Health e News
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A researcher at the Witwatersrand University’s Analytical Pathology Department, Dr Zodwa Dlamini, says home-made African traditional beer may not be as toxic as it’s recently been reported to be.
In what is termed a ‘historic’ meeting, government, civil society and business leaders are today coming together for the last of a two-day summit in Johannesburg to finalise the country’s AIDS plan for the next five years.
Legalising commercial sex work, programmes against alcohol and drug abuse, subsidies for people who adopt orphans and food support for HIV positive moms who breastfeed exclusively are some of the innovative new interventions contained in government’s draft plan to fight HIV/AIDS.
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Medical experts have cautioned against male circumcision being promoted as the only effective method to prevent HIV infection.
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A recent report by the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission has slammed African governments’ programmes on HIV/AIDS on their continued failure to address the needs of same-sex practising people in Africa.
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As the cure for HIV and AIDS remains elusive, scientists are pinning their hopes on preventative measures, including a protective vaccine. Wits University’s Soweto-based Perinatal HIV Research Unit has just started work on the largest vaccine study ever undertaken in the country.
The Departments of Correctional Services and Health as well as AIDS advocacy groups have begun urgent talks that could see the parties reaching an out-of-court settlement on the provision of anti-retrovirals to prisoners at Westville Prison in Durban.
Transport Minister Jeff Radebe has been appointed acting health minister while Dr Manto Tshabalala-Msimang remains in Johannesburg Hospital’s high care unit.
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A major HIV vaccine trial is underway in five sites across South Africa. As the country and medical research community alike are coming to terms with the abrupt end of a microbicide candidate vaccine trial, Dr Busi Nkala, Director of the vaccine study at the Perinatal HIV Research Unit in Soweto, says the safety of patients is a key priority throughout the trial.
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We pick up on the theme of last week’s ‘Living with AIDS’ feature. Informal studies show that about one in five couples in Africa are in a discordant relationship, meaning that one partner has HIV and the other doesn’t. The chances of one partner eventually getting infected by the other are not really known. Hence, experts recommend that couples should go for testing together.
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Senior Vice-President of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, Dr Wayne Koff, has denied media reports that his organization is using citizens of developing countries as ‘guinea pigs’ to test ineffective vaccines that have failed elsewhere.
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Knowing your own HIV status can set your mind at ease. But knowing both your and your partner’s HIV status could even save your life. We meet a couple that clings to the belief.