(irin) More people are turning to family planning in Tanzania’s semi-autonomous island of Zanzibar as the government seeks to improve access to reproductive healthcare. Funding, however, remains a challenge. “We have been moving on well in the recent months as the turn-up for family planning by both men and women is impressive. Acquiring enough contraceptives for our clients remains the biggest challenge,” Hanuni Ibrahim Sogora, the director for family planning in Zanzibar’s Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, told IRIN. Health officials say a culture of polygamy and low male contraceptive use has limited the number of women accessing reproductive healthcare services. “The major problem is a lack of male involvement in family planning. For example, if a mother comes to the clinic with her baby, there is no harm if the husband can escort her because whatever information is given is important for both,” Kassim Issa Kirobo of the Zanzibar reproductive health programme, told IRIN. “The men say we are busy looking for a livelihood.” Kirobo, the programme’s behaviour change officer in charge of communication and information, said: “The women may also want to use the [family planning] services but the men have the last word.”

Read more – http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=89313

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  NEW ZIMBABWE – A DIPLOMAT at the American Embassy in Harare says U.S. sanctions are not a factor in Zimbabwe’s relations with multi-lateral lenders such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.

“There never has been any connection between U.S. sanctions and Zimbabwe’s  relationship with the IMF,” James Garry, Economic Officer at the U.S. Embassy, told journalists at a roundtable discussion on Wednesday.

Garry explained that even if the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act (ZDERA) was to be repealed today, Zimbabwe would still not be able to access loans because of its arrears with the multi-lateral lenders.  Arrears made Zimbabwe ineligible for loans even before ZDERA became law in December 2001.

Read more – http://www.newzimbabwe.com/news-1912-Sanctions+dont+affect+loans+US/news.aspx

(PlusNews) – A new Zimbabwean short film on multiple concurrent sexual partnerships (MCPs) runs for just 24 minutes, but the producers are hoping that its message will last much longer.

The film, “Big House, Small House” is the latest offering from the OneLove Campaign, which works to reduce HIV prevalence and MCPs in 10 southern African countries. The title refers to the colloquial expression “small house”, used to denote long-term, illicit sexual relationships in Zimbabwe.

The film was produced by the Action Institute for Environment, Health and Development Communication (ACTION), a local NGO, in partnership with the Soul City Institute for Health and Development Communication, a South African NGO, and Zimbabwe’s National AIDS Council (NAC).

Television stations around southern Africa will air the movie as part of a series of 10 films – one from each of the campaign’s focus countries – highlighting the dangers of MCPs.

MCPs have been identified by both UNAIDS and regional leaders as one of the key drivers – along with inconsistent condom use and low levels of male circumcision – of southern Africa’s HIV epidemic and Zimbabwe is no exception. Although the country has experienced a decline in HIV prevalence within the last decade, attributed to mortality and behaviour change, HIV prevalence remains high at about 15 percent, according to UNAIDS.

Read more – http://www.plusnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=88169

IPS  - Africa needs urgent action on global warming. The consensus position adopted by African leaders ahead of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen failed. African environmental activists are now debating their way forward.

Samantha Bailey, Africa coordinator for the 350 Campaign, said activist organising had been a success.

In the framework of the international “TckTckTck” campaign, 350 held an international day of action on Oct. 24, 2009, which it says was “the biggest single day of political action ever to happen”. It involved 5,200 actions in 181 countries demanding a fair, ambitious and binding deal.

The 350 Campaign, founded in the United States by author Bill McKibben, was established to pressure governments to agree that 350 parts per million is the safe upper limit for carbon dioxide in the atmosphere if catastrophic climate change is to be avoided.

Read more – http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/nota.asp?idnews=50291

Plus News – Hope of an effective tuberculosis (TB) vaccine has been boosted by findings from the Tanzanian trial of a new TB vaccine showing that TB infection in HIV-positive patients was reduced by 39 percent.

The TB vaccine “mycobacterium vaccae” was tested in a double-blind, randomised, controlled trial that ran for seven years and involved 2,013 HIV-positive Tanzanians, and was a collaborative effort between scientists from the Dartmouth Medical School in the US, and Tanzania’s Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences.

“This is the first TB vaccine to show effectiveness in any clinical trial,” Dartmouth’s Dr Richard Waddell told IRIN/PlusNews. “It will re-energize the search for an even more effective TB vaccine, which is especially urgent in Africa.”

Read more – http://www.plusnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=88071

AfDB - “Cooperation between China and Africa is welcomed by the two sides,” Donald Kaberuka, president of African Development Bank (ADB), said in a recent exclusive interview with Xinhua.

China and Africa should further “deepen and improve” their mutually beneficial cooperation, said Kaberuka, who will make a four-day official visit to China starting from Wednesday, at the invitation of China’s central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan.

Kaberuka spoke highly of the cooperation between China and Africa and between the two banks, saying “China has been an active member of the ADB since it joined the bank and the African Development Fund (ADF) in 1985.”

Read more – http://www.afdb.org/en/news-events/article/afdb-president-sino-african-cooperation-common-desire-of-both-sides-5577/

IRIN – Unconventional health workers and new technologies will be a vital part of the ongoing effort to “virtually eliminate” mother-to-child transmission of HIV, says Michél Sidibé, executive director of UNAIDS.

“We cannot wait for the highest cadre of health professionals to be trained before expanding our capacity to prevent mother-to-child transmission,” he told a press conference in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. “We have to tap into non-conventional capacity to help expand access to health services.”

Read more – http://www.plusnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=87694

AfDB – The African Development Bank Board of Directors has recently approved the institution’s administrative budget for 2010 while reaffirming the relevance of AfDB 2008-2012 Medium Term Strategy.

AfDB considers 2010 as a year of consolidation of its delivery capacity, further optimization of the use of available resources, and leveraging on demonstrated efficiency gains and trade offs. Consequently, resource requirements for 2010 have been prepared on the basis of a zero real growth scenario.

Read more – http://www.afdb.org/en/news-events/article/afdb-adminsitrative-budget-for-2010-usd-425-million-zero-growth-5515/

IPS – Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi says Africa must compromise and be flexible towards other countries, if the U.N. Climate Conference ending on Dec. 18, is to reach an agreement.

Speaking to the press in the Danish capital, Zenawi – ostensibly leading the African front on climate change – said the continent would suffer the most should the world fail to seal a deal.

.Read more – http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/nota.asp?idnews=49727