Despite recent successes in fighting AIDS and tuberculosis (TB) in Swaziland, the country remains in crisis, according to a Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) statement. Life expectancy has been halved, from 60 to 31 years, and TB is the primary cause of death among adults. Health efforts have been stymied by lack of staff and resources, and by the exorbitant cost for patients to make regular trips to distant health facilities. The last three years have seen improvement. One strategy is decentralizing HIV and TB services and delegating tasks from overworked doctors and nurses to less-trained staff. MSF recommends expanding these efforts.

To read the MSF statement, click here.