Health e News
Health issues feature prominently in all political parties’€™ election manifestos ‘€“ an indication that our sickly public health system is a great concern to voters.
In a rare debate, political parties made public their stance on a range of issues relating to the treatment of AIDS and HIV prevention. Fears emerged that the current global economic crisis will have an impact on how South Africa responds to the epidemic in the future.
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It’€™s that time of the year when a lot of us will be sniffing, coughing and even sneezing. Doctors say getting the influenza vaccine in April, will go a long way in preventing respiratory infections.
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HARGEISA:(PlusNews) – When three attempts to cure Abdulhakim*, 42, of tuberculosis failed, the father of nine living in Hargeisa, capital of the self-declared republic of Somaliland in northwestern Somalia, took his doctor’s advice and tested for HIV – the result came back positive.
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KwaZulu-Natal health department orders audit after allegations of financial mismanagement.
Patients in the Free State were recently denied AIDS treatment because of a lack of funds. But the National Treasury’€™s new allocation towards the province’€™s HIV and AIDS expenditure for the 2009 ‘€“ 2010 financial year, which begins in April, is R83 million short. Now the province’€™s head of health is already talking about restricting access to antiretrovirals.
National Treasury’€™s insufficient budget allocation to the Free State for the 2008-2009 financial year and the provincial Department of Health’€™s failure to raise emergency funds to cover the short-fall have had a direct impact on patient care.
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Home-based care, even for patients with drug-resistant tuberculosis, is working well at a pilot project in Khayelitsha started in late 2007.
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HARARE: (PlusNews) – By the time Tichaona Paraziva, 49, tested HIV positive at the end of 2006 he was already in need of antiretroviral (ARV) treatment, but there was a waiting list for the free government programme and on a teacher’s salary he could not afford to buy medicines in the private sector.
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KAMPALA: (PlusNews) – About half of Uganda’s TB patients do not know that they could be infected, which has led to very low levels of diagnosis and treatment.
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JOHANNESBURG: (PlusNews) – In April 2009 the South African government will start rolling out a new test to diagnose multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB), of which 16,000 cases were reported in 2007 alone. Doctors are hoping that the new rapid tests will get more patients on treatment and faster.
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JOHANNESBURG: (PlusNews) – One in four tuberculosis (TB) deaths in the world is HIV-related, twice as many as previously thought, according to a new report by the World Health Organisation (WHO).