The world is watching the stand-off between the Australian government and big tobacco over plain packaging with great interest. Late last year the Australian government passed a new law that will remove all branding from tobacco-product packaging, but big tobacco don'€™t want to budge and is now taking the Australian government to court over the new law.
In her latest report, the US Surgeon General Regina Benjamin, raised serious concerns over the influence that tobacco companies'€™ advertising campaigns may have on young people.
Former president and Nobel laureate FW de Klerk, had a close brush with cancer in 2006 and is lending his support to Be Cancer Aware as they launch a campaign to increase public awareness of colorectal cancer.
In 2010, the tobacco industry made US$6 000 in profit for each death caused by the products they sell. This is according to The Tobacco Atlas, Fourth Edition, and its companion website TobaccoAtlas.org, which were recently unveiled by the American Cancer Society and World Lung Foundation at the 15th World Conference on Tobacco OR Health.
Eighteen years after contracting tuberculosis, Thabo Mwale still suffers from the damage caused by the infection as he now has only one functional lung.
The little girl squirms and tries to break free from the adults pinning her down, her terrified eyes as wide as saucers and her screams muffled by the tube they are trying to thread down her throat.
The new National Strategic Plan on HIV/AIDS, which comes into effect on April 1st, will prioritise young girls and women in its HIV prevention efforts. The Plan will also resuscitate the school-based HIV testing campaign, whose introduction fell flat on its face last year.
Musa Ernest Nkoko is a 52-year old ex-miner with multi-drug resistant (MDR) tuberculosis. He lives in KaShoba in the Lubombo region of Swaziland with his wife and five children aged between 9 and 27 years. Co-infected with HIV, Nkoko says he has been on treatment for MDR-TB for the last four years. The disease has diminished Nkoko'€™s lung capacity and rendered him too weak to do any work, and he and his family relies on his wife'€™s income as a part time cleaner.
Thousands more people from disadvantaged backgrounds will benefit from the second Phelophepa train, which reaches into communities where health care is hard to access.
Bill and Melinda Gates gave the search for a TB vaccine a massive boost this week making available U$220 million over the next five years.
Early diagnosis of Tuberculosis in people who have HIV is a challenge to the health system. Yet, this is crucial as TB has proven to be a significant cause of illness and death in people who have HIV.
Last week a new analysis of adult mortality rates in African countries was released. The study authors found that between 2004 and 2008, in those nations where the President'€™s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) was most active, the odds of death were about 20 percent lower than in other countries in the region. By Chris Collins.
Newer and more effective drugs to be used in the treatment of HIV/AIDS. This came out of a gathering in Cape Town where delegates discussed how best to improve health care in Africa.
Cancer patients were turned away today at the Charlotte Maxeke Academic Hospital in Johannesburg as a radiation machine had not been repaired due to a non-payment dispute with Siemens.
A much anticipated community-based study into the effectiveness of a prophylactic tuberculosis drug has shown no benefit in controlling TB.
Be in the know with our free weekly newsletter. We deliver a round-up of our top stories and insightful reads from across the web.