Isabelle Ligner
No image available
/ 11 October 2006

DRC patients dying before drugs arrive

At an HIV/Aids treatment centre in Goma, doctor Nino Minani is still haunted by the despairing cry of a dying patient. ”’You’ll drink the ARV [antiretrovirals] yourselves, because I’ll already be dead by the time they arrive’,” Minani recalled of the woman’s remarks. ”She kept telling us,’you’re waiting for us to die to give us treatment’.”

No image available
/ 27 September 2006

The misery of DRC’s child prostitutes

Even though she is just a child, 16-year-old Revoli has had to grow up fast, following her friends, neighbours and relatives into a life of prostitution. "I wanted to have money like they had," said Revoli. "Now I regret it, but I have no other choice." Selling her body, she says, is among the few options for making a living available for women in poorer neighbourhoods of Goma.