Health e News
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) has welcomed King Goodwill Zwelithini’€™s announcement this weekend that he supports medical male circumcision and will encourage his followers to undergo the procedure which could prevent up to 60% of men acquiring HIV.
President Zuma finally ended any ambiguity in the government’€™s response to AIDS when he announced changes to improve AIDS treatment this week. But for these policy changes to be real, the new-found political commitment must be accompanied by the commitment of resources.
Activists are concerned that the limited access to female condoms as a means of HIV prevention compared to male condoms is a violation of human rights. Annually, the government distributes over 400 million condoms compared to three million female condoms.
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South Africa’€™s top scientists and researchers have come out in support of health minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi after the furore over Home Affairs supplied AIDS death statistics he quoted recently – which may have been incorrect.
In June 1999 Thabo Mbeki became president. And so began one of the most destructive episodes in our recent history ‘€“ AIDS denialism. Mbeki questioned the very existence of a sexually-transmitted virus that caused AIDS.
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Simple in its design and methodology, yet massive in its impact – the mothers2mothers (m2m) programme is emerging as one of the Aids epidemic’€™s success stories.
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South Africans may soon be able to get an HIV home test kit to enable them to find out their HIV status in private.
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President Jacob Zuma has announced the most significant government-led interventions to stem the AIDS epidemic since its emergence more than 20 years ago, stating that extraordinary measures are needed.
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Nomthandazo Mtuta’€™s life story is a powerful testimony to how themothers2mothers (m2m) programme has spared many parents the heartbreak of having to bury their children.
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Retired nurses in Soweto have given up their pension days to save lives and help people die in dignity.
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Experience from other countries shows that not everyone will respond well to the same antiretroviral drugs. Some will improve, others will not. Those who fail on one or more group of drugs need a replacement. But the current pool of ARV drugs in the public sector offers no alternative.
Western medicine and traditional healers have long been at odds with one another about how to treat HIV/AIDS. But in the Umgungundlovu district, which has the highest HIV prevalence in the country, integration of the two is starting to happen.