Sustainable development in Africa cannot be achieved if the continent’s governments are not supported to develop their Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) capacity, the United Kingdom’s Chief Scientific Advisor, Prof. Sir David King has warned. King made his statements on July 11 while delivering a lecture: Science, Technology, Innovation and Wealth Creation: Skills and Capacity Building in Developing Countries, at the World Bank headquarters in Washington D.C. The World Bank’s Africa Region Vice President Obiageli Ezekwesili hosted the event. King has written extensively and passionately about the central role that STI capacity building must play in Africa’s poverty reduction and economic development strategies. “Science and technology is vital for good governance, stability and human capital,” King said Wednesday. “A technically skilled population is a prerequisite for economic and wealth sustainability, and well being.”



In her welcome remarks, Ezekwesili said science and technology development is most relevant to Africa, where the incidence of people living on less than $1 a day remains staggeringly high at 41% of the population. She said there was need for an impact-driven approach to the World Bank’s assistance to governments, especially in Africa, to help turn the situation around. “Advances in science, technology and innovation are needed simultaneously with other conditions for sustainable development. But in Africa, science and mathematics education has become so esoteric and cut off…we need to do something about that,” she said. She emphasized that it was time to speak about wealth creation in Africa, which is intrinsically linked to scientific and technological capacity.



Brain Drain



One of the key aspects of King’s lecture was “brain drain,” especially in Africa, where the best scientists look for better employment opportunities in developed countries. “In Africa, over 100,000 skilled people each year go off to the developed world. There is no economic growth possible, where skills are not staying in the system,” he said. King observed that Africa was the one continent that was remaining behind in the 21 st century but was quick to point out that there were signs of technology making a big difference in improving lives. He cited the communications revolution in Africa that has been facilitated by mobile cellular technology and the potential that solar energy bears on the continent. He said it was time for Africa to generate its own scientists to exploit this potential and develop its key infrastructure.



Millennium Science Initiative



Acknowledging that Africa’s leaders are increasingly aware of the need for more and higher quality scientific, technological, and innovation capacity to carry forward the agenda of economic modernization, the World Bank is supporting different Millennium Science Initiatives. Early this year, the government of Uganda launched the first Bank-supported Millennium Science Initiative Project in Africa. The project is financed with an International Development Association (IDA) credit of US$30 million to support strengthening of the country’s scientific and technological capabilities in order to meet its economic growth and industrialization targets. Another $180 million science and technology project in Nigeria is being supported to fund research, training, and centers of excellence.



It has been clearly demonstrated that African countries must build up their STI capacity in order to make demonstrable progress in achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Several Governments in Africa, including Botswana, Mozambique and Rwanda are already moving towards adopting STI policies, and investing more resources into targeted science development programs. Early in 2007, over 300 ministers, scientists, private sector and non-governmental representatives from over 60 countries gathered at the World Bank in Washington DC, to discuss the importance of science and technology in development, agreeing that improved science and technology capacity would close the gap that separates the world’s knowledge leaders from developing countries.

If all the aid from Live Aid was spent on agricultural colleges rather than relief, Ethiopia would not be in difficulties today. So says Professor Calestous Juma, co-ordinator of the UN's Millennium Project Task Force on Science, Technology and Innovation. Professor Juma is among many experts who are stressing the need to improve science research inside Africa, including forging more partnerships with UK research centres. "Scientific collaborations with British universities will do more for Africa than distributing food aid," he tells this week's Material World programme on BBC Radio 4.



In 2003, an African Union plan of action stated that 1% of GDP should be spent on science research. But so far, the only country to achieve this goal is South Africa. One of the main challenges facing the continent is the lack of research inside African universities, which have traditionally concentrated on education. Many governments also remain unconvinced of the importance of scientific innovation in creating economic growth.



Experts point to other global examples where research in science and technology has saved national economies. "Forty years ago, many Asian countries were in a similar situation," explains Professor Juma. "We have to look to places like Taiwan and India and forge a new model where African universities give birth to businesses, and businesses create their own universities." In a handful of countries this is starting to happen. Zambia's biggest internet service provider, ZAMNET, was spawned in a university physics department. Nigeria has prioritised space research and launched its own satellite.



