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The World Health Day 2005 theme 'Make every mother and child count' aims to raise awareness on the grave situation that mothers and children still face today.

Hundreds of millions of women and children have no access to potentially life-saving care with often fatal results, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said in a report published this week. The report says the resulting death toll could be sharply reduced through wider use of key interventions and a "continuum of care" approach for mother and child that begins before pregnancy and extends through childbirth and into the baby's childhood.

In The World Health Report 2005, WHO estimates that out of a total of 136 million births a year worldwide, less than two thirds of women in less developed countries and only one third in the least developed countries have their babies delivered by a skilled attendant. The report says this can make the difference between life and death for mother and child if complications arise.

To access the report: www.who.int

From 4 April - 27 May 2005, UNFPA and EngenderHealth, in collaboration with the International Community of Women Living with HIV/AIDS (ICW), Ipas, and the Programme on International Health and Human Rights at Harvard's FXB Center for Health and Human Rights will be hosting an eight-week electronic forum focused on sexual and reproductive health policies and services and human rights of HIV-positive women, including young women.

The electronic forum is part of a two year UNFPA/EngenderHealth global project aimed at developing improved approaches to address the sexual and reproductive health (SRH) needs of HIV-positive women.

For more information on the E-Forum areas of discussion: http://66.147.176.110/index.php?id=88

A training workshop in Botswana will help Southern African journalists understand plans to release antiretroviral (ARV) drugs, as well as other topics related to the fight against HIV/AIDS.

This technical training workshop is intended for health and social justice reporters in countries of the Southern African Development Community (SADC). The NSJ Media Training Trust is conducting the intensive workshop, scheduled for 11 - 22 July 2005. Deadline for applications: 6 June 2005.

The aim of the course is to help reporters critically analyse and report on efforts to roll out ARVs to the public, as well as the politics and management of those efforts. Participants will examine aspects of their watchdog and educational roles by studying new health policies and programmes, while also interacting with health professionals, government agencies, politicians and others.

The NSJ Trust is an independent training institute jointly owned by several African media NGOs and associated journalism schools in the Southern African and Nordic regions.

For more information:
Email:
Tel: +258 1 493400
Fax: +258 1 490880
www.nsjtraining.org