Can vaccinating pregnant women against the flu protect their newborn babies from getting the influenza virus? Well, that'€™s exactly what a clinical study in three countries, including South Africa, wants to find out.
About 15 million South Africans were targeted for HIV testing in the government'€™s HIV Counselling and Testing (HCT) campaign, but the effort got slightly over 10 million people to test. The campaign has challenged South Africans and the health system in significant ways.
The winter months are normally associated with the traditional circumcision season in South Africa. Thus, it is not entirely surprising that clinics that offer medical male circumcision are also experiencing a surge in the number of boys who want to be circumcised this winter.
More people than expected have tested HIV-positive in the national HIV Counselling and Testing (HCT) campaign.
A study examining the quality of post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) services for survivors of rape in Limpopo and the North West has shown a lack of trained health care workers that provide the service.
At a recent conference in Cape Town, it emerged that HIV infection is more likely to cause mental health and substance abuse problems among young men who have sex with men than in heterosexual men.
The Health Department has appealed to men who have sex with men and organisations working with this sector to make their voices heard so that their needs are included and addressed in the next National Strategic Plan on HIV and AIDS.
The homophobic attitudes of public health care workers may have a direct influence on the spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections in the gay community. Many gay men or men who have sex with other men avoid the public health service out of fear of being ridiculed.
A three-day conference to be held in Cape Town from today will focus on men who have sex with men (MSM) as a key target group to consider in developing policy and interventions for HIV prevention and treatment.
In the last 20 years there has been a steady increase of pneumonia cases in adults, mostly in people living with HIV. A significant proportion of those infected die.
The extent of tuberculosis and HIV co-infection rates in South Africa has firmly placed tuberculosis on the agenda of the South African National AIDS Council. This, after studies have shown that in some parts of the country, like in Khayelitsha in the Western Cape for example, about 73% of HIV-infected people also have TB.
The University of Limpopo Medunsa campus this week launched a clinical scientific trial to test a vaccine developed in Italy to investigate whether it can slow HIV progression in people already living with the HI-virus.
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