Frank, thought-provoking and in-your-face, 'Smacked' is a recently published book by a former drug addict. Author Melinda Ferguson loses everything in her comfortable life, including her husband and children, in pursuit of her addiction.
Many delegates to the recent microbicides conference in Cape Town flashed wry smiles when the health minister warned researchers against conducting unethical trials that did not always have the best interests of research participants at heart.
HIV tests should be routine in health institutions that offer AIDS treatment, says Judge Edwin Cameron.
HIV and AIDS, drought and conflict make it hard for developing countries to feed their children properly. Ultimately, this pushes up the mortality rate of children under five. This is according to the United Nations Children'€™s Fund'€™s annual report on children'€™s progress.
Dr Steve Wootorton, a doctor living in the United Kingdom, recently did a three-month stint at Nkandla Hospital in rural KwaZulu-Natal. Wootorton shared his impressions in an article he wrote for the British Medical Journal.
The Treatment Action Campaign will reject government'€™s invitation to participate in the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on AIDS (UNGASS) at the end of May unless its ally, the Aids Law Project is also invited.
In the Western and Northern Cape have some of the worst rates of foetal alcohol syndrome in the world. In the Western Cape 40 out of every 1000 children in their first year of school suffer from foetal alcohol syndrome (FAS). The urban black communities are also worst hit areas.
This is according to Professor Arnold Christianson, co-author of a global report on Birth Defects.
Former deputy president Jacob Zuma'€™s irresponsible HIV statements are causing confusion, prompting a body representing more than 12 000 HIV specialists to clarify matters.
A first in HIV vaccine trials is taking place in South Africa. A vaccine will be tested on people already infected with the HI-virus in the hope that it will delay or prevent their progression to full-blown AIDS.
Thousands of child headed homes in the Eastern Cape suffer because they remain unidentified. These children only depend on their neighbours for living. But the neighbourliness soon wears off '€“ and the children are seen as a burden.
Thousands of women in South Africa and elsewhere have volunteered for the world's largest clinical trials to test the efficacy of a range of microbicides, that, if successful, could prevent at least 2,5 million new infections in the developing world, over the next five years.
The long duration of treatment and huge pill doses TB patients must take are seen as the major obstacles to patient compliance. It is for these reasons that scientists are working to discover new and better medicines to cure tuberculosis. We spoke to Professor Valerie Mizrahi, one of the research scientists at the forefront of this quest.
Every week, a number of mineworkers who fall sick while on duty are laid off work. They are told to go home because they are no longer useful.
The South African National Blood Service is considering revising its policy that bars men who have sex with men from donating blood. This follows a similar announcement recently made by the Food and Drug Administration, the medicines regulatory body in the United States.
A newly established rape centre in Khayelitsha has made a significant impact on a community where rape is a daily reality, from babies to grandmothers.
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