Health e News
It’s been almost 15 years since we voted for all South Africans to have equal access to government services…to have dignity and a better life. To have treatment for life-threatening illnesses. But every now and then, as journalists, we step into corners of the country where apartheid and its indignities remains alive and well. Where the services that government has designed to improve our lives just CAN’T reach.
Today in our series on EVERYDAY HEROES, we have a story of immense sadness and courage. The story of a father who was determined to keep his family together despite enormous odds. Without food, safe sanitation or the means to keep warm this part winter, staying healthy was almost impossible for him.
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Today in our series on EVERYDAY HEROES we meet a woman who represents the silent army of heroes countrywide who are in frontline of the fights against HIV and AIDS. Home-based caregivers. Although it’s a hard job where patients don’t always get better and there’s no personal reward, caregivers form the backbone of patient care in a health system that is overburdened and under-resourced.
Government needs to prioritise improving national oversight over provincial health services to address the ‘anarchy’ and ‘scope for corruption’ in provinces, according to the AIDS Law Project (ALP).
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After ten years of living with HIV, Pholokgolo Ramothwala’s health is showing signs of decline, and he now realizes that he needs to stop taking alcohol.
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Thousands of desperate HIV positive patients in the Free State have been thrown a lifeline with news that millions has been secured to procure anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs needed to keep them alive.
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Nontskolo Tantiso had been feeling unwell for several months, but attempts to establish whether she may need antiretroviral treatment have seen her being sent from pillar to post.
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The young woman slowly slides the neatly folded papers from the envelope and gingerly places the three documents on the rickety table.
A staggering 15 000 HIV-positive people have been placed on waiting lists in the Free State where a moratorium is barring them from accessing anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs at hospitals and clinics.
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Hundreds of patients are being denied antiretroviral treatment in the Free State. During a visit to Welkom’s Bongani Hospital last week Anso Thom and Lungi Langa spoke to three young men who are staring death in the face.
Candidate microbicide PRO 2000 cuts HIV transmission by 30 percent, falling just short of the one-third required to be deemed a success. But scientists say this trial offers proof that the concept of a vaginal gel to block HIV is possible.
The quality of health care services in South Africa is declining. With that in mind, Health Minister Barbara Hogan and her deputy Dr Molefi Sefularo, are crisscrossing the country in a series of face-to-face colloquiums with health professionals to discuss the issues that bedevil the provision of care.