Matthew Damane is 26 years old and lives in Khayelitsha, Cape Town. In June this year, with his CD4 cell count down to 138, he decided to take up the offer of free antiretroviral therapy as supplied by doctors working for the international non-government organisation, Medecins Sans Frontieres. It's been almost six months since he started taking the drugs and he is delighted with the results. The Khayelitsha drug therapy programme is one which is highlighted by the Treatment Action Campaign in its latest call on government to seriously consider rolling out a national antiretroviral therapy programme.

Dr Nigel Hoffman and Dr Clare Hoffman are a husband and wife team who've worked at Rietvlei Hospital in the Eastern Cape for the past 14 years. However, as the number of patients with HIV/AIDS has increased, so their "cure rate" of patients has decreased. A demoralising situation for doctors who wish to heal their patients. In a context of grinding poverty and the absence of anti-retroviral drugs, all they can do is treat the illnesses they see and offer palliative care. More recently, the option of Nevirapine for pregnant woman has become available, but because of the need to have an AIDS test and the stigma related to the virus, woman are reluctant to access the programme.

The danger of HIV notwithstanding, the number of teenage pregnancies in schools around the country is clear indication that students are having unprotected sex. Despite it being part of the school curriculum, life skills education generally takes a back seat when compared to those subjects that require students to write exams. At Msudukeni High School in Gugwini in the Eastern Cape, ill-equipped with old textbooks and short-staffed, the pressure to give his students the best education possible in the circumstances weighs heavily on the Principal.

In Umzimkulu in the former Transkei, chiefs and pastors chastise the youth for contracting HIV and reprimand them at funerals as they bury those who have died. In this judgemental environment, very few young people will test for HIV, let alone disclose their status. Nozuko Ngcaweni is a remarkable exception. She is determined not only to speak out, but to educate her community so that midwives can take precautions when delivering babies and parents and children can begin to talk to each other.

Despite the stigma that all too often accompanies people who declare their HIV positive status, a 26-year old woman in a small town in the Eastern Cape is determined to talk to her community to educate them about the virus and to get on with her life.

There is no single "face of AIDS". It is not black or white, old or young, homosexual or heterosexual. HIV knows no boundaries or stereotypes. In this audio report, one man speaks about the need to see people with HIV/AIDS as multi-dimensional people who, besides being HIV positive, live full and active lives.

Volunteers are the backbone of care and support for people with HIV/AIDS. At the Red Cross Home Based Care centre in Nyanga, Cape Town a small team of dedicated workers has been caring for people with HIV/AIDS across the Cape Flats since 1993. Unemployment, poverty and hunger wittle away people's resistance and make those infected with HIV even more vulnerable to the course of the disease. In this audio package, home-based care workers describe the impact of HIV/AIDS and explain their commitment to helping those who are ill.

The death of parents due to HIV/AIDS is leaving a growing number of children vulnerable and in need of care. The more fortunate are taken in by grandparents or other relatives, but this does not protect them from the a life of poverty where food and clothing is scarce and often they are turned away unconstitutionally from schools because they can't afford school fees. In this audio report we hear from amongst others, a young girl from the Northern Province.

The impact of the HIV/AIDS pandemic is exacerbated by the fact that many of the children affected and infected are desperately poor. Despite their right to free education and state support, they are frequently consigned to the margins of society by unsympathetic teachers and principals. In previous audio packages these children have spoken out about their needs. In this feature, the education department explains its commitment to support these children.

The National Children's Forum brought together 90 children from around the country to talk about how HIV/AIDS is affecting them - either directly or indirectly. In this audio report, two children describe their lives and forum organiser, Sonja Giese of the Children's Institute at the University of Cape Town, speaks about the successes and disappointments of the workshop. If you'd like to donate money to any of the organisations working with children infected and affected by HIV/AIDS, please visit the non-profit, "kidz positive" website at www.kidzpositive.org

As the Treatment Action Campaign lodged papers in the Pretoria High court in a bid to compel the government to implement a national programme to prevent the mother to child transmission of HIV, two mothers spoke out about their experience of pregnancy. One did not know her HIV status and gave birth to a daughter who was HIV+ and died nine months later. The other was reached by the MTCT programme in Khayelitsha and has a healthy, happy two year old.

After four years of calling for a comprehensive programme to prevent the mother to child transmission of HIV, the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) will take the Minister of Health and all nine MEC's for health to court in an attempt to ensure that a national plan is implemented.

The anti-retroviral therapy programme being offered free of charge to adults in Khayelitsha, Cape Town by the Western Cape government and Medecins Sans Frontieres aims to show that it is possible and economically sensible to treat people living with HIV/AIDS.

In certain hospitals the shortage of doctors has led to a three-fold increase in the infant mortality rate. This statistic can be reversed easily in those hospitals that are sufficiently staffed and adopt a team approach. In this audio report we hear some views about whether the community service programme for doctors is working as a means to redress the shortage of doctors in rural areas.