JOHANNESBURG, 5 October 2007 (IRIN) - CONTENTS

MALAWI: La Niña puts country on flood alert ZIMBABWE: Food shortages bite as teachers strike for more pay MALAWI: Corruption seen as worsening AFRICA: La Niña: Worst is yet to come, warn climatologists ZIMBABWE: Promise of full shop shelves met with scepticism ZIMBABWE: People living with HIV/AIDS use new ways to handle hard times ZIMBABWE: HIV-positive pastor shouts from the pulpit ZIMBABWE: Informal markets boom with homemade commodities ZIMBABWE: Recession hits renal patients ZIMBABWE: Charities lend the elderly a hand

MALAWI: La Niña puts country on flood alert

Malawi's Department of Meteorological Services predicts that the development of a weak La Niña phenomenon in the eastern Pacific Ocean could lead to flooding across the greater part of the country. Donald Kamdonyo, Director of Meteorological Services, said the appearance of La Niña, which occurs when cooler water wells up to the surface of the eastern central Pacific Ocean, was associated with above normal rainfall over southern Africa.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74662

ZIMBABWE: Food shortages bite as teachers strike for more pay

Shortages of basic commodities like bread and maizemeal, brought on by the world's highest inflation rate, prompted Zimbabwean teachers unable to cope with escalating prices to go on strike this week, demanding a salary hike.

There is virtually no bread for sale, and the government's Agricultural Extension Services Department revealed in a recent report that the winter wheat harvest had only reached 144,870 metric tonnes (mt), against a national requirement of 400,000mt.

Full report:

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74625

MALAWI: Corruption seen as worsening

Assurances by President Bingu wa Mutharika's government that it has adopted a zero-tolerance approach to corruption have not altered the view of a leading international monitoring body that graft in Malawi is worsening.

Transparency International (TI), the global corruption watchdog, said in its latest Corruption Perception Index (CPI) that Malawi had dropped 28 places from 90 in 2004 to 118 this year, a three-year time-frame mirroring Mutharika's assumption of the presidency in 2004 on an electoral ticket that promised to clean up the administration.

Full report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74577

AFRICA: La Niña: Worst is yet to come, warn climatologists

Eastern Africa could face dry conditions early next year, with the possibility of seasonal rains being delayed by the effects of a climate phenomenon called La Niña, climatologists say.

"The second rainy season starts now for the Horn of Africa and Eastern Africa - we expect the rains to be near normal over much of the Greater Horn of Africa," said Bwango Apuuli, deputy director of the Nairobi-based Climate Prediction and Application Centre (ICPAC) of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), a regional grouping.

Full report:

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74578

ZIMBABWE: Promise of full shop shelves met with scepticism

Predictions by Zimbabwe's Reserve Bank Governor, Gideon Gono, that empty supermarket shelves will soon be packed with goods are being received somewhat sceptically by Zimbabweans.

Gono's upbeat assessment of the country's prospects in his mid-year monetary policy statement on Monday coincided with an absence of bread on shop shelves because of a poor winter wheat harvest, adding to the list of widespread shortages of basic items that includes fuel, water, electricity and medicines. Donor agencies estimate that more than a third of Zimbabweans are on the cusp of severe food shortages.

Full report:

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74619

ZIMBABWE: People living with HIV/AIDS use new ways to handle hard times

Dire shortages of such essentials as electricity and water are forcing Zimbabweans living with HIV/AIDS to combat the country's hardships with new and novel approaches.

According to the Zimbabwe Demographic and Health Survey, 18.1 percent of the population of about 11.5 million are infected with HIV - the sixth highest prevalence in the world.

Once one of the most prosperous countries in the sub-Saharan region, Zimbabwe's economy is in freefall, with an inflation rate of more than 6,000 percent and international donor agencies predicting that by the end of the year a third of the population will require emergency food aid.

Full report:

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74599

ZIMBABWE: HIV-positive pastor shouts from the pulpit

Rev Maxwell Kapachawo is the only known pastor in Zimbabwe who publicly admits to being HIV-positive; he is also encouraging any of his peers infected and affected by the disease to speak openly about HIV/AIDS from the pulpit.

Churches in Zimbabwe tend to approach HIV/AIDS as a moral issue, Kapachawo told IRIN, and treat those infected as immoral, but the disease afflicting one in five Zimbabweans between the ages of 15 and 49 should actually be addressed as a medical matter.

Full report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74646

ZIMBABWE: Informal markets boom with homemade commodities

Unable to get their hands on scarce and often expensive essentials, Zimbabweans are settling for food items such as cooking oil that are cheap, often substandard, and sometimes dangerous, which are now flooding the informal markets.

"We are worried by the presence of unhygienic and substandard foodstuffs on the market, particularly in the black market," said Rosemary Siyachitema, executive director of the Consumer Council of Zimbabwe (CCZ), a watchdog body.

Full report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74648

ZIMBABWE: Recession hits renal patients

Thousands of lives have been put at risk since the only two functioning dialysis machines in Zimbabwe's second city, Bulawayo, broke down three weeks ago.

The dialysis machines were at Mpilo Central hospital, Bulawayo's main referral hospital for more than a million people, including those living in far-flung rural areas in the three southern provinces of Matabeleland North, South and Masvingo.

In the capital, Harare, 10 of the 18 dialysis machines at Parirenyatwa Hospital, the country's largest referral centre, broke down a month ago. Desperate patients now queue for treatment around the clock.

Full report:

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74581

ZIMBABWE: Charities lend the elderly a hand

Despite help from relatives abroad, Zimbabwe's elderly people are struggling to cope with food shortages and high transport costs, brought on by an inflation rate of more than 6,000 percent, and a lack of fuel and foreign exchange that make it difficult for most to obtain even basic essentials, prompting charities to lend a helping hand.

"Even if I have [money], where will I get the food I need?" asked Theresa Malunga, 74, who survives on remittances from her son overseas. "I wish my son knew what the situation here is like and would send me food parcels instead."

Full report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74604

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