HEALTH: Raising the Recommended CD4 Count for ART

Newborn babies in South Africa will now be treated for HIV, regardless of their CD4 count. President Jacob Zuma announced several new measures which focus on expanding the country’s anti-retroviral (ARV) programme, especially in terms of mother-to-child-transmission, and for those with both TB and HIV.

HEALTH-ZIMBABWE: Lots of Drugs, No Takers

Martha* knows that her two young sisters and her need medicine. She also knows where to get it – a clinic a few yards away from her home in Glen Norah, a high-density suburb in the Zimbabwean capital.

WORLD AIDS DAY: Herdboys at Risk to Contract HIV

In the scorching heat of the midday summer sun, a teenage boy’s sharp voice can be heard vividly as he continuously summons his cattle. Glad in his shabby-looking rag that used to be a blanket and black gumboots, the only thing that occupies his mind is his herd, his everyday companions, nothing else.

WORLD AIDS DAY: Growing Up with HIV

Sixteen-year-old Andela Milambo* wants a husband. She is not looking for love, but for someone to share the burden of living with HIV. She wants to be able to take her medicine without having to hide, to discuss the recurring herpes with someone who understands.

WORLD AIDS DAY: Children Still Falling Through the Cracks

While most HIV-positive people in the Western world can gain decades of good health thanks to increasingly effective drug regimens, in the developing world, nearly a third of children born with HIV are still dying before their first birthday.

HEALTH-SWAZILAND: On ART Since Birth

Seven-year-old Ntombi* frowns after swallowing the tablets her grandmother has given her. The HIV-positive child has contracted multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB).

LESOTHO: AIDS Orphans get Helping Hand

Fifteen-year-old Ntsebeng Tlokotsi* sighs with relief as she is given 140 dollars. Along with it she receives a bag of maize meal and cooking oil. It is a government handout, and she qualifies for this only because both her parents are dead.

RIGHTS-MALAWI: Blame Game While Children Suffer

Every morning 12-year-old Thomson Genti and his seven-year-old brother, Chifundo, emerge dirty and wretched from the squalor of their hideout behind the crowded shops in the commercial town of Limbe. It is the start of a day of begging, beatings from the older street boys and insults from passers-by.

MOZAMBIQUE: Quiet Progress Against HIV/AIDS

When Dorothy Kakongwe smiles, her creases tell stories no history book can recount. This elderly nurse can reflect on numerous changes in the landscape and people around her.

KENYA

: Practical Measures Needed on Teen Sexual Education

Kenyan teenagers are having sex. And they appear to have no clue how to go about it.

HEALTH-AFRICA: Fresh Campaign Against Paediatric AIDS

Eleven years ago, Raloke Odetoyinbo had been married for two years and a month when she found out she was HIV positive.

UGANDA: Lifting Silence on Menstruation to Keep Girls in School

More than half of Ugandan girls who enrol in grade one drop out before sitting for their primary school-leaving examinations.

HEALTH: Africa Leads World in Premature Infant Deaths

An estimated 13 million babies worldwide are born prematurely and more than one million die each year, say health experts.

ZAMBIA: Orphans Learn Life Skills Through Soccer

For 70 minutes, the girls in the distinctive gold-and-green jersey of Brazil shut out the attacks by the visiting team. The bare feet of chubby-faced left back Njavwa Silungwe are lively in defence.

HEALTH-ANGOLA: "It's Normal Here That Children Die Young"

Angelina Silva doesn’t remember the exact dates when her sons died. She just remembers their ages.

ZAMBIA: Malaria Prevention Pays Off

Huge investments in malaria control and prevention have prevented as many as 75,000 child deaths over the past five years.

MADAGASCAR: Poverty Forces 2 Million Children into Hard Labour

Poverty has increased dramatically in Madagascar since January, when a national protest movement to end the regime of former president Marc Ravalomanana plunged the country into a socio-economic crisis. Since then, the number of child labourers has risen by a whopping 25 percent.

ECONOMY-AFRICA: HIV/AIDS Reduces Children’s Education Chances

Children who live in communities with an HIV prevalence rate of 10 percent or more have half a year of schooling less than children in other communities.

AFRICA: Child Bride Symbolises Reasons Why MDGs Will be Missed

The woes of the child bride in many ways illustrate the conditions underlying the failure of African countries to achieve many of the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).