Health e News
Huge staff shortages and weak primary care are the two most pressing problems in the Eastern Cape health system, but there are signs of improvement in provincial management.
Social services in the Eastern Cape have been notoriously under-resourced for decades. The promise of a ‘better life for all’ that came with the first democratic elections in 1994 has not always held true. In the health sector, shortages of medicines, bed linen and health workers themselves, continue to plague the health system. So is there any reason to hope? Health-e News Service visited Livingstone Hospital, Nelson Mandela Academic and Umtata General Hospitals and Cecelia Makiwane to find out.
The largest survey ever conducted amongst South African youth shows that young women are bearing the brunt of the HIV and AIDS pandemic with one in 4 women aged between 20 and 24 testing HIV positive, compared to one in 14 men of the same age. The survey, conducted by the University of the Witwatersrand’s Reproductive Health Research Unit and commissioned by loveLife, shows that by the age of 23, one in five young South Africans is HIV positive.
In our second feature looking at how some of the of the centres earmarked to provide HIV and AIDS treatment under the government’s roll-out plan, Health-e News Service visited the adult AIDS clinic at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital, and met Dr Alan Karstaerdt, Director of the centre.
Tlalehong ya rona ya bobedi ho bona ka moo dipetlele le ditleniki di itokisetsang ho qala ho hlokomela bakudi ba Phamokathe ka meriana ya antiretrovirals ka tlase ho lenaneo le letjha la mmuso, Health-e News Service e ile ya etela tleniki ya batho ba baholo ya Phamokathe, e sepetleleng sa Chris Hani Baragwanath. Teng ba ile ba buisana le Dr Alan Karstaedt, molaodi wa tleniki.
In our third and final focus on how public health centres are gearing up for the AIDS treament roll-out, Health-e News Service, visited the Johannesburg General Hospital.
Ka letsatsi la boraro ho tloha kajeno, ka la 1 Mmesa, profense ya Gauteng e tla be e qala ho fepa batho ba kulang ka mafu a Phamokathe meriana ya mahala. Dipetlele tsa Johannesburg, Chris Hani Baragwanath, Helen Joseph, Coronation le Kalafong ke tsona tsa ho qala tse tlang ho fana ka thuso ena. Kgweding tse robedi tse latelang ho tla bulwa ditshebeletso tse ding tse leshome le metso e robedi hare ho profense. Khopotso Bodibe wa Health-e News Service o re tlisetsa tlaleho ena ya ho qala ho tswa ho tse tharo, ka mora hore a etele tse ding tsa ditshebeletso tse tlang ho bulwa ka labone.
Tlalehong ya ron aya ho qetela e hlahlobisang ditokisetso tsa dipetlele le ditleniki tsa mmuso Gauteng ho bula ditshebeletso tsa ho hlokomela bakudi ba Phamokathe ka meriana e kokobisang lefu lena, Health-e News Service e etela Johannesburg General Hospital.
On the 1st of April, the province of Gauteng will for the first time see HIV and AIDS treatment made available to the general public. The Johannesburg, Chris Hani Baragwanath, Helen Joseph, Coronation and Kalafong hospitals will be the first in line to roll out the service. Eighteen other centres will follow over an eight-month period. In the first of a series Health-e News Service looks at what preparations some of the centres are making.
Plagued by poverty, drought, inadequate access to basic services and huge inequities, Limpopo faces enormous hurdles in bringing health to its 5,8-million inhabitants.
HIV and AIDS are wreaking havoc in households and communities. As breadwinners succumb to AIDS-related infections they lose their ability to earn a living and families become poor and vulnerable. Orphaned children are left to eke out a living however they can. In a village in Limpopo, Health-e News Service meets some of those who are doing their best to help.
Ha lefu la Phamokathe le hlasela sono se aparelang malapa le metse ke sena se rothisang pelo madi. Qetellong ba okametseng malapa ba iphumana e le hore ha ba sa kgona ho sebetsa kapa hona ho iphumanela masheleng ha lefu le ntse le ya le ata mebeleng ya bona. Hona ho tlisa tlala le tlhopheho. Hangata bana ba sala e le dikgutsana ebe ba tlameha ho iketsetsa bophelo ka tsela tse fapafapaneng. Nakong e kgolo o fumana e le hore ha ho moo thuso e hlahang teng. Le ha ho le jwalo tshepo e teng, jwalo ka ha re utlwa tlalehong e latelang.