To increase this trend, the UK's Commission for Africa report, published in March, recommends the international community donate $3billion over 10 years to create African centres of excellence in science and technology. Rather than mimicking the broad subject base of Western universities, these research centres would focus on practical solutions to the countries' problems. Agriculture, conservation and medical science feature high on the agenda, with genetics seen as key to improving the continent's nutrition and health. Cutting-edge biotechnology and genomic projects could improve disease resistance in crops and provide new diagnostic tools for tropical diseases.



However, the current paucity of research facilities is leading talented graduates to leave for better careers abroad. The brain drain of doctors from Sub-Saharan Africa was highlighted in a recent report in the Lancet. In Ghana, for example, 60% of doctors trained during the 1980s have left the country. Currently, there are only nine doctors for every 100,000 people in Ghana. In the UK there are 160. If they do come back, scientists often find it hard to readjust. "When they return, many find themselves misfits," explains Professor Judi Wakhungu, executive director of the African Centre for Technology Studies at the University of Nairobi in Kenya. "Often they've been exposed to new, dynamic ways of teaching science. But the conservative infrastructure inside African universities prevents them from applying what they've learnt."



A surprising success story in the battle against brain drain comes from Rwanda. Many migrant scientists and doctors have received personal phone calls from the president, tempting them back to the country with large salaries and high-profile research projects. Since the Rwandan genocide, the Kigali Institute of Science and Technology has played a vital role in the country's reconstruction. It specialises in sustainable development and is gaining an international reputation for innovation. The institute was recently awarded a global environment award for a prison project that converts methane gas from inmates' toilet waste into cooking fuel. Calestous Juma is hoping that other countries follow this lead. "Helping to build scientific expertise will do for Africa what the invention of the electric guitar did for Bob Geldof."

A famine is looming in Darfur, according to members of the European Parliament who have just returned from a visit to the war-ravaged Sudanese province. The 785-strong Parliament will vote Thursday on a resolution urging that European Union governments impose targeted economic and diplomatic sanctions -- such as a travel ban and an asset freeze -- on Sudanese figures implicated in the ongoing violence in Darfur. This follows a visit by five MEPs to Darfur from Jun. 30 to Jul. 6, where they witnessed first-hand the precarious conditions in which those uprooted by terror are living. Frithjof Schmidt, a German Green MEP, said that the security situation is imperilling the distribution of food aid to the 2.5 million people who have been displaced since 2003.



Last month Oxfam announced that it was phasing out its activities in Gereida, the largest refugee camp in Darfur , where more than 130,000 people have sought refuge. Oxfam claimed that insufficient action was being taken by those controlling the surrounding area to address attacks against aid workers. Several other relief agencies have also decided that it is too dangerous for them to work in Darfur. "If the security situation cannot be quickly stabilised, then the aid organisations will no longer be able to provide even basic food supplies," said Schmidt. "A famine of dramatic extent is looming."



Schmidt attributed the security problems to both the "enduring terror" inflicted by the Janjaweed militia, who are widely believed to be a proxy force for the Khartoum government, and to turf wars among guerrilla fighters opposed to the government. "The growing fragmentation of the rebel groups into about 18 competing groups increasingly threatens the implementation of international aid efforts," he added. "Arrangements concerning humanitarian convoys are scarcely possible any more, and bandits are becoming an increasing menace."



He also warned that no improvement may come in the foreseeable future. A promised 'hybrid force' composed of troops from the African Union and the United Nations may not be deployed in Darfur for another eight to 18 months, he said. In the interim, the mandate of the 5,000 African Union peacekeepers in Darfur should be transformed, said Schmidt, so that it is tasked with the active protection of the civilian population. The EU and its member governments provided 400 million euros (550 million dollars) to the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS) in 2004-06. Schmidt said that financing of the operation has to be assured, and called on the EU to "contribute significantly" for a longer duration.



Josep Borrell, chairman of the Parliament's development committee who led the MEPs' visit to Darfur, described the situation in the province as a "devil's brew", which the African-led mission cannot contain. "All they can do is write reports," he said. "The only solution is to allow a different force than AMIS," added Borrell, a Spanish Socialist. "That is no panacea. But there will only be a solution if someone there is able to impose a solution." Representatives of the Sudanese government that met the MEPs had claimed that there was a "Hollywood plot" of Western antipathy to Sudan, he said.



