A patient prepares her medication at a HIV/AIDS clinic. Anti-HIV drugs have slashed death rates among people with the AIDS virus by nearly 40 percent since combination therapy was introduced in 1996, boosting their life expectancy by some 13 years, a study says. (AFP/File/Anna Zieminski)

A tuberculosis hospital in Kolkata. The failure of Asian nations to fight the spread of highly lethal, drug-resistant strains of tuberculosis poses a threat to global public health security, the World Health Organisation warned (AFP/File/Deshakalyan Chowdhury)

Congolese women wait to be attended at a health center in Goma in 2006. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) launched Tuesday a multi-million dollar appeal for an AIDS treatment programme in five African countries. (AFP/File/Jose Cendon)