
Female condom shortage
MOMBASA:(PlusNews) - A shortage of free female condoms in public hospitals in Kenya's Coast Province is compromising the ability of women to protect themselves from unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections.
MOMBASA:(PlusNews) - A shortage of free female condoms in public hospitals in Kenya's Coast Province is compromising the ability of women to protect themselves from unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections.
The World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts has launched an HIV and AIDS training tool-kit aimed at educating young girls who join the movement about HIV.
Last week, we reported on how people's ability to change their behaviour can help reduce the spread of HIV in the face of scientific setbacks to devise vaccines or microbicides to protect against the virus. In this report, we look at some of the social factors that could enhance behaviour change to prevent more infections.
Men as Partners - a project of Engender Health - a group working in gender and health issues, have launched a new DVD highlighting the role that men can play in reducing the spread of HIV.
Results from the first ever microbocide trial to go through all phases of research are due to be released early next year. A microbicide is a substance that can be inserted vaginally or anally with the aim of protecting its users from HIV infection.
Israeli doctors will be traveling to Swaziland for two week stints to assist in a mass circumcision campaign in the hope of curbing the spread of HIV. This and other stories are contained in the latest Centers for Disease Control HIV, Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention newsletter.
The Cape High Court will today hear an urgent application by Marie Stopes clinics alleging that the actions of the Western Cape Provincial Department of Health have put women's right to access terminations of pregnancy under threat.
A unique programme investigating whether access to money can reduce rural women's vulnerability to HIV, shows that with economic power comes a sense of optimism. Researchers reckon that this leads to better health decisions, reduced health risks and improved gender relations.
Social 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.
In 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.
Thousands of women in South Africa and elsewhere have volunteered for the world's largest clinical trials to test the efficacy of a range of microbicides, that, if successful, could prevent at least 2,5 million new infections in the developing world, over the next five years.
Guns are the weapon of choice for South African men who kill their partners, yet authorities seldom remove firearms from men who have a history of domestic violence.
South Africa now has the biggest prevention of mother to child HIV transmission (PMTCT) programme in the world. Health-e speaks to the health department's Dr Nomonde Xundu about its challenges and successes.
Scientists agree that a short and relatively inexpensive combination of anti-retrovirals could reduce mother to child transmission rates in Africa more effectively than the widely used single combinations, but less than 10 percent of the women worldwide who need it are accessing the drugs.
A group of grandmothers in Khayelitsha, supported by St Luke's Hospice, is taking the initiative to care for their children and grandchildren who are sick with HIV/AIDS. Thandeka Teyise asked the group's co-ordinator Nomakula Mrubuta about the challenges they face.