AIDS awareness progressing in Northern Cape

HIV/AIDS awareness programmes are only now starting to take effect in the Northern Cape town of Colesberg, halfway between Cape Town and Johannesburg. An estimated daily number of 200 to 300 youth from Colesberg's Kuyasa township are visiting the Love Life Youth Centre, which opened two years ago to raise AIDS awareness and tackle crime and substance abuse. Deon Madyo, head of the provincial health department, said Colesberg had once been a high-risk area in terms of HIV infection, but the tide had now turned. According to the South African Broadcasting Corporation, truck drivers travelling the N1 highway near Colesberg said they were now also more enlightened due to a roadside AIDS awareness clinic.