Health e News
At the recent official launch of the Department of Health’€™s antenatal HIV survey, the Minister of Health Dr Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, quite uncharacteristically invited the media to ask any questions to the department’€™s officials who were present. We share some of these questions and answers with you.
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The High Court in Chennai, India has upheld India’€™s Patents Act in the face of a challenge by Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis.
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Three studies conducted in Africa, which suggest that medical male circumcision can reduce men’€™s risk of contracting HIV, have reinvigorated the hype around HIV prevention. But for some, the finding raises even more concerns.
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Rock star legend Annie Lennox has gathered 23 fellow female artists for a song which she hopes will give momentum to the urgent need to get South Africans, especially women and children, onto AIDS treatment and raise money for the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC).
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Hospice care is often associated with nursing those knocking on death’€™s door. But the long-established view is fast being eroded, as hospices are now able to nurse patients back to life.
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In 2003, Ben Sassman, a Capetonian now living in Johannesburg, dug deep into his own pocket and started the world’€™s first ever dating site for people living with HIV. Four years later, despite few financial resources, the site continues to connect those seeking love and acceptance in a world that constantly rejects them.
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Ngwavuma, in the north of KwaZulu-Natal province near the Swaziland border, has been hard-hit by HIV/AIDS. The resulting problem is the increase of children-headed households.
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The high cost of the Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine (PCV)-which fights the bacteria that cause pneumonia and meningitis in young children – makes it inaccessible to the poor.
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They should have given up working long ago and now be enjoying their retirement after careers spanning more than 60 years combined. But retired nursing sister Mrs Seabela and Mrs Khumalo, a retired social worker, have come back from retirement to help the sick, especially those with AIDS.
The criteria used to award government temporary disability grant have come under scrutiny. Currently, there is concern that even people who do not ‘€˜deserve’€™ the grant receive it, while there are seriously ill patients who do not receive it.
Debate is raging about some people using unconventional methods to access the government’€™s social grants. Some claim that a number of people with AIDS, who upon severe illness can qualify for a temporary disability grant, stop taking their antiretrovirals out of fear that they might forfeit the grants once their state of health improves.