Health e News
- ///Health
Nkosi Johnson is in a semi-coma at his home in Melville, Johannesburg. During his 11years, the soft-spoken but determined little boy who was born with the HI virus has achieved more than many do in a lifetime. He has addressed world conferences, fought and won the right to attend his local school and established a haven for HIV positive mothers and children in Johannesburg. In July last year, on the eve of the 13th International Conference on AIDS in Durban, Health-e interviewed the young boy about his life, his hopes and his dreams.
- ///Health
Researchers are concerned that the increase in the rate of sexual abuse of young girls, as well as increased mortality among girls aged between 15 – 19 years, are due to a change in men’s sexual habits to avoid HIV by having sex with virgins and young girls. Jo Stein reports.
A rape centre in Somerset West not only offers a refuge of kind words and practical care for women who’€™ve been raped, it also adheres to a strict code for the collection of forensic evidence which results in the conviction of many of the rapists. Kerry Cullinan reports.
- ///Health
In this audio feature we meet some of the people who seldom make the news headlines, but who make all the difference to those people who are bed-ridden with AIDS-related diseases.
- ///Health
Several short films about innovative health care projects won recognition at the the South African National Television and Video Association awards ceremony recently. Top honours went to “Hero of the Hills”, a video about the Transnet Phelophepa train which has been delivering health care to remote communities for the past four years.
- ///Health
The impact of HIV/AIDS on the generation of young parents has resulted in many grandparents assuming responsibility for their orphaned grandchildren. Effective programmes of treatment and care would not only enable parents to live longer, healthier lives, they can also reduce the rate of mother to child transmission of HIV and ensure the birth of healthier children who do not need constant medical care.
- ///Health
South Africa has the largest HIV/AIDS population in the world and one of the fastest growing epidemics, with one in four women between the ages of 20 and 29 already infected with the virus. However, for the first time there are signs that HIV incidence ‘€“ the annual number of new infections – may have stabilised in parts of sub-Saharan Africa. JO STEIN reports.
- ///Health
On World AIDS Day (Dec.1) paediatricians throughout the country launched a protest campaign against government’€™s failure to fast-track plans to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV.An estimated 200 HIV positive babies are born every day in South Africa, but this figure could be halved if all HIV positive mothers were given anti-retroviral drugs during pregnancy and labour. KERRY CULLINAN reports.
- ///Health
Today (Dec1) paediatricians throughout the country are launching a protest campaign against government?s failure to fast-track plans to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV.An estimated 200 HIV positive babies are born every day in South Africa, but this figure could be halved if all HIV positive mothers were given anti-retroviral drugs during pregnancy and labour. KERRY CULLINAN reports.
- ///Health
Caring for the terminally ill with AIDS is emotionally taxing. Kerry Cullinan visits some carers in Daveyton
- ///Health
Today is World AIDS day. A key figure leading the government’s programme to combat the disease is the Chief Director of the national HIV/AIDS Directorate, Dr Nono Simelela. In an exclusive interview with Health-e News Service she looked back at what has and hasn’t been accomplished and what areas government is prioritising for the future.
- ///Health
How did you learn about sex? From your parents, your friends, books or magazines? South Africans of all cultural backgrounds share a common awkwardness and reluctance to talk about sex. We might all say that sex is normal and natural, but we don’t always behave that way. Sex is something that is whispered about, or worse still, never discussed at all. But when a sexually transmitted virus has the potential to decimate our society – it’s time the conversation began. In this series of four articles, we speak to parents, a school guidance councillor and a clinic nurse who talk about the difficulty – but the necessity – of talking to children about sex and sexuality.