What is going on with HIV in South Africa? The epidemic escalates with no sign of slowing down, making the country the worst affected in the world. The government continues to try and find excuses not to deliver either treatment or prevention programmes. The sense of stigma is so palpable that ignorance of serostatus carried to the grave seems to be the usual way of living with the virus.

This book tells the story of an HIV intervention project in Carletonville, a mining …