SOUTHERN AFRICA, 25 May 2007 (IRIN) - CONTENTS

SOUTHERN AFRICA: Health systems need to go online to improve efficiency ZIMBABWE: From school teacher to sexworker SOUTH AFRICA: Cape Town - Africa's first green city? SWAZILAND: More than a third of Swazis in need of food aid ZAMBIA: Maize exported before food security status known MADAGASCAR: Recovering from blow after blow

SWAZILAND: AIDS triggers wave of urban homeless SOUTH AFRICA: Winter freeze highlights homeless crisis

SOUTHERN AFRICA: Health systems need to go online to improve efficiency

To cope with rising demand and complexity, Africa's health systems need to go online, health officials told a regional governments' conference in Swaziland.

Information technology is no longer a luxury purchased at the expense of other needs, but a basic tool, an annual pan-African government ministerial information technology summit heard last week.

See report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72273

ZIMBABWE: From school teacher to sexworker

Surviving the world's highest inflation rate is resulting in people ditching their professions and embarking on work, which they had never previously considered.

Mavis, a qualified nursery teacher, has swapped her life as an educator for that of a sexworker and now cruises for clients in the upmarket hotels of the capital Harare.

See report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72270

SOUTH AFRICA: Cape Town - Africa's first green city?

South Africa's drought-stricken coastal city of Cape Town is forging ahead with a plan to tackle the effects of climate change, which could provide a blueprint for other urban centres.

The Cape Town municipality, at the southern tip of the country, has been identified by the government's Department of Water Affairs and Forestry as the first major urban area where the demand for water is expected to exceed supply, and for the past few summers has already experienced rationing.

See report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72288

SWAZILAND: More than a third of Swazis in need of food aid

A prolonged dry spell has left around 400,000 vulnerable people in need of approximately 40,000 metric tonnes (mt) of food assistance until the next harvest in April 2008, according to a report by the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP), which was based on a joint assessment mission.

WFP has been supporting about a quarter of Swaziland's 1.1 million people with food assistance since 2002, to improve the nutrition of families affected by drought, poverty and HIV/AIDS.

See report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72335

ZAMBIA: Maize exported before food security status known

Zambia has begun exporting maize, although the government has yet to ascertain how much of the staple food has been produced during a season that was severely disrupted by widespread flooding.

There is growing concern over the government's failure to release the scheduled official crop figures for the 2006/7 agricultural farming season, which are now more than a week overdue.

See report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72327

MADAGASCAR: Recovering from blow after blow

Much of Madagascar had already been suffering from drought before the worst cyclone season in years hit the Indian Ocean Island, leaving aid agencies and the government struggling to help communities cope without food, schools and hospitals.

Madagascar has faced a string of calamities - cyclones, tropical storms, unprecedented flooding, and chronic drought in the south – which have been unusually severe, even for this natural disaster-prone island. The combined effects of the disasters left nearly half a million people in need of humanitarian assistance by the end of March.

See report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72354

SWAZILAND: AIDS triggers wave of urban homeless

The disintegration of the extended Swazi family, partly as a result of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, has created a new phenomenon of urban homelessness.

A bitter early-winter cold front awakened Swazis this week to a problem nonexistent a decade ago: a seemingly permanent population of homeless people in urban centres. Temperatures plunged to almost freezing point in the capital, Mbabane, and dipped below 0 degrees Celsius in the northern town, Pigg's Peak and the southern town, Hlatikhulu.

See report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72356

SOUTH AFRICA: Winter freeze highlights homeless crisis

An unusually severe blast of winter weather has swept across South Africa, killing at least 17 people through exposure and highlighting the country's chronic housing shortage.

South Africa's several million strong homeless population was particularly hard hit as temperatures plunged to record lows in many parts of the country. The South African Weather Service said 54 temperature records were set as snow, hail and heavy rain descended on the country.

See report: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72357

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