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-US: NGOs Praise End to HIV Travel Ban

Global health and U.S. AIDS activists are hailing President Barack Obama's announcement Friday that the government will end a 22-year-old ban on the entry into the United States of HIV-positive visitors.

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.

KENYA: AIDS Prevention Amongst Drug Users a Challenge

The United Nation Office on Drug and Crime (UNODC) claims that Kenya has more drug users than any other East African country. UNODC estimates there are 100,000 cocaine users, 200,000 using opiates like heroin and four million who smoke cannabis.

HEALTH: New Vaccine for AIDS Raises Conditional Hope

The possibility that a vaccine could soon be developed to fight the deadly HIV virus has the scientific community brimming with hope and excitement, but there is also disagreement about how effective it could be in the global war against AIDS.

Q&A: Invest in Young People in Latin America

To fight inequality, Latin American countries must double the financial commitment they made at the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo, Marcela Suazo, the regional director for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), told IPS.

RIGHTS: Police Force HIV Tests for Sex Workers

It was, Malawian police say, a routine sweep for criminals at one of the country’s busiest border posts. They were looking for criminals.

HEALTH-INDIA: Positive Approach to Life

At an age when most 20-year-olds dream of living a perfect life, Kousalya Periasamy found hers shaken by personal tragedies.

HEALTH: “Patent Pool” Could Ease HIV Drug Prices

Pharmaceutical giants like Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline hold the future welfare of poor people living with HIV/AIDS in their hands, argues the humanitarian group Doctors Without Borders, which is urging the companies to release their patents on specific HIV drugs into a collective pool that will increase access and affordability to treatment in developing countries.

ZAMBIA: 'Clear Lack of Commitment to HIV'

A United Nations mid-point review of Zambia's efforts towards reaching the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), released in September, has revealed that HIV/AIDS might prevent the southern African country from meeting the targets.

HEALTH-AFRICA: Financial Crisis Scapegoat for ARV Stockouts?

Shortages in supply of antiretroviral (ARV) drugs are caused by lack of political will and bad supply management, not by the global economic crisis, health experts say.

BRAZIL: Getting Beyond the Taboo to Fight STDs

Although Brazil has the reputation of being more sexually liberal than its Spanish-speaking neighbours, Brazilians suffer their own fears of stigma when it comes to sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) – the target of a new public health campaign.

HEALTH-SOUTHERN AFRICA: Learning From Criticism, U.S. Committed to AIDS Fight

The United States has embarked on a mission to restore Africa's trust in U.S. commitment to global AIDS relief.

DEVELOPMENT-INDIA: Muslim Community Leaders Join AIDS Fight

Muslim religious leaders may seem too conservative to promote the message of safe sex to combat the HIV/AIDS pandemic. But that image seems to be changing. Thanks to community-based organisations and young social entrepreneurs working quietly in villages.

INDIA: HIV-Positive Women Get User Rights to Till Land

Till four months back, 33-year-old Mugil hardly ventured out of her parent’s home, preferring to stay indoors and tend to the household chores.

DEVELOPMENT: Dying at Childbirth Every Minute

Fifteen years after 179 nations agreed to implement a plan of action on sexual health, a woman still dies every minute because of inadequate pregnancy and birth services, according to the World Health Organisation.

MALAWI: High-Risk Sex Among Those Who “Do Not Exist”

A study on men having sex with men (MSM) in Malawi shows that, as elsewhere in the developing world, this vulnerable group is at greater risk of contracting HIV and AIDS than the general population. Moreover, their risk status is exacerbated as governments fail to target them for health services or information to stem HIV transmission.

HEALTH: Why Is Viagra Popular and the Condom Controversial?

Why is the popular drug Viagra so praised for its virtues, while the condom is vilified by conservative religious groups among others the world over?

Q&A: ‘It’s Not Difficult to Bring About Social Change’

Geeta Rao Gupta, president of the Washington-based International Centre for Research on Women (ICRW), explains to TerraViva's Johanna Son why gender needs to be weaved more tightly into the response against HIV and AIDS.

POPULATION: UNFPA Partners With Faith-Based Groups

The United Nations has realised that if it wants to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, it will have to partner with like-minded faith-based organisations (FBOs).

ASIA: Prescription for HIV/AIDS Pandemic – Social Justice

The prescription that thousands of participants effectively issued at a just- ended AIDS conference here was clear: It is time to fight social and political inequities so that the medical gains in curbing HIV and AIDS can work with maximum efficacy.