Larry Towell visited Swaziland and South Africa, the region of the world hardest hit by HIV/AIDS. South Africa has the highest number of infected people in the world. As in much of sub-Saharan Africa, the face of AIDS is largely a female one. South African women are three times more likely than men to be infected. Stigma and taboo make many South Africans reluctant to even talk about AIDS, let alone take HIV tests or seek treatment. The government is rolling out large treatment programs, beginning to reduce the fear and stigma linked to AIDS.

Litho Nyanda, 19, is one of five children and lives with her family in one of the poorest neighborhoods of Gugulethu township, near Cape Town. Litho was a promising student before becoming too ill with tuberculosis and other AIDS-related ailments to stay in school. When Litho began treatment for AIDS, she was skeletal and in a wheelchair, too weak to stand, and suffered from agonizing pain in her feet due to nerve damage. Four months later, Litho is still thin, but has regained her strength and her role looking after the family. "She's working, she's cooking, she's cleaning the house," says her mother. "I am really happy."

Ntombizandile Mati, 25, is a single mother of two children who lives in the Cape township of Khayelitsha with her grandmother, her cousin Miselwa, and an uncle. Miselwa earns money by running a makeshift beauty parlor in her living room. Ntombizandile discovered she was HIV-positive during her second pregnancy. Her boyfriend does not want to be tested for HIV. After four months of treatment, Ntombizandile had regained her strength and was taking care of her younger child.


Bulelwa Kota, 24, lives in a small cardboard house in Gugulethu with her partner Thembisile and their 3-year-old son. When Larry Towell first met them, Thembisile and Bulelwa were both unemployed and struggling to make ends meet. Four months later, Thembisile works in a glass factory, and Bulelwa is confident about her health. "The AIDS counselor said that if I didn't disclose my HIV status, it will block my way of happiness. I mustn't 'protect' the people who love me by not talking about AIDS." Thembisile is HIV-negative, but does not use condoms because he fears Bulelwa will think he is not committed to her.


Akhona Sam, 27, lives in Phillipi, near Cape Town, and tested positive for HIV during routine screening in her eighth month of pregnancy. Akhona immediately began treatment to help prevent transmission of the virus to her baby. Four months later, Akhona had given birth to her baby boy, Lutho, but she was "not yet ready" to have him tested. "I don't want my child to be on treatment, I just want my child to be negative." Akhona feels very distressed by not having work and still struggles to accept that she is HIV-positive.