The Parliament's resolution accuses Khartoum of "blatant violation" of the UN's arms embargo on Sudan. It urges China, the largest buyer of oil from Sudan, to cease exporting weapons to the country and to lift its objection to UN sanctions against Khartoum. The MEPs are demanding, too, that Sudan should hand over Ahmad Muhammad Arun, its humanitarian affairs minister, and Ali Kushayb, a Janjaweed leader, to the International Criminal Court. In February, ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo implicated the two men on 51 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Harun had personally led a campaign of incitement and recruitment that allowed atrocities in Darfur to continue, according to the prosecutor.



Lotte Leicht, director of the Brussels office of Human Rights Watch, criticised EU governments for failing to impose effective sanctions against Khartoum. She argued that the Union should be identifying what assets the Khartoum authorities and those linked to them have in Europe so that they can be frozen. A precedent for carrying out an investigation had been set by the Union when it tracked the foreign interests of former Yugoslav dictator Slobodan Milosevic and his family, she noted. "If the EU is not even doing its homework, then that only leads Khartoum to one conclusion: the EU is not serious so why should we change?" she told IPS.



Portugal, the new holder of the European Union's rotating presidency, should "articulate loud and clear", she added, that "full cooperation with the ICC" is essential. "Sudan must surrender the humanitarian minister and the other indictee, who is already in custody," she said. "We are not talking about people who are on the run." The EU is the principal donor of humanitarian aid to civilians in Darfur, having pledged some 285 million euros (393 million dollars) this year. But another MEP, French Liberal Thierry Cornillet, said there is scope for greater assistance. "The important thing is to save lives," he added. "We must increase the European Union's humanitarian aid, while not forgetting that a political solution is needed to the conflict and to work towards that in parallel."

After burning the midnight oil for many weeks while preparing a US$50 million gender-based project proposal to lay before the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria, Swazi activists found that it had vanished from their country's grant application. They were dumbfounded. "No one would tell us who had taken it out, but someone told us that women's issues are not a priority for the country," said Siphiwe Hlophe, of the non-governmental organisation (NGO), Positive Living, which assists people living with HIV.

Until last year women were considered legal minors in the tiny, impoverished southern African kingdom of Swaziland, where 33 percent of the population are infected with HIV - the world's highest rate. Hlophe was speaking at the first International Conference on Women and AIDS, which ended in Nairobi, Kenya, on 7 July. One of the key themes was increasing resources for women, because the fight against AIDS is intertwined with the fight for women's rights: in most countries more women than men are infected with HIV, and studies have shown that gender inequality is a major contributing factor in the spread of the virus.

A bumpy road

Funding for promoting women's rights is hard to come by, and the Global Fund is an example. According to the Association for Women´s Rights in Development (AWID), it was second among the top 20 donors to women's organisations in sub-Saharan Africa in 2005. Te Fund was set up in 2002 and has 136 member countries; to date it has raised US$7 billion and given 400 grants. This year it disbursed about $US1 billion for new proposals, in addition to US$2 billion for existing projects. Developing countries apply for grants once a year through their Country Coordinating Mechanism (CCM), which receives proposals from all a country's AIDS actors, and whose members are elected representatives of the public and private sectors, NGOs, academics, donors and people living with HIV. The CCM should be broadly representative of all sectors working in the field of HIV/AIDS. But this is where the problems start.

In Nigeria, the government handpicked CCM members "so it looked as any government agency", although activist pressure had changed that, said Rolake Odetoyinbo, project director of the Nigerian advocacy group, Positive Action for Treatment Access, which is based in the port city of Lagos. "Go to the Global Fund website, find out who represents women at your CCM, call her and ask, 'sister, what are you doing for us?' Go the CCM meetings as observers - they won't pay your fare, they won't feed you, but you got to be there and watch what happens," she advised.

Clinical psychologist and HIV-positive activist Susan Paxton, of the Asia and Pacific Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS, noted that in her region CCMs were male-dominated, and suggested that the civil society representatives to the CCM should include one man and one woman. Another problem is the complexity of requirements for making proposals, which cover 150 pages and demand much detail. This may ensure accountability and professionalism, but it makes it very hard for small NGOs.

