Compiled and edited by Martin Flynn
A South African boy who gave children with Aids a voice that reached across the world has been posthumously honoured with the World's Children's Prize for the Rights of the Child. 12-year-old Nkosi Johnson died last summer after a brave and public battle against the virus. "Even after his death, Nkosi continues to be a role model for children with Aids and for healthy children. He taught children not to be afraid of people with HIV and Aids, and to respect them," the awarding jury declared.
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President Mbeki makes about-turn on Aids
Reports Stam Predrag from Johannesburg
At long last there is some good news for HIV positive people in South
Africa: the government has finally given the go-ahead to doctors in public
hospitals and clinics to prescribe nevirapine to HIV positive pregnant
women. They have also decided to provide antiretrovirals, on demand, to
rape victims in state hospitals.
While the first decision was expected in compliance with a recent ruling
by the South African Constitutional Court, ordering the government in
Pretoria to provide nevirapine to HIV positive mothers-to-be, the second
decision surprised many Aids and human rights activists, as well as doctors,
who nevertheless welcomed the news.
After publicly questioning whether HIV causes Aids, and claiming that
antiretrovirals were "dangerous drugs", President Thabo Mbeki's
government has now admitted for
the first time that anti-Aids drugs were capable of "improving" the health
