Health e News
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While HIV and AIDS is a condition that still strikes fear among many people, developments in medical, scientific and social sciences research communities over the last few years have helped to change perceptions. HIV and AIDS can be a manageable and treatable condition. That is the thrust of a new book: ‘Still Everybody’s Business’, published by insurance group, Metropolitan.
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Dr Kgosi Letlape, head of the South African Medical Association and Executive Director of the Tshepang Trust, said one of the most effective ways of dealing with HIV and AIDS is the formation of partnerships. Dr Letlape was speaking at the launch of an antiretroviral treatment site at the G F Jooste hospital in Cape Town. The initiative is being piloted in conjunction with the Nelson Mandela Foundation that handed over R5-million at the launch ‘ the first donation from the 46664 campaign.
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Good nutrition and traditional or complementary medicines feature prominently in the government’s HIV and AIDS treatment and care plan approved by Cabinet last week. The plan provides for the roll-out of life-prolonging antiretroviral medicines for people living with AIDS. Khopotso Bodibe of Health-e News Service spoke to members of the AIDS Treatment Task Team to find out why the emphasis on food and traditional medicines.
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Scientists would describe the Ramothwalas and the Leons as “discordant couples”, which means that one partner is HIV positive and the other HIV negative. But how much discord has the virus brought to their lives?
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A group of HIV positive women from Khayelitsha in Cape Town have found a unique way to tell and preserve their life stories and to give the epidemic a face.
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Dr Loveness Kaunda, Dean of Students at the University of Cape Town, is one of a handful of South African leaders prepared to talk openly about HIV/AIDS. Here she shares the story of her younger brother and how his death affected her family.
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Last month marked a turning point in the South African government’s response to the AIDS epidemic as the Cabinet approved the final draft of the Operational Plan for Comprehensive HIV and AIDS Care and Treatment. As the stage is now set for the roll-out, new challenges are looming for many sectors of society. The business community is one of these.
While there are no formal surveys, guesstimates are that about 22 percent of South African university undergraduate students are HIV positive. In this special report we investigate how tertiary institutions are dealing with the epidemic.
Three months after the government’s delayed authorisation of the release of the Global Fund grants into South African AIDS, TB and Malaria projects, the money has still not reached its destination. The problem? According to the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the government has to make a formal request before the institution can make the money available.
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Talita Thekiso is one of two volunteers who received her first dose of the Modified Vaccinia Ankara (MVA) vaccine at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital, in Soweto on Wednesday. The MVA vaccine is based on sub-type A of HIV, a strain of the virus which is predominant in east Africa. Health-e met Thekiso at the hospital.
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The Phase One trial for the Modified Vaccinia Ankara (MVA) vaccine is now underway. Two of the first 55 volunteers in South Africa ‘ 40 in Soweto and 15 in Durban – have received their initial vaccinations. Worldwide a total of 111 people are taking part at research sites in Switzerland, the UK and The Netherlands. As Dr Eftyhia Vardas, director of the HIV Vaccines Programme at the Peri-natal HIV Research Unit explains, the Phase One trials are all about checking the safety of the vaccine in humans.
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The second HIV prevention vaccine to be tested in South Africa began its Phase One trial in Johannesburg and Durban, on Wednesday November 11, 2003. The testing of the Modified Vaccinia Ankara (MVA) follows just a week after the start of the Venezuelan Equine Encephalitis vaccine trial. Dr Eftyhia Vardas, Director of the HIV Vaccines Programme at the Peri-natal HIV Research Unit at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital spoke to Health-e.