Botswana is generally held up as one of the success stories of sub-Saharan Africa. It has good, democratic government and is economically reasonably successful (although geographically vast, it has a small population and the advantage of lucrative diamond mines).
But coinciding with the 14th International Aids Conference in Barcelona, grim statistics have emerged from Botswana. For the first time since 1950, average life expectancy has fallen below 40, and by 2010 — if current trends persist — it will be down to 27. Before the onset of the Aids epidemic, Botswana had developed world standards of life expectancy.
Enormous efforts are being made to shift the tide of misery in Botswana, thanks to highly targeted aid programmes. But the scale of the disaster in this low population, comparatively middle income southern African nation is staggeringly daunting.