As the cure for HIV and AIDS remains elusive, scientists are pinning their hopes on preventative measures, including a protective vaccine. Wits University's Soweto-based Perinatal HIV Research Unit has just started work on the largest vaccine study ever undertaken in the country.
British celebrity nutritionist Patrick Holford has been asked to stop making claims that 'have the potential to cause people with life-threatening illnesses to make medically unsound decisions'.
The Departments of Correctional Services and Health as well as AIDS advocacy groups have begun urgent talks that could see the parties reaching an out-of-court settlement on the provision of anti-retrovirals to prisoners at Westville Prison in Durban.
A major HIV vaccine trial is underway in five sites across South Africa. As the country and medical research community alike are coming to terms with the abrupt end of a microbicide candidate vaccine trial, Dr Busi Nkala, Director of the vaccine study at the Perinatal HIV Research Unit in Soweto, says the safety of patients is a key priority throughout the trial.
Senior Vice-President of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, Dr Wayne Koff, has denied media reports that his organization is using citizens of developing countries as 'guinea pigs' to test ineffective vaccines that have failed elsewhere.
The Belgian-based pharmaceutical company, Glaxo-Smith-Kline, has introduced a new vaccine to prevent six child-hood diseases. The vaccine 'the first of its kind in South Africa - is aimed at protecting children against whoopping cough, polio, diphtheria, tetanus, hepatitis B and haemophilus influenza type B.
Despite spending slightly more than the national average on health per person, a number of KwaZulu-Natal's key health indicators are getting worse.
Old Transkei emerges as country's poorest area, while the living is easy in the West Coast.
Home to the poorest districts in the country, the Eastern Cape health system continues to be plagued by huge staff shortages, poor management and weak primary care.
The Free State has more than doubled its expenditure on Primary Health Care (PHC) from R91 per patient in 2001 to R221.
Despite being the second highest spender on primary health care in the country, NorthWest's health system has recorded an average performance.
Mpumalanga's tuberculosis programme is the worst in the country. Its TB cure rate of 32 percent is the lowest in South Africa and has deteriorated from just under 48 percent in 2003.
Always considered the 'rich kid', the Western Cape has committed large amounts of money to primary health care (PHC) and so far it is translating into good health outcomes for the province.
South Africa's 'powerhouse', Gauteng is the country's most densely populated province and home to almost 10-million residents (20 % of the population).
An HIV vaccine, which has shown promise internationally, will be tested in the largest vaccine trial in South Africa to date.
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