U N I T E D   N A T I O N S
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
Integrated Regional Information Network for Southern Africa

Tel: +27 11 880 4633
Fax: +27 11 880 1421
e-mail: irin-sa@irin.org.za


SOUTHERN AFRICA
IRIN-SA Weekly Round-Up 334
19 - 25 May 2007


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


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