Health e News

Saving the world’s children

Simple, affordable life-saving measures, such as exclusive breastfeeding, immunization, insecticide-treated bed nets and vitamin A supplementation, have helped to reduce child deaths in recent years, according to UNICEF’€™s The State of the World’€™s Children 2008 report.

Nurses’ salaries to increase by March

The more than 100 000 nurses employed by government are expected to benefit from salary increases before the end of March, the health department has confirmed.

Good results when distributing ARVs via volunteers

An Ugandan study has shown that community volunteers can effectively distribute antiretrovirals in rural areas with around 90% of patients adhering to treatment. This week’€™s Centers for Disease Control newsletter on HIV, Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention also reports on the link between Christopher Columbus and the spread of syphilis.

Terminally ill Ghanaian woman deported from UK

Doctors and The Lancet have slammed immigration officials who removed a terminally ill Ghanaian woman from a hospital in Wales and escorted her back to Ghana, where she is unable to afford the treatment she needs to prolong her life.

Coping kit for cancer patients

The Cancer Association of South Africa (CANSA) has come up with a new strategy to empower cancer patients and their families. It has introduced a CD with relevant helpful information about the disease.

Looking into the future Living with AIDS # 334

Perhaps the most encouraging news about HIV/AIDS this year is that prevalence rates in South Africa and the world are decreasing. The decline might be small, but it’€™s certainly something to build on going forth into 2008.

ARVs saved lives ‘€“ Madwaleni Hospital

The arrival of the first batch of ARVs in June, 2005, at Madwaleni Hospital, in the rural area of Mbashe outside Mthatha, in the Eastern Cape, changed how health-care workers and the community view AIDS.

‘Tail’ regimen for PMTCT the way to go

A single dose of two antiretrovirals given to mothers shortly after giving birth has shown to reduce the chances of the women developing later resistance, a new study from Zambia has shown.

Living and dying in SA

The health indicators, which provide a snapshot of our nation’€™s health, still paint a picture of a violent, racially divided country where women bear the brunt of disease.

Call for removal of barriers to access traditional meds

Traditional medicine generates almost R3-billion a year and government needs to urgently remove barriers preventing its practitioners from claiming from medical schemes for services rendered.

What makes clinical volunteers do what they do? Living with AIDS # 333

Whether it’€™s to test a vaccine or a microbicide to reduce HIV risk, clinical trials rely heavily on the goodwill of people. Without them, such trials won’€™t take place. But what motivates people to want to be part of these trials?

‘€˜Future time bomb’€™

South Africa is sitting on a ‘€œfuture time bomb’€ as employers remove medical health insurance from employees when they retire.

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