To respond effectively to the epidemics of AIDS and TB around the world, a strategy for communicating messages that influence individual behavior change, community attitudes and socio-political dynamics is critical.

Tuberculosis has a major impact on women's reproductive health and the health of their children, but there is little attention to women's vulnerability in the current media blitz about a resurgent TB internationally, and in particular, in sub-Saharan Africa.

Menstruation is perhaps one of the most ordinary individual female experiences but, in sub-Saharan Africa, the experience often impacts society as a whole negatively due to the absence of clean water, sanitation, and products to cope with menstrual flow.

In order to make real progress, there has to be a paradigm shift in our perception of sex and sexuality in the context of HIV. Money tied with restrictions that exclude many groups and limit access to services will only save to extend the lifeline of the epidemic.

For both self-protection and for humanitarian reasons, Americans should be seriously concerned about the explosion of HIV/AIDS in the Caribbean, where the reality of sex workers and the Global Gag Rule are factors in the continuing spread of the disease.

In Zimbabwe, abortion, except in cases of rape, incest, fetal impairment, or to preserve a woman's health, is illegal - and if caught, women face jail terms. As a result, many women resort to clandestine, unsafe and life-threatening abortion methods.

If new media's unparalleled ability to communicate with millions of people around the world is fully harnessed, more people than ever will be able to receive vital, life-saving information on AIDS.

The new AIDS data -- indicating that the number of cases of HIV worldwide is not as high as previously estimated -- must be seen as a call to vigilance.

Protecting the sexual and reproductive health rights of every person, regardless of their sexual orientation, is essential for a just social order. However, in many parts of Asia, sexual minorities face serious human rights violations.