The second annual NICORETTE ® South African Smoking Survey has once again reflected several smoke screens on South Africa'€™s habits, trends and behaviours to smoking. The survey revealed that the smoking legislation that came into effect last year (such as restricting people from smoking in public areas) has had a positive impact on encouraging people to stop smoking.
The saying that necessity is the mother of invention rings very true for Luthando Psychiatric HIV Clinic at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital, a specialist service established two years ago to provide AIDS treatment to the hospital'€™s mentally ill patients.
About 75 000 children under the age of five die in South Africa each year. This means that about 200 South African children die every day. HIV accounts for most of the deaths, and compared with countries of similar economies, South Africa is not doing well to care for its babies.
It'€™s estimated that about 55 000 people die of rabies in Africa and Asia every year and over half a million animals die as a result of rabies.
Cheating, mistresses and having more than one partner might sound very sexy and intriguing. But beneath the surface lies a dangerous web of sexual partners which is leading to the rampant spread of HIV/AIDS.
Health and Human rights activists have demanded that the next court date set for the trial of Zoliswa Nkonyana'€™s killers be the last one.
As country leaders and donors met this week at the United Nations'€™ head-quarters in New York to review their progress towards reaching the Millennium Development Goals, there were renewed calls for aid to strengthen Africa'€™s response to AIDS.
Fewer people living with psychiatric illnesses are being confined behind the high walls of psychiatric institutions as the Mental Health Act of 2002 has moved the emphasis from institutionalisation to community-based rehabilitation and care. Lungi Langa of Health-e News Service spent a morning at a residential community centre in Cape Town.
Daniel wants to grow up to be a policeman so that he can arrest his parents.
He says they drink too much and they won'€™t let him leave the children'€™s home to come live with them again.
Tehillah Spread Your Wings Rehabilitation has been tackling substance abuse in the Elsies River since 2003. Lungi Langa spent a day at the facility and spoke to staff about why they opted to register with Government as a rehabilitation facility.
Children'€™s rights organisations and other civil society groups have urged the Health Department to stop its plans to go to schools to test learners for HIV.
Leaders need more creative plans to increase funding to reduce child malnutrition and AIDS, says Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).
A Cape Town family share their distressing journey of trying to find help for their heroin addicted daughter. Lungi Langa spoke to them.
The rooms all look relatively similar: A single bed, a rug, a nightstand and a few personal touches like flowers or framed pictures.
Over 50-million people will be infected with TB between now and 2015 in the absence of funding and political commitment, the Stop TB partnership has warned.
