Natalspruit Hospital's wards used to resemble a battlefield as healthworkers treated those wounded in political battles on the East Rand in the 1980s. Now healthworkers are confronted with another struggle as they are overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of people seeking treatment for HIV and Aids.
Read More »Battlefield of the 21st CenturyHospital in the midst of mining area is over-burdened by AIDS.
Read More »AIDS overload in a mining townRising HIV cases in South Africa are placing a huge strain on the country's public health facilities. Natalspruit Hospital, in Gauteng's East Rand, is buckling under pressure.
Read More »Straining the resourcesThe deadly strain of extremely drug resistant TB has reared its head in Gauteng. Experts fear that the outbreak ' first detected in KwaZulu-Natal - is a potential killer, particularly for people living with AIDS. There are concerns that it also places South Africa's AIDS treatment programme at enormous risk.
Read More »Impact of XDR-TB on HIV
Living with AIDS # 276The greatest threat to any country's AIDS treatment programme is the failure to effectively prevent new infections. With that realisation, a vigorous campaign to research new HIV prevention mechanisms is gaining momentum.
Read More »Prevention back on spotlight
Living with AIDS # 275At the recent International AIDS Conference in Toronto, Canada, the South African media's attention was focussed on Health Minister Dr Manto Tshabalala-Msimang and her campaign to promote alternative methods in the treatment of AIDS. But was the attention the media gave to the matter useful?
Read More »The media & Manto
Living with AIDS # 274Social conditions such as poverty and gender inequalities play a major role in driving the AIDS epidemic in South Africa. Often, it is women who are at the mercy of such conditions. A unique pilot project in the remote villages of Limpopo and Mpumalanga is using micro-finance to intervene.
Read More »Micro-financing & HIV education
Living with AIDS # 271In the face of HIV and AIDS, community-based caregivers are an invaluable asset. These men and women ' who often go without pay ' counsel, feed, clothe, wash and give hope to those with little, or no hope, at all. We meet one such dedicated soul.
Read More »‘We are called to action’
Living with AIDS # 270 If on-going research does show that male circumcision can protect against HIV, it's inevitable that a campaign for access to circumcision will follow. But while every effort aimed at HIV prevention is welcome, common sense must prevail.
Read More »To cut or not to cut
Living with AIDS # 269Two decades of HIV and AIDS have come and gone. Yet, despite the availability of life-prolonging antiretroviral medication and more openness about AIDS, many HIV-positive people continue to die pitiful, secret-filled and lonely deaths. Why?
Read More »Denying HIV ‘ until death
Living with AIDS # 267HIV-positive pregnant women are more likely to experience pregnancy-related complications than HIV-negative pregnant women. This is according to a study by Wits University's Department of Nursing Education.
Read More »HIV & pregnancy
Living with AIDS # 265Two weeks ago we reported on the findings of a study suggesting that circumcised men are at a reduced risk of contracting HIV. Some of our audience found the claims 'disturbing and confusing'. This week, we try to answer some of the questions.
Read More »Can circumcision reduce HIV risk?
Living with AIDS # 264During winter, many people will need donated blood for medical reasons. But the needle prick involved in drawing blood scares potential donors away. At the same time, blood recipients often worry about contracting infections, including HIV, through a transfusion. But the South African National Blood Service maintains that donated blood is safe.
Read More »Making blood safe
Living with AIDS # 263The harsh realities of HIV and AIDS are a daily experience for 400 children under the care of the Tapologo AIDS Hospice, in Rustenburg, near Phokeng village, in the North West. And if there's a chance to make them forget about their pain-stricken lives, even for only one day, it's more than welcome.
Read More »One day to ‘forget ‘ for a moment’
Living with AIDS # 259National and international efforts to prevent escalating HIV infection rates have yielded very little results. This reality has spurred the African Union into declaring 2006 as the Year of Accelerating Access to HIV Prevention in Africa.
Read More »Refocusing on prevention
Living with AIDS # 255
