| FOOD: African wheat - balancing consumer and farmer demands |
 | ADDIS ABABA، 15/10/2012 (IRIN) - Whether Africa can scale-up wheat production to meet growing demand will depend on governments’ support of local producers. A key test is whether they are willing to take on wheat import subsidies, which keep bread prices low and urban consumers happy, said experts at a recent five-day conference on African wheat production. full report |
| ZIMBABWE: Nurses step up to initiate HIV treatment |
 | HARARE، 16/10/2012 (IRIN) - Faced with the ambitious target of reaching 85 percent of people in need of HIV treatment by the end of 2012, the Zimbabwean government has announced that nurses will be trained to prescribe and manage antiretroviral (ARV) drug treatment. full report |
| EDUCATION: Getting the skills for life |
 | LONDON، 16/10/2012 (IRIN) - Rising numbers of children out of school in sub-Saharan Africa, significant numbers of children spending six years in primary school and still not being able to read a complete sentence - the latest report by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) paints a gloomy picture of the state of the world’s education. full report |
| HEALTH: Uneven progress in global TB fight |
 | NAIROBI، 17/10/2012 (IRIN) - The UN Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target of halting and reversing the tuberculosis (TB) epidemic by 2015 has been achieved, and the world is on track to meet the target of reducing global TB prevalence by 50 percent by 2015. But the progress has been irregular, with Africa and Europe lagging behind the rest of the world, according to the new Global Tuberculosis report by the UN World Health Organization (WHO). full report |
| AFRICA: Promoting sustainable inorganic fertilizer use |
 | NAIROBI، 18/10/2012 (IRIN) - There is growing need to promote inorganic fertilizer use among smallholders to improve food production and food security, especially among the world’s poorest populations, but its use must be sustainable, experts say. full report |
| MADAGASCAR: Possible palm extinction threatens livelihoods |
 | JOHANNESBURG، 19/10/2012 (IRIN) - Eighty-three percent of Madagascar’s palm species - which are a vital source of both food and building materials - are threatened by extinction, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) latest Red List of Threatened Species, published on 17 October. full report |
| SOUTH AFRICA: Foreigners still at risk |
 | JOHANNESBURG، 19/10/2012 (IRIN) - After a wave of violent attacks on foreigners swept South Africa in May 2008, leaving 63 dead and tens of thousands displaced, both government and civil society pledged ‘never again’. Yet measures implemented in the past four years have failed to defuse continuing resentment of foreigners or to ensure justice for victims of xenophobic violence. full report |