In May last year, IPS reported that teachers in Swaziland were at loggerheads with government over the delicate matter of admitting AIDS orphans to schools free of charge. With the new academic year looming, has the situation improved? Certainly, Education Minister Constance Simelane is making all the right noises. "What everybody should know is that children are the country’s future. They should be given first priority," she said.

Swaziland's King Mswati has bought a $500,000 (£260,000) luxury car. Reports of the absolute monarch's latest purchase contrast with accounts of suffering in Swaziland, which has the highest Aids rate in the world. The Maybach car has a television, DVD player, 21-speaker surround-sound system, fridge, cordless telephone and sterling silver champagne flutes.

Read the obituaries in Swaziland, and you will discover that many people here die from unspecified "lingering illnesses". Attend funerals, and you may hear that tuberculosis, dysentery, diarrhea – even flu – are also proving surprisingly lethal. Virtually no-one, it seems, is dying of AIDS. This is despite the fact that an HIV prevalence of 38.8 percent has given Swaziland the highest AIDS infection rate in the world.

Shame was replaced by solidarity at the launch of an umbrella body of organisations of Swazis living with HIV/AIDS this week. The Swaziland National Network of People Living with HIV and AIDS (SWANNEPHA), comprising 46 organisations with memberships ranging from a handful to over 1,400, aims to reduce stigma and discrimination and "build a positive image of people living with HIV and AIDS".