Health e News
- ///Health
Documents circulating in government circles have once again disputed the link between HIV and AIDS and questioned scientific knowledge and practice in relation to the HI virus. In this audio package, acclaimed South African scientist, Dr Carolyn Williamson, who last year received the World Technology Award for Health & Medicine in recognition of her efforts to find an AIDS vaccine, speaks about the scientific evidence.
The 2001 South African Health Review (SAHR) has made a priority in its annual report card of reflecting what South African patients, politicians and health workers have to say about health services and delivery. Produced annually by the non-governmental organisation, the Health Systems Trust, the review has dedicated significant space to the “voices” of service users, facility managers, hospital superintendent/managers, district managers, provincial managers, parliamentarians and policy makers.
The profile of hospital superintendents is changing – although white male doctors still predominate, a new picture is emerging in which more and more women are heading up hospitals. The 2001 SA Health Review notes that it is nurses and others in the health profession who increasingly are taking the helm.
- ///Health
Misguided national leadership, particularly President Thabo Mbeki’s questioning of whether HIV causes AIDS, has contributed to South Africa’s HIV/AIDS prevalence rate amongst pregnant women jumping from 7,6% to 24,5% in seven years. This is the view of researchers writing in the 2001 SA Health Review, due to be released by the Health Systems Trust (HST) in Pretoria today (tues).
Although the South African Constitution stipulates that all municipalities are ultimately expected to take responsibility for district health services, there is still widespread uncertainty as to the extent or limits of such services – and especially how they should best be financed.
- ///Health
While it is still unclear what all the factors are driving the high TB rates in Cape Town, it is certain that inequitable access to good housing, employment, education and as a consequence, nutritious food play a major role. Comparisons between two nearby suburbs, the more affluent Bothasig and mostly poverty stricken Uitsig, highlight the stark inequities when mapping the TB rates and comparing it with indicators such as housing, overcrowding and unemployment.
- ///Health
Carol Snyman (32) wipes the tears from her cheeks. “They swear at you, they call you horrible names. It hurts me very much when they speak about us like this. These are my children and I love them.” Snyman’€™s family is the perfect example of why Tuberculosis is so rampant in this part of the country and even more specifically in Uitsig, a suburb typical of the poorest working class areas of Cape Town.
- ///Health
“A sin of grand proportions” is how Anglican Archbiship Njongonkulu Ndungane has described the slow response of church leaders to the needs of people with HIV/AIDS. Opening a workshop of faith-based communities from nine southern African countries, Njongonkulu said churches needed to acknowledge the sin of omission in their response to the pandemic.
Health conditions in the former Transkei have worsened since 1994, mainly thanks to poor management and budget cuts.
- ///Health
Yanelisa Ngqongwa is a 12-year old Grade 6 pupil at Mthawelanga Primary School, in Ekuphum’leni, a section of Khayelitsha township in the Western Cape. It’s a Thursday morning and she and a group of 14 other pupils are attending a workshop run by their teacher and a social worker from a child rights organisation Ilitha Labantu, on child abuse. Yanelisa is a vocal participant in the workshop. After a while, she stands up and tells the group that she is a rape survivor.
- ///Health
In this audio package Sister Mabuyi Mnguni of the South Coast Hospice in Port Shepstone talks further about their home-based care programme and issues of poverty in the rural areas.
- ///Health
In a dramatic turnaround, the KwaZulu-Natal provincial government has withdrawn from government’€™s appeal today (1 March) against the court ruling compelling it to provide Nevirapine to pregnant HIV positive mothers — and has instead joined forces with government’€™s court opponent, the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC).