Zimbabwe has one of the highest rates of HIV and AIDS in the world; nearly 15 pecent of the population carry the virus. Hundreds of thousands of Zimbabweans are kept alive by anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs) given freely by aid agencies on condition that they are not re-sold and that they are used for treating those in need. The drugs have played a vital role in stabilising a situation that was running out of control a decade ago, citing the death rate by more than two-thirds.
