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Two ways of retelling Botswana's fight against AIDS

By Priya Shetty

16 June 2010

THE epidemic of HIV and AIDS marching across Africa is threatening to crush entire countries under its weight. Saturday is for Funerals tells the story of how one country, Botswana, is stemming the epidemic with bold political leadership, a strategic and scientific approach, and more than a little grit.

The narratives of HIV/AIDS are now heartbreakingly familiar. The epidemic’s victims include babies orphaned after losing their parents to AIDS; teenage girls who contract the virus after unprotected sex with sugar daddies; and wives whose husbands are infected but don’t tell them.

This book is not quite a good news story…

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