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.
DURBAN - Heavy drinkers are three times more likely to have tuberculosis than those who don't drink heavily. They are also far less likely to complete their TB treatment.
This is according to Professor Charles Parry of the Medical Research Council, who believes that TB patients should be screened for alcohol abuse and educated about its dangers.
Regardless of the age at which you quit, ex-smokers live longer than those who continue to smoke, according to a recent meta-analysis published in the Archives of Internal Medicine.
No single infection has probably inspired as many conspiracy theories as AIDS has over the last 30 years. The science of AIDS has endured tremendous attacks from as early as when the virus first appeared. A book entitled 'The AIDS Conspiracy ' Science Fights Back', looks at how science has triumphed and sought to bring sense to a condition that has attracted a flurry of mad conspiracy theories.
DURBAN ' Cases of drug-resistant tuberculosis will continue to increase unless scientists develop more effective medicines with fewer side effects.
DURBAN - South Africa's overcrowded, poorly ventilated prisons are 'melting pots' for tuberculosis infection, according to Professor Robin Wood from the Desmond Tutu HIV Centre.
Smoking continues to be a major challenge to public health despite efforts by government and civil society to limit the use of harmful tobacco products.
Cancer cases worldwide are likely to rise by nearly three-quarters by 2030, partly because other diseases are being stamped out and more developing countries are adopting Western lifestyles linked to cancer.
The lack of proper sanitation, poor access to health services, malnutrition and HIV/AIDS are all contributing factors to early childhood deaths. Maternal deaths are also increasing, mainly due to HIV infection. This is according to studies done by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).
Seven members of the Treatment Action Campaign's (TAC) Runners for Health who participated at the Comrades Marathon successfully completed the marathon. Six managed to get bronze medals. This week they shared their reflections on this epic road race.
The inability of contracted pharmaceutical companies to produce enough of the antiretroviral drug, Tenofovir, has forced the Health Department to increase the number of manufacturers that can produce the medicine in the face of worrying shortages.
Researchers have taken another step towards greater understanding of malaria after figuring out how the mosquito manages to fight off infection from the parasite.
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