The final report on the Global Commission on HIV and Law presents a coherent and compelling evidence base on human rights and legal issues relating to HIV. The report entitled 'HIV and the Law: Risks, Rights and Health', cites various laws that obstruct global responses on HIV and calls for their repeal in order to better address factors that increase HIV transmission and infection.

What is the future of the Farm Input Subsidy Programme (FISP)? This was President Mutharika's flagship programme, which put Malawi on the forefront of international development debates and provided subsidies for seeds and fertiliser. Through the FISP, which was implemented against fierce donor resistance, Malawi was able to break free from a vicious cycle of hunger and food insecurity. This article from Africa Report examines whether the FISP will continue under new president Joyce Banda.

Kenya sex workers are expected to attend the parallel 'Freedom Festival of Sex Workers' in Kolkata, India to coincide with the International AIDS Conference in Washington, US. The festival has been hailed as the 'alternative International AIDS Conference 2012 for sex workers and allies.' Many sex workers in Africa were refused a US visa to attend the XIX International AIDS Conference (IAC) in Washington DC later this month.

Sierra Leone's Ministry of Health on Friday declared a cholera outbreak in the country following the death of five people from the disease. Deputy minister of Health and Sanitation Mahmoud Tarawalie, made the confirmation on Friday while stressing that the authorities were putting measures in place to stem the disease. This follows reports of two deaths because of cases of severe diarrhoea in the provinces. But one of death cases was recorded in one of the slums of the capital, Freetown.

About 120,000 people in the coastal, mid- and far western regions of the self-declared republic of Somaliland require emergency food assistance after four years of failed rains, says Mohamed Mousa Awale, chairman of Somaliland's environment research and disaster preparedness agency. The most affected areas include the Salel Region localities of Asha-Ado, Lughaya, Garba-Dadar, Gargaara and Waraqa-dhigta where some 450 tons of food aid from Djibouti was distributed on 6 July.