DEVELOPMENT-SOUTH AFRICA: Unlocking the Mysteries of Social Mobility

From sprawling shack settlements to the presence of destitute people begging for small change at traffic lights, there is ample evidence that poverty is a pervasive and destructive force in South African life. Less clear is why some manage to beat the odds to escape poverty, and others not.

HEALTH-MOZAMBIQUE: Healers’ Practices Under the HIV Spotlight

A motley group of about 20 men and women eyed each other tentatively as they met for the first time to discuss how they could jointly fight HIV/AIDS.

CHALLENGES 2006-2007: Lesotho Edging Towards Education MDG

Lineo* lost her father when she was about to start school and just after her unemployed mother had become blind. When friends of the 15-year-old went to their first classes in 1999, she had to cope with grief at the death of her father while also having to take care of her blind mother.

/UPDATE*/KENYA: On the Move Towards Improved Health Care

In the Mile 46 area of Kajiado in southern Kenya, roads are few and public health facilities sorely lacking. This creates several problems, not least with the immunisation of children against tuberculosis, polio and measles.

AFRICA: A Continent of Orphans

War, AIDS, malaria, cholera and famine have gradually turned Africa into a continent full of orphaned children and teenagers.

WORLD AIDS DAY: Bureaucracy Delays Treatment in Russia

The budget for treatment of HIV and AIDS has been doubled in Russia, but patients are complaining they still do not have access to adequate treatment.

WORLD AIDS DAY: Challenging the “Luxury” of Abstinence

While there is no indication that the George W. Bush administration is willing to roll back its current restrictions on funding for HIV/AIDS, it may find it difficult to maintain the status quo when Democrats take charge of the U.S. Congress in January.

WORLD AIDS DAY-KENYA: “Children Have Received a Raw Deal”

Which citizens is a government most accountable to? Those who voted it into power? Or is it more the people who're too young to cast ballots - too short, even, to reach the table in a voting booth: the children?

WORLD AIDS DAY-BURKINA FASO: The High Cost of Not Having Free ARVs

"I think free treatment for all (HIV) infected people is indispensable, just as safeguarding the jobs of those with HIV is a must," says Issa Kindo, a public health physician in Ouagadougou, capital of Burkina Faso.

WORLD AIDS DAY: Mozambican Children Carrying the Burden of HIV and Stigma

Dressed in jeans and a sweater, Julia* watches cautiously as her mother talks on her behalf. But as the interview proceeds, she gains confidence and begins to speak for herself.

WORLD AIDS DAY: The Virus Hunters

Smallpox, polio and a host of other contagious, often fatal diseases have been stopped in their tracks by simple vaccines. More than two decades into the quest to untangle the secrets of the notoriously changeable HIV virus, is there still reason for hope?

WORLD AIDS DAY: In Haiti, Gender Can Mean Life or Death

For a rare dose of optimism, stop by the oldest private HIV research centre in the world. Fight your way through the chaotic, filthy streets of downtown Port-au-Prince, through a crowd of men, women and children awaiting care, and you'll find Dr. Jean William Pape, smiling in a crisp white medical cloak.

AIDS-EUROPE: Immigrant Women Face Growing Threat

Immigrant women are becoming some of the main victims of new HIV transmissions in several European countries, especially in France, according to official figures.

HEALTH-AFRICA: The Promise and Problems of Telemedicine

As the 11th annual conference of the International Society for Telemedicine and eHealth drew to a close Wednesday in Cape Town, South Africa, the ability of Africa to adopt and sustain telemedicine to improve delivery of health care in under-serviced rural areas came under discussion.

THAILAND: Stigma Mars Gains Against HIV/AIDS

The approaching Christmas has brought a rare sparkle to the eyes of a 45-year-old Thai mother coping with the stigma of being infected with HIV. She smiles as she snips away with a pair of scissors, shaping paper for a decorative ball.

COTE D’IVOIRE: A New Approach to HIV/AIDS in the Blackboard Jungle

Education officials in Côte d'Ivoire are revising how children are taught about the dangers of HIV/AIDS in the West African country, this as statistics from June 2006 show prevalence in schools to be at four percent.

POLITICS-US: More Scientific Sleight of Hand

Most abstinence-until-marriage education programmes in the United States - which receive about 158 million dollars annually from the Department of Health and Human Services - are not reviewed for scientific accuracy before they are granted funding, according to a report by the Government Accountability Office released this week.

WORLD SOCIAL FORUM: “What Is WSF? Something That Will Bring Me Medicine?”

In just two months time the World Social Forum (WSF) will get underway in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, marking the first instance in which Africa is acting as sole host of the event.

HEALTH: Developing Countries Asked to Pay to Treat AIDS

Developing countries should pay their share to close the financing gap in the campaign against HIV/AIDS, UNAIDS director Peter Piot said Wednesday.

DEVELOPMENT-SOUTHERN AFRICA: Zambezi Stakeholders to Take Action

Stakeholders in the Zambezi River Basin are holding their annual meeting this week with the aim of matching their needs with a commitment to action.

DEVELOPMENT: UN Chief’s Scorecard of Success and Failure

Less than six weeks before he steps down as secretary-general of the United Nations, Kofi Annan has come up with a political scorecard on the successes and failures of the UN's much-touted development agenda.