cc. The invitation to guest-edit a special issue of Pambazuka News wasn't something we pondered at AIDS-Free World; it's something we pounced on. We consider Pambazuka a precious commodity: a consistent source of timely, credible, thought-provoking, expectation-defying news and views. Our subscription has helped keep us informed and made us better at what we do, which is to push and prod for more urgent and more effective global responses to AIDS. And so we snatched at the opportunity to be involved in an issue devoted to HIV/AIDS, and our Political Advisor, Gerry Caplan, began working with the Pambazuka staff to solicit articles and essays about the most confounding of the African pandemic's unsolved problems.

The topics covered in this issue aren't naturally uplifting. Whether it's the world's persistent blind spot concerning TB and that disease's morbid attraction to HIV; a seemingly universal ignorance about people with disabilities that places 10 per cent of the human population at heightened risk of contracting the virus; or evidence that Zimbabwe's government orchestrated a campaign of sexual violence for political ends, and will likely do so again while the world stands by, the issues underlying HIV/AIDS are not for the faint of heart.

But in the 18 months since we started AIDS-Free World -- an advocacy organization with a mission to speak up and speak out, to challenge authority and demand responsible leadership, to subject the status quo in AIDS prevention, treatment and care to unflinching critique, to build not only awareness but impatience and outrage over unnecessary suffering -- beyond what has seemed like a mountain of inertia and indifference, we have also glimpsed countless reasons to be hopeful. You will read about some of them in this issue, too. One is the long-awaited recognition by UN member states that the world body has failed women -- not least by allowing worldwide gender inequality to give rise to an explosive AIDS pandemic -- and a current move to create a new UN agency for women. Another is the small but hopeful indication that beneath a surface of machismo, and with the right prodding, significant numbers of men are actually as anxious to be free of the cycles of violence against women as women are themselves.

We wish Pambazuka News continued success as it explores and exposes the issues that present Africa with its AIDS-related trials and triumphs. AIDS-Free World will also keep poking and prodding, unafraid to analyze, assess, critique and take principled stands. We invite you to visit our website at www.aids-freeworld.org, where starting next month, you'll find our 2-minute daily video commentaries on the AIDS-related news of the day. It was a privilege to contribute to Pambazuka's World AIDS Day issue, and it's an honor for AIDS-Free World to count ourselves among this special news service's informed, inquisitive readership.

* Stephen Lewis and Paula Donovan are Co-Directors of AIDS-Free World

* Please send comments to [email protected] or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org/