By Lalitha Sridhar

The World AIDS Campaign this year focuses on combating HIV-related stigma and discrimination. A recent ILO study covering Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Delhi and Manipur revealed just how extensive discrimination against the affected and infected is

Though hundreds of thousands of poor AIDS patients in the developing world are now on life-saving anti-retroviral drugs, the majority of the 3 million people targeted by the WHO initiative have not yet been reached. With only a year to go for the programme’s deadline, obstacles to the global AIDS treatment effort remain.

Fifteen million children under the age of 15 have been orphaned by AIDS till date, reversing the effects of better health and nutrition standards worldwide, says a new Unicef report.

A new UNAIDS/WHO report expresses concern about the spread of HIV/AIDS in China, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Vietnam, several central Asian republics, the Baltic states and north Africa.

AIDS and poverty are mutually reinforcing negative forces. An excerpt from ActionAid-Asia’s report ‘Time to Act: HIV/AIDS in Asia’.

By Max Martin

Human Rights Watch’s report ‘Future Forsaken: Abuses Against Children Affected by HIV/AIDS in India’ tells a damning story about the number of children in India affected by HIV/AIDS and the discrimination they face in schools, at medical institutions and at home.

A new document by the International Labour Organisation discusses the effects of the spread of AIDS on women, both at home and in the workplace, and the factors that render working women particularly vulnerable to HIV.

The UNAIDS Report on the Global HIV/AIDS Epidemic, released in July 2002, tracks the spread of the disease, points out why HIV constitutes a severe development crisis, and chronicles the hits and misses in the battle to control the epidemic. A summary.

By Swapna Majumdar

An ILO (India) study on the socio-economic impact of HIV on infected persons finds that the HIV-positive face the maximum discrimination within their families.

A summary of the UNAIDS 2008 Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic, released on July 29, 2008 in advance of the International AIDS Conference in Mexico.