US Ambassador to
Namibia, Dennise Mathieu said this week during the Ambassador’s Special
Self-Help Programme signing ceremony that this year’s programme will share a
total of N$1.8 million among community development projects in 12 regions of
Namibia. “Nineteen of the projects selected this year specifically tackle the
HIV/AIDS epidemic,” she said. The Ambassador’s Special Self-Help Programme began
in 1990, and since [...]

The proposed
National Pension Fund (NPF), which was supposed to have established by the
Social Security Commission (SSC) more than three years ago, still remains a pipe
dream, the Economist has established. The pension fund is meant to cover the
working population when they reach the age of 60 years. Only some 25% of
Namibia’s potential labour force enjoys pension [...]

The
Plight of a Tramp is a play written and directed by local playwright Kubbe
Rispel and can be seen at the Warehouse Theatre from 8 to 9 October. This play
is a story of hopeless people who don?t have a vision in life. The Plight of a
Tramp was written during a period when the playwright was experiencing [...]

TORONTO, Canada –
Addressing a plenary session of the XVI International AIDS Conference here this
week, WHO’s HIV/AIDS director Dr. Kevin De Cock reported that the number of
people receiving HIV antiretroviral therapy in sub-Saharan Africa has surpassed
1 million for the first time, a ten-fold increase in treatment access in the
region since December 2003. In low- and middle-income [...]

(IRIN) – A
“lethal cocktail” of low condom use by people with multiple sexual partners,
combined with low levels of male circumcision, are the key factors driving
soaring rates of HIV/AIDS in Southern Africa, the epicentre of the global
epidemic, according to a study released on Monday. Casting doubt on long-held
beliefs about how the disease spreads in countries such [...]

The Protea
group of hotels in Namibia is not only positioning itself as the largest
hospitality operation in the country, but is setting up social responsibility
projects that are already making great strides in their respective communities.
The various charity driven endeavours, which have been adopted by the seven
respective Protea hotels, are in line with the Protea Hotel South [...]

Next month,
the Bicycling Empowerment Network (BEN) will launch a bicycle ambulance
manufacturing plant in Namibia. BEN said in a press statement that the
ambulances will be delivered to rural communities in the north of the country in
partnership with community-based organisations, strengthening the grassroots
response to HIV/AIDS. Bicycle ambulances are ‘stretchers on wheels’ that attach
to normal bicycles and tow [...]

A moving exhibition of photographs
portraying a compassionate and sensitive side of Namibian men will be held at
the Franco Namibian Cultural Centre (FNCC) titled ‘The Caring Namibian Man’. The
exhibition that is co-organised by the Ombetja Yehinga organisation, VSO/RAISA,
FNCC and the Bank Windhoek Arts Festival 2006 will run from 6 to 27 September.
According to the organisers, the [...]

IRIN – Political upheavals in Southern Africa are
jeopardising efforts to accelerate regional economic growth, a new study has
found. An overview of the challenges facing Southern Africa showed that while a
degree of stability had been achieved after decades of unrest, the region
remained “beset with crises that undermine sustainable development”. Researchers
at the Pretoria-based Human Research Sciences Council [...]

(IRIN) – African governments have been called on to
provide vulnerable groups with free anti-malarial drugs, insecticide-treated bed
nets (ITNs) and essential medicines for childhood diseases. The recommendations
followed a conference hosted by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in the
Mozambican capital, Maputo, on how to strengthen health systems to fight malaria
and childhood illnesses. Dr Fred Binka, chairman of [...]