This year, the Women's Coalition of Zimbabwe, an umbrella organisation for women's rights groups, hired two consultants for a period of three months, yet their proposal didn't make it into the final funding round. "It was a painful process and we are still in mourning, but it was worth it," said the coalition's Netsai Mushonga. Besides the experience gained by the organisation, the Zimbabwean CCM has agreed to include gender as a central theme in proposals for 2008.

At the end of a successful application there is a pot of money that will translate into services and programmes for vulnerable women and girls, such as reproductive health, income-generation, and more widespread promotion of rights. "We need to get really smart to get what we want and master fund-raising skills. It may be boring, but needed to bring programmes to change women's lives," said Sisonke Msimang, coordinator of HIV and AIDS programmes at the Open Society of Southern Africa, a member of the International Soros Foundations Network that promotes democracy and social upliftment.

Shrinking resources for women

"Influencing funding is critical to a women's rights strategy and to shift the value systems," said Zawadi Nyong'o, AWID coordinator in Kenya. [ www.awid.org] Funding for women was shrinking, Nyong'o explained: money was shifting to governments and national budgets under the AIDS effectiveness policy to streamline donor procedure and aid delivery, reducing the flow of funds outside national budgets, as agreed by 90 countries in Paris in 2005.

Some of it was being redirected elsewhere under the agenda of the religious right, and the rest was becoming concentrated on large, well-established organisations, in what Nyong'o described as "a vicious cycle". "Small NGOs stay small, the large get larger, and there are few in the middle," she said. An 2005 AWID survey of women's NGOs worldwide found that 37 percent have annual budgets under US$20,000. About half the NGOs surveyed reported receiving less funding than five years ago, roughly one-quarter received more and one-quarter reported no change. Bigger organisations reported the largest growth in funding.

The future of funding for programmes related to women's rights lay in diversifying strategies and relying more on local resources, governments, the private sector and communities, said Bisi Adeleye Fayemi, Executive Director of the African Women's Development Fund. It would be an uphill struggle, she warned. "The reason we are not getting enough funding is that we are trying to dismantle a system that has been in place for millenniums: patriarchy."

AFRICA'S WORSENING energy situation would take centre stage at the revived (European Union (EU)-Africa Summit in December this year in Lisbon. As one of the policy initiatives to be discussed, the EU-Africa Partnership on Energy is expected to help solve the energy problems of Africa. On both continents, energy security, access to secure, sustainable and affordable energy services, and the sustainable and efficient management of energy resources are prerequisites for development and prosperity.



Even though Africa has abundant energy resources, it currently has the world's lowest rate of access to modern energy. Africa has been having serious energy shortages than Europe. Countries such as Zimbabwe, Ghana, Nigeria, and Togo among others are in dire need of energy. It is estimated that 600 million Africans do not have access to electricity, and use wood for cooking and heating. 400,000 Africans, mainly women and children also die every year of respiratory diseases related to the indoor air pollution from using wood and other traditional fuels. According to Commission of the European Communities statement which was released last month in Brussels, the investment needs are huge - according to the World Bank, ensuring 100% access to electricity in Sub-Sahara Africa by 2030 would require an annual investment of - 8.27 billion.



"Already now Europe and Africa are closely interlinked in the energy sector: Europe benefits from African energy exports, and Africa benefits from European technical and financial support in the energy sector," the report said. It stressed that the increasing global concerns on energy security, energy access and climate change have clearly reinforced the links between the energy future of the two continents, and created the need for joint approaches. Against this background, the envisaged Africa-EU Energy Partnership will be an innovative platform for an enhanced political energy dialogue between Africa and the EU. "Via the Energy Partnership, Africa and Europe will share knowledge and experience, develop common policy responses and stimulate specific action that addresses the energy challenges of the 21st century," the statement stressed.

The Partnership will address security and diversification of energy supply, both for Africa and Europe, promote access to affordable, clean and efficient energy services, stimulate energy markets and aim to increase financial and human resources in support of Africa's sustainable energy development, while promoting enabling frameworks for investments as well as market transparency and stability. It would involve key players, such as the private sector and International Financing Institutions, and find ways to include emerging donors' in the dialogue on energy sector development in Africa.



