When the 39 pharmaceutical companies'€™ case against the South African government started on 5 March, it ignited worldwide protests against drug profiteering at the expense of the world'€™s poor.But during the past five weeks that the court has been in recess, the international pharmaceutical industry mounted a major public relations offensive '€“ with price reductions for AIDS drugs as its centrepiece -- that seems to be paying off.

Despite romantic dreams of love and fidelity, cash, cellphones and sex are the raw commodities used in the exchange of sexual favours among young South Africans. This and more emerged during the "AIDS in Context" conference held at Wits University recently. Kerry Cullinan reports.

Cabinet is the latest barrier standing between HIV positive pregnant women and the anti-retroviral drug, nevirapine, which can save their babies from the virus.

Confusion within the Department of Health has delayed a government plan to issue the anti-retroviral drug, nevirapine, free of charge to HIV positive pregnant women at 18 sites countrywide.

Scientists need to resolve how an HIV vaccine can be tested on children before the vaccine is ready for widespread human use, according to Professor Helen Rees, head of the Medicine Control Council (MCC).

Problems with learning that affect many young children may be a problem with teachers rather than learners. Formal teaching tends to favour verbal learners, ignoring the needs of children who are "visual learners" and whose thinking is dominated by the right hemisphere of the brain which processes information in pictures.

The sale of drugs in South Africa earned pharmaceutical companies about R8,25-billion last year, but the public sector only accounted for 24 percent of sales despite the fact that over 80 percent of the population depends on state health.

From 1 April, government will offer HIV positive pregnant women in Durban and Pietermaritzburg the anti-retroviral drug, nevirapine, for free to prevent them from transmitting the virus to their babies. Kerry Cullinan reports.

The Rural Doctors Association of South Africa has urged government to act immediately to address the crisis in rural hospitals and to develop meaningful incentives to attract doctors to these areas. Among its concerns Rudasa lists the worrying statistic that only a quarter of community service doctors will work in rural hospitals this year and the continued difficulties experienced by foreign-qualified doctors to have their work permits renewed to serve in South African hospitals.