MADAGASCAR-ZIMBABWE: IRIN-SA Weekly Round-up 334 for 19 - 25 May 2007
25 May 2007 18:07:52 GMT Source: IRIN
SOUTHERN AFRICA, 25 May 2007 (IRIN) - CONTENTS SOUTHERN AFRICA: Health systems need to go online to improve efficiency
ZIMBABWE: From school teacher to sexworker
SOUTH AFRICA: Cape Town -
Africa's first green city?
SWAZILAND: More than a third of Swazis in need of food aid
ZAMBIA: Maize exported before food security status known
MADAGASCAR: Recovering from blow after blow SWAZILAND: AIDS triggers wave of urban homeless
SOUTH AFRICA: Winter freeze highlights homeless crisis SOUTHERN AFRICA: Health systems need to go online to improve efficiency To cope with rising
demand and complexity, Africa's health systems need to go online, health officials told a regional governments' conference in Swaziland. Information technology is no longer a luxury
purchased at the expense of other needs, but a basic tool, an annual pan-African government ministerial information technology summit heard last week. See report:
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72273 ZIMBABWE: From school teacher to sexworker Surviving the world's highest inflation rate is resulting in people ditching their professions and
embarking on work, which they had never previously considered. Mavis, a qualified nursery teacher, has swapped her life as an educator for that of a sexworker and now cruises for clients in the
upmarket hotels of the capital Harare. See report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72270 SOUTH AFRICA: Cape Town - Africa's first green city? South Africa's
drought-stricken coastal city of Cape Town is forging ahead with a plan to tackle the effects of climate change, which could provide a blueprint for other urban centres. The Cape Town municipality,
at the southern tip of the country, has been identified by the government's Department of Water Affairs and Forestry as the first major urban area where the demand for water is expected to exceed
supply, and for the past few summers has already experienced rationing. See report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72288 SWAZILAND: More than a third of Swazis in need of food aid A prolonged dry spell has left around 400,000 vulnerable people in need of approximately 40,000 metric tonnes (mt) of food assistance until the next harvest in April 2008, according to a report by the
United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP), which was based on a joint assessment mission. WFP has been supporting about a quarter of
Swaziland's 1.1 million people with food assistance since 2002, to improve the nutrition of families affected by drought, poverty and HIV/AIDS. See report:
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72335 ZAMBIA: Maize exported before food security status known Zambia has begun exporting maize, although the government has yet to ascertain how much
of the staple food has been produced during a season that was severely disrupted by widespread flooding. There is growing concern over the government's failure to release the scheduled official crop
figures for the 2006/7 agricultural farming season, which are now more than a week overdue. See report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72327 MADAGASCAR: Recovering from blow after
blow Much of Madagascar had already been suffering from drought before the worst cyclone season in years hit the Indian Ocean Island, leaving aid agencies and the government struggling to help
communities cope without food, schools and hospitals. Madagascar has faced a string of calamities - cyclones, tropical storms, unprecedented flooding, and chronic drought in the south – which
have been unusually severe, even for this natural disaster-prone island. The combined effects of the disasters left nearly half a million people in need of humanitarian assistance by the end of March. See report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72354 SWAZILAND: AIDS triggers wave of urban homeless The disintegration of the extended Swazi family, partly as a result of the
HIV/AIDS epidemic, has created a new phenomenon of urban homelessness. A bitter early-winter cold front awakened Swazis this week to a problem nonexistent a decade ago: a seemingly permanent
population of homeless people in urban centres. Temperatures plunged to almost freezing point in the capital, Mbabane, and dipped below 0 degrees Celsius in the northern town, Pigg's Peak and the
southern town, Hlatikhulu. See report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72356 SOUTH AFRICA: Winter freeze highlights homeless crisis An unusually severe blast of winter weather has
swept across South Africa, killing at least 17 people through exposure and highlighting the country's chronic housing shortage. South Africa's several million strong homeless population was
particularly hard hit as temperatures plunged to record lows in many parts of the country. The South African Weather Service said 54 temperature records were set as snow, hail and heavy rain descended
on the country. See report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72357
