Health e News
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Thousands of teachers have been lost to HIV. An HSRC study has revealed the extent of the epidemic among educators and has called for 10 000 to be placed on anti-retroviral treatment with immediate effect.
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Jaco Joseph (17) returns to his Vredendal home after almost three years in Cape Town hospitals as doctors battled to cure him of Multi Drug Resistant TB. Jaco will return to his foster parents and six year old brother after losing his mother to the same disease. Anso Thom spoke to him before he boarded a minibus taxi.
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The TB rate in Cape Town continues to be among the highest in the world, yet the city has managed to achieve impressive cure rates.
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Researchers in Stellenbosch and Zambia are testing hundreds of school children for TB infection as part of a study which aims to cut the TB burden in half.
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South Africa has one of the highest TB rates in the world but a cure rate of only 54%. On International TB Day, Health-e investigates the disease that is the country’s biggest killer.
Government will be able to supply state patients with three antiretroviral drugs (triple therapy) for around R100 a month.
More people are affected by the negative impact of poor water supply and sanitation than by war, terrorism, and weapons of mass destruction combined, according to a paper published in this week’s issue of The Lancet. Almost 4 000 children are killed everyday by this ‘silent humanitarian crisis’.
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After the post remained vacant for a couple of months, the national Department of Health now has a new Chief Director for the HIV and AIDS, TB and STI’s cluster. Dr Nomonde Xundu’s appointment comes at a crucial time when implementation of the Care and Treatment Plan for HIV and AIDS needs to be strengthened. A bit uncomfortable, she spoke to Health-e about what work awaits her.
A priority over the decade ahead will be to ensure that a caring and competently managed health service is available in every community, Finance minister Trevor Manuel told Parliament during his presentation of the 2005 budget. A huge chunk of the Budget was allocated to welfare spending. Health-e captures the health-related highlights in the new Budget.
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Two reports investigating the causes of death in South Africa have been released in the past month. The long-awaited Statistics South Africa report has revealed a 57% increase in reported deaths between 1997 and 2003. A Medical Research Council/University of Cape Town report shows explicitly that most deaths are due to HIV/AIDS.
Health minister Dr Manto Tshabalala-Msimang has acknowledged that the battle against TB is far from won, at the same time expressing frustration in trying to provide ARVs without a proper surveillance system to monitor numbers. ‘We are working in the dark and you just give the medicine and hope God will be on your side,’ she told journalists in Cape Town.