Bibi-Aisha Wadvalla
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Flu experts hold different views as to which strain of influenza is going to hit South Africans hardest this winter, but they all agree on one thing: a flu jab is a must. An anti-flu vaccine administered in March will help boost your ability to resist the virus or to recover quicker from the flu should it strike.
Almost half the maternal deaths in South Africa during 1998 were preventable. This is according to the Health Department’s Confidential Enquiry into maternal deaths in South Africa. The report identifies numerous shortcomings in the health care system, many of which concern failures in the referral and transport systems between health institutions. The Department of Health has accepted the recommendations of the report and will start implementing them.
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When she realised she was HIV positive, Faghmeda Miller’€™s first thoughts were: “I have shamed my family, they are going to shun me”. But the church needs to be able to offer hope and acceptance to people living with AIDS.
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There has been an alarming increase in the proportion of adolescent patients at drug treatment centres countrywide, according to Charles Parry of the Medical Research Council. In Cape Town, for example, the proportion of patients under 20 drug treatment centres in Cape Town has more than doubled since 1996 from 6% to 15% in 1999.