RIGHTS-AFRICA: Women Activists Win Continent’s "Nobel Prize"

Two tireless women's rights champions, Maeza Ashenafi from Ethiopia and Sara Longwe from Zambia, were awarded the 15th annual Africa Prize for Leadership, often referred to as the "Nobel Prize for Africa", in a ceremony Saturday in New York.

HEALTH: Quest for HIV/AIDS Vaccine Gains Momentum

Developing a vaccine to prevent HIV/AIDS infection and establishing manufacturing and distribution networks are crucial to the long-term global fight against HIV/AIDS, said a panel of scientists Wednesday.

RIGHTS-ASIA: HIV-Positive Women Pay High Price to be Mothers

Marisa Netgaiboon is ready for the price she will have to pay when motherhood comes - a life of humiliation and harsh taunts from her community and even from people who are expected to be caring, like doctors and nurses.

CULTURE-ZAMBIA: Reality Show Star Under Fire from Media, Women’s Groups

Now in the saddle of 'stardom', Cherise Makubale is finding that perhaps the 106 days she spent in the 'Big Brother Africa House' in South Africa, and the100,000-U.S.-dollar prize was easy pickings compared to the scrutiny her private life is getting now.

RIGHTS-RWANDA: Marriage by Abduction Worries Women’s Groups

Judith Kanzayire, a 29-year-old mother of three children from northern Rwanda, admits that she was the victim of 'marriage by abduction'. "What can you do? It's the tradition here. We have no choice but to accept it," she says.

RIGHTS-AFRICA: Religious Groups Lead the Way in Caring for AIDS Orphans

The role that religious organisations can play in helping communities to care for children affected by AIDS has been receiving greater attention since the 13th International Conference on AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infections in Africa.

HEALTH: Male Circumcision, HIV’s Missing Link?

The perceived correlation between low HIV infection and male circumcision is one area that AIDS researchers are yet to be convinced about.

HEALTH-AFRICA: Demands for Anti-AIDS Drugs Grow Louder

From the UN headquarters in New York to Nairobi, the conference venue for the 13th International Conference on AIDS in Africa, the focus this week fell sharply on extending access to treatment with anti-retroviral drugs.

RIGHTS: A New Wall of Stigma Proving to Be a Setback in the Fight Against AIDS

"I lost my job after my employer came to know my HIV status. My children were chased from school and my relatives stopped visiting me," says Evelyne Apondi, whose husband succumbed to the disease two years ago.

RIGHTS: Abortion Debate Surfaces in the Caribbean

It is a picture the St. Lucia government would have preferred not to view: a pregnant Home Affairs Minister Sara Flood Beaubrun walking alongside more than 2,500 citizens protesting against plans to amend the criminal code to allow abortion in certain cases, including rape and incest.

HEALTH-AFRICA: AIDS Activists Push For More Access to Drugs to Reduce Deaths

"We want drugs! You talk as we die," were some of the angry voices by AIDS activists who protested Wednesday against failure by their governments to give them anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs).

HEALTH: Botswana’s Women-Led AIDS Success Story

Wearing a beauty queen's sash, Kgalalelo Ntsepe, had her audience at the International Conference on AIDS in Africa in stitches and in an almost non-stop round of clapping when she spoke this week.

HEALTH-AFRICA: Initiative to Fight AIDS From All Fronts

The silence in the room is chilling as everybody pays attention to an AIDS verse by children from a Nairobi-based institution caring for AIDS orphans.

HEALTH: A New AIDS Wave Washing Over Africa, Devastating Families

They are like babies now, says Prudence Mabele about the people living with AIDS she cares for as a volunteer in South Africa. "Some wear nappies; I need to wash and feed them."

POLITICS: AIDS Fight Needs More Funds

A series of speeches, panel discussions and press conferences all pointed to one conclusion Monday - the fight against HIV/AIDS is starving for money.

RIGHTS: UN Fetes Thai AIDS Fight But Group Protests Latest Policy

Thailand is being recognised for its fight against HIV/AIDS as world leaders gather to discuss progress against the scourge at a U.N. General Assembly session next week.

HEALTH: World Bank Rings Alarm Over HIV/AIDS in Eastern Europe

As Eastern Europe and Central Asia teeter on the brink of an HIV/AIDS epidemic, concerted action to keep the virus from spreading to the general population could prevent huge socio-economic costs later, says a World Bank report released Tuesday.

HEALTH-ETHIOPIA: AIDS Fight Hindered by Stigma, Discrimination, Say NGOs

Miss Ethiopia has joined hands with non-governmental organisations (NGOS), which are based in the capital Addis Ababa, in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

WTO-CANCUN: Brazil Imports Generic AIDS Drugs from India, China

Brazil's decision to import generic HIV/AIDS drugs, manufactured in China and India, has gained greater legitimacy with the related agreement approved by the World Trade Organisation last week, but the import policy was never contingent on international consent.

ASIA-PACIFIC: Neglect of HIV/AIDS Problem Will Undercut Economy

Countries across Asia and the Pacific may soon be staring at a drastic cut in their labour force - and see their economies undermined - if their leaders fail to take action to stall the deadly march of HIV/AIDS, a senior U.N. official here.

HEALTH-SENEGAL: Women’s Groups Seek Mandatory Premarital HIV Testing

Women's groups are urging health officials to make premarital HIV testing mandatory so that ''young women are protected against AIDS''.