The summit would work towards the achievement of concrete objectives to strengthen the existing Africa-EU dialogue on access to energy and energy security, to scale up investment in energy infrastructure, including promotion of renewable energy solutions and energy efficiency, to amplify the development-oriented use of oil and gas revenues, to promote transparency and enabling frameworks as well as to mainstream climate change into development cooperation. The Partnership would also build on existing instruments, such as the overall framework of the EU-Africa Infrastructure Partnership and its Trust Fund, the European Union Energy Initiative (EUEI) and its ACP Energy Facility (currently -220 million), the national and regional indicative programmes under the 10th EDF and the thematic programme on environment, management of natural resources including energy.



Other initiatives to be deliberated upon are the EU-Africa Partnership on Climate Change, EU-Africa Partnership on Migration, Mobility and Employment, EU-Africa Partnership on Democratic Governance and creation of a Joint EU-Africa political and institutional architecture. The postponement of the EU-Africa Summit in 2003 was seen as a major political disappointment and Commission on European Communities welcomed the EU-Africa partnership is now back at the highest political level - where it belongs, the Commission of the European Communities statement had said. The summit which was revived by the AU chairman, President John Agyekum Kufuor is an opportunity for the political leaders of the two continents to make strong action-oriented political commitments on current key international issues, notably climate change, migration, sustainable energy, governance and security, and to set the political course for the EU-Africa strategic partnership. African and EU Heads of State and Government, representing 80 countries and almost 1.5 billion people will then sign a Lisbon Declaration - an EU-African consensus on values, common interest and strategic objectives.

The Africa Population Report has revealed that poverty, unemployment, poor health and malnutrition are some of the biggest challenges facing social growth and development on the continent. Speaking at the opening of the 6th General Assembly of the African Population Commission in Johannesburg on Monday, Deputy Minister for Social Development, Dr Jean Swanson-Jacobs, highlighted these issues and advocated a call to action. "Effective change will not come about merely by deliberating on population and development challenges in boardrooms and conference halls. Our agreements have to resonate in community-based actions," said the deputy minister. Delegates from various organisations such as the African Union (AU), United Nations Population Fund, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, African Development Bank and African ambassadors and High Commissioners met to deliberate on the release of the State of the African Population Report 2006.



Africa's population was estimated at 924 million in 2006 and is expected to rise to 1.4 billion by 2025. The expected population growth poses both social and economic challenges to Africa's sustainable development. Chairperson for the AU Commission, Professor Alpha Konare said: "In order to meet the poverty challenge and make notable progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), population issues should be taken effectively into account in socio-economic policies and development plans." Ms Swanson-Jacobs confirmed the AU's message saying "the Commission takes place at a critical juncture in Africa's development course, as we are approaching the halfway mark towards the target date our leaders set in 2000 for the achievement of the MDGs in 2015."



Population, she said, was the most important asset and resource for any country and Africa must therefore strive to ensure it has a quality population in order "to reap the demographic dividend of its large youthful population by investing in their development and empowerment." She highlighted that 88 out of every 1 000 children born in Africa died before their first birthday with 60 percent of this figure attributed to malnutrition. Africa's high infant mortality rate coupled with poor maternal healthcare and HIV and AIDS has affected the levels of social and economic development on the continent. Commissioner for Social Affairs at the AU Commission, Advocate Bience Gawanaf, told delegates "as long as the HIV/AIDS and malaria pandemics continue unabated, maternal and child mortality remains high and women's status remains low we can be rest assured that 2015 will come and go without any remarkable progress achieved."



The state of the African Population report called for the AU to press for greater and more meaningful debt relief, debt cancellation, and more generous and predictable official development assistance. More favourable terms of trade and access to developed country markets was also essential for social and economic development as only through fair trade and "access to markets will Africa find real and long lasting answers to poverty eradication on the continent."

President Paul Kagame emerged the best head of state in Africa in support of Information Communication Technology (ICT) during 2006. Kagame won the same award last year in May, in a similar event that took place in Kigali. The nominees for the award were President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal, President Kuffor of Ghana and President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa among others. The announcement was made Friday during the ongoing 7th annual ICT African Investment Summit in Accra, Ghana. The four-day 7th summit theme was "Strategies for Low Cost Broadband Access in Africa".



