WHO warns of lurking dangers
The World Health Organisation warns that cardiovascular disease, tobacco-related illness and road deaths are increasingly responsible for millions of deaths in the developing world.
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HIV and AIDS hit SA businesses
HIV and AIDS has reduced labour capacity, increased absenteeism and raised the cost of employee benefits according to a new survey by Bureau for Economic Research (BER).
How to get the roll-out rightLiving with AIDS #156
In our last Living with AIDS feature for 2003, Health-e looks back at what has been a momentous year, culminating in the Cabinet's approval of a Care and Treatment Plan for people living with HIV and AIDS.
Artworks explore life with HIV
Babalwa Cekiso is a HIV positive mother, a member of the 'Bambanani' women's group and project manager of the University of Cape Town's Memory Box Outreach Project. This month the project launched a book, 'Long Life... Positive Stories', which documents, in works of body art and text, the lives of the 13 women of Bambanani. Babalwa explains that the Memory Box project was inspired by a similar initiative in Uganda and that it helps HIV positive people to disclose their status as well as explain what it is like to live with HIV.
Working together to fight AIDS
Dr Kgosi Letlape, head of the South African Medical Association and Executive Director of the Tshepang Trust, said one of the most effective ways of dealing with HIV and AIDS is the formation of partnerships. Dr Letlape was speaking at the launch of an antiretroviral treatment site at the G F Jooste hospital in Cape Town. The initiative is being piloted in conjunction with the Nelson Mandela Foundation that handed over R5-million at the launch ' the first donation from the 46664 campaign.
In sickness and in health
Scientists would describe the Ramothwalas and the Leons as "discordant couples", which means that one partner is HIV positive and the other HIV negative. But how much discord has the virus brought to their lives?
Losing more than Martin
Dr Loveness Kaunda, Dean of Students at the University of Cape Town, is one of a handful of South African leaders prepared to talk openly about HIV/AIDS. Here she shares the story of her younger brother and how his death affected her family.
Teen mothers often forced into sex
One in five teenage fathers admitted to forcing girls to have sex with them, and 30% of these forced sexual encounters resulted in the girls becoming pregnant.
High Risk
While there are no formal surveys, guesstimates are that about 22 percent of South African university undergraduate students are HIV positive. In this special report we investigate how tertiary institutions are dealing with the epidemic.
Govt’s house still not in order for Global Fund millions
Three months after the government's delayed authorisation of the release of the Global Fund grants into South African AIDS, TB and Malaria projects, the money has still not reached its destination. The problem? According to the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the government has to make a formal request before the institution can make the money available.
ARV plan approved
Government's historic announcement this week that all HIV-positive South Africans needing anti-retrovirals will be treated within the next five years could be the much-needed catalyst to uplift the country's struggling national healthcare system.
ARVs for 10 000 Gauteng AIDS patients in 12 months
With Cabinet approval for the rollout of anti-retroviral drugs, the Gauteng government is moving at top speed to ensure that the drugs are available at 22 health facilities within a year, reaching an estimated 10 000 AIDS patients.
AIDS vaccine attracts diverse volunteers
Worlds apart, yet united by common purpