A condom shortage and a province running out of money for health services are two of challenges the new Health Minister has been dealing with lately to avoid a huge embarrassment before World AIDS Day on Monday.
HIV could theoretically be eliminated if all people were tested each year and given antiretrovirals straight away if they tested positive, regardless of whether they were sick, World Health Organisation researchers have proposed.
NIGERIA -(PlusNews) - Getting married in Nigeria often requires more than just the bride and groom turning up at the altar, and having witnesses and wedding rings present: many Christian churches also require an HIV test certificate.
NAIROBI-(PlusNews) - At the gates of one of Kenya's export processing zones (EPZs) men and women push and shove each other, trying to get their national identity cards taken by the guards.
MOZAMBIQUE -(PlusNews) - When Mariana Uchandidhora's husband was killed in a traffic accident in South Africa a year ago, tradition required that she have sex with her deceased husband's brother in order to be purified.
ZIMBABWE,(PlusNews)- Memory Motsi* rents a room in Chitungwiza, about 20km from the Zimbabwean capital, Harare. She wakes up at five in the morning to get to work on time at the school where she teaches Grade 5 in Hatfield, a suburb in the city, because the poor salaries in education sector, totally outpaced by hyperinflation, mean she can no longer afford the bus fare to and from work.
The KwaZulu-Natal health department has ordered the withdrawal of two Nestle formula feed products following concerns over melamine contamination. However, Nestle has said their products are absolutely safe for consumption.
KENYA - (PlusNews) - HIV-positive prisoners in Kenya not only suffer isolation from friends and family, but also within the prison walls.
Sometimes one has to see the humorous side of quackery. By Nathan Geffen
South Africa has flunked with an E-symbol (0-20%) when it come to the amount of money spent on HIV/AIDS, but attained an overall B-symbol for its response to the epidemic on the AIDS Reporting Index, an AIDS Accountability International (AAI) scorecard.
The Free State health department has announced that its financial situation has reached 'dire proportions' forcing it to postpone all non-emergency surgery until January next year and stop all non-critical staff appointments.
Most African farmers grow tobacco because they are poor and lack alternative ways to earn their living, but with encouragement droves of farmers are turning their backs on the killer crops in Tanzania.
Testing infants at risk of HIV as soon as possible, and treating those infected with the virus immediately, dramatically enhances their chances of survival and reduces the likelihood of devastating disease progression in their early life.
World AIDS Day, December 01, is fast approaching. The focus will, as in the past be on HIV/AIDS education. In your neighbourhood this week, you've probably had peer counsellors knocking on doors. The township of Zola in Soweto is no different.
Zimbabwe's doctors have sketched a picture of a health system that has collapsed with hundreds of people dying from a cholera epidemic which has now crossed the border into South Africa.
