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November 28 2002: 42 million people worldwide have HIV/Aids, according to a UN report published in advance of World Aids Day on December 1 - and almost 30 million of those are in southern Africa. Here is the best journalism on the epidemic from around the web.
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Special report: Aids
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The first reports
On July 3 1981, the New York Times reported on a 'rare and often rapidly fatal form of cancer' diagnosed by doctors in California and New York. There was 'no apparent danger to non-homosexuals from contagion', a US health official had said at the time.
New York Times
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The origin of the disease?
Most experts believe HIV was 'naturally' transferred from primates to humans - but a book published two years ago claims that it could have been caused by the contamination of a polio vaccine developed in the Congo. Matt Ridley of Prospect analysed the controversy. (A subscription is now required to read the full text.)
Prospect
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UN epidemic update
Here is the latest update on the epidemic, published by UNAids. It calls to attention the conditions that favour the growth of the epidemic - such as the impact of humanitarian crises, particularly the current food emergencies in southern Africa.
UNAids
Signs of progress, but worst is to come - Business Day (S Africa)
Weblog special: food crisis in Africa
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How Aids has changed the hunger equation
Alex de Waal, writing in allAfrica.com, explains how Aids - and the lower life expectancy it carries with it - threatens a community's ability to survive famine. 'How can a young woman, looking after six children, have the experience and skill of her mother or grandmother in cultivating her field, collecting wild fruits and planning for survival through a tough year?' Worse still, young people are turning to 'survival sex' in the face of the worsening food crisis - exacerbating the rate of HIV infection.
allAfrica.com
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Botswana
Elizabeth Farnsworth of PBS Online Newshour reports from Francistown in Botswana - a city where, despite relative prosperity, the rate of HIV infection is thought to approach 50%. Read the transcript, listen via RealPlayer or watch streaming video.
PBS
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Mozambique
'Kindlimuka' means 'wake up' in Shangaan, one of the major dialects of Mozambique. It is also the name of a centre set up in Maputo to reduce the stigma associated with HIV and Aids. Its organisers require more support for lifestyle change from the government, according to the UN's integrated regional information network. Hosted on allAfrica.com.
allAfrica.com
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South Africa
From the same source, the story of Thembi Kubheka, a 24-year-old volunteer on the front line against HIV infection in South Africa, the country with the greatest number of people living with Aids in the world.
allAfrica.com
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China
In Donghu, a village in the Henan province of China, HIV infection rates are reported to be anything from 60% to 80%. Widespread contamination of blood donation equipment has been blamed, as Elisabeth Rosenthal reports in the Age.
Age (Australia)
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Eastern Europe
A progressive approach to injection drug use is needed in order to help stem the flow of infection in eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, says Soros.org. More than 1.2 million people are now living with the disease in eastern Europe and central Asia.
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Brazil
Brazil offers HIV-positive people free anti-retroviral therapy, reports the Independent - but as more people live with Aids, the risk of unprotected sex increases. Condom use therefore becomes ever more important.
Independent
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US
The New York Times carries case studies on six people living with Aids in the US - from the woman raped by an HIV-positive man overseas to the 12-year-old who has had it from birth.
New York Times
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