December 21, 1999

Tough choices in TB prevention and treatment

Giving some patients priority over over may be tough, but it is necessary if the TB epidemic is to be beaten with limited resources. This is the logic of international experts who are urging South Africa to pour resources into curing new cases of ordinary TB rather than spending any more money trying to treat multiple drug-resistant TB. "Pay attention to the new cases and fix them the first time around or they become retreatment and multiple drug-resistant cases. First we need to shut the tap," says Professor Don Enarson from the World Health Organisation TB review team.

Festive season blues

It should be a time of joy, peace and goodwill ' yet all too often Christmas can be a time of loneliness, strained family relations and financial hardship. Psychologists warn that society has imposed all kinds of expectations around this time of year ' some of which are unrealistic and most of which are guaranteed to heighten stress levels. However, there are ways of coping.

Carletonville shows HIV epidemic can be managed

Sex workers are leading the fight against the spread of HIV/AIDS on the mines around Carltonville. The challenge is daunting -- a recent survey shows 47 percent of women and 40 percent of men from both the township and the shacks are HIV positive, while 28 percent of mineworkers are infected. However, since the Carltonville AIDS project, Mothusimpilo ("working together for health"), started almost two years ago, it has trained 90 sex workers as peer educators. The results have been phenomenal. In a recent survey, eight out of 10 sex workers reported using a condom every time they had sex. Last year, only two out of 10 of the women were using condoms.

Worst malaria season in decades

The biggest killer in history has not been TB or warfare, and projections suggest that not even AIDS will kill as many people as a parasite injected into the bloodstream by a female Anopheles mosquito: malaria. South Africa is not immune. With more than 43 000 cases and 310 deaths reported since September last year, experts are warning that the worst is yet to come, particularly as there has been heavy rainfall over the past few weeks in KwaZulu/Natal, the Northern Province and Mpumalanga the country's malaria hotspots.

ansothom

December 21, 1999

Tough choices in TB prevention and treatment

Festive season blues

Carletonville shows HIV epidemic can be managed

Worst malaria season in decades

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