Arms.
Burkina is trying to eradicate the illegal trade of arms in the country. Such weapons are used in banditry, an occasional problem in some parts of the country which "hinders development and undermines national and regional security". Inevitably, efforts are "hampered by the lack of financial resources required for the collection of information and for computerizing the collected data."

AIDS.
* Campaign. Burkina Faso plans to double the number of people on subsidised antiretroviral (ARV) treatment to 10,000 by the end of this year. The government also has a five-year plan to increase the number of people receiving the life-enhancing drugs to more than 30,000 by 2010, covering 80% of those who could benefit. They will also step up the AIDS prevention campaign and extend HIV/AIDS testing and treatment facilities. Burkina Faso's current programmes to fight AIDS are mostly financed by the World Bank, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS Malaria and Tuberculosis and the African Development Bank. The government will hold a donor conference in October to seek fresh funding for its new five-year plan. This is budgeted at US $290 million and aims to lift the current spending on AIDS prevention and treatment by around $30 million per year.

* Health statistics. In some parts of Burkina, there is only one doctor for 200,000 people. The HIV prevalence rate in Burkina Faso declined from 7.2 percent in 1997 to 4.2 percent at the end of 2003. At least 365,000 migrants have come back in the last two years from Cote d'Ivoire, which has one of the highest HIV rates in West AFrica.

* Media Involvement. Community radio practitioners from Burkina Faso are meeting with others from Cameroon, Chad, Mali and Niger at a week-long training that forms the basis of UNESCO’s “Science of HIV and AIDS” media training programme. And Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina is hosting a conference for journalists from West and Central Africa, to see how to increase the impact of journalism in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

Women's Rights
Burkina has been congratulated recently for its progress in advancing women's rights. However, there is still a long way to go in tackling the marginalisation and treatment of women, especially in isolated rural areas where traditional customs are strong, and education rates are low.

In such areas, women often have little say, and polygamous, underage, and forced marriages are common. Female circumcision has been banned and its practice criminalized, yet it is still being performed in some areas. Among some groups there is harsh treatment of some elderly women, those perceived as witches or soul-eaters. Trafficking in children, motivated primarily by forced marriages and slave labour, is also a great concern. Key factors that affect progress are poverty and ignorance, and the persistence of strong traditional customs in isolated areas. It has also been observed that prostitution is steadily increasing, due in part to poverty and "a weakening of moral standards".

Legislation (eg against female circumcision, sexual harassment, early marriage, desertion, and sexual violence) and awareness campaigns are making an impact. The Government has also adopted a proactive policy to favour girls in education which had helped increase their enrolment. Disparities remain however, because of the persistence of such practices as early marriage and the overburdening of girls with household work. To combat the problem of child trafficking, Burkina Faso has been signing agreements with its neighbours to prevent the transboundary traffic in children.

* A tragic story
This story is a tragedy. A Burkinabe man was jailed in the UK for the murder of his English wife. He apparently killed her, because he thought she was going to sell him or kill him. He was a traditional healer who spoke no English. She was an alternative therapist who spoke no Dioula. The man, who had lived all his life in a rural Burkina village "had obvious difficulties adjusting to life in Buckfastleigh and suffered substantial mental confusion".

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