After supporting the humanitarian missions in Soweto, South Africa and Swaziland as part of a three-country African tour, Ann M. Veneman, Executive Director of UNICEF, visited a number of critical UNICEF-sponsored projects in Malawi, where more than 65% of the population currently lives below the poverty line.

Ms. Veneman spent a lot of time with children and women whose lives have been affected by the HIV virus. Malawi has an extremely high prevalence of this mortal disease and around 500,000 children under the age 17 have been orphaned because of AIDS and many are dependent on their relatives.

The first stop of Ms. Veneman's visit was Bottom Hospital in Lilongwe, which UNICEF provides with technical support, care guidelines, training manuals and other communications materials as well as helping with drugs, HIV testing kits, protective gloves and other medical supplies.

Despite the challenges of their jobs, the staff at the Bottom hospital expressed their enjoyment in helping to prevent the transmission of the virus from mother to child, as nearly 17 % of the pregnant women in Malawi are positive for HIV.

Acknowledging the grave situation of children on Malawi due to HIV/AIDS, extreme poverty and drought, her next stop was a community-based childcare centre in the southern town of Domasi, which does not only care for children affected by the virus, but also offers help to orphans and women experiencing property dispossession.

"We have had the opportunity to see a number of very innovative programs, particularly these community-based programs," stated Ms. Veneman and added that, even though each one is different, each is providing huge support for the communities themselves for this terrible problem of orphans and vulnerable children.

"It's really, really been very difficult for so many of these areas because they've been so hit with the HIV/AIDS crisis," she said about Malawi, which is also stricken by the food shortage, increased malnutrition and other diseases such as cholera.