Health e News
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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.
There’s a further upset in microbicides research as results of Carraguard, the only microbicide candidate to complete all three stages of research, show that the compound does not prevent HIV infection.
On the 25th of January, the Department of Health announced that it would publish new guidelines for the prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission allowing doctors to give both Nevirapine and AZT to pregnant women with HIV. But once again, it seems to be dragging its feet on the matter.
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The adoption of new guidelines for the prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission by the Policy Committee of the National Health Council is good news to HIV-positive pregnant women. But it is too little too late for some.