If there were such a title, thirty-something Salim and Quarraisha Abdool Karim would be South Africa'€™s "first couple" of HIV/AIDS research.

It's like putting a man on the moon. They believed and knew they could do it. We believe and there is a firm scientific conviction that a vaccine against AIDS will be developed." Dr Walter Prozesky, the driving force behind South Africa's effort to find an AIDS vaccine, speaks this with "firm conviction".

Alcohol abuse, unemployment and zero prospects make the Northern Cape the country's most violent province, with the highest rape and assaults rates per 100 000 people.

In one year, five community health workers and two volunteer nurses have transformed health care in the Masiphumelele community near Noordhoek, reversing the low cure rate for tuberculosis to reach an astounding 100%.

"Mama Khoza" spends most of her weekends at graveyards, not really to honour those who have already moved on, but as she puts it "to bury the cream of Mamelodi". "I told someone last week. We are burying the cream of Mamelodi - youngsters who are in the process of completing their degrees," says Veronica Khoza, a retired nurse, who now runs Tateni, a community-based home care project.

A wild plant that produces beans and potato-like roots, for decades harvested by the San people in Nambia, is showing huge potential towards solving many malnutrition and hunger problems in Africa, but specifically southern Africa. The marama bean is proving to be a very versatile legume, say researchers at the University of Cape Town.

Driving to the Sipetu and Mary Theresa hospitals in the Eastern Cape is not for the fainthearted, but every month hundreds of people brave the potholes, mud (when it's raining) and distances in excess of 50km to bring their severely malnourished children for treatment. More than a year ago most of the mothers would have probably returned home alone, but a simple, cost-effective intervention has seen a huge decrease in the death rates of malnourished children. The developing world is now looking towards the Mt Frere and Sipetu communities, one of the most under-resourced regions in South Africa, for answers on how to treat severely malnourished children.

When Sipetu Hospital's matron, Eugenia Ngewu, stood up to pray asking for an end to malnutrition in their community, she had little Thulani (5) in mind. He arrived at Sipetu and was immediately diagnosed with Kwashiorkor, a form of severe malnutrition.

South Africa, Mozambique and Swaziland this week launched a R40-million, five-year programme aimed at controlling the spread of malaria. The control of malaria has also been complicated by the development of drug-resistant strains, forcing up the drug treatment costs. However, last year the World Health Organisation tested another drug in the Ndumo area that may be a useful addition to treatment options.