The continued stock out of the antiretroviral tenofovir and the failure to advise health workers on how to deal with it is a looming disaster, HIV Clinicians and activists are warning.

'€œMiracles'€ have been taking place at Mofolo Hospice with the arrival of anti-retrovirals as patients admitted on the brink of death leave the in-patient unit on their own two feet.

Last year closed with renewed hope about South Africa'€™s direction on AIDS policy. The National AIDS Council was reconstituted and it is in the process of drawing up a new plan to tackle AIDS over the next five years. We speak to Dr Nomonde Xundu, Cluster Manager of the HIV/AIDS, TB and STIs unit in the national Department of Health about this development.

As the year draws to a close, there is still uncertainty over HIV and AIDS in government circles. In a move that could put her on the firing line, the Deputy Health Minister has dared to criticise both Health Minister Dr Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, and President Thabo Mbeki.

Our last '€œLiving with AIDS'€ feature explored the debate for and against making the HIV test a routine procedure offered to anyone attending a health facility. This week, we look at routine testing in relation to human rights.

The burden of HIV on South African society has got the country asking the question: How can more people be encouraged to test for HIV? One school of thought is for the introduction of a routine opt-out model, while another is in favour of the current Voluntary Counselling and Testing option.

The national Department of Health recently revealed that about 179 000 people were accessing antiretroviral therapy through the public health system. Just over 31 000 were on the waiting list for treatment. Gauteng is responsible for treating about a third of all those on ARVs. The province'€™s MEC for Health reports back on AIDS treatment.

A two-day meeting on extensively drug-resistant Tuberculosis (XDR TB) has resolved that in the absence of quicker diagnostics and new medication to treat TB in all its forms, national TB programmes need more strengthening, especially in the face of HIV/AIDS.