Kemilinks international, an independent global firm that provides advisory, consultancy, training and investment facilitation services in ICT in the emerging markets, particularly in Africa did the rankings. Rwanda also emerged the country with best ICT Policy framework last year, beating nominees; Ghana, South Africa and Tanzania. Of the countries that gave most support to regional ICT initiatives, Nigeria emerged the best, beating nominees; Rwanda, Kenya and South Africa. South Africa emerged the most effective in the use of government websites, again beating Rwanda and Egypt.



Engineer Albert Butare, Rwanda's Energy and ICT Minister received the awards on President Kagame and Rwanda's behalf in Accra. In an exclusive interview with minister, shortly after touching down at Kigali International Airport, the minister carried both awards, said he would present them to the president in a few days. The summit according to minister, "is a forum where African countries and investors meet to share best ICT experiences in line with regulation, investment and technological convergences." At the summit, awards basing on policy, regulation, mobile operation, fixed line operation and TV Broadcasting are also given. On Regulation, Instituto Nacional das Comunicaçoes de Moçambique (INCM) emerged the best regulator with the most informative website.



Vodacom South Africa won the best national mobile operator with best innovations, beating MTN Nigeria, Sonatel, and Cell C. Celtel beat MTN and Vodacom as the best regional mobile operator with best innovations. The best national TV broadcaster with the best innovations was SABC, beating AIT Nigeria and NTA. Asked about Rwanda's secret to success, the Engineer said, "It is simply Rwanda's commitment to its ICT vision." He said, while sharing experiences with West Africans at the summit, they were indeed impressed with how fast and organised Rwanda moves on her ICT policy.



"We have goals, objectives and milestones so far registered. We know we are not yet there but out there we are seen as stars," the quite jubilant minister was quoted as saying. He observed that Nigeria is already connected to submarine cable that runs from South Africa but their internet charges are higher than in Rwanda. Minister Butare however said, "We know our weaknesses on regulation and have a vision to work around them."

When the US President, George Bush announced the Millennium Challenge initiative in 2002, it sounded like a promising new approach to foreign aid. The idea was to supply U.S. taxpayer dollars only to governments that could meet strict standards of efficiency and accountability. The proposal would do so based on the countries' own expressed needs, not development fads or political fealty to the United States. Money would be provided in substantial amounts, over substantial periods, so as to make a genuine impact on poverty. And the whole project would be administered outside the traditional aid bureaucracy, by a congressionally established Millennium Challenge Corp. (MCC). Typical of the Millennium Challenge approach is the five-year compact signed Friday with Mozambique. It will supply $507 million to help one of Africa's poorest countries build much-needed roads and improve access to safe drinking water.



It's still a sound concept. But the Millennium Challenge may be approaching an institutional crossroads. Mr. Bush originally said that he hoped to be sending $5 billion a year to poor countries by 2006, a pledge that never came close to being realized. Congress took two years to pass legislation setting up the program. Since then, the administration's annual budget requests have never reached $5 billion, and Congress has consistently shaved them even further. Most of the roughly $6 billion that has been appropriated so far has been committed to specific countries. But budget-cutters on Capitol Hill note that only about $71 million has actually been spent. The slow rate is an unfortunate consequence of the MCC's sensible policies: It won't write a check until recipients can document their capacity to use it appropriately, and for many poor countries making reforms and dealing with the MCC's paperwork take time -- a lot of time. Meanwhile, urgent and expensive new U.S. overseas priorities -- from securing U.S. embassies to fighting HIV-AIDS -- keep coming up.



The administration asked for $3 billion for the MCC in its fiscal 2008 budget. House appropriators have cut that to $1.8 billion, about what the MCC got last year, while Senate appropriators have gone even lower, to $1.2 billion, a figure that the MCC says will cripple its ability to make new agreements with countries that have recently qualified for its programs. One benefit of the Millennium Challenge is that it creates an incentive for poor countries to improve their practices and procedures, but that could be lost if the impression spreads that the United States is pulling the plug. Given the intense competition for foreign-aid resources, impatience with the Millennium Challenge is understandable and even helpful, if it forces the MCC to fix its sometimes burdensome procedures. But it is too early to start slashing a program that has been in business for only three years and still deserves a chance to show what it can do.

