http://www.IRINnews.org Updated every day en-gb Sat, 7 Nov 2009 20:57:00 GMT United Nations Integrated Regional Information Networks, http://www.IRINnews.org DAKAR, 6 November 2009 (IRIN) - Even when Guinea is not facing political crisis and reeling from a massacre, daily life is gruelling for many and instability is never far away. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in a September 2009 report says Guinea is “volatile” due to a combination of sharp economic decline; widespread and chronic poverty; limited access to basic services like health, water and sanitation; and persistent political instability. http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=86924 http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=86924 JOHANNESBURG, 6 November 2009 (IRIN) - The UN World Food Programme (WFP) has been feeding people in Lesotho since 1965, yet the tiny mountain kingdom is still not much closer to achieving food self-sufficiency. Time to overhaul the approach, aid agencies say. http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=86910 http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=86910 NAIROBI, 6 November 2009 (IRIN) - Aid agencies operating in Somalia say they need more money but that some donors are holding back, concerned at where resources might end up in areas too dangerous for international staff. http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=86909 http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=86909 NAKAI PLATEAU, 6 November 2009 (IRIN) - Over 6,000 people have been resettled to make way for a controversial dam in central Laos: The Nam Theun 2 Dam, the country's single largest infrastructure project, will produce electricity for Thailand, and domestically. http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=86907 http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=86907 NOUAKCHOTT, 5 November 2009 (IRIN) - People living with HIV in Mauritania are voicing their concerns about the suspension of HIV/AIDS funding by the World Bank and the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. They feel powerless in the face of the decisions, of which they are suffering the consequences. http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=86904 http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=86904 JOHANNESBURG,, 5 November 2009 (IRIN) - Zimbabwe's rough diamond trade has escaped a six-month suspension by the Kimberly Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) - an international initiative to stem the flow of conflict diamonds - after its own investigating team recommended earlier in 2009 that the country be temporarily barred from importing and exporting the gems. http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=86903 http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=86903 JOHANNESBURG, 5 November 2009 (IRIN) - Wavering international support for HIV/AIDS efforts is resulting in funding shortfalls that could wipe out a decade of progress in rolling out AIDS treatment, the international medical and humanitarian organization, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), has warned. http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=86902 http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=86902 SELEBI-PHIKWE, 5 November 2009 (IRIN) - On a recent Wednesday evening, Gillian Otsile, a volunteer at a local NGO, Men Sex and AIDS, approached a group of young men drinking cartons of traditional sorghum beer at a tavern in Selebi-Phikwe, a mining town in northeastern Botswana. http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=86899 http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=86899 KINSHASA, 5 November 2009 (IRIN) - At least 16,000 civilians have fled deadly clashes in western Democratic Republic of Congo and are now languishing, many without food or shelter, in neighbouring Republic of Congo, according to the UN and local officials. http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=86898 http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=86898 WAJIR EAST, 5 November 2009 (IRIN) - The sound of the evening bell at a local boarding high-school in Wajir, in the northeast of Kenya, did not always signal the end of the day's classes. Instead it marked the end of the evening bathroom break as “bucket toilets” were emptied for the day. http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=86896 http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=86896 JUBA, 5 November 2009 (IRIN) - Sudan has started registering voters for presidential, legislative and regional elections, but officials in the south and international observers say the process has begun on a flawed note. http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=86894 http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=86894 CAIRO, 5 November 2009 (IRIN) - Despite a number of positive economic indicators, Egypt has a hunger problem: Nearly a third of all children are malnourished, according to a new report compiled by the Ministry of Health and the UN Development Programme (UNDP). http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=86893 http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=86893 MAPUTO, 5 November 2009 (IRIN) - Helena Numaio was 12 years old in 1990 when she lost both her legs and a finger in a landmine explosion while collecting firewood in the Moamba district of Maputo Province, Mozambique. http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=86892 http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=86892 HANOI, 5 November 2009 (IRIN) - Flooding is a frequent occurrence in Vietnam's central highlands so when forecasters warned that Tropical Storm Mirinae would hit on 2 November, officials and residents took the usual precautions. http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=86891 http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=86891 KABUL, 5 November 2009 (IRIN) - The average per capita monthly expenditure of nine million Afghans is less than 66 US cents a day, and millions of other Afghans spend about $42 a month, according to a summary of Afghanistan's new National Risk and Vulnerability Assessment (NRVA). http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=86889 http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=86889 KABUL, 5 November 2009 (IRIN) - Over 50 people have been diagnosed as HIV-positive in Afghanistan over the past nine months, bringing the number of registered cases to 556, according to the National HIV/AIDS Control Programme. http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=86888 http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=86888 ZIGUINCHOR, 4 November 2009 (IRIN) - Landmines and armed attacks in Senegal's Casamance region are preventing farmers from maximizing production from the region's fertile soil, but there is another problem, too: not enough young people are taking up farming, residents and experts say. http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=86887 http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=86887 DAKAR, 4 November 2009 (IRIN) - Dengue fever continues to spread in Cape Verde, with 748 new suspected cases announced by the government on 4 November bringing the total to 6,707. Health officials say at least three people have died in the country's first-ever epidemic of the mosquito-borne illness. http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=86886 http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=86886 DAKAR, 4 November 2009 (IRIN) - Donors have promised US$40 billion in aid to agriculture in developing countries since the Rome “food summit” in 2008, but in some countries the bulk of this aid is uncoordinated, shortsighted and does not support government priorities, says NGO Oxfam. http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=86883 http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=86883 HARARE, 4 November 2009 (IRIN) - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's threat to appoint interim ministers to plug the gap left by the "disengagement" of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) from the unity government could lead to a review of donor funding, a highly placed official from a major donor country told IRIN. http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=86882 http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=86882 GABORONE, 4 November 2009 (IRIN) - Katlego Lally*, 17, belongs to a club for HIV-positive teenagers run by the Baylor Children's Clinic Centre of Excellence in Gaborone, Botswana's capital. She talked to IRIN/PlusNews about how the club has helped her overcome feelings of isolation and depression. http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=86881 http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=86881 MBABANE, 4 November 2009 (IRIN) - Swaziland not only has the world's highest HIV prevalence rate, it now also has the highest tuberculosis (TB) rate, but health officials warn that not enough is being done to integrate TB and HIV services. http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=86879 http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=86879 NOUAKCHOTT, 4 November 2009 (IRIN) - Adama Ndiaye, 20, is originally from the Kaédi region in the south of Mauritania – one of the regions worst affected by malnutrition. After losing her first two children she decided to go to the capital Nouakchott to care for her twins and her youngest child. http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=86876 http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=86876 NOUAKCHOTT, 4 November 2009 (IRIN) - At the health centre in Dar Naim, a working class neighbourhood of Nouakchott, the building for malnourished children is always full: in rural areas the seasons and crops affect malnutrition levels whereas in the capital this phenomenon remains constant throughout the year. http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=86874 http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=86874 JAKARTA, 4 November 2009 (IRIN) - Thousands of survivors of an earthquake that devastated Indonesia's West Sumatra Province are still grappling with a lack of clean water and adequate sanitation more than a month after the disaster, relief workers say. http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=86873 http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=86873