HIV could lose its 'special status' in Kenya's health system if a new pilot programme integrating HIV care and public healthcare proves successful. Traditionally, public hospitals in Kenya have a 'comprehensive care clinic' (CCC) dedicated to people living with HIV; under the new system, these would no longer exist. For more than six months, the Ministry of Health and its partners have been piloting the move in Western Province; senior government officials say it will not reduce the focus on HIV, but will ease pressure on an already overburdened and understaffed health system.

Years of working in poorly ventilated mines, inhaling silica dust - present in high concentrations in deep-level gold mines - can lead to silicosis, a crippling and progressive disease caused by scarring of the lungs. A study of former gold mine workers by the Aurum Institute, a non-profit health research organisation, found that nearly 25 per cent had silicosis. The disease has no cure and sufferers are also more prone to tuberculosis (TB). Now, two court cases have thrown a spotlight on the predicament of hundreds of thousands of former mineworkers in southern Africa who have received little or no compensation for occupational lung diseases.

Africa has sustained a relatively high growth rate since the turn of the century, averaging more than five per cent per year. This performance improvement, widely shared across countries, raised hopes of a possible turnaround, compared to the stagnation of the previous two decades. Yet this growth did not result in significant creation of employment or wealth or improved welfare for ordinary Africans, says this UNECA issues paper. One of the key explanations for this non-inclusive growth pattern is Africa’s heavy dependence on primary commodity production and exports and limited economic transformation.