Jonathan Berger of SECTION27 delivered a lecture on the history of HIV in SA at the CROI meeting in Boston this week. Read it here.

Hundreds of religious leaders across the globe are living with HIV, yet are afraid to come out because of the stigma attached to it. INERELA is a network of religious leaders across the globe which gives support to faith-based communities who are afraid to talk about HIV due to the stigma.

Students have shown a willingness to get tested for HIV and say that it is important for everyone to know their status so that if need be, people can start treatment earlier. This follows the launch of the ‘€˜First things first’€™ HIV Counselling and Testing Campaign targeting first year tertiary level students around the country.

A Gauteng man who won a case of discrimination and unfair dismissal against his former employers in the Labour Court, in Johannesburg, says he hopes the ruling will encourage other HIV-positive people who are being discriminated against by their employers to come forward. The court ruled in his favour yesterday, stating that he was unfairly dismissed by his employer because of his HIV status.

In a decisive move to encourage as many South Africans as possible to know their HIV status, the Health Department is now taking its HIV Counselling and Testing (HCT) campaign to young people at high school level. Parliament has approved the proposal and the department says the development of a policy for school-based HIV testing is now advanced.

Sharing a child’€™s HIV status with them can be difficult for a caregiver, but according to the Wits Institute for Health HIV and Related Diseases, disclosure has incredible benefits. Health-e visited an HIV-positive nine year-old boy who proves that early disclosure could be advantageous.

In 2007 the first Healthy Active Kids Report Card published by a panel of health scientists gave South African children an overall health grade of C- with lower marks for unhealthy eating, tobacco use and physical education. The 2010 Healthy Active Kids Report Card again scores the health of South African kids with an overall C-.

Appreciating and honouring health care givers in oncology units was the theme for this year’€™s World Cancer Day commemorated by PinkDrive, a project which has been at the forefront of establishing projects focused on cancer education and awareness.