ion of the News from AEFJN is now online. It contains news on UN Climate Summit in Durban (big business control the negotiations, REDD+ market mechanism is criticised), on protection of biodiversity and report on land rush, on Small Arms Flows and Communities in Kenya, on the Ethno-Religious Conflict in Nigeria, on Benin’s Universal Health Insurance Plan, efavirenz and AZT regimens for HIV treatment, on Africa lying naked to Euro-American Military Offensive and on Malawi urban poor hit by slew of price increases.
The national election campaign officially started the 28th October in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), exactly one month ahead of historic presidential and legislative elections, scheduled for November 28 2011. 41 humanitarian and human rights organizations, among them AEFJN, have expressed concern about the high political tension and deteriorating security situation. They have called upon all Congolese and international actors involved to take urgent measures to prevent electoral violence, better protect civilians and ensure credible, free and fair elections.
A simple booklet for workers in health centers in Africa, with guidelines on how to ensure the quality of purchased drugs. How can we assure the quality of the medicines we are buying? What do we need to know? What precautions should we take?
To encourage the commitment of AEFJN members in Africa, towards the fight against the proliferation of small arms in the continent, AEFJN has published a booklet with the organizations working for greater control of arms in Africa. 
IMF Policies Harm Kenyan Health System
10.11.2009 15:55 by Begoña Iñarra (comments: 0)
Kenya, Health and the IMF
IMF Policies Harm Kenyan Health System, Report Says
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
According to a report released October 13 2009, policies set by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have restricted government spending on health services, "denying sick Kenyans access to drugs and quality healthcare," Business Daily reports. The report – conducted by the Centre for Economic Governance and AIDS in Africa in collaboration with Kenya AIDS NGOs Consortium (KANCO) and Results Education Fund – argues that "expenditure ceilings on public health spending imposed in the ‘90s as part of the conditions for disbursing financial support to Kenya have held back progress in the health sector by restricting the recruitment of medical professionals." Also, the policies have left Kenya "virtually dependent" on donor funds for HIV/AIDS programs, the newspaper writes.
According to Business Daily, "Kenya has more than 10,000 trained but unemployed nurses who cannot get public sector jobs because of the IMF policies. In an earlier response to non-profit groups, IMF said the wage bill condition was being phased out and would henceforth be used only in countries with unstable macroeconomic conditions such as those emerging out of conflict. According to the the non-profit groups, however, the IMF still maintains these conditions only not as directly as they used to" (Mbogo, 10/14).
According to the Nation, the report "comes at a time when health experts are demanding the employment of 24,000 additional nurses to stem a biting shortage of staff in public health facilities."
"Billow Kerrow, [a former member of the Kenyan parliament] who launched the report, [said] Kenya needs to decide whether to blindly follow IMF prescriptions and endanger her people’s health, or reject them and pursue policies that enhance access to health," the newspaper writes. "Policies such as cost sharing in health facilities are not applicable in a country like ours, in which people die from simple controllable diseases such as cholera," he said (10/13).
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