Health e News
Activists have cautioned that the Gates Foundation funded study, released today in The Lancet and showing welcome progress on reducing maternal mortality globally, also reveals one catastrophic exception.
They say a picture tells a thousand words. It’s easy to understand why when you see ‘Through Positive Eyes’, a photographic and poster exhibition by people living with HIV and AIDS telling their life journeys with the infection.
The AIDS Law Project is encouraged by the health minister’s commitment to strengthen the public health system, set clear targets for HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment and the urgency in tackling the country’s health crisis.
National Minister of Health Dr Aaron Motsoaledi announced that more facilities would be accredited to provide ARVs. Delivering his budget speech he said 519 facilities had already started providing ARV by 1 April but all 4,333 public health facilities should over time provide the life saving drugs.
The African Tobacco Control Alliance (ATCA) today welcomed the decision of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to terminate a multimillion dollar grant to a leading international health research agency because of the potential of tobacco industry influence on the agency’s policies.
Every Health-e journalist has made the finals of the annual Discovery Health Journalism Excellence Awards, which were announced today. Anso Thom of Health-e won the Discovery Health Journalist of the Year Award in 2009. This year, Health-e journalists are finalists in five categories.
The official launch of the national HIV Counselling and Testing (HCT) campaign has been postponed, the Presidency has announced.
President Jacob Zuma has announced the postponement of a massive HIV testing campaign that was set to start on 15 April as it collided with scheduled working visits to Brazil and the US. He said new dates for the campaign would be announced soon.
In Lusaka, the capital city of Zambia, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is responding to the worst cholera outbreaks in the country for many years.
The International Centre for Alcohol Policies (ICAP) recently launched a book to challenge excessive and harmful use of alcohol. The book, whose title is ‘Working Together to Reduce Harmful Drinking’, was launched in Johannesburg, recently.
Massive provincial overspends have seen health facilities across South Africa running out of lifesaving drugs for anything from hypertension pills and paediatric vaccinations to tuberculosis and HIV treatment.
As the Health Department and the South African National AIDS Council (SANAC) prepare to test 15 million South Africans for HIV in a year-long campaign starting next week, citizens are being urged to heed the call to know their status.
