http://www.IRINnews.org Updated every day en-gb Thu, 18 Mar 2010 02:27:00 GMT United Nations Integrated Regional Information Networks, http://www.IRINnews.org JOHANNESBURG, 17 March 2010 (IRIN) - As more HIV-positive people access treatment and live longer, the number of people suffering from HIV-related mental disorders is growing, but mental health remains an ethical, legal and clinical minefield, where many doctors and nurses fear to tread – and fear to test. http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88461 http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88461 NAIROBI, 17 March 2010 (IRIN) - God, not global emissions, is to blame for climate change, according to a survey conducted in 10 African countries. A close second, however, came deforestation, underlining the argument that there is information available – just not sufficient or effective enough to help people understand the reasons behind environmental issues. http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88459 http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88459 DAKAR, 17 March 2010 (IRIN) - Mali is hoping to eradicate guinea-worm in the next two years, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88458 http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88458 JOHANNESBURG, 17 March 2010 (IRIN) - Madagascar's history is marked by a struggle for political control. The country gained independence from France in 1960, but since then it has been plagued by assassinations, military coups and disputed elections. Here is a timeline of the major events in the island's turbulent history. http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88457 http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88457 TESO, 17 March 2010 (IRIN) - While the public response to Kenya's national HIV testing drive has been enormous, many women are not keen to be tested, knowing that a positive result could mean the breakdown of their marriages, loss of home and more. http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88456 http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88456 YANGON, 17 March 2010 (IRIN) - A lack of capacity on several levels is likely to hamper Myanmar's bid to change its political structure, diplomats and analysts say. http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88455 http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88455 NAIROBI, 17 March 2010 (IRIN) - An acute water shortage after a prolonged drought in central Galgadud region of Somalia has forced thousands of people to abandon their villages, say officials. "A prolonged drought, coupled with a drying-up of wells and barkads [water pans], is forcing many people to leave their homes," said Abdirahman Mohamed Adawe, the district commissioner of Adado, one of the areas hardest hit. http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88454 http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88454 KABUL, 17 March 2010 (IRIN) - Armed hostilities have boosted the number of internally displaced persons to over 296,000 but an effective humanitarian response is being hampered by insecurity, the UN Secretary-General says in a new report to the UN Security Council. http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88453 http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88453 JOHANNESBURG, 17 March 2010 (IRIN) - Ethembeni Enrichment Centre, a school in a run-down part of Port Elizabeth, the largest city in Eastern Cape, South Africa's poorest province, has achieved a remarkable 100 percent pass rate for a dozen years. But officials from the education department, sent on a fact-finding mission to learn from the school's success, are running more than two hours late. http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88452 http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88452 SANAA, 17 March 2010 (IRIN) - What mechanisms are in place to ensure that international aid reaches its intended recipients in Yemen rather than corrupt officials? How effective has aid delivery been hitherto? http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88451 http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88451 ANTANANARIVO, 16 March 2010 (IRIN) - Madagascar's political deadlock masks an increasingly fragile humanitarian situation that will keep deteriorating if no solution to the ongoing crisis is found. http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88447 http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88447 GAZA CITY, 16 March 2010 (IRIN) - Nahla*, aged 30, from Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, said she was physically and mentally abused for more than 10 years by her husband before being granted a divorce three months ago. http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88446 http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88446 NAIROBI/DAR ES SALAAM, 16 March 2010 (IRIN) - New maps pin-pointing the exact location of "wellness centres" in sub-Saharan Africa are improving truck drivers' access to treatment and care for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs). http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88443 http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88443 KATHMANDU, 16 March 2010 (IRIN) - Nepal is boosting efforts to tackle child malnutrition, which is so widespread that every other child under five has been found to be malnourished. http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88442 http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88442 KINSHASA, 16 March 2010 (IRIN) - Authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are appealing for funds to combat a tropical disease associated with the consumption of insufficiently processed cassava in western Bandundu province, officials said. http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88441 http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88441 NAKIVALE, 16 March 2010 (IRIN) - Umaru Swaray, 33, was a child soldier during Liberia's civil war. Separated from his family, he walked for months crossing the continent to Uganda, searching for his family, who had escaped the war. He found them in Kampala in 2004 – on the day they were leaving for the Netherlands. http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88440 http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88440 KABUL, 16 March 2010 (IRIN) - With the exception of small pockets of resistance, Taliban fighters have been driven out of Marjah town in Helmand Province, southern Afghanistan, but many local people are struggling to return to some kind of normality and are fearful of the future. http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88439 http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88439 ADDIS ABABA, 16 March 2010 (IRIN) - Human traffickers and smugglers in Ethiopia have taken advantage of the upcoming World Cup, duping victims into believing that South Africa has created huge employment opportunities, says a government report, Illegal Migration: Causes, Consequences and Solutions to human trafficking and smuggling in Ethiopia. http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88438 http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88438 DAKAR, 16 March 2010 (IRIN) - That creatures like ants and bees are willing to sacrifice their lives for the sake of the colony seems to defy Darwin's theory of the survival of the fittest, UK researchers noted in a recent paper on the genetics of altruism. "Altruism reduces the reproductive process of the altruist - so why is it not weeded out by natural selection?" http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88437 http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88437 JOHANNESBURG, 16 March 2010 (IRIN) - The price of maize, sorghum, wheat and other staple grains is likely to climb again in many food-importing east African countries, agricultural economists warn. http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88326 http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88326 JOHANNESBURG, 15 March 2010 (IRIN) - Tropical storm Hubert battered Madagascar on 10 March, cutting off entire communities in the southeast from emergency aid. A limited amount of relief - mainly food items - has been flown in because of damage to infrastructure, and aid agencies are trying to reach people in need of assistance via the river systems. http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88435 http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88435 JOHANNESBURG, 15 March 2010 (IRIN) - Cholera has claimed the lives of over 40 people in Mozambique and ongoing flooding throughout the central and northern parts of the country could "aggravate" the problem, aid agencies say. http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88434 http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88434 JOHANNESBURG, 15 March 2010 (IRIN) - Zimbabwe's food security has improved but is still "precarious" and "vulnerable to sudden shocks", according to the latest update by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88433 http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88433 JOHANNESBURG, 15 March 2010 (IRIN) - New research suggests that the poor knowledge and attitudes of doctors and healthcare workers in South Africa are limiting access to preventative tuberculosis (TB) therapy. http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88432 http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88432 DUBAI, 15 March 2010 (IRIN) - Floods have killed 34 people in Aksu District, Almaty Province, southeastern Kazakhstan, according to the government-run Kazinform news agency on 15 March. Hundreds have been displaced and a further 926 evacuated to the provincial capital of Taldykorgan, it said. http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88430 http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88430