Health e News
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.
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SABC 1 will from this Monday air a two-part documentary, Law and Freedom, narrated and directed by Zackie Achmat, leader of the Treatment Action Campaign, a movement that has brought about significant change via the courts.
Melleril, one of the oldest drugs prescribed for schizophrenia, has been voluntarily withdrawn following ongoing reports that it affected the heart’s rhythm with unconfirmed reports of deaths.
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Four pioneering doctors who encountered the first cases of HIV and Aids in South Africa look back on the epidemic.
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The first two official AIDS deaths in South Africa were recorded in 1982. This timeline tracks the course of the epidemic in South Africa from then until now.
Four years ago Tracy Niekerk discovered she was HIV positive after her husband applied for a life insurance policy. Much has changed since then. Tracy is one of three South Africans sharing their experiences of living with HIV through the Red Ribbon Diary Project.
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The conclusion of our four-part series tracking the last four years of the 27-year-old HIV positive mother’s life. In this instalment, writer Susan Winters, spends time with Nokwanda’s family after her death.