It was a process of turning down the heat as South African scientists, health workers, government officials and activists met to clarify recent statements by the Medicines Control Council and the Minister of Health.
Read More »Turning down the heatIt was a process of turning down the heat as South African scientists, health workers, government officials and activists met to clarify recent statements by the Medicines Control Council and the Minister of Health.
Read More »Anger at confusion about nevirapineJune 5, 2001 marks the 20th anniversary of the AIDS epidemic. In this package, we hear some personal reflections from the man who is at the forefront of the global effort to combat the disease, Belgian, Peter Piot, the executive director of UNAIDS.
Read More »It’s about survival, not morality – UNAIDS chief
Living with AIDS – Programme 35Living with AIDS is a weekly audio feature which can be heard every Thursday on SAfm radio on the programme, "AM Live" at 6.45am. It's presented by Sue Valentine.
Read More »Living with AIDSWhat can be done in societies with a legacy of violence and division to help heal children to enable them to develop to their full potential and break the cycle of violence and poverty? Sue Valentine attended a meeting of the Northern Ireland-South African colloquium for a day of realistic and inspiring discussion of what interventions can make a difference.
Read More »Breaking the cycle of violenceAccording to the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), the recent announcement by Western Cape Minister of Health Nick Koornhof that the mother-to-child prevention of HIV/AIDS programme would be rolled out to five new areas next year may be little more than an election ploy.
Read More »AIDS prevention an election ploy?The Treatment Action Campaign held a picket in Cape Town recently, protesting the Western Cape's government selective implementation of its mother-to-child HIV/AIDS prevention programme. Jo Stein reports.
Read More »AIDS prevention an election ploy?Regular virginity testing is seen as a solution to HIV/AIDS. But for the majority of virginity testers, assessing virginity has nothing to do with whether a girl's hymen is intact. Many testers also not see virginity as an absolute state. There may be "grades" of relative virginity. One virginity tester from Zululand reported recently on his technique for testing boys.
Read More »Pissing in the windDeveloping countries like Cambodia are following the Thai example and implementing successful 100% condom use programmes for commercial sex workers. But some argue that the approach discriminates against commercial sex workers. Jo Stein reports
Read More »100% condom use among sex-workers is possibleIn South Africa, there is no co-ordinated national policy specifically targeting the sex industry to prevent the spread of HIV infection. But such a policy may be less appropriate for South Africa than for other developing countries. By Jo Stein.
Read More »Should we prioritize the sex industry for the prevention of HIV/AIDS?A controversial new approach to rationing care for head-injuries is being developed at Groote Schuur hospital. The new policy, introduced because budget cuts mean that there are insufficient resources to give optimum care to all severe head injuries, will give doctors guidelines as to which patients should receive the most intensive care. Jo Stein reports.
Read More »Severe head injuries ‘€“ who gets treated?There is little doubt of the urgent need to involve citizens in community development. But current labour legislation discourages, rather than encourages, volunteering in South Africa. Non-governmental organisations operating on shoestring budgets cannot afford to employ additional staff and need all the voluntary help they can get.
Read More »Labour legislation discourages volunteering in South AfricaWith their panties scrunched up in their hands, the girls laying in a row on the ground of a township football stadium range from five to 22 years old. The virginity tester, whose job it is to determine whether the girls are still virgins, uses the same pair of gloves for all 85 girls. Certificates are exchanged, at a cost of R5 each, for all but the three of the girls who "failed" the test. This is a scene described by University of Natal anthropologist, Suzanne Leclerc-Madlala who points out that regular virginity testing is gaining growing public support as an AIDS prevention strategy in South Africa, especially in KwaZulu'€“Natal.
Read More »Virginity testing cannot prevent HIVAIDSThere is little doubt of the urgent need to involve citizens in community development. But current labour legislation discourages, rather than encourages, volunteering in South Africa. Non-governmental organisations operating on shoestring budgets cannot afford to employ additional staff and need all the voluntary help they can get.
Read More »Labour legislation discourages volunteering in South Africa"The future of surgery '€“ and medicine in general '€“ is not in blood and guts, but in bits and bytes," says University of Cape Town Prof of Cardiothoracic Surgery Ulrich Von Oppell.Von Oppell recently spent seven months at the University of Leipzig which, in his opinion, has one of the most up-to-date robotic theatres in the world. Apart from increasing surgical control and precision, robotic surgery makes possible new surgical procedures which could never be done by the human hand. JO STEIN reports.
Read More »Robotic surgery to become the norm