The South African Students Congress in Bloemfontein made sure that HIV/AIDS was on the agenda of their annual gathering. But besides the "official line", what are students saying about the epidemic and safer sex behaviour?
Read More »Condoms, campuses & compliance
Living with AIDS programme 26Government should immediately adopt a practical plan for treating HIV positive people with drugs, challenged Judge Edwin Cameron last night at the opening of the international conference, AIDS in Context.
Read More »Judge challenges govt on HIV plan
Seeing a simple idea and "storing it because you never know when you'€™re going to use it" is what led to University of Cape Town (UCT) lecturer Dr George Vicatos to design a device which has saved a 18 year old cancer patient'€™s leg. A Senior Lecturer at UCT'€™s Department of Mechanical Engineering, Vicatos and his team worked against the clock to design the endo-prosthetic replacement for  part of the patient's femur and knee.
Read More »A simple invention saves patient’s  leg from amputation
In green valleys in northern KwaZulu-Natal, hundreds of children are negotiating lives alone as HIV/AIDS claims their parents.
Read More »The parentless generationKwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga and Gauteng have emerged as the epicentres of the HIV/AIDS epidemic raging in South Africa with the Free State following closely, according to the latest national HIV survey released yesterday(Tuesday). Based on the 16 548 blood samples tested in October 2000, it is estimated that nationally, 24,5% of the women who presented at the public health facilities (for the first time during that current pregnancy) were infected with HIV by the end of the year.
Read More »Ante-natal HIV survey – Kwa-Zulu-Natal and Mpumalanga top the list
Mthobisi Simelane (7) has been orphaned and abandoned by his family at Mosvold Hospital in Ingwavuma, rural KwaZulu-Natal. Unless he gets a birth certificate, anyone caring for him will be unable to access any grants.
Read More »How the system failed Mthobisi
South Africa'€™s welfare system is in the midst of a massive shake-up which stakeholders are hoping could result in government paying out more money to destitute children. At a recent meeting in Cape Town, about 90 roleplayers from the children'€™s sector and government officials, including those from a special committee charged with revising the entire social security system, grappled with how to set up an efficient "safety net" for the children of South Africa.
Read More »Welfare system set for an overhaul as it fails to reach the children
Renowned author John le Carre delves into the dark and dangerous world of drug trials and pharmaceutical profits in his latest novel, "The Constant Gardener". In the afterword to the book he says that although his novel is a work of fiction and doesn'€™t reflect the actions of any real people, the real goings-on in the industry make his story seem like a "holiday postcard". Sue Valentine spoke to him, this is a transcript of part of their conversation.
Read More »John le Carre slams pharmaceutical profiteering
Scientists have completed their laboratory research on a potential HIV vaccine for South Africa and the process is underway to begin human trials later this year. Kerry Cullinan reports.
Read More »SA HIV vaccine steams ahead
One person is sure to be at the forefront-  putting the view of business across - when government and the pharmaceutical industry tackle one another in  the much hyped court case. But is Mirryena Deeb  really the Cruella de Ville of the industry or is she just a woman caught up in the demands of trying to juggle a stressful job, motherhood and a sick nation calling louder and louder for medicine to ease its pain...Anso Thom from Health-e News Service spoke to her.
Read More »Meeting the drug industry’s
Living with HIV for eight years without picking up an opportunistic infection, Lundi Ntikinca is worried about the day when he will need expensive medication that could save his life. An option he cannot afford.
Read More »Living without medicineHealth economists have responded cautiously to Finance Minister Trevor Manuel'€™s "generous" allocations towards interventions targeting HIV/AIDS.Manuel announced a R300-million supplementary allocation for targeted HIV/AIDS interventions in 2002/03 and R313,5-million in 2003/04.
Read More »The Budget ‘€“ cautious response to AIDS allocationHealth specialists have expressed concern that the budget announced by Finance Minister Trevor Manuel did not go far enough in addressing South Africa'€™s developmental health challenges. Anso Thom and Sue Valentine reports.
Read More »The Budget – health spending falls behind national expenditureThe United Nations Secretary-General says HIV/AIDS is the biggest challenge of our time and has called for intensified and broadened political and financial commitments by nations in their response to the AIDS crisis.
Read More »UN calls for leadership to stem the AIDS tide
A grandmother, whose life was made a living hell after she was wrongly diagnosed HIV-positive is claiming R2-million in damages from the laboratory that tested her blood. Now she has launched a damages action against Van Drimmelen Laboratorium, the laboratory which carried out the initial test, claiming she suffered severe emotional stress, loss of dignity and humiliation as a result of the initial Elisa test finding that she was HIV positive. Subsequent tests showed that she was in fact HIV-negative. Health-e investigated the reliability of the Elisa test and others, the protocol followed by the life insurance industry and government'€™s own investigation into HIV testing'€¦
Read More »Many grey areas in the HIV testing arena
