GULU, UGANDA--It's four in the afternoon and Rose Ayo hasn't eaten yet. The 28-year-old mother of five eats only once a day, usually greens mixed with beans or maize meal. She has no job.
KWAMASHU, SOUTH AFRICA--It's a hot, gray Sunday afternoon in March, and the sprawling Durban train station is almost deserted--hardly the best stage for an AIDS demonstration
NAIROBI, KENYA--In this city's Pumwani slum, everything seems inverted. Pumwani is one of the Kenyan capital's red-light districts, but the action happens during the day.
Harare, Zimbabwe and Nigeri Village, Kenya -- Sipewe Mhakeni used herbs from the Mugugudhu tree. After grinding the stem and leaf, she would mix just a pinch of the sand-colored powder with water, wrap it in a bit of nylon stocking, and insert it into her vagina for 10 to 15 minutes.
Franceville, Gabon -- Primatologist Caroline Tutin was boarding a flight from her home in Africa when a baby in toddler clothes and sunbonnet caught her eye. Then she did a "horrendous double-take." The baby was a chimpanzee.
INSIZA DISTRICT, ZIMBABWE -- Wilson was the hardest. He had been such a charmer, a flirt even, but then AIDS dulled his sparkle and confined him to his bed. That's when Sibongile Ndlovu increased her visits to every day, bringing him food and caring for his bedsores, which had bloomed into an affliction worthy of Job.
LAGOS, NIGERIA -- This is not an easy country, but Lagos, Nigeria's teeming megacity, is almost fantastical in its difficulties. Rarely do 24 hours pass without a blackout, and power outages lasting weeks are common.
As the death toll from AIDS recedes in America, Africa is reeling from an epidemic of Biblical proportions. South of the Sahara, AIDS is worse than anywhere else in the world, and this catastrophe is transforming the continent forever.
Dormil is HIV positive. Each day he takes four different AIDS medications, including AZT. For recreation, he goes to dance clubs where he gets high on a nocturnal medley of Ecstasy, Special K, and crystal methamphetamine.
Ken was on his way from Toronto last Wednesday to spend Gay Pride week with a friend on the Upper East Side. "We were going to go to a couple of parties, hang out in a nightclub he is working in, go to the pier and dance," says Ken.
Hlabisa, South Africa -- Handsome, soft-spoken Bongani is one of 3.6 million people infected with HIV in South Africa, which has one of the world's fastest-growing AIDS epidemics.
Carletonville, South Africa -- Nomsa Mogweba got in the truck with her two children and rode along until the driver said she should get out. She didn't hitch another ride because she figured she was far enough away from the powerful member of the family who, she says, had raped her first-born child.
Last week New York's highest court decided that a man who didn't report being HIV positive when he applied for disability insurance was nonetheless entitled to receive his benefits.
This information is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.