies per 1,000 in sub-Saharan Africa, but still nothing to be proud of. Infant mortality in South Africa is higher than other countries with a similar per capita income, such as Mauritius, where only 12 babies per 1,000 die.
Full report
MALAWI: Parliament begins budget debate
After weeks of political bickering, Malawi's members of parliament (MPs) have started deliberating on the 2007/08 national budget, but commentators warn that any further delays could affect donor confidence.
The impact of the national budget's postponement is already being felt in sectors such as agriculture, education and health.
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ANGOLA: Luanda's residents drink suspect water, say surveys
Most residents in Angola's capital, Luanda, consume water of suspect quality, according to recent surveys by UN agencies, the government and non-governmental organisations.
Initial results from research into the levels of residual chlorine in the homes of the most vulnerable communities in Luanda, by the UN Children's agency (UNICEF), the UK-based development agency, Oxfam, the international medical charity, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), and the International federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, showed that up to 82 percent of households were using water that was not properly treated.
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SOUTH AFRICA: New report confirms nutrition no substitute for treatment
There is no evidence that better nutrition can substitute for antiretroviral (ARV) treatment, a new report has found. These findings might seem unremarkable anywhere else in the world, but not in South Africa, where the issue of nutrition has been tainted by a damaging debate that has tended to frame it as an alternative to ARVs.
Statements by Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, suggesting that eating garlic, beetroot and olive oil could delay the need to take ARVs, have created widespread confusion in the country with the world's highest HIV caseload.
Full report
ZIMBABWE: Untreated sewage makes its way into drinking water
The dumping of untreated sewage into Lake Chivero, the main water supply dam of the Zimbabwean capital, Harare, has finally caught up with the authorities, producing an upsurge in cases of diarrhoea and dysentery in the city.
Harare's 60 public clinics are attending to more than 900 cases of diarrhoea every day and clinics have been ordered to treat patients free of charge to try and halt the spread of infection.
Full report
GLOBAL: Microbes don't know geography - WHO report
Regardless of capability or wealth, no country is immune to the increasing risk of disease outbreaks, epidemics, industrial accidents and other health emergencies, according to a new World Health Organisation (WHO) report.
Public health is threatened on a global scale, and the prospect of a safer future will depend on countries working together to identify risks and acting to contain and control them, warned the WHO World Health Report 2007, entitled A Safer Future, released on Thursday.
Full report
ZIMBABWE: Relaxing price controls "too little, too late"
Businesses say the Zimbabwean government's about-turn on price controls this week, allowing manufacturers and retailers to increase the prices of basic commodities, is "too little, too late", and most are sceptical about whether the decision will restore a normal flow of goods onto the market.
The government's reversal followed marathon meetings with businessmen, who warned that more companies would go under if goods and services continued to be provided at below-cost prices; many have already closed shop, saying they could not afford to restock.
Full report
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Theme(s): (IRIN) Aid Policy, (IRIN) Avian Flu, (IRIN) Children, (IRIN) Economy, (IRIN) Environment, (IRIN) Food Security, (IRIN) Governance, (IRIN) Refugees/IDPs, (IRIN) Urban Risk
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[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations] |
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