Lesotho

MSF provides services for mothers and newborns in Lesotho, where a high prevalence of HIV and limited access to care can make giving birth dangerous.

In early June, world leaders and global health officials gathered at the United Nations for a summit meeting on HIV/AIDS. Among the outcomes was a new treatment target, a plan to get 15 million people living with HIV/AIDS on antiretroviral (ARV) treatment by the year 2015.

Several low-income countries highly affected by HIV risk being entirely or partly disqualified from the current funding round by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

HIV/AIDS treatment in developing countries is being dealt a double blow that will mean treatment recommendations cannot be implemented and the promise of new scientific research will remain unfulfilled.

Lay counselors are an intergral part of MSF's TB and HIV programs in Lesotho, and each has a story to tell.

The beautiful, mountainous landscape is visible through the windows, but the patients here are all in serious condition, suffering from tuberculosis (TB), the leading cause of death of people living with HIV in Lesotho.