Five years ago a Malawi woman with HIV faced almost certain death. Now she is expecting a baby

Three years ago the Guardian published an award-winning supplement featuring the story of Grace Mathanga, an ordinary African woman with HIV. To launch this year's Christmas appeal, which focuses on Aids in Africa, Sarah Boseley returns to Malawi to find out how Grace is doing now, and what her life can tell us about the future of the continent.

Doctor's act of kindness gives HIV-positive Grace a lifeline in stricken Malawi.

She is just 30 and has already lost her husband and child to HIV. The virus will slowly take her life too. But she could survive if she was given modern drugs.