MBABANE, 23 February (PLUSNEWS) - Home-based care in Swaziland is increasingly being relied on to compensate for the inadequacies of a public health system buckling under the weight of the country's HIV/AIDS pandemic. Full report

MBABANE, 21 February (PLUSNEWS) - Sipho, 7, an orphan, sat overwhelmed amid his new and only possessions - a mattress, blanket and a supply of food. "Is it mine?" he asked uncertainly as he gazed at the multicoloured mattress wrapped in plastic. Full report

MBABANE, 7 February (PLUSNEWS) - Thousands of Swazi AIDS orphans risk being locked out of school at the start of the new term this week, after the government failed to make good on a promise to provide scholarships for all those unable to afford school fees. Full report

MBABANE, 6 February (PLUSNEWS) - In a remarkable reversal of perceptions about AIDS, public testing by religious and business leaders is changing attitudes towards both the disease and being tested for it. Full report

MBABANE, 17 November (PLUSNEWS) - They should be smarter, but condoms are not very popular among university students in Swaziland, which has the world's highest HIV/AIDS prevalence rate, according to a new survey. Full report

JOHANNESBURG, 31 August (PLUSNEWS) - In the past four months Gerald Ndwandwe, 22, has buried three friends he has known since primary school. He does not want to lose any more. Full report

JOHANNESBURG, 1 March (PLUSNEWS - DFID) - NGOs in Swaziland are shifting the emphasis of their operations from handouts of donated foodstuffs to training households and communities to set up projects that produce food and generate income, to find a lasting solution to perennial food shortages. Full report

MANZINI, 11 December (PLUSNEWS - DFID) - "Swaziland is dying. Will the last nurse on duty please turn off the lights?" reads a handwritten note at a clinic in Manzini, the country's AIDS-hit commercial centre, 35km southeast of the capital, Mbabane. Full report

MBABANE, 5 December (PLUSNEWS - DFID) - The Swazi government expressed cautious optimism after a survey found that 39.2 percent of women visiting antenatal clinics tested positive for HIV, indicating that the infection rate was dropping. Full report

MBABANE, 21 November (PLUSNEWS - DFID) - A joint initiative between the Swaziland government and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) to waive birth certificate fees for orphans and children in rural areas has boosted registration figures. Over 60,000 children in Swaziland have been orphaned by AIDS and, according to UNAIDS, that number will continue to grow. Full report

MBABANE, 27 October (PLUSNEWS - DFID) - An aggressive HIV/AIDS awareness campaign has had a positive impact on the sexual behaviour and attitudes of Swazis, a new survey has found. Full report

MBABANE, 29 September (PLUSNEWS - DFID) - The unavailability of pharmaceutical drugs is forcing Swazis to rely on traditional medicines to alleviate their ailments. The government, which created the shortages by its failure to issue drug tenders to companies supplying clinics and hospitals, is publicising traditional and herbal treatments as a remedy for its negligence. Full report