Leading global health experts, policy makers and parliamentarians meet in Cape Town today for the Countdown to 2015 for Maternal, Newborn & Child Survival conference. Daisy Mafubelu, Assistant Director-General of the World Health Organisation's Family and Community Health Division, reports on the state of the world's maternal and child mortality.
The achievement of Millenium Development Goal 4 - that is, to prevent babies and children from dying ' is not possible if the other seven goals in the Millenium Declaration are not adequately addressed. Dr Phetsile Dlamini is the co-ordinator of the African Union programme in the national Department of Health.
International health experts and government representatives converge in Cape Town today for a three-day conference looking at improving maternal and child health care. But is Africa doing enough to save mothers and children from the risk of death?
South Africa is one of the 10 worst performing countries in reducing child deaths thus making progress towards reaching the fourth Millennium Development Goal (MDG), which aims to reduce by two-thirds the death rate of children by 2015.
The Advertising Standards Authority has ruled against an uBhejane advertisement that claims the concoction can make viral load 'disappear'.
Children who need social grants the most are battling to get the right documents from Home Affairs
Last week, we reported on how people's ability to change their behaviour can help reduce the spread of HIV in the face of scientific setbacks to devise vaccines or microbicides to protect against the virus. In this report, we look at some of the social factors that could enhance behaviour change to prevent more infections.
In just less than two months after the registration of Glaxo-Smith-Kline's cervical cancer vaccine by the Medicines Control Council, the regulatory body has registered yet another vaccine aimed at preventing the cancer.
TB scientists say HIV infection and poor quality sputum specimens make it difficult to diagnose TB. This in turn contributes to the rapid spread of TB and drug resistance, especially in HIV-positive patients.
Cape Town's executive director of health Dr Ivan Toms died of meningococcal meningitis.
The outbreak of Extensively Drug Resistant Tuberculosis (XDR TB) in Tugela Ferry in the Msinga area of KwaZulu-Natal in 2006, marked a turning point in the fight against TB.
Stunned friends have remembered Ivan Toms as a a larger than life character who had tremendous energy and huge passion for the country he loved and served.
The tall man in the wheelchair folds the nursing sister's hand in his and shakes it enthusiastically. 'Thank you my little sister, thank you. God bless you, my sister. Thank you for everything you have done.'
Your life - including work, studies and family - could be seriously disrupted if you develop drug-resistant tuberculosis. That's why it's important to complete the six month course of medication if you're diagnosed with the primary form of TB. Taking your medication will cure you, protecting yourself and others.
HIV/AIDS accounts for many child deaths in South Africa - about two thirds of children in public health facilities. It's also a leading cause of death among new mothers. This is according to a report published recently, called 'Every Death Counts'.
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