LONDON, 29 June 2012 (IRIN) - Almost one in every five deaths worldwide occurs as a result of infection, but many bacterial illnesses will become incurable as the efficacy of current antibiotic drugs wanes, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
The Gauteng Health Department has warned protesting HIV counsellors and home-based care-givers that there will be consequences if they don'€™t return to work immediately. But it also admits it might not be able to pay them on time if they do.
During a recent visit to the Daveyton Main Clinic, on Gauteng'€™s East Rand, Ayanda Mkhwanazi of Health-e News Service, found patients complaining of appalling staff attitudes, which hinder effective health service delivery.
It is well-known that secondhand smoke increases the risk of heart disease and lung cancer, but research now found that people exposed to secondhand smoke are more likely to die of stroke or emphysema than those who were not exposed.
Cancer patients at Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital are not receiving life-saving treatment because of a machinery breakdown caused by a payment default to the service provider, according to the Demoractic Alliance (DA).
Graphic warnings on cigarette packs are more likely to get smokers thinking about the health risks associated with their habit than packs with only text warnings. This is according to a new study published in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine.
Nightshift work may increase a woman's chances of developing breast cancer by 30 percent, according to a new study published in the International Journal of Cancer.
A court challenge by British American Tobacco (Batsa) on the advertising ban of its products in South Africa was dismissed by the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) yesterday.
Some 7 500 HIV counsellors and community health care workers in Gauteng have downed tools after not being paid for months.
The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) has vowed to mobilise more communities to fight for quality health should the Gauteng Health Department not deliver on their demands. This week, the TAC marched to the office of Gauteng Health MEC demanding the restoration of health services.
With maternal health being one of the priority areas for health improvement, it'€™s important for primary health care facilities to improve care for pregnant mothers. The Witkoppen Health and Welfare Centre in Fourways, north of Johannesburg, says it'€™s trying to improve on these health indicators.
Many ill South Africans live and die suffering from unnecessary and excrutiating pain. It is estimated that almost all HIV patients (96%) and more than two in three (70%) of cancer patients experience severe pain during the course of their disease because they do not have access to cheap and effective pain medication.
The majority of patients with advanced cancer and HIV suffer pain. In the case of cancer, the pain is mostly caused by inflammation or pain in the bones. With HIV/AIDS, a patient can suffer various versions of pain, with some of the more common being peripheral neuropathy, meningitis, thrush in the mouth, oesophageal thrush and cramps from diarrhoea. Most medical practitioners only treat patients with anti-retrovirals which takes several months to relieve symptoms such as pain.
The recent shortage of a crucial antiretroviral drug, Tenofovir, is but just a symptom of an underlying general problem of health management in South Africa. Part of this is the lack of oversight on drug supplies and availability by the national Health Department.
Diesel exhaust fumes cause cancer and should be categorised along with asbestos, arsenic and mustard gas as a potentially deadly carcinogen, according to the World Health Organisation'€™s (WHO) cancer agency.
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