SOUTH AFRICA: Delayed Drug Registration Could Affect Region

Delays in drug registration by the country's Medicines Control Council (MCC), contribute to depriving South African HIV patients of important fixed dose combination antiretroviral (ARV) drugs. But there are indications that the effects of the delays are being felt even farther afield.

SOUTH AFRICA: How Better ARV Prices Were Won

South Africa’s recently-awarded tender for antiretroviral drugs halved drug costs for the world’s largest ARV programme. Driven by a better-prepared and more aggressive government, the deal may stand up to criticism better than initially thought.

SWAZILAND: Free Primary Education – If You Can Afford It

The new school year opened with hope - and hunger - in Swaziland this week: an estimated 140,000 orphans and vulnerable children are among the small, eager faces in the mountain kingdom's classrooms. Poverty and the AIDS pandemic threaten to make an early mark on the next generation.

U.N. to Host Slew of Talkfests Through 2011

Living up to its reputation - or notoriety - as one of the world's quintessential talking shops, the United Nations has scheduled a slew of high-level meetings and international conferences through December this year.

ARGENTINA: Disfiguring Fat Compounds Stigma of AIDS

Since antiretroviral drugs became widely available in many countries, AIDS has gradually come to be seen more like a chronic disease. But the treatment that restored the hope of people living with HIV has posed a new challenge, which is generally played down by health professionals.

ZIMBABWE: In the Eye of the HIV/Aids Storm

Teenage commercial sex workers are finding themselves at the centre of the HIV/AIDS storm amid concerns of widespread lack of condom use and a spike in the number of infections among this demographic, despite the country’s continuing HIV/AIDS campaigns, which health authorities say has seen a drop in prevalence in the past few years.

HIV/AIDS: Fund Rejection Worries Health Campaigners

Health rights activists in Malawi are expressing concern over the recent rejection of the country’s proposal for close to six hundred million dollars to the Global Fund to fight HIV, tuberculosis and malaria between 2011 and 2016.

PAKISTAN: When Men Fear Telling Their Wives About HIV

As a peer educator at a local HIV/AIDS organisation, Ahmad (not his real name) has taken care to teach his own wife anything and everything he knows about the disease.

CAMBODIA: Aid Dependence May Hurt Successes in HIV, AIDS

Thanks to a healthy cocktail of foreign aid and a pragmatic condom policy, one of South-east Asia’s poorest countries is well on course to meeting an international target aimed at reversing the spread of HIV and AIDS.

KENYA: Mobile Phones to the Rescue for Pregnant Women

Pumwani Maternity Hospital, in the impoverished Nairobi neighbourhood of Eastlands, is the site of a trial project using mobile phones to help HIV-positive mothers avoid passing the virus on to their children.

CAMBODIA: EU, India Trade Deal Could Hurt Access to Anti-Retrovirals

Every day, twice a day for the last seven years, Men Thol has swallowed a set of pills that gives him the strength to lead a normal life.

CHILE: Flood of Criticism for “Retrograde” AIDS Campaign

"It’s much more fun to die of old age than to die of AIDS. And if you die with your lifelong partner, so much the better. Avoid AIDS: be faithful" is one of the controversial TV spots in this year’s edition of the annual anti-AIDS campaign by Chile’s Health Ministry.

AFGHANISTAN: For HIV Care, Cross Over to Pakistan

After testing positive for HIV, which caused him to be deported from the United Arab Emirates, Nazarullah probably found little reason to feel fortunate.

UGANDA: ‘Why Waste ARVs on Sex Workers?’

Sex workers, among the populations most at risk of HIV infection in Uganda, say they are yet to realise their right to health.

CUBA: Drag Queens and Volunteers Promote Safe Sex

Margot Parapar gets plenty of laughs from the audience with this joke: "Now the human body is divided into five parts: head, trunk, upper and lower limbs, and condom." Using his female stage name, Cuban drag queen, comedian and health promoter Oliver Alarcón includes HIV/AIDS prevention messages in his shows.

AFRICA: Threat of a Perfect Storm – AIDS and a Fresh Food Crisis

In November, the Food and Agriculture Organisation was just one of many voices warning that food prices have risen to levels last seen at the start of the 2007-2008 crisis. A majority of the countries most exposed to a repeat of that problem are in Africa, where vulnerability to food security is exacerbated by AIDS.

ZAMBIA: Drugs Kit Helps Mothers Protect Babies

A thousand babies are infected with HIV every day - in pregnancy, during birth and through breastfeeding. Close to 400,000 African children are infected with HIV every year.

LATIN AMERICA: Violence Against Women Linked to HIV Risk

"My mother used to beat me. She would lock me away, and then she started chaining me to the table," says Elizabeth. Teresa recounts how she was seven months pregnant when her husband grabbed her by the hair, threw her to the ground and kicked her.

No Sex Education Please, We’re Arab

Civil society has warned of adverse social and health consequences after the Egyptian government ordered the removal of content related to male and female anatomy, reproductive health and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) from the school curriculum.

Funding Cuts on Horizon for Global Health, AIDS

Over the past several years, the number of people needing treatment for HIV/AIDS has risen, but so has the amount of funding for the treatment and prevention of the disease. The United States has been at the forefront of that funding, but with the new emphasis in Washington on reducing government spending that may be about to change.

UGANDA: Sexual Crimes Go Unpunished

Thousands of women were raped during Uganda’s war but there have been few government efforts to assist them, especially with psychosocial and counseling services.