Health e News
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In this audio feature, we focus on the value of talking about sex and sexuality. Children and adolescents need to receive appropriate and accurate information to keep them safe and healthy in a society which has one of the fastest growing rates of HIV transmission in the world.
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As the vigil next to Nkosi Johnson’s bedside continues and messages of support flood in from around South Africa and the world, doctors and AIDS lobbyists have applauded the contribution that this eleven year old little boy has made to challenging the ignorance and prejudice all too often associated with HIV/AIDS. Sue Valentine compiled this report and began by asking Treatment Action Campaign leader Zackie Achmat why he thought Nkosi has made such an impact on our lives.
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A few weeks ago, the generic drug, Biozole, was successfully tested and found to be a valid equivalent of the anti-fungal medication, Fluconazole. This fulfils the conditions required by the Medicines Control Council before it can grant a Section 21 exemption that will allow Biozole to be used as a valid generic for specific purposes. Provided the exemption is granted, Biozole will be imported from Thailand by the Brooklyn Medical Centre and distributed free of charge to HIV/AIDS patients. Dr Steve Andrews, is a partner at the centre and is the man who will defy the Pfizer patent to dispense the life-saving generic drug. Sue Valentine spoke to him to find out what prompted this action.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.