Africa is keenly awaiting the outcome of the United States elections and wondering how it will affect the fight against HIV/Aids on the world’s poorest continent, which is also the hardest hit by the deadly viral disease. Some slam US President George Bush’s conservative policies but others wonder whether his rival, Democrat John Kerry can deliver on extravagant promises to double aid funds to fight the pandemic,

If George Bush believes that the evangelists who did not vote in 2000 could win him this year’s election, for John Kerry the Sex and the City women could carry him into the White House. About 22-million single women, whose group title comes from the title of the successful television show, did not vote in the 2000 election.

When both the owner and caretaker gave up on Everest, an 11-storey flat block in Johannesburg’s notorious Hillbrow, the job of building manager did not look attractive. In 1999 the building, at the corner of Goldreich and Edith Cavell streets, was well on its way to becoming a slum. But for grandmother Maureen Singh, Everest was an opportunity.

A year after the Cabinet approved an Aids treatment plan progress is patchy, with seven of the nine provinces lagging behind in meeting patient targets. Provinces also underspent their conditional Aids budgets in the first quarter of this financial year. This month the Department of Health said about 12 000 patients are on anti-retroviral treatment. The M&G‘s calculations show the figure is closer to 14 000.

Vladimir Putin waded into the United States’ election campaign in support of George Bush on Monday, declaring that if the president lost, it would lead to the ”spread of terrorism” around the world. The endorsement was a significant boost for Bush who has been under fire from John Kerry for failing to maintain international support for the US ”war on terror”.