Poor transport infrastructure is one of key factors that hinder smooth business between Tanzania and Uganda. This situation has led to the decline of Uganda's cargo volume transported through Dar port and has in some cases caused delay in delivery of cargo traveling by either road or railway. For instance, in the year 2005 about 83, 592 million tonnes of cargo was transported to Uganda through Dar port while in the year 2006 only 46,855 million tonnes were transported.



Speaking to Business Week during the ongoing International Trade fair at the Mwalimu Julius K. Nyerere Grounds in Dar es Salaam last week, Mr. Damas Ndawi, the Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) officer for planning and statistics said that for a long time now, Uganda has been using the port and of late the small traffic to Kampala has been diverted to the more competitive Port of Mombasa in Kenya. "There have been massive construction of roads, which link regions, and borders to neighbouring countries but still there is a challenge to the government," Ndawi said.



Dar es Salaam port is the largest seaport with a rated capacity of 4.1 million dead weight tonnes (DWT) of dry cargo (out of which DWT or 250,000 Twenty Foot Equivalent Units (TEUs) are containerised cargo and 6.0 million (DWT) of bulk liquid cargo p.a. Dar es Salaam port has 11 berths with total quay length of 2,600 metres. Out of the 11 berths, 8 berths with quay length of 1,478 metres are general cargo berths. These are equipped with quay cranes, front loaders and other cargo handling equipment. Apart from serving the mother country, Tanzania, Dar es Salaam port serves a huge hinterland of about 4.5 million square kilometres consisting of Malawi, Zambia, DR Congo, Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda with a total population of over 160 million people. The port of Dar es Salaam with 11 deep-water berths is strategically placed to serve as a convenient freight linkage not only to and from East and Central African countries but also to Middle and Far East, Europe, Australia and America.

The 4th IAS Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention Opens with Call for Expanded Research to Strengthen Global Scale Up of HIV Prevention, Care and Treatment now!

With important scientific advances setting the stage, the 4th IAS Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention (IAS 2007) convenes in Sydney, Australia today, with organizers calling for even greater vigilance to ensure universal access to HIV prevention and treatment, and expanded research to inform and strengthen the global response to HIV. IAS 2007 is hosted by the International AIDS Society (IAS), in partnership with the Australasian Society for HIV Medicine (ASHM). The conference incorporates the 19th Annual ASHM Conference.

"With fewer than one-third of people living with HIV in low- and middle-income countries having access to life-saving medications, and still fewer with access to proven prevention services, such as condoms and sterile syringes, the goal of universal access by 2010 must remain a priority," said IAS President Dr. Pedro Cahn, International Conference Co-Chair and Director of Fundación Huesped in Argentina. "Science has given us the tools to prevent and treat HIV effectively. The fact that we have not yet translated this science into practice is a shameful failure."

Emphasizing that "good research drives good policy and programming," the IAS and ASHM recently issued the Sydney Declaration, a global sign-on letter that urges governments and donors to allocate 10 per cent of all resources dedicated to HIV programming for research. In their remarks at the Opening Session, the conference co-chairs stressed that new research investments cannot come at the expense of prevention and treatment programmes, and that such investments must not be seen as an additional burden, but as a critical way of determining what works best and why.

"It is our responsibility as researchers, as the drivers of the research locomotives that carry HIV treatments forward, to ensure that clinical and prevention research, as well as capacity building and basic science, continue to thrive in the most affected countries," said Prof. David Cooper, IAS 2007 Local Co-chair and Director of the National Centre in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research, University of New South Wales. "Funders must understand that good programming can only succeed on the back of solid research."

Some of the many important scientific findings to be presented and discussed at the conference include:
* The development of novel treatments that offer new hope to persons in whom HIV has developed resistance to existing medications;
* New biomedical prevention strategies available and others on the horizon, such as female-controlled microbicides, male circumcision and the use of antiretrovirals to prevent infection (referred to as pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP);
* New knowledge of HIV pathogenesis and the mechanisms through which HIV causes immune deficiency;
* Operations research detailing what we've learned, to date, about what is working on the ground in communities across the globe; and
* Updates on the clinical implications of an ageing population of people living with HIV, as well as on paediatric treatment issues.