HARARE, 3 February 2012 (PLUSNEWS) - With global funding for HIV/AIDS on the decline, Zimbabwe's innovative AIDS levy - a 3 percent tax on income - has become a promising source of funding for the country, with a dramatic increase in revenue collected in the past two years.

NAIROBI/KINSHASA, 2 February 2012 (PLUSNEWS) - The lives of thousands of HIV-positive people in the Democratic Republic of Congo are at risk as the country faces declining donor funding and a severe shortage of HIV treatment, according to Médecins Sans Frontières.

NAIROBI/JOHANNESBURG, 2 February 2012 (PLUSNEWS) - The appointment of a new general manager, Gabriel Jaramillo, at the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis could be a "turning point" for the troubled organization, which has suffered from a funding crisis and allegations of corruption.

ARUSHA, 1 February 2012 (PLUSNEWS) - A pilot community programme to improve TB detection in northern Tanzania has shown good results and could be replicated nationwide as the country seeks to improve its TB treatment and prevention systems.

NAROK, 27 January 2012 (PLUSNEWS) - Voluntary counselling and testing centres around Kenya are turning people away due to a shortage of HIV testing kits after the recall in December of more than one million faulty HIV tests.

MBABANE, 23 January 2012 (PLUSNEWS) - Swaziland is still short of lab reagents needed for CD4 count testing, which is used to initiate and monitor patients on antiretroviral treatment, and HIV-positive people are growing increasingly frustrated as the country enters its fourth month without a way to establish the strength of their immune system.

NAIROBI, 23 January 2012 (PLUSNEWS) - A small Kenyan study has found that more women than men feel HIV is a less serious threat after their male partners are circumcised; the study also made local news for finding that female partners of recently circumcised men found sex more enjoyable.

NAIROBI/JOHANNESBURG, 19 January 2012 (PLUSNEWS) - Uganda's National Drug Authority recently arrested sales representatives of a company selling a drug that purports to cure HIV; the firm's owners are not licensed to sell medicine and are being sought by the police.

JOHANNESBURG, 18 January 2012 (PLUSNEWS) - Botswana has marked many "firsts" in Africa's fight against the HI virus. IRIN/PlusNews details the most important events in its battle:

JOHANNESBURG, 18 January 2012 (PLUSNEWS) - One part novella and two parts textbook, Saturday is for Funerals* pairs the recollections of Unity Dow, five-times author and Botswana's first female high-court judge, with the analysis of Harvard health sciences professor, virologist and chair of the Botswana-Harvard AIDS Institute, Max Essex.

DAR ES SALAAM, 18 January 2012 (PLUSNEWS) - The demand for medical male circumcision is growing among Tanzania's non-circumcising communities, and officials say the country is on track to surpass its goal of reaching 2.8 million men by 2015.

KISUMU, 16 January 2012 (PLUSNEWS) - Involving men is increasingly being promoted as a key element in the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV, and while its benefits are well-documented - in one Kenyan study it reduced the risks of vertical transmission and infant mortality by more than 40 percent compared with no involvement - it can occasionally lead to domestic discord and even violence.

KIGALI, 9 January 2012 (PLUSNEWS) - This will be a busy year for Rwanda's health centres as the country attempts to reach its goal of medically circumcising 50 percent of men by June 2013 as part of HIV prevention efforts.

DAR ES SALAAM, 6 January 2012 (PLUSNEWS) - Tanzanian health authorities have announced the withdrawal of a South Korean HIV test kit from circulation following warnings about its poor quality.

NAIROBI, 5 January 2012 (PLUSNEWS) - The Kenyan government has changed its HIV testing algorithm following the withdrawal of a widely used brand of HIV test on warnings from UN World Health Organization.

ADDIS ABABA, 4 January 2012 (PLUSNEWS) - Ethiopia's new plan to eliminate mother-to-child HIV transmission by 2015 cannot be attained unless men are more meaningfully involved in reproductive health, experts say.

NAIROBI/JOHANNESBURG, 29 December 2011 (PLUSNEWS) - It's been a roller coaster of a year in HIV and AIDS. AIDS turned 30 in 2011, and with new evidence of the effectiveness of HIV treatment as prevention, experts are increasingly talking about "the end of AIDS". At the same time, however, funding for HIV has become ever more uncertain, jeopardizing efforts to put new, life-saving science into action.

NAIROBI, 27 December 2011 (PLUSNEWS) - From scientific breakthroughs to herbal "cures", HIV was never far from the headlines in 2011.

NAIROBI, 22 December 2011 (PLUSNEWS) - While antiretroviral drugs have significantly improved the life expectancy of people living with HIV, the virus - and often the ARVs themselves - can make people more susceptible to non-communicable diseases than the rest of the population.

NAIROBI, 21 December 2011 (PLUSNEWS) - Would-be participants in HIV research often refuse to volunteer out of fear of being labelled as HIV-positive and subsequently stigmatized by their communities, according to a recent study conducted in Kenya.