Health e News
Your life – including work, studies and family – could be seriously disrupted if you develop drug-resistant tuberculosis. That’s why it’s important to complete the six month course of medication if you’re diagnosed with the primary form of TB. Taking your medication will cure you, protecting yourself and others.
HIV/AIDS accounts for many child deaths in South Africa – about two thirds of children in public health facilities. It’s also a leading cause of death among new mothers. This is according to a report published recently, called ‘Every Death Counts’.
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In just less than a month after the disappointing Carraguard microbicide results, a study using a genital herpes drug, Acyclovir, has proved that it does not reduce the risk of HIV infection among people with Herpes Simplex Virus-2.
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.