Ivory Coast - David Levene - 2005

As of date, five adult patients in the In Patients Department (IPD) at Danane Hospital, in western Ivory Coast, are known to be HIV positive - around 50% of adult patients and a number of children are suspected to be infected with the virus.

Since the end of the 2003 civil war - and the tense standoff that continues between government forces in the south and the rebel New Forces in the North - the subsequent collapse of the country's healthcare system has provoked a medical crisis in parts of the country, and healthcare remains very limited.

In the western region, MSF teams have encountered alarmingly high rates of STI which can lead to huge complications in reproductive health, and a clear indicator that the HIV virus is spreading.

HIV testing and the treatment for AIDS have only just resumed in order to prevent the virus from spreading further, and to provide for better quality and prolonged life.

Family separations, and the influx of soldiers, have left many women and young girls vulnerable to sexual violence, prostitution, unwanted pregnancy and STIs.

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