Children in Lesotho, of whom 30% are already orphans and 12,000 infected themselves, literally see doctors, teachers and other workers dying around them with no workforce to replace them and a dwindling number of adult carers. Its as though the entire kingdom is being extinguished. Indeed in 2007 the chief executive of the National AIDS Commission in Lesotho reported that HIV/AIDS has the potential to "wipe out" the country.

The situation, however, is being taken seriously with HIV being declared a national disaster, however lack of capital and political instability has undermined the government's HIV strategy which is to reverse the epidemic by the promotion of using condoms, programs focussing on the prevention of mother-to-child transmission and an extensive antiretroviral treatment program for all those who need it.

Cultural norms, however, somewhat mitigate against this with 30% of all boys in Lesotho reporting that they have had sex before the age of 15yrs compared with 6% in developed countries and such sex is often with older, unprotected partners.