May 2009
Efforts to combat the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Africa have been impeded by the stigma, denial and misinformation that surround the disease. Among those with a platform to speak out and help break this cycle are legislators and journalists in affected countries who can improve awareness about HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment, care and support. But a survey by NDI and the Southern African Development Community Parliamentary Forum found that legislators were “not taking full advantage of their constitutionally mandated powers to address the HIV/AIDS crisis.”
To speak to that problem, NDI recently brought together legislators and journalists in Lusaka, Zambia, as part of an ongoing program by the Institute focusing on the role of parliamentarians as advocates for constituents affected by HIV/AIDS. The impact and lessons of that gathering were detailed in an article in the Times of Zambia.
A broader look at NDI’s HIV/AIDS program in Africa, which began in 2001, is provided in an interview with Brionne Dawson, NDI’s resident senior program officer in South Africa.
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Despite the political disunity in Iran affecting both reformists and conservatives, there is one uniting issue – the country’s nuclear program. NDI’s Iran Election Bulletin, published in partnership with the Century Foundation, examines how the nuclear issue has affected Iranian politics leading up to the June 12 presidential election.
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NDI is one of the world’s largest publishers of Arabic-language materials on democracy support. A catalogue of publications is available on the Institute’s web site, NDI.org, and provides information on how to order them. From its publications center in Beirut, NDI translates, publishes and distributes materials on behalf of the Institute and other organizations.
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Sudan’s Three Areas – Southern Kordofan, Abyei and Blue Nile – with their ethnic diversity, resource wealth and border disputes represent a microcosm of the country. Their problems are those that have plagued the nation for decades and contributed to its seemingly endless internal conflict.
Sudan’s Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) signed in 2005 faces its toughest test in those regions. A new NDI report, based on extensive opinion research conducted throughout the Three Areas, found that participants have bleak views of their current situation and the future. The report, titled Losing Hope: Citizen Perceptions of Peace and Reconciliation in the Three Areas, summarizes findings from 62 focus groups conducted in 2008.
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Serbia is the latest of several Balkan countries to open constituency offices, which often provide citizens with their first opportunity to meet and talk with their elected members of parliament. Similar offices, where constituents can seek solutions to their individual problems, have been opened in Kosovo and Macedonia.
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