Groaning under the weight of HIV/AIDS, KwaZulu-Natal's hospitals provide other provinces with a preview of what they can expect as their epidemics mature. Kerry Cullinan reports.

Positive. That'€™s the only way to describe the attitude of Dr Liz Floyd, Gauteng'€™s head of HIV/AIDS, to the province'€™s campaign against the disease over the past year.

West Africa, the poorest region in the world, is preparing to treat 400 000 HIV positive people with anti-retrovirals within the next three years. This translates into anti-retroviral access for at least one-third of the people in the region in need of treatment. Currently, some 10 000 people in West Africa have access to anti-retroviral treatment.