Ana Maria without ARVs...

...Ana Maria in the garden of the Sant Egidio clinic in Maputo

BBC News:
Mozambique faces HIV cash dilemma

The witness of Ana Maria, reported on the pages of BBC News gives hope to the many people who suffer from AIDS in Africa. 

These are some passages from her story reported in an article of Dicember 1st 2004, World Day of Struggle against AIDS

�It is hard to imagine now, but at the peak of her illness Ana Maria Muhai was a skeletal 29 kilos.

Her husband left her and her neighbours shunned her when they realised she was HIV positive, leaving her struggling to support her six children.

Now she is full of fighting talk and enthusiasm, fuelled by the knowledge that if she had not found treatment, she would be dead.

Italian non-governmental organisation Sant Egidio in Maputo treats Ms Muhai with generic antiretroviral drugs (ARVs).

Sant Egidio was a pioneer of this treatment in Mozambique, where it launched a pilot project in 2001.