Reverse migration slowing urbanization rates

HEALTH: Spending your way out of TB infection

LONDON, 17 February 2012 (IRIN) - A hundred years ago there was no way to treat tuberculosis (TB) except with rest, fresh air and nutritious food. Forty years later the discovery of antibiotics transformed treatment and TB has been a curable disease for more than half a century, but the disease still kills nearly 4,000 people a day. The goals set by the World Health Organization (WHO) to halve the incidence of TB by 2015 and eliminate it as a public health problem by 2050 seem far out of reach. full report

MALAWI: Rising prices and looming maize shortages

LILONGWE/JOHANNESBURG, 9 February 2012 (IRIN) - Malawi’s maize-growing central and southern regions have not had good rains, prompting concerns about possible shortages of the staple in the coming months. full report

SOUTHERN AFRICA: Floods leave Angolan returnees stranded

JOHANNESBURG, 6 January 2012 (IRIN) - Several thousand Angolan returnees from the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are stranded by floods in northeastern Angola. They are among the first casualties of what promises to be a very wet rainy season in parts of southern Africa. full report

SOUTHERN AFRICA: Pick of the year 2011

JOHANNESBURG, 29 December 2011 (IRIN) - In 2011 the global economic crisis combined with poor governance, financial mismanagement and unpredictable rainfall to push several southern African countries to the point of crisis. Others responded to rising unemployment and increased pressure on national budgets by hardening their attitude towards immigrants and closing their borders to asylum-seekers. IRIN covered developments from all over the region, but the following stories consistently grabbed headlines: full report

MALAWI: Urban poor hit by slew of price increases

BLANTYRE, 19 December 2011 (IRIN) - Devaluation, fuel shortages and economic mismanagement have conspired to push staple food prices to “alarming levels” in urban areas of Malawi, where even catching a bus to work has become an unaffordable luxury for many, according to residents and analysts. full report

SOUTHERN AFRICA: Counter-trafficking measures trail commitments

JOHANNESBURG, 12 December 2011 (IRIN) - At any given time, an estimated 130,000 people in sub-Saharan Africa are engaged in forced labour as a result of trafficking. It is a fraction of the global figure, which the International Labour Organization (ILO) puts at 2.5 million, but this highly lucrative and concealed crime is on the rise in Africa and traffickers usually operate with impunity. full report

CLIMATE CHANGE: Durban or bust - the Trans-African Caravan of Hope

KAMPALA, 2 December 2011 (IRIN) - Brandishing a plea for developed countries to make good their promises to reduce carbon emissions, 300 farmers, youths and activists took the scenic route to the COP17 conference in Durban, travelling more than 7,000km from Burundi in 17 days, through 10 eastern and southern African countries, aboard a convoy of buses draped in various national flags. full report

CLIMATE CHANGE: Soon every African village will know what the weather may bring

JOHANNESBURG, 2 November 2011 (IRIN) - Information about how climate change may affect any city, town or village in Africa until the next century will be available by mid-2012 as scientists localise global climate data. full report

MALAWI: Tea tells the future of the climate

MOUNT MULANJE, 2 November 2011 (IRIN) - Changing weather patterns are undermining the ability of smallholder producers in Malawi's southern region to grow tea, a crop that usually brings in 70 percent of their income, according to local farmers interviewed for a recent Fairtrade study. full report