CAPE TOWN - More than one-million babies are stillborn during labour every year '€“ 98% in low- and middle-income countries - yet global policy discussions around these largely silent deaths are mostly nonexistent. On top of this another 904 000 babies die soon after birth due to birth complications, closely linked to almost half of the world'€™s 536 000 maternal deaths.
The Minister of Health, Dr. Aaron Motsoaledi spoke at the recent launch of the 2008 National Antenatal Sentinel HIV and Syphilis Prevalence Survey.
Phakamile Magamdela recently visited Virginia O'€™Grady, a widowed 82 year-old who now lives at a retirement village in Johannesburg under the careful supervision of care-givers. Virginia has Alzheimer'€™s disease.
Infection control experts at Johns Hopkins and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control report that a contentious debate in the medical community over what type of protective masks health workers should wear to prevent the spread of H1N1 and other flu viruses is dangerously distracting the health care community from focusing on simple prevention measures that are clearly known to work.
Over four million people were receiving AIDS treatment in low and middle-income countries by the end of last year - a significant increase from five years ago. But although access to treatment has improved, five million more people had still not received ARVs in 2008.
Six provinces may run out of anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs as a result of a financial shortfall experienced by the Department of Health totalling one billion rand.
A 25 year-old Johannesburg man shares his story of growing up with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and how he overcame the challenges associated with the condition, turning his life into a success story.
An HIV activist since testing HIV positive eleven years ago Pholokgolo Ramothwala has written an open letter urging all those living with the disease to assist in reducing stigma and the number of new infections.
Dr Nono Simelela, newly-appointed Chief Executive Officer of the South African National AIDS Council, promises to improve the way in which SANAC will function in the future.
The Red Cross Children'€™s Hospital has once again placed itself at the forefront of excellent specialist care for children with the opening of a high-tech surgical centre consisting of eight theatres.
In the coming weeks, results will be released from an AIDS vaccine phase III trial in Thailand. This test-of-concept trial is the largest AIDS vaccine trial ever conducted and will focus on whether there was any evidence of vaccine impact on HIV infection and/or viral load.
Researchers have made what could be a significant discovery in the long-term search for an AIDS vaccine, identifying two new broadly neutralizing antibodies to HIV (bNAbs for short) that reveal what may be an Achilles heel on the virus.
Despite industrialised countries being on track to meet the MDG 4 goals by reducing their under 5 mortality rate, many countries in Africa are lagging well behind with one in seven children in sub-Saharan Africa dying before their fifth birthday.
More infants could be born free from HIV in South Africa. This follows the recent introduction of the National Plan for Acceleration of the Prevention of Mother to Child HIV Transmission programme, or PMTCT A-Plan.
About 60 000 children under five die in South Africa every year. Many women die from pregnancy or child-birth related complications, often exacerbated by HIV. The Health Department wants to change the pattern.
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