World Aids Day

Q&A: "Less Funding Could Lead to Millions of AIDS Deaths"
Thalif Deen interviews BERTIL LINDBLAD, director, UNAIDS Office in New York
UNITED NATIONS - The global economic crisis is threatening to undermine yet another key development goal set by the United Nations: reversing by 2015 the AIDS epidemic still devastating millions of people worldwide.
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AUSTRALIA: Do More Regionally to Stop HIV/AIDS Gov't Told
By Stephen de Tarczynski
MELBOURNE - While HIV infection rates remain relatively low in Australia, the peak non-governmental organisation representing the country’s community-based response to HIV/AIDS wants the government to do more to fund prevention measures here and in the region to counter rising infection rates.
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Q&A: Escalating Violence Against Women in Swaziland
Mantoe Phakathi interviews HLOBISILE DLAMINI-SHONGWE, gender activist
MBABANE, Swaziland - Still wearing a campaign t-shirt with the slogan "FED UP: with violence against women", Dlamini-Shongwe, the public relations officer for the Swaziland Action Group Against Abuse (SWAGAA) is fresh from the Nov. 25 launch of the16 days activism against gender-based violence at Jubilee Park in Manzini.
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HEALTH-AFRICA: Cervical Cancer Strikes Poor Women Hardest
By Miriam Mannak
CAPE TOWN - Of the 490,000 women worldwide who are diagnosed with cervical cancer each year, 80 percent live in the developing world. Every year, 55,000 women in sub-Saharan Africa alone develop this disease, which is ten times more likely to affect women living with HIV.
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CHILE: 512 HIV-Positive People Not Notified
By Daniela Estrada
SANTIAGO - Chilean Health Minister Álvaro Erazo reported Thursday that 512 people who tested positive for HIV were not notified by the public health system.
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FILM: Swazi Grandmothers Shore Up a Crumbling Society
By Marie-Helene Rousseau
NEW YORK - In a country barely the size of the U.S. state of New Jersey, a disease has taken hold. Nearly 40 percent of Swaziland's population is HIV-positive, and the other 60 percent lives at constant risk for the disease.
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DEVELOPMENT: A Global Health Model, Village by Village
By Michael J. Carter
SEATTLE, Washington - Working for sustainable development in Kenya, which ranks 148th out of 177 countries on the United Nations development index, is a daunting task. The country not only has a 6.1 percent rate of HIV/AIDS infection among its 37 million people, but nearly 60 percent of Kenyans live on less than two dollars a day.
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Q&A: Major Challenges Will Be Met
Stephanie Nieuwoudt interviews South African health minister BARBARA HOGAN
CAPE TOWN - When Barbara Hogan replaced South African health minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang in September, her appointment was praised from all quarters. Hogan, who previously chaired Parliament’s finance portfolio committee, is known as an intellectual who stands up for what she believes in and finding hands-on approaches to solving difficult political issues.
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CHILE: Achievements in AIDS Fight Marred by Irregularities
By Daniela Estrada
SANTIAGO - Irregularities like delays in notifying 25 people that they were HIV-positive, which led to the deaths of at least two of them, have cast a shadow on Chile's exemplary image in the field of AIDS prevention and treatment.
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HEALTH-AFRICA: Time for Joint Action on HIV/AIDS and Violence
By Joyce Mulama
NAIROBI - The war against HIV/AIDS, it is emerging, will not be won unless sexual and gender-based violence is tackled.
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DEVELOPMENT: U.N. Prods Drug Firms to Cut Prices for Poorest
By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS - The world's poorest nations continue to suffer from high prices for life-saving drugs and a shortage of generics -- specifically to treat HIV/AIDS -- despite assurances by the some of the major pharmaceutical companies to help lower costs.
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SWAZILAND: Torn Social Fabric Leaves Many Exposed
By Mantoe Phakathi
MBABANE - An abandoned straw hut slumps amidst overgrown bushes on a somewhat deserted homestead. Only a foot path leading past it indicates that the place is still occupied. Beside it is the mis-shapen tent that is Joseph Mathe's new home.
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SOUTH AFRICA: Nurse Shortage Cripples Health System
By Yugendree Naidoo
CAPE TOWN - In the impoverished informal settlement of Du Noon, 20 kilometres north of Cape Town, sick residents rely on a single clinic staffed by six nurses to meet their health needs.
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