No single infection has probably inspired as many conspiracy theories as AIDS has over the last 30 years. The science of AIDS has endured tremendous attacks from as early as when the virus first appeared. A book entitled '€œThe AIDS Conspiracy '€“ Science Fights Back'€, looks at how science has triumphed and sought to bring sense to a condition that has attracted a flurry of mad conspiracy theories.

The inability of contracted pharmaceutical companies to produce enough of the antiretroviral drug, Tenofovir, has forced the Health Department to increase the number of manufacturers that can produce the medicine in the face of worrying shortages.

Insufficient production of Tenofovir, a crucial antiretroviral drug that is part of the three-drug combination therapy that AIDS patients need to suppress their virus, has left patients in the public sector taking sub-optimal treatment.

The national Health Department is upbeat that the country is making significant progress in dealing with the AIDS epidemic. It says it has reached over 80% of South Africans eligible for antiretroviral treatment in the last five years. But it admits that preventing new HIV infections has been a challenge.

New and bold efforts are needed to reduce the number of new HIV infections amongst young girls and women. This is one of the key focus areas of the new National Strategic Plan on HIV and AIDS, which came into effect last month.

About 30 years into the AIDS epidemic, myths around HIV/AIDS and its transmission still abound. A study by a Wits University sociologist in several townships of Mpumalanga shows that AIDS is still misunderstood.

Two years after her diagnosis with HIV, Phindile Sithole-Spong saw no point in hiding her status anymore. Since she came out about her HIV status at the age of 19, the University of Cape Town graduate finds herself doing it over and over again to different audiences, so as to help others.