What�s driving HIV in Selebi-Phikwe?

SELEBI PHIKWE – In most respects, there is nothing remarkable about Selebi-Phikwe, a mining town in northeastern Botswana with a population of about 50,000. The central business district is a sun-baked main street with a few shops and a taxi rank; the copper and nickel mine on its outskirts is the main source of employment.

No one knows for sure why Selebi-Phikwe has the highest rate of HIV infections in the country, just as they cannot say with any certainty why Botswana - and southern Africa - have been so hard hit by the global AIDS pandemic.