Today in our series on EVERYDAY HEROES, we have a story of immense sadness and courage. The story of a father who was determined to keep his family together despite enormous odds. Without food, safe sanitation or the means to keep warm this part winter, staying healthy was almost impossible for him.
It's been almost 15 years since we voted for all South Africans to have equal access to government services...to have dignity and a better life. To have treatment for life-threatening illnesses. But every now and then, as journalists, we step into corners of the country where apartheid and its indignities remains alive and well. Where the services that government has designed to improve our lives just CAN'T reach.
A five part series that was aired on Morning Live in the run up to World AIDS Day explores the lives of ordinary people who deal with a life that seems to get more complicated every day. EVERYDAY HEROES. How do they make ends meet and make healthy choices? How have they managed to keep their families together and healthy? What lessons have they learned in the process? What can we learn from them?
Would you believe that world-wide, 2 in 5 people don't have access to safe sanitation!? Today in our series on EVERYDAY HEROES ' people who make a difference in their part of the world ' we visit a doctor and a nursery school principal who are playing their part to promote good hygiene.
Government needs to prioritise improving national oversight over provincial health services to address the 'anarchy' and 'scope for corruption' in provinces, according to the AIDS Law Project (ALP).
After ten years of living with HIV, Pholokgolo Ramothwala's health is showing signs of decline, and he now realizes that he needs to stop taking alcohol.
A staggering 15 000 HIV-positive people have been placed on waiting lists in the Free State where a moratorium is barring them from accessing anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs at hospitals and clinics.
Candidate microbicide PRO 2000 cuts HIV transmission by 30 percent, falling just short of the one-third required to be deemed a success. But scientists say this trial offers proof that the concept of a vaginal gel to block HIV is possible.
The Pretoria High Court has ordered the Minister of Correctional Services to furnish the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) with unedited hard and electronic copies of a report of the Judicial Inspectorate of Prisons (JIOP) into the death of an Westville Prison inmate ("MM") in August 2006.
Every struggle has a hero and HIV and AIDS is no exception. In a bid to remove the stigma dogging the condition, high-profile people living with HIV are responding to a call to speak openly about their lives with HIV in a new initiative known as the 'Heroes' Campaign'.
MOZAMBIQUE:(PlusNews) - A narrow hallway leads to a makeshift wooden counter where a shelf displays a few empty beer cans and soft drink bottles; a side door opens to a corridor with a series of bedrooms, almost all of them occupied. This is the 25 de Setembro Social Centre, one of the largest brothels in Chimoio, capital of Mozambique's central province of Manica.
ZIMBABWE: (PlusNews) - Former model Tendayi Westerhof is better known these days as a tough-talking HIV/AIDS activist. After testing HIV positive seven years ago, she left the modelling world to found the Public Personalities Against AIDS Trust (PPAAT) to encourage other public figures and celebrities to be open about their HIV status.
KENYA: (PlusNews) - Makueni District Hospital in eastern Kenya has recorded a significant drop in the weight of several of its HIV-positive patients in the past three months, which nutritionists ascribe to severe food shortages across much of the country.
A new year often means a new start. Pholokgolo Ramothwala, a 30 year-old who has been living with HIV for 10 years, also wants to make new beginnings. Topping his list of things to do is the need to quit alcohol.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has turned its sights on increasing the number of 'child size' medicines designed and formulated specifically for children.
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