The busiest place you have never seen

Nick Schönfeld & Julia Gunther | NPR | Apr 04 2026

Life on Tristan used to follow a slower rhythm. Up until the late 1930s, people worked when the weather and seasons demanded it. There was no electricity, no cash economy and few outside goods. Food was grown, caught and shared. Labor was communal.

Things accelerated following a volcanic eruption in 1961, after which the entire community was evacuated to the United Kingdom. When the islanders returned two years later, they brought new tools, habits and stronger ties to the outside world.

Following the initial trials in Africa of the groundbreaking drug that could put an end to AIDS

Beatriz Lecumberri | El Pais | Apr 04 2026

Everyone in Eswatini knows someone living with HIV or who has died from AIDS-related complications. It’s a very real fear among young people in this country, which registers 4,000 new HIV cases annually, compared to more than 20,000 25 years ago.

“Lenacapavir is a milestone. Many people still don’t know this drug exists, and I think we need to be cautious until there is a greater supply,” says Nkululeko Dube, representative in Eswatini for the U.S.-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF). “But we mustn’t forget that lenacapavir protects against HIV/AIDS, but not against syphilis or pregnancy. People shouldn’t let their guard down,” urges Dube, speaking from the foundation’s LaMvelase clinic, the country’s largest medical center for HIV prevention and treatment.

The official still remembers the not-so-distant past when families in Eswatini had to sell their livestock and homes and were plunged into poverty in a futile attempt to save a son or brother suffering from AIDS. He also remembers the young people who died from pneumonia, meningitis, or other complications linked to the disease, and the people lying in the streets, exhausted and weakened by the lack of treatment. “It sounds like a movie, but that’s how it was.”