Health e News
Every day in South Africa, 260 mothers, babies and children below the age of five die. These are signs of an ailing health system, says report.
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Results of an international study testing whether Acyclovir, a pill used for the treatment of genital herpes, can reduce HIV risk, show that the intervention is not effective in preventing HIV infection.
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Statistics show that cervical cancer kills more women than any other form of cancer in South Africa. Yet fewer women go for a regular pap smear test to check for the development of the cancer.
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Next week, the TAC takes government to court over its failure to act against vitamin seller Matthias Rath. But there’s still time to settle, says the TAC.
In 2006, the United Nations’ Children’s Fund (UNICEF) called pneumonia ‘the forgotten killer of children’. Today, one in 10 children worldwide continues to die even though childhood pneumonia can be prevented.
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South African women can now, for the first time, be vaccinated against cervical cancer. This follows the recent registration by the Medicines Control Council of a vaccine to prevent the growth of this particular cancer.
Foreign doctor Rob Melvin believes he became a better doctor in rural KZN. He tells his story to Luke Giddy.
Over the last few weeks this feature has dwelt on the country’s revised prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission (PMTCT) programme. But some of us might ask: Why is the revision of the programme so significant?
Now in its third year, the District Health Barometer compares all 52 health districts in the country to see which are the healthiest and which are just plain sick.
Last Friday, the Department of Health released its long overdue policy revision of the prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission programme (PMTCT). But medical experts say the new policy is still inadequate.
Attempts on the HIV prevention front have been dealt yet another blow, following the failure of the Carraguard microbicide to prove effective in preventing HIV infection from males to females.
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A recent report by UNICEF says South African AIDS orphans are in a far better position than many from eastern and southern Africa.