Almost 700 psychiatric patients have been discharged from hospitals in the Western Cape and according to the SA Health review, more will follow. Many believe that mentally ill patients will have a better quality of life outside an institution. However, being exposed to a new kind of life outside hospital walls presents numerous challenges. Kerry Cullinan reports
A challenge facing many deinstitutionalized psychiatric patients is finding suitable employment. At Fountain House, run by the Cape Mental Health Society, patients receive training and temporary work assignments to give them a second chance.
"The South African government is not stupid... We will not say tomorrow that HIV does not cause AIDS," says the health minister, who says that the international panel on HIV/AIDS that she is putting together will help to find an African approach to the epidemic.
Policing domestic violence is difficult at the best of times, but virtually impossible when the police officers expected to arrest the attackers also assault their partners. This is one of the dilemmas facing Captain Annette Strampe, head of the Northern Cape's victime empowerment programme.
Forensic nurses are going to be trained throughout the country to ensure that rape victims get a better service from the state and that good medical evidence is collected to improve the conviction rate of rapists. This decision has been taken by the Department of Health, which is concerned about reports of rape survivors being treated badly by doctors.
At what age should children be told about sex? Does talking about sex encourage your children to experiment? In an age of HIV and AIDS, ignorance about sex and sexually transmitted diseases  could be  dangerous to children's health. KERRY CULLINAN takes up the issue
AIDS orphans are to get special attention after President Thabo Mbeki and Carol Bellamy, executive director of the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) this week agreed that HIV/AIDS would be a major focus of Unicef's work in this country.
Ever since provinces were given the power to allocate their own budgets, provincial health departments have been battling to get enough funds. Three health economists propose that central government establishes national norms and standards for health services to ensure that provinces allocate enough money to health.
February 7 to 12 is National Condom Week, yet despite the HIV/AIDS epidemic, most people are still not using condoms. Efforts to give teenagers access to condoms are hampered by conservative attitudes. One AIDS educator says although he'€™s conducted workshops at more than 400 schools in Gauteng, only five schools have allowed him to distribute condoms.
Children with learning difficulties not only have to live with their problem, but also the labels that go with them. While some learning difficulties are neurological, some children struggle simply because they have not been exposed to books and pencils.
Sex workers are leading the fight against the spread of HIV/AIDS on the mines around Carltonville. The challenge is daunting -- a recent survey shows 47 percent of women and 40 percent of men from both the township and the shacks are HIV positive, while 28 percent of mineworkers are infected. However, since the Carltonville AIDS project, Mothusimpilo ("working together for health"), started almost two years ago, it has trained 90 sex workers as peer educators. The results have been phenomenal. In a recent survey, eight out of 10 sex workers reported using a condom every time they had sex. Last year, only two out of 10 of the women were using condoms.
"We are burying about three truck drivers a day because of AIDS, and at this rate we will have no drivers left by 2003," says Paul Matthew, acting chief executive office of the Road Freight Association'€™s training board. But even though forecasts for the trucking industry are dire, Matthew says it'€™s a "slow process" getting employers to put money into fighting the epidemic.
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