King Mswati the Third has announced that construction on the proposed Millennium Airport was to go ahead in his country, against recommendations by the International Monetary Fund that everything should be done to cut non-essential spending in the impoverished nation. Swazi officials insist there is a need for a new international airport capable of accommodating aircraft that are large – and likely to get even bigger over time. However, no business plan has ever been publicly presented to show how the investment would earn a return.

An HIV/AIDS testing and counselling centre that will be the template for other such facilities in Swaziland's urban areas opened this week in the centrally located town of Manzini. "This is a holistic centre offering many services - that reflects the holistic approach needed for living with HIV-AIDS: counselling, blood testing, nutrition, exercise and all-round physical and mental health, with the added expertise of legal and other kinds," said Rudolph Maziya, national director of the Alliance of Mayors Initiative to Combat AIDS at the Local Level (AMICAALL).

Up to 60 percent of Swazi infants are likely to incur brain damage due to vitamin deficiencies, while a wide spectrum of the population are at risk of malnourishment, according to a United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) report released last Thursday. "The price of the current food shortage crisis is being paid by children and others, who are suffering stunted growth and diminished performance at school and on the job," Siddharth Nirupam, UNICEF Swaziland's programme officer for health and nutrition, told IRIN.