CAPE TOWN - Deputy-president Jacob Zuma has met with the Treatment Action Campaign leadership, the second positive indication in less than a week that Government was grappling with providing anti-retrovirals in the public sector. In a significant move, Zuma and director-general for health Dr Ayanda Ntsaluba met with the TAC representatives led by national chairperson Zackie Achmat and national secretary Mark Heywood at Tuynhuys on Tuesday night.

Two hearts beating as one. No, this is not the title of the latest Hollywood blockbuster or a pop song. It'€™s a reality in the life of 37-year-old Paul Thesen.His life story could quite easily be a big hit, almost too incredible to be true.

Stronger warning labels will be added to paracetamol sold in the United States in an effort to curb accidental overdoses that have lead to hundreds of deaths in that country. Anso Thom reports.

AIDS activist group, the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), is squaring up for another challenge to drug companies, this time around high prices being charged for life prolonging anti-retroviral medication.

A traditional African herbal medicine, METRAFAIDS, has shown to substantially reduce the viral loads of HIV positive patients and increase their CD4 (immunity) counts, it was announced at the International AIDS Conference today (Thursday).

Most countries African countries had no or very little patent laws denying them access to cheaper drugs, according to Amir Attaran of the Kennedy School at Harvard University. Attaran, who received a mixed reaction from his audience at the International AIDS Conference (he was booed by some activists), said that South Africa was an exception with extensive patent coverage, but that more than 50 of the 53 countries reviewed had less than 4 out of the 15 essential anti-retrovirals patented.

he Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) desperately wants to work with Government at all levels and has called for an end to the stand off between the two parties. TAC chairperson Mark Heywood claimed at a media gathering at the International AIDS Conference that some health officials had been instructed not to work with TAC.

The impact of the epidemic on young people is expected to grow, particularly in hard hit countries that already have young populations. This is according to a report by the Henry J Kaiser Family Foundation: '€œThe Tip of the Iceberg '€“ the Global Impact of HIV/AIDS on Youth'€ released at the World AIDS Conference.

Combining prevention of mother to child transmission (MTCT) programmes with the treatment of the mothers and their family members (MTCT Plus) could provide a critical link between prevention and treatment, according to Dr Wafaa El-Sadr of Columbia University in the United States.

An international group of AIDS specialists are in the final stages of setting up a clinic in Sharpeville that will offer services such as the prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT), treatment of opportunistic infections and anti-retroviral therapy.

The impact the AIDS epidemic is having now, will be worse in the years ahead and the way to change it'€™s course is to try and see where the epidemic is going rather than relying on crystal ball modeling. Speaking at the 14th World AIDS Conference, Professor Alan Whiteside, Director of Natal University'€™s HIV/AIDS Research Division said it was clear from the agenda that the scientists knew a great deal, but little was known on the social science (impact) of the epidemic.

Human rights campaigner Irene Fernandez sent out a battle cry at the 14th International AIDS conference calling on the world to see health as a right not a commodity. ANSO THOM reports.