One in 27 women is diagnosed with breast cancer every year in South Africa. Women are advised to follow a simple precautionary procedure in order to detect the cancerous growth early.

A retreat from international funding commitments for AIDS threatens to undermine the dramatic gains made in reducing AIDS-related illness and death in recent years, according to a new report by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).The MSF report highlights how expanding access to HIV treatment has not only saved the lives of people with AIDS but has been central to reducing overall mortality in a number of high HIV burden countries in southern Africa in recent years.

The cancer burden is rising rapidly in Africa with around 650 000 people developing the disease annually while treatment remains largely unavailable or inaccessible. Next week stakeholders will gather in Tanzania under the banner of the African Organisation for Research & Training in Cancer (AORTIC) to find ways to curb the more than 500 000 cancer deaths annually.

By next year cancer is set to be the biggest killer in the world, killing more people than HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria combined. Dr John Seffrin is Chief Executive Officer of the American Cancer Society (ACS), the world'€™s largest voluntary health organisation fighting cancer. In an interview with Health-e News Service he spoke about the challenges facing Africa.

Over 8 000 gynaecologists and obstetricians recently met in Cape Town where Professor Joanna Cain, a passionate voice on women cancers spoke of the world facing an historic opportunity to control and one day eliminate cervical cancer, one of the biggest killers of poor women.

Accessing useful and reliable information on their condition is often one of the biggest obstacles facing people diagnosed with a life threatening illness such as cancer. The launch of a cancer call centre in Gauteng province is aiming to offer the support, information, advice and advocacy that is often lacking.

The Tobacco Atlas is viewed as a critical weapon against tobacco. Along with detailed tobacco statistics on nearly every country around the globe, the publication offers in-depth information on the prevalence of tobacco and health, the costs of tobacco, the tobacco trade throughout the world, how tobacco is promoted and marketed, and the tobacco control efforts already under way.

Over 4000 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer every year in South Africa and more than half of them die. According to the Cancer Association of South Africa (CANSA) these numbers could be reduced if more men were screened.

In what has been described as the final death of state sponsored AIDS denialism, President Jacob Zuma has delivered a historic speech in the National Council of Provinces acknowledging that the country was not winning the war against the disease and that extraordinary measures were needed. Read his full speech here.

Dr Linda-Gail Bekker of the Desmond Tutu HIV Centre at the University of Cape Town was awarded the £60,000 Royal Society Pfizer Award at a ceremony in London this week.