Monthly Archives: July 2010
South Africa is bad on the environment
20 July 2010
South Africa scores relatively poorly on environmental conditions, the Organisation for Co-Operation and Development (OECD) said on Monday as it released its first economic survey of the country.
This was due to its industrial structure and its heavy reliance on coal for electricity generation.
Favourable energy prices for some large industrial users, electricity prices that did not cover capital costs for the development of new capacity, and low coal purchase prices for the dominant electricity generator had all tended to hinder economic efficiency and aggravate carbon emissions.
The OECD is an international organisation which says it helps governments tackle the economic, social and governance challenges of a global economy.
Read more at TimesLive.
" alt="Unemployment and the rights of workers" />Unemployment and the rights of workers
The most important, single issue facing government today is improving conditions for greater labour absorption.
Jasson Urbach is an economist at the Free Market Foundation.
The South African Bill of Rights says, “œEvery citizen has the right to choose their trade, occupation or profession freely.” But local laws and institutions do not fully support that right, and one consequence is our staggering unemployment rate.
Microbicide gel found to reduce AIDS risk in women
News sources world-wide are buzzing this morning with the results of a South African study which suggests that a woman’s risk of infection with HIV can be significantly cut by the use of a vaginal gel containing the antiretroviral drug tenofovir.
The research, which will be presented today at the 18th International AIDS Conference in Vienna, was leaked out a day early, sending a wave of optimism through the AIDS research community.
US study says poverty, more than race, tied to HIV
19 July 2010
Poverty is perhaps the most important factor in whether inner-city heterosexuals are infected with the AIDS virus, according to the first US government study of its kind.
The study, released Monday, suggests that HIV is epidemic in certain poverty-stricken urban neighborhoods. And, more significantly, poor heterosexuals in those neighborhoods were twice as likely to be infected as heterosexuals who lived in the same community but had more money.
" alt="Development aid must target knowledge" />Development aid must target knowledge
External funding for African universities is low and is largely sourced from donor agencies whose support is tied to their development agendas.
Written by Dr Trish Gibbon, Director of Academic Planning and Policy Implementation at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa. This article was originally published by University World News.
Development aid from donor countries to Africa is usually directed to issues identified as priorities in the home country’s development agenda – issues such as HIV and Aids, poverty reduction, primary health care and food security, among others – according to Peter Maassen, professor of higher education at the University of Oslo. This kind of focus is often at the expense of high-level knowledge development such as that produced within the research culture of universities.
Anglo American and De Beers assist in preserving National Heritage Archives at the University of Fort Hare
15 July 2010
The Anglo American Chairman’s Fund and the De Beers Fund have provided the Alice Campus of the University of Fort Hare with two R3.9 million grants (R7.8 million in total). These grants were used for the upgrading of the National Archive Heritage and Cultural Studies (NAHECS) Building, which has now been completed and was officially reopened today. With these grants, the NAHECS will continue to contribute to the upliftment of education in the country and the study of national heritage.
Young lead safe sex revolution against AIDS
14 July 2010
Young people in Africa are leading a “revolution” in HIV prevention and driving down rates of the disease by having safer sex and fewer sexual partners, the United Nations AIDS programme says.
The prevalence of the human immunodeficiency virus that causes AIDS is falling among young people in 16 of the 25 countries most affected by the disease, a study by UNAIDS found, with many of them on track to hit a 25% reduction target in HIV/AIDS rates in 15- to 24-year-olds by the end of the year.
In a study published ahead a global AIDS conference due to be held in Vienna next week, UNAIDS found that in 16 of the 25 worst affected countries, rates of HIV had been falling among young people, with some of the most dramatic declines seen in Kenya, where there was a 60% change between 2000 and 2005.
Botswana, Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Namibia and Zimbabwe have all achieved a goal set agreed in 2001 to reduce HIV prevalence in 15 to 24-year-olds by 25% by 2010, it said. Burundi, Lesotho, Rwanda, Swaziland, the Bahamas and Haiti were all “œlikely to achieve” it.
Condom use was also on the increase, the study found, with 10 countries reporting more use of condoms among women and 13 reporting increased condom use among men. Cameroon, Tanzania and Uganda reported increases in condom use by both sexes.
Read more at TimesLive.
" alt="Education according to demand, not supply" />Education according to demand, not supply
13 July 2010
Children can be passionate about what they were learning instead of chained to a school desk to learn mass taught subjects of little value to them and their future, says Davie
Eustace Davie is a director of the Free Market Foundation
Martin Luther King’s “œI have a dream” speech still echoes down the years to all who care about freedom. On 28 August 1963, in Washington DC, he said, “œI have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character.” Today, almost half a century later, our children are badly in need of another great champion as articulate, courageous and passionate as Martin Luther King to argue and plead for their emancipation from bondage.
Almost without exception, children worldwide and their parents are denied the right to decide what type of learning experiences they should undergo to equip them to live productive and happy lives. Compulsory schooling laws and regulations are based on the strange premise that parents are not fit to decide how their children should be educated, and even worse, that they do not care about their welfare. Instead, strangers, who know nothing about the children’s characters, talents and abilities, supposedly do have the necessary knowledge and insights to prescribe in the finest detail what they must learn, how they must learn, and where they must learn that which is prescribed to them.
South African government greenlights three-month supply of ARVs
In a bid to ease pressure on South Africa’s over-burdened public health sector, the government has given hospitals and clinics permission to give patients on HIV/AIDS treatment a three-month supply of their antiretroviral medication (ARVs).
In a recent memo the Department of Health said there was no legal barrier to supplying patients with multiple months of treatment, and it could lighten the burden on the health sector; an estimated 700,000 patients are currently receiving ARV treatment through monthly visits to public health facilities.
Department of Social Development to launch Older Persons Act in KZN
As part of Nelson Mandela Day celebrations, the Department of Social Development will on Thursday officially launch the Older Persons Act in KwaZulu-Natal to promote the status of older persons.
The Older Persons Act (Act 13 of 2006), which came into effect on 1 April 2010, has been developed to protect the elderly against physical, emotional and financial abuse.
