Health e News
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Films showing real-life experiences that put us at risk of HIV infection and how people are dealing with the epidemic have been produced for television. The nine short films were produced by film-makers from nine countries in southern Africa.
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The high number of South African women who die of breast cancer every year has prompted 12 breast cancer survivors to ride motorcycles from Johannesburg to Cape Town to promote awareness about breast cancer
Parliament’€™s health committee has rejected a move by the health department to introduce a two-tier system for medicines approval whereby the health minister would have had the final say over whether a medicine could be registered.
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OPINION PIECE:It is time government showed the same vigor in tackling the snake oil salesman as they have in tackling conventional medicine and science.
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Diabetes is increasing rapidly worldwide, yet many people are unaware of its symptoms. So says renowned paediatric diabetes expert Professor Tadej Battelino, in South Africa to attend an international diabetes conference.
Taking care of people who are very sick or dying has traditionally been left to hospices. But in a novel partnership, the Gauteng Health Department will launch the Centre for Excellent Palliative Care at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital tomorrow (Friday, 15/08/2008). This integrates this kind of care into the public health service.
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The health department has withdrawn two widely-dispensed tuberculosis (TB) drug combination batches after preliminary investigations revealed the drugs became unstable under long-term storage, ultimately placing patients at risk of not receiving their optimal dosage.
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All around the world, people with HIV are being charged for endangering the lives of others. But this doesn’t stop the spread of HIV because most of those infected don’t know they have the virus, argues Judge Edwin Cameron.
Being in prison can result in depression and other mental conditions. At Westville Prison in Durban, a support group of prisoners is using the art of drawing and painting to help them deal with their incarceration and to transform themselves. With the help of LifeLine Durban, the inmates now have their work showing at Constitution Hill, in Johannesburg.
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Circumcised men are much less likely to get HIV, but if the procedure is promoted as a way of preventing HIV men might think they are immune to the virus.
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While there is good clinical evidence for starting patients on antiretroviral therapy when their CD4 count is 350 not 200, opening access in countries with weak health systems might do more harm than good, warns AIDS activist.
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A key feature of South Africa’€™s HIV epidemic where 5.7 million people are positive is that among the 15 ‘€“ 24 year olds infected, women and girls account for more than 90% of new infections. This needs a special focus on this group when designing prevention programmes, says UNAIDS.