Bibi-Aisha Wadvalla
Written by Salim Abdool Karim, Centre for the AIDS Program of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA) About 38 million people around the world are living with HIV. About 70% of them live in Africa. This shows that there is no solution to the AIDS pandemic without a solution in Africa. In 2021, there were 1.5 million new cases of HIV – just over 4,000 cases per day around the world. At the same time, close to 700,000 people died. The big challenge is to address the dual realities of people still dying from HIV in large numbers, and the large numbers of new infections. The upside is that there is a clear plan with clear goals on how to address this. In 2016, countries came together at the United Nations to agree on what the world’s strategy should be. The goal is to end AIDS as a public health threat
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South Africa has welcomed the news that the World Health Organisation (WHO) plans to launch a new TB Vaccine Accelerator Council. The National Department of Health says it’s a critical step in the journey to end tuberculosis. Director-General of the World Health Organisation, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, revealed the plans at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Aligned towards one goal The Council will facilitate the licensing and use of effective novel TB vaccines catalysing high-level alignment between funders, global agencies, governments, and end users in identifying and overcoming barriers to TB vaccine development. “The Council is an important structure that could put in place enabling factors to find a TB vaccine to effectively protect against pulmonary tuberculosis. That step is critical in the journey to end TB,” said health department spokesman, Foster Mohale. Ghebreyesus said COVID-19 revealed that innovative health interventions could be delivered fast if politically prioritised
The main intensive care unit at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital was forced to shut down on Monday after a copper pipe that supplies oxygen to the ward was stolen. In a statement, the Gauteng Health Department said the theft endangered the lives of 24 patients in the main ICU at that time. Nineteen of those patients were on life support and receiving oxygen through artificial ventilation. 10-metre copper pipe stolen The theft was discovered after doctors noticed the flow of oxygen was lower than normal in various sections of the ICU. They informed the Gauteng Department of Infrastructure Development, responsible for the plant room where the copper cable was located. The patients were immediately moved to another ward where oxygen supply was unaffected and ventilation was continued. Main ICU expected to reopen Wednesday “A contractor was immediately called on site and the copper pipe has since been replaced. The
This year’s World AIDS day theme of “Equalise and integrate to end AIDS” was a call to action to end the pandemic across the country – and we should start at the frontline of service delivery. Critical to the HIV response is the 95-95-95 global targets. These targets mean 95% of people living with HIV should know their status, 95% of people diagnosed with HIV receive sustained antiviral therapy, and 95% of all people receiving antiviral therapy should have viral suppression by 2025. The South African HIV response is off track to meet these targets, with progress towards the second target being the worst. According to the latest UNAIDS data, South Africa is on 94-78-89, which means 94% of people living with HIV know their status, only 78% of those diagnosed are on HIV treatment, and 89% of those on therapy are virally suppressed. Free State PLHIV face many challenges.
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This year has seen the release of many superhero movies – Thor: Love and Thunder, The Batman, Dr Strange and now, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Most superhero movies have a common theme – the superhero defeats the villain and saves the day. But who looks after them when their health is at risk? As we recognise Men’s Health Awareness Month in November, Sanlam’s Dr Calvin Yagan believes it is an ideal opportunity to understand better the “superhero complex” and how it affects our daily lives. The superhero complex is a recognised psychological state where a person believes they cannot fail and that it is their duty to ‘fix’ everyone else’s problems. Whether you can relate to this trait in yourself or in a loved one, it is important to realise that without prioritising your own care, you cannot continue taking care of others indefinitely. Even the most steadfast of
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The SA Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) confirmed that another person died from Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) after receiving the Johnson & Johnson (J&J) Covid-19 vaccine. SAPHRA confirmed the first GBS death early last month. In a statement released Monday, SAHPRA said the National Immunisation Safety Expert Committee (NISEC) did a causality assessment of the reported case using the World Health Organization’s (WHO) methodology. The death was classified as a vaccine product-related event. GBS is a very rare but potentially severe neurological adverse event associated with administering various vaccines and other medicines. Some bacterial or viral infections, including SARS-CoV-2 can also trigger it, said SAHPRA. Investigations ongoing “Investigations and causality assessment of all reported severe AEFI with the COVID-19 Vaccine Janssen and other COVID-19 vaccines are ongoing. The outcomes of these investigations and causality assessments will be shared with the public as soon as they are completed.” Previous investigations by regulatory
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No patients or staff were injured during a fire that happened outside the casualty area at the Steve Biko Academic Hospital in Pretoria in the early hours of Monday morning. The Gauteng Department of Health said the fire broke out in a wendy house used as a temporary storage area for medical waste. The structure was also used as an “in-transit corpse” area. The department said the hospital was operating as usual and that the fire affected none of its services. Nobody was injured in the blaze, which broke out after 1 AM. Staff extinguished fire “The fire which affected temporary structures at the facility was successfully put out by the SBAH hospital team, using the fire extinguishers on site,” the department said in a statement released on Monday morning. The department said 18 patients and one corpse in separate temporary structures close to where the fire broke out had
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The National Institute of Communicable Diseases has reported the detection of an imported case of Lassa fever in South Africa, the first since 2007. In a statement released on Friday night, the NICD said a man with an extensive history of travel in Nigeria fell sick soon after returning to South Africa. He was admitted to Pietermaritzburg Hospital where he died. Lassa fever is a viral infection that is endemic to the West African countries and mostly reported in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea, and Nigeria. Up to 300 000 cases of Lassa fever, with about 5000 deaths, are recorded annually in the endemic countries. Currently, there is no vaccine for Lassa fever. Lassa fever Kills 149 in Four Months, Says NCDC https://t.co/mXYiFMMsqQ — Medicalworld Nigeria (@MedicalworldNig) May 13, 2022 A species of rodent called the multimammate rat is the natural host of the virus that causes Lassa fever. The rats
Discovery Health has released its research on the effectiveness of two-dose Pfizer-BioNTech vaccination in preventing severe disease and hospitalisation by the Omicron variant. The study was carried out by Discovery Health’s actuarial team in collaboration with scientists at the South African Medical Research Council. The analysis includes more than 211 000 COVID-19 test results, 41% from adult members who had received two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. Approximately 78 000 of these COVID-19 test results were attributed to Omicron infections over the period 15 November 2021 to 7 December 2021. “We used a test-negative design methodology to establish the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine’s real-world effectiveness against hospital admission from Omicron infection,” said Shirley Collie, Chief Health Analytics Actuary at Discovery Health. The findings of the study were reviewed by scientists at the SAMRC Pfizer vaccine protects against Omicron The two-dose Pfizer-BioNTech vaccination provides 70% protection against severe complications of COVID-19 requiring
Children will pay the ultimate price as inequalities continue to drive the HIV epidemic, warns UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore. Last year 120,000 children died from Aids-related illnesses. And 300,000 children were newly infected. This is according to UNICEF’s latest HIV and Aids Global Snapshot. “Unless we ramp up efforts to resolve the inequalities driving the HIV epidemic, which are now exacerbated by COVID-19, we may see more children infected with HIV and more children losing their fight against AIDS,” said Fore. Inequalities are deepening The report warns the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic is deepening the inequalities that have long driven the HIV epidemic. This has made it difficult for vulnerable children, pregnant women, and breastfeeding mothers to access HIV prevention and treatment services. “The HIV epidemic enters its fifth decade amid a global pandemic that has overloaded health care systems and constrained access to life-saving services. Meanwhile, rising poverty, mental
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Males nurses are keen to change the status quo where they are either undermined or looked down upon in communities. They are tired of being called names and want to remind the public that they are just as capable as their female counterparts, writes Pamela Madonsela. Siyanda Ngema, known as SiyaSpeaks, born and bred in the KwaKhoza Reserve, a village in KwaZulu-Natal is one such nurse. He later moved to Tshwane to further his studies and is currently working as a Nephrology Nurse Specialist at a hospital in Gauteng. “There is a handful of individuals who look down upon us or undermine the roles of male nurses,” said Ngema. “We must remember that male nurses are rare in some communities. Some have been accepted while others have received negative treatment from the general public, patients, and multidisciplinary teams. I have been called a lot of names since I took up
At least half of all South African women have been victims of gender-based violence (GBV). Lena Mogolegwa is one of them and has used her experience to establish a foundation to help other survivors be victors and not victims, writes Pamela Madonsela. Mogolegwa, a 35-year-old from Manamakgoteng, a village in Moruleng Rustenburg, launched Rekgonne Warriors – A Foundation for Victims by Victors. “I didn’t want others to go through what I went through alone. So, I decided to fill the gap to not only make a difference for them but for myself too. It’s something I’ve longed for and needed … simply to say: ‘I believe you and it’s going to be okay’,” she said. Rakgonne Warriors tackles hardcore issues Mogolegwa, a rape survivor, said the foundation came at a time when no one believed in her. “My family felt that an 8 to 5 is the only way to