Infections and non-communicable diseases that just refuse to go away What is new in HIV/AIDs and hepatitis?Here we discuss the latest information on the above subject. Tanzanian workers report a knowledge gap among attendees on of antenatal care clinics. (PMTCT), especially at primary health care facilities. 1 This is disappointing because a lot of effort and resources have been invested in PMTCT. But they are not alone. South African authors have found that while traditional healers play a key role in the diagnosis and management of sexually transmitted infections including HI/AIDS, they have serious shortcomings especially poor diagnosis. 2 Testing for HIV remains a very important strategy for HIV prevention in South Africa especially for young people. Over 50% of the youth reported that they had had an HIV test with females more likely to test than males. 3 This is timely because work in Lesotho has shown that health workers attribute HIV/AIDS to changing lifestyles and demographic profiles. 4 In fact family dynamics in adherence to HAART has been studied by Nigerian workers. 5 Most of the respondents were adherent and attributed this to care and support they received from their families. In a related article, Ugandan authors report on knowledge, attitude and barriers to condom use among female sex workers and truck drivers among whom the risk of HIV remains high. 6 They conclude that condom use is still hampered by socioeconomic and relationship factors.Co-infection of HIV and hepatitis B among children on HAART has hardly been reported from Africa. Work from Nigeria shows a prevalence of 6%. Co-infected children were more likely to have low CD4 counts. 7 Outcome of patients on HAART remains poor with a very high mortality of 21% reported from Uganda is a cause for concern. 8 The main causes were opportunistic infections, malignancy and AZT associated anemia. Dyslipidaemia and dysglycaemia are serious problem among patients on HAART. Ghanaian authors have found that HAART was associated with lipodystrophy and the risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus. 9 Hepatitis remains a big challenge in Africa. The prevalence of hepatitis B antigemia (HBsAg) among pregnant women was 6.6% consistent with reports from elsewhere in Africa 10 .