POLITICS: Malaria Push Would Double US Aid to Africa by 2010

Less than a month after rebuffing British Prime Minister Tony Blair's calls for a massive increase in aid to sub-Saharan Africa, Pres. George W. Bush announced plans to double annual U.S. aid to the world's poorest region by 2010 and launch new initiatives to cut the number of its malaria deaths by half and boost enrollment, especially of girls, in primary schools.

THAILAND-U.S.: AIDS Drugs Take Centre-Stage at Trade Talks

After tiptoeing around the issue for months, Thailand's trade negotiators will have to finally reveal where they stand on the life-or-death question of producing cheap, generic anti-AIDS drugs.

RIGHTS-ZIMBABWE: “I’m Ready to Stand in Front of the Gun and be Shot”

A coalition of more than 200 African and international civic groups has called on the United Nations and African Union to press for an end to evictions and demolitions that have left people across Zimbabwe homeless.

HEALTH-SOUTHERN AFRICA: AIDS Orphans – a Silent Tsunami

Twelve million and counting: that is the number of children who have lost one or both parents to AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa, according to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. This figure is expected to double by 2010.

REFUGEES-KENYA: Contraceptives – Both Needed and Scorned

As the international community marks World Refugee Day, a Somali woman's tale of how she helped fellow refugees terminate pregnancies has highlighted the shortcomings of reproductive health care in refugee camps.

HEALTH-RUSSIA: ‘Life Is Wonderful, When Protected’

The message is sharp, slick, and not scary. It sounds like the language Russian authorities need in order to save the country from an AIDS epidemic.

HEALTH: A Wind of Hope in Kenya’s Desert

Madonna's 1980s hit song 'Like a Virgin' blasts incongruously from a giant silver speaker in the corner of a bar deep inside Isiolo - a dusty town on the edge of Kenya's northern Kaisut desert, filled with tough nomads and their herds of emaciated animals.

MALAYSIA: Gov’t Blasted for Bold Steps Against AIDS

Beneath the affluence, the sophistication and the Western trappings lies the soft under belly of Malaysia's Islamic conservatism - no sex education in schools, no holding hands, no kissing in parks, no visuals of condoms on television and, sometimes, even no cinemas.

SRI LANKA: AIDS Numbers Low – Risk High

With only 614 confirmed cases of AIDS in a population of 19.5 million people and an HIV prevalence rate below 0.1 percent, Sri Lanka looks almost untouched by the deadly disease -but an epidemic is still possible, warn experts.

HEALTH-SOUTH AFRICA: AIDS Policy for Subsistence Farmers Underwhelms

Subsistence agriculture makes for a hard life, particularly in areas that are badly hit by HIV. Put farming and AIDS together, add drought or disease, and you have a diabolical mixture of circumstances.

HEALTH: No Money in Treating the Poor

There is little money in developing treatment for diseases peculiar to developing countries, leading researchers say.

HEALTH: Weak Donor Response Seen to Plague Fight Against AIDS

Worried that a lack of resources for HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention could result in hundreds of thousands of deaths in poor countries this year, health activists are urging the world's richest nations to do much more to fight the pandemic.

HEALTH-INDIA: Claim of Plummeting HIV Cases Dismays NGOs

Claims by India's Health Ministry that the number of new HIV infections in the country have dropped by more than 90 percent have dismayed voluntary agencies and those who insist the government is in "denial mode" concerning sexually transmittable diseases.

HIV/AIDS-INDIA: Sex Workers Take On U.S. Holier-Than-Thou Bill

A battle cry by thousands of sex workers in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal threatens to trigger a worldwide protest against the United States for passing a bill that requires groups receiving U.S. AIDS relief money to publicly condemn prostitution.

HEALTH-SOUTHERN AFRICA: HIV Treatment Just Beginning for Children

Age offers little protection against AIDS; children are often the disease's unwitting victims. Yet for the young ones in Southern Africa, treatment is only just beginning.

HIV/AIDS-THAILAND: Mercy for Children in the Heart of a Slum

Though right smack in the middle of the Thai capital's largest slum, the Human Development Foundation teems with life and children struggling to live.

FINANCE-SOUTH AFRICA: Rare Insights Into Poor People’s Bank

Xolile Mjobo is a highly respected undertaker, which provides a good business in the midst of one of the world's most severe AIDS epidemics.

HEALTH-ZIMBABWE: Disabled at Greater Risk of HIV Infection

‘'Do you think I can go for an HIV test and be accepted?" Zitha scoffs at the suggestion.

HEALTH: HIV/AIDS Campaigns Turning Communal, Say Hindu Leaders

It is still debatable whether India is sitting on a ticking HIV/AIDS time bomb. But pro-Hindu groups seem to have brought the issue to the forefront by serving notice to international funding agencies that campaigns showing the sub-continent's religious and cultural values in a poor light will no longer be tolerated.

CAMBODIA-THAILAND: Migrant Villagers Bring Back Worries on AIDS

Neth Srey, 35, dreams of one day joining the ranks of the wealthy with the savings that her husband makes from working on a fishing boat in neighbouring Thailand.

HEALTH: Fight Against AIDS Crippled by Lack of Funds

As the 191-member U.N. General Assembly gets ready for a high-level meeting on HIV/AIDS early next month, activists and senior U.N. officials say the global fight against the deadly disease is being jeopardised by a shortage of funds.