A landmark decision by the Indian Supreme Court to uphold India’s Patents Act in the face of the seven-year challenge by pharmaceutical company Novartis has been hailed across the world as a major victory for access to affordable medicines in developing countries. The ruling, announced on Monday in Delhi, has great significance for South Africa and other countries with high prevalence of HIV and TB, where access to newer and affordable drugs is crucial. In Khayelitsha almost one in five people (17.4%) on ARV treatment for five years have had to switch to second line regimen, which costs the government over five times more than the first line combination. The only reason for this price difference is that most second line drugs are still only available from originator companies holding patents. Had Novartis succeeded in India, there would have been no alternatives to brand drugs and drug prices would inevitably

A historic breakthrough. That’s how key stakeholders in breast health in South Africa described a meeting with the Health ministry on March 21, Human Rights Day. By Sue Segar The significant outcome of the meeting – attended by deputy health minister Dr Gwen Ramokgopa and other departmental staff – was that Ramokgopa has invited breast cancer stakeholders to contribute to a strategy document on cancer that will be announced on April 7 by the department of health. “The strategic plan will be launched on April 7 – World Health Day – and it is almost ready for publication, but I can commit to give you another ten days … as we go to print on April 1 … to look at it and see if you can make contributions,” Ramokgopa said during the meeting. “It was very historic because it was the first time we have ever succeeded in bringing

South African scientists have dismissed predictions of a possible public health emergency following reports from Australia that a small number of swine flu patients were resistant to the first-line treatment, Tamiflu. Resistance is carefully monitored in South Africa and globally and in South Africa resistance remains at very low levels, according to Dr Cheryl Cohen, Head of Epidemiology at the Centre for Respiratory Diseases and Meningitis (CRDM). A report in this week’s The Lancet journal details a small percentage of Australian patients not previously treated for swine flu (H1N1), who are showing increased resistance to the first-line treatment, Tamiflu. This information has prompted some to predict that it could raise the risk of an international public health emergency if the resistant strains spread. The new Australian research was presented today (MONDAY) at the Annual Scientific Meeting of the Australasian Society for Infectious Diseases (ASID) in Canberra, Australia. Two different classes

VHEMBE. – The health services here has been unable to help a pensioner who is suffering from strange illness. George Mmbanguseni Munzhelele of Matshavhawe village in Dzimauli, Limpopo, is suffering from a strange illness that has been “eating” his fingers and toes for years. Speaking from his one-roomed mud house on the banks of Tshala River, Munzhelele said he could hardly remember when he started losing his fingers. “When this problem started, I felt itchy on my left hand. When I scratched it, it started swelling. “From there, my fingers started disappearing into my hand one by one,” he said. Today Munzhelele is left with only one toe on his left leg. “It’s tough. I cannot do anything by myself and I stay alone in this house,” said Munzhelele whose wife left him when the problem started. “I have no one to help me except a lady who cooks and

JOHANNESBURG – A cheap antiseptic ointment, used to cleanse a newborn’s umbilical cord, can reduce the risk of infection and death in the first few weeks of life by as much as 20 percent. Chlorhexidine has been around for ages and is often used as an antiseptic, but a number of studies are confirming that this intervention could have a major impact on the high number of newborn deaths in the world and more specifically sub-Saharan Africa. Child experts from across the world are currently meeting in Johannesburg in an attempt to urgently address the high number of newborn deaths and to ensure that cheap, accessible and effective interventions are implemented in countries where mortality is high. Of the almost four million annual neonatal (refers to the first four weeks of an infant’s life) deaths that occur globally, more than 99% occur in developing countries and approximately half are attributed

JOHANNESBURG – Each year, about three million of the 7.7-million children who die before reaching their fifth birthday are newborns who do not survive their first four weeks of life. This situation has led to the top health agencies and child experts meeting in South Africa to formulate what will become the Global Newborn Action Plan. While South Africa is one of the countries showing sterling outcomes in reducing the under-five mortality rate (overwhelmingly due to the success of the programme which prevents the HIV-positive mother from infecting her baby), it is making very little inroads when it comes to newborns. The three major causes of neonatal deaths – infections, birth asphyxia and preterm/low birthweight – account for 86% of neonatal deaths worldwide. In South Africa almost half of under-5 deaths were newborns and most were due to these three conditions. While the world is still searching for healthcare remedies

JOHANNESBURG – Experts from around the globe are gathering this week to address the preventable and unnecessary deaths of newborns, which accounts for almost half of all deaths among children under five. “No child is born to die. And no mother should have to watch her newborn child suffer and die in that way,” global activist Graca Machel said at the opening plenary yesterday (MONDAY). Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for nearly 50% of all global under-five deaths. “Too many of our children, especially the newborns here in Africa are dying, too early,” Machel said. Professor Joy Lawn of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine said in South Africa alone 20 000 newborns had died within a year with an additional 22 000 stillbirths. South Africa is praised for its fast progress in increasing post-natal survival rates due to HIV programmes, but Lawn warned that this hid the fact that

VHEMBE. – Requests to the Department of Education to upgrade facilities at the Mafukani pre-school have fallen on deaf ears, and have eventually resulted in a four-year-old nearly losing her life after being bitten by a snake in the sub-standard toilet facilities at the school. The teachers recalled the day’s traumatic events: “I heard children screaming and saw others running from the toilet. When I asked what was going on, they said they were scared of a snake that they saw at the toilet. But when I went to look it was gone,” said Thendo Maranda a teacher at Mafukani pre-school. The principal, Thanzielo Mbedzi said: “When I heard Thendo calling out for me, I ran out immediately. When I reached her she was helping a four-year-old child who crying hysterically. The gardener at the pre-school, Nditsheni Nethulama, was very worried about the little girl’s condition. “I suspected that the

Researchers in the United States today said that they have identified a case of a ‘functional’ HIV cure in a child infected with HIV who began antiretroviral treatment within days of birth. The child has now been off treatment for over a year, and although HIV DNA has been detected at very low levels in the child’s cells, the virus is not reproducing. Read the full report from aidsmap here. Further follow-up will be required to determine whether this state persists, or whether viral replication resumes, but researchers involved in the case are optimistic that what they have found represents a functional cure – a state in which HIV remains in the body, but no longer replicates. One functional cure in an adult has been reported previously – the so-called ‘Berlin patient’ (see below and related news story). The findings were presented at a press conference on the opening day

South Africa has received global recognition for achieving a significant reduction in the number of children newly infected with HIV. The United Nations Joint Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) launched the 2012 Global Epidemic Report yesterday (SUBS: TUES) and praised South Africa for major gains with the number of children newly infected with HIV declining by between 40 and 59 percent from 2009 to 2011. International efforts have focused on ending new infections among children and reducing the number of women living with HIV who die from pregnancy-related causes. According to the report 330 000 children were infected with HIV in 2011, almost halving the rate since 2003 when almost 600 000 children were infected. More than 90% of the children who acquired HIV infection in 2011 live in sub- Saharan Africa, where the number of children newly infected fell by 24% from 2009 to 2011. Sub-Saharan Africa remains most severely

People who struggle to quit smoking may be genetically predisposed to the habit, according to new research published in the American Medical Association journal JAMA-Psychiatry. The international team of researchers reviewed studies that looked at genetic links to smoking and pulled together a “genetic risk profile” for smoking. The researchers applied this to a long-term study of 1000 Australians born in the early 1970s. Information on participants’ smoking behaviour was analysed alongside DNA samples, which identified those who matched the smoking risk profile. Although the genetic risk score was unrelated to starting smoking, having a high-risk genetic profile predicted increased likelihood of heavy smoking and nicotine dependence among those who did try cigarettes. The link was strongest for teenagers who tried cigarettes – those with a high-risk genetic profile were 24 percent more likely to become daily smokers by age 15, and 43 percent more likely to become pack-a-day smokers

PRESS RELEASE: Exposure to tobacco smoke could negatively impact adolescent kidney function, this is according to a new study led by a team of researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Johns Hopkins Children’s Centre. They examined the association between exposure to active smoking and kidney function among US adolescents and found the effects of tobacco smoke on kidney function begin in childhood. The results are featured in the journal Pediatrics. “Tobacco use and exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke are major health problems for adolescents, resulting in short-term and long-term adverse health effects,” said Ana Navas-Acien, MD, PhD, senior author of the study and an associate professor with the Bloomberg School’s Department of Environmental Health Sciences. “In this nationally representative sample of US adolescents, exposure to tobacco, including secondhand smoke and active smoking, was associated with lower estimated glomerular filtration rates – a common measure