JOHANNESBURG, 17 August 2007 (IRIN) - CONTENTS

COMOROS: An uninvited wedding guest ANGOLA: More than 400 people die from cholera this year SWAZILAND: Hoping to reverse the skills flight SOUTHERN AFRICA: SADC meeting to put Zimbabwe high on its agenda SWAZILAND: New health policy gets mixed response SOUTH AFRICA: A cold reception for Zimbabwean migrants ZIMBABWE: Malnutrition among children on the rise COMOROS: Humanitarian country profile

COMOROS: An uninvited wedding guest

Until the traditional wedding season kicked off in July on Grand Comore, largest of the three islands that make up the Comoros archipelago, cholera was almost under control.

But with the start of the traditional wedding festivities, a new outbreak that started in February this year spiked dramatically in July and August. There have been over 800 cases, and 14 people have died.

See report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73706

ANGOLA: More than 400 people die from cholera this year

Cholera has killed 419 people in Angola so far this year, according to a new health ministry bulletin, but this is a sharp reduction from 2006, when 2,772 people succumbed to the waterborne disease.

Despite the perceived improvement over last year, new cases are reported every month and health officials say that great challenges remain before the disease is brought under control.

See report:

SWAZILAND: Hoping to reverse the skills flight

The haemorrhage of skilled and educated people from both the public and private sectors in Swaziland, which is already facing a chronic shortage of capacity, will continue unabated unless lucrative jobs start keeping people at home, a government survey has found.

According to the report there is an unmet demand for high levels of education, but people with higher levels of education and bankable skills have been lured away by better wages in neighbouring countries like South Africa.

See report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73730

SOUTHERN AFRICA: SADC meeting to put Zimbabwe high on its agenda

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) heads of state meeting this week in the Zambian capital, Lusaka, is to put the Zimbabwean crisis "high on the agenda", according to the regional body's deputy executive secretary, Joao Caholo.

Caholo said the meeting would move beyond rhetoric towards "practical steps" to resolve the country's problems. At a previous SADC meeting, in March, executive secretary Tomaz Salomão was mandated to furnish a report on the Zimbabwean economy, while South African President Thabo Mbeki was requested to mediate between the ruling ZANU-PF government and opposition parties.

See report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73731

SWAZILAND: New health policy gets mixed response

Swaziland's healthcare system is in critical condition, but the hopeful reaction to government's new National Health Policy is tempered by concern over whether the promised improvements will actually be implemented.

Health officials are emphasising the importance of a finalised National Health Policy, unveiled last week, but other observers have been less enthusiastic. Despite being pleased to have contributed to the policy, health non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and grassroots healthcare workers, like nurses and home-based care providers, are doubtful that their contributions will see a practical result.

See report:

SOUTH AFRICA: A cold reception for Zimbabwean migrants

Hundreds of undocumented migrants are queuing for weeks and even months outside the Home Affairs department's office in Marabastad, Pretoria, in the hope of obtaining some form of legal status in South Africa.

The conditions the migrants endure appear worse than those in squatter camps: the pavements have become their makeshift homes, cardboard boxes are used for beds, their meagre possessions are hung on the security fencing and there are no sanitation facilities.

See report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73770

Zimbabwe: Malnutrition among children on the rise

Malnutrition is accelerating among Zimbabwe's children, their access to healthcare is declining, and one in 10 in the capital, Harare, is suffering from kwashiorkor, a condition caused by an acute lack of protein, according to new reports released by the government.

The 2005/06 Zimbabwe Demographic and Health Survey (ZDHS), compiled with the assistance of the Central Statistical Office (CSO), found that 29 percent of children under five were stunted, a condition in which a child is shorter than the average for his or her age because of the cumulative effects of chronic malnourishment. The previous ZDHS survey, in 1999, found that 27 percent of children under five years old were stunted.

See report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73789

COMOROS: Humanitarian country profile

The Union of the Comoros, in the Indian Ocean between the east African coast and northwest Madagascar, comprises three of the four islands in the Comoros archipelago: Grande Comore, Anjouan and Moheli. The fourth, Mayotte, despite claims by Comoros, is a French territory.

The archipelago's location made it a convenient stepping stone between Africa and Madagascar, a southern outpost for Arab traders operating along the East African coast, and a port of call along trade routes between European countries and their colonies in the East, shaping its history. The years since independence from France in 1975 have been characterised by political turmoil and coups.

See profile: http://www.irinnews.org/country.aspx?CountryCode=CO&RegionCode=SAF

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