Health e News
The Medicines Control Council has recommended that nevirapine no longer be the only antiretroviral drug being offered to pregnant HIV positive mothers to prevent them passing the virus on to their newborn babies.
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As the national comprehensive programme to treat people ill with AIDS conditions unfolds, one of the challenges facing government, civil society organisations and individuals in the fight against AIDS is not a new one. It’€™s to seek to improve programmes aimed at ensuring that those who are uninfected remain free of HIV. Health-e News Service looks at why new methods are needed to help enhance the Department of Health’€™s ABC HIV prevention message.
Political prevarication and weak management has hampered the implementation of the Operational Plan for Comprehensive HIV and AIDS Care, Management and Treatment for South Africa a new report has found.
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The Health Department has recently launched a new stylish brand of condoms called ‘€˜Choice’€™ in the hope that it will encourage greater condom usage. But as Health-e reports, for women the branding of condoms means very little. What’€™s most important is their ability to negotiate when and how they would like to have sex. The names of the women interviewed in this report are not their real names.
The World Health Organization estimates that about 450 million people worldwide are affected by mental, neurological or behavioural problems. This happens despite the existence of effective treatment for most mental disorders. In South Africa, severe staff shortages result in a ratio of one psychiatrist to 150 000 people according to South African Society of Psychiatrists. In Poffader in the Northern Cape, Stanley Basson is a Professional Nurse who cares for psychiatric patients as best he can.
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Nonqaba Qotoyi was only six years old when her aunt’€™s husband raped her ten years ago. At the age of 12 she was diagnosed with HIV. Now 16 years old, Nonqaba is one of 1000 people on antiretroviral treatment from Medicins San Frontiers in Khayelitsha. Her dream is to live longer and become a doctor to help others with HIV/AIDS.
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Dikgohlopo di teng tse ntjha tse tsejwang ka hore ke ‘€˜Choice’€™ tseo lefapha la naha la tsa maphelo di sa tswa di tsebisa setjhabeng. Hona ka mora hore maAfrika Borwa, haholoholo batjha, ba se thabele dikgohlopo tse bileng teng tsa ho hloka lebitso tse sephuthelwaneng se nyatsehang. Tlalehong ena re elellwa hore dintho di ngata tseo kgohlopo e lokelang ho eba tsona ntle le ho fana ka tshireletso feela.
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A new brand of government condoms called ‘€˜Choice’€™, has entered the market to replace the old condom with its plain packaging and AIDS ribbons stamped on the wrapping. The re-launch was necessary after the old government unbranded condoms failed to strike the right chord with the public. As Health-e discovered, there’€™s much more to condom usage than merely providing protection.
Seven of the nine provinces recently presented their health budgets to the portfolio committee in Parliament. Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal have still to appear. Health-e sat in on the presentations.
Government and pharmacists squared up in the Cape High Court in June, but should consumers be signing petitions in support of their corner pharmacies or should their biggest concern be whether they are paying a fair price for medicine?
Hospitals and clinics in rural towns of the Northern Cape have teams of dedicated health workers who assist community service health workers. Health-e visited the Garies Primary Health Care Clinic and spoke to Sister Pierrette Rossouw, who says that health care in the region has improved immensely in the past 10 years.