A national survey on the prevalence and social consequences of the substance use among second cycle and out of school youth

Drug abuse has become a global phenomenon affecting almost every country though the extent and characteristics vary depending on the country in question. The most commonly used and abused substances are cigarettes, cannabis, cocaine and alcohol. Alcohol and other related problems are becoming more and more a public health concern and they represent one of the leading causes of preventable death, illness and injury.

Harare, 10 July 2003 -- Seventeen Eastern and Southern African countries (1) have for the developed "road maps " to guide them in scaling up access to care and treatment for HIV/AIDS, which is estimated to have killed 1.5 million people in the two sub regions in 2002. 

Harare, 10 July 2003 -- A workshop on scaling up access to care and treatment for people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) in 17 East and Southern African countries ended Thursday in Harare, Zimbabwe, with the adoption of recommendations aimed at achieving universal access to antiretroviral treatment (ART) by people who need it. 
Workshop participants agreed that countries should:

Harare, 10 July 2003 -- The World Health Organization Regional Director for Africa, Dr Ebrahim Samba, has challenged East and Southern African countries to aspire to reach 1.4 million people or half of the people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) in need of treatment in the two sub regions with antiretroviral treatment (ART) by the end of 2005.

Dr Samba made the call Thursday in an address to a one-day meeting of Permanent Secretaries and other senior officials from Health Ministries from the two sub regions taking place in Harare, Zimbabwe.

Harare, 10 July 2003 -- A number of African countries are instituting measures to improve access to antiretroviral therapy (ART) for people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA), it emerged at a workshop for health professionals from *17 countries in Eastern and Southern Africa taking place from 7 to 10 July in Harare, Zimbabwe.

Harare, 9 July 2003 -- A clearer picture of the status of care and treatment of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) in Africa emerged Tuesday in Harare at a workshop for health professionals from 17 Eastern and Southern African states, regarded as the worst affected countries in the world by the disease.

Harare, 8 July 2003 -- African countries have been urged to take concrete actions to scale up access to care and treatment for people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) as these would impact positively on health, reduce the number of deaths from the disease, and improve overall socio-economic development in the Region.

Kampala, 30 June -- Health Ministers from the six countries of the Great Lakes region of Africa have signed a protocol of cooperation for the prevention and control of epidemics and vaccine preventable diseases. 

"Africa's Newborns Constitute The Forgotten Children. Of the more than 4 million neonatal deaths globally each year, the majority are in Sub-Saharan Africa where neonatal mortality rate is 45 deaths per 1000 live births compared with 34 in Asia, 17 in Latin America, and 5 in industrialized countries.

"The vast majority of neonatal death are due to three main causes : birth asphyxia (40%) ; low birth weight and prematurity (25%) ; and infections (20%). Many long terms disabilities are as a result of problems experienced at birth and in the early neonatal period."

Dr Ebrahim M. Samba, the WHO Regional Director for Africa, today condemned the implication of the film and fashion industry in the promotion of tobacco on the occasion of the commemoration of the 17th World No Tobacco Day which theme is "Tobacco free film. Tobacco free fashion". 
"It has been observed that a large number of locally produced films, videos and television programmes are inadvertently or deliberately including scenes with stars indulging in smoking. This very much contributes to the social acceptance of use of cigarettes."