South Africa is among 10 hotspots of multi-drug resistant TB identified by the World Health Organisation and at Durban'€™s busiest TB treatment clinic, rates of MDR TB have more than doubled in the past three years.
An unconventional approach to health provision at the Medicins Sans Frontieres first rural HIV/AIDS programme in Lusikisiki has yielded impressive results.
In Part Two of our focus on rape in the Eastern Cape we hear about the actions communities can take to break the silence about sexual offences and help police to prosecute suspects.
There appears to be an increase in child rape including cases involving
children raping other children.
What motivates a five-year old to rape a two-year-old toddler? In Umtata and East London such incidents are becoming increasingly common. In the first six weeks of 2004, 40 cases of child rape by other children were reported at Umtata Sinawe Rape Crisis Centre. In the first of a two-part series, Health-e visits the rape crisis centres in Mdantsane and in Umtata.
A new concept is gaining momentum in South Africa. After three years of debate and discussion a Charter for Sexual Rights has been adopted enshrining the rights of women to control their sexual and reproductive health. The Charter advocates mutual respect between men and women and it is hoped that this will prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS.
Access to medicines is still a problem in some public hospitals and many clinics in the Eastern Cape. Despite the reassurance of better service for all by the Department of Health and the Batho Pele principle to put people first, this is not happening in many areas. Health-e travelled through the region and compiled this report.
Interviewed by the national public broadcaster the weekend after his state of the nation address, President Thabo Mbeki still seemed determined to ignore and obfuscate the impact of HIV/AIDS on the country. Health-e examines his remarks.
Government'€™s HIV and AIDS Care and Treatment Plan is not only about making antiretrovirals available in the public health sector for the first time. The programme also includes a strong focus on nutrition and traditional medicines. Health-e News Service asked Dr Nono Simelela, co-ordinator of the Plan, how the three components come together in the programme.
Cheaper drugs, certificates of need, social health insurance? Has government made sudden and major shifts in health policy?
A major hurdle in the path towards the implementation of a national HIV and AIDS Care and Treatment Plan has been cleared. At a parliamentary briefing on Monday, the Minister of Health, Dr Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, announced that tenders for drug procurement in preparation for the roll-out of the Plan are to be advertised this Friday, (13/02/04).
A major hurdle in the path towards the implementation of a national HIV and AIDS Care and Treatment Plan has been cleared. At a parliamentary briefing on Monday, the Minister of Health, Dr Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, announced that tenders for drug procurement in preparation for the roll-out of the Plan are to be advertised this Friday, (13/02/04).
Although two million South Africans were treated for sexually transmitted infections in the public sector in 2002, it is estimated that some 8,4 million people contracted an STI in the same year.
Why do South African consumers pay so much for prescription drugs? Health-e News Service follows the money and explains exactly who pockets what in the profit chain.
To a great extent old people have been left out of AIDS education, but a project in Khayelitsha is changing this. Stanley Mcengwa is 65- years old and one of the peer educators who teaches the elderly about HIV/AIDS. He says at first he was scared of HIV/AIDS but he has learnt that HIV is just like any other disease.
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