Health e News
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A pilot project in Khayelitsha, Cape Town is hoping to show that it is possible to dispense antiretroviral therapy to people living in peri-urban, poor communities provided proper counselling and monitoring is in place. Matthew Damane has been taking a triple combination of drugs since June and is firmly convinced of the benefits the medication has made to his life.
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Traditional healers and medical doctors alike are singing the praises of an immune-boosting medicinal plant, Sutherlandia, which they say offers hope to people living with HIV who cannot afford expensive drugs.
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Sutherlandia (or unwele) has been used by traditional healers for years as a tonic. But now scientists are going to test whether it can be used as an immune booster for those with HIV.
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Two of the country’s most powerful figures in health yesterday crossed swords at the Health Summit over whether government should investigate providing anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs) to people with HIV/AIDS.
President Thabo Mbeki says government is looking for ways in which the public and private health sectors can collaborate in “principled partnerships” that will help reduce the gap in health access between rich and poor. He told delegates at the National Health Summit in Johannesburg that “imagination and commitment” were needed to overcome some of the persistent obstacles to better health care.
In her opening address to the National Health Summit, the Minister of Health, Dr Manto Tshabalala-Msimang has reiterated Government’s commitment to addressing HIV/AIDS in the country. She also admitted that despite good intentions, Government had made mistakes which had hampered the achievement of improved access to health services and quality of care. However she said the challenge now was to admit the mistakes and re-direct policy where necessary.
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JOHANNESBURG – The absence of anti-retroviral drugs in the public sector had led to the misconception that nothing was being done by government for people with HIV, Dr Nono Simelela, head of government’s HIV/AIDS Directorate told the Health Summit yesterday (Mon).
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Soweto school children this week delivered food and clothes to AIDS orphans in rural Ingwavuma in a remarkable act of solidarity from one poor community to another
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For South Africans living in malaria areas, DDT and bednets are among the means of combating malaria mosquitoes on a seasonal basis. For travellers to these parts, the side-effects of certain anti-malaria tablets are so severe that some are opting for sensible clothing and insect repellent as their prophylaxis of choice. by Tim Dodd
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One of the country’s most respected medical doctors, Professor Jerry Coovadia, yesterday called on the government to supply anti-retroviral drugs for HIV positive mothers.
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By far the bulk of new drugs developed by the leading pharmaceutical companies cater for diseases of people in wealthy countries rather than the poor. Although people in developing countries make up about 80% of the world ‘s population, they represent only about 20% of worldwide medicine sales.
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In the Northern Province, villages are being ravaged by poverty and HIV/AIDS. Health-e reports.