Support from friends and family can make all the difference to people living with HIV/AIDS. Lulu Sibam, who together with her husband and child is now on ARV therapy, speaks warmly of the encouraging role played by her family and parents-in-law.

How do you get people to change their sexual behaviour so that they are not at risk of getting HIV/AIDS? Not by simply giving them the "right" information and assuming that they will modify what they do.

Lulu Sibam is a young mother from Khayelitsha. Her husband and child Mihle have been on antiretroviral therapy since December 2001. Lulu first started treatment in 2003 but dropped out of the Medecins Sans Frontieres programme. She has since re-started her therapy and together with her family is doing well.

South African health officials have been placed on alert following the first polio case in neighbouring Botswana in 13 years.

As the AIDS epidemic continues to decimate the adult population in southern Africa, the Lesotho government reports that more than 73 000 of its children have been orphaned as a result of the epidemic. A UNICEF report predicts that by 2010 there will be over 41 million orphans in Africa as a whole. In this report we visit Lesotho and discover how AIDS is robbing children of their parents.

Ha bongata ba batho dinaheng tse borwa tsa Afrika bo qetwa ke Phamokathe, mmuso wa naha ya Lesotho o tlaleha hore lefu lena le se le hlodile dikgutsana tse ka nnqane ho 73 000. Mokgatlo wa matjhaba wa UNICEf o re ka selemo sa 2010, kontinente ya Afrika ka bophara, e ka lebella ho eba lehae ho dikgutsana tse dimilione tse 41 ka baka la lefu la Phamokathe. Re ile ra etela naha e nyenyane ya Lesotho ho ya iponela ka moo lefu lena le amohang bana batswadi.

Le ha baahi ba Lesotho ba ballwa ho dimilione tse 2.2 feela, mmuso wa naha eo o tshwenyehile haholo ha e le mona palo ya batho ba nang le tshwaetso ya HIV e batla e ata. Ba ballwa ho dipesente tse 31 batho ba nang le kokwana hloko ena. Ba mmalwa feela, ba ka eba dipesente tse hlano, ba kgonang ho ithekela meriana e thusang ho theola bohale ba HIV mmeleng wa mokudi. Empa, jwalo ka ha Health-e News Service e tlaleha, dintho di a fetoha ka ha e le mona mmuso wa Lesotho o qadile morero wa ho fumantsha bakudi meriana ena morao wa hore o fumane mpho ya tjhelete.

In a small village outside Burgersfort on the Mpumalanga-Limpopo provincial border women are taking control of their lives. Early results from a unique pilot project are showing that once women are financially empowered, they can have better relations with their male partners. And with economic power comes a sense of optimism leading to better health decisions and reduced risk of contracting HIV.

Motsaneng wa mahaeng wa Burgersfort moeding wa diprofense tsa Mpumalanga le Limpopo basadi ba ntshetsa maphelo a bona pele. Ditholwana tsa ho qala projekeng e ntjha motseng oo di bontsha hore hang ha basadi ba fumana monyetla wa ho iketsetsa tjhelete dikamano pakeng tsa bona le balekane ba bona e eba tse kgahlisang. Sephetho se seng ke hore matla a ho eba le tjhelete a thusa ho etsa qeto tse bolokehileng bakeng sa bophelo bo botle. Hona ho akaretsa le ho itshireletsa kgahlano le
kokwana-hloko ya HIV. Health-e News Service e a tlaleha.

Jwalo ka ha meriana ya lefu la Phamokathe e kena tshebeletsong ya tsa bophelo bo botle, tshabo e teng ya hore mosebetsi wa ho hlokomedisa setjhaba ho itsherelletsa kgahlano le tshwaetso ena o tla salla moraho. Empa, ho molemo hore batho ba hlokomele hore ba se tshwaetsehe le hore na meriana ena e sebetsa jwang. Ngaka Zola Ntshona a sebetsang ka mafu a bomme sepetleleng sa profense ya Limpopo, o bua ka ho otlolloha mabapi le ditaba tsena.

With antiretroviral medication now becoming an integral part of AIDS treatment in the public health sector, there are concerns that prevention efforts might feature less prominently. However, it is essential that South Africans change their sexual behaviour to protect themselves from HIV and understand how treatment works. Dr Zola Ntshona, gynaecology and obstetrics specialist at the Polokwane provincial hospital in Limpopo, shares her experiences.

Bekeng ena Khopotso Bodibe wa tshebeletso ya ditaba ya Health-e, o re isa motsaneng wa Maupye, Limpopo, moo re tla teana le moshemanyana eo e sa le mo qetela lemong tse batlang di ba tharo tse sa tswa feta ha a lekola maphelo a bana ba dikgutsana ka mora hore batswadi ba bona ba nkuwe le lefu la Phamokathe.

In our second feature looking at how some of the of the centres earmarked to provide HIV and AIDS treatment under the government'€™s roll-out plan, Health-e News Service visited the adult AIDS clinic at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital, and met Dr Alan Karstaerdt, Director of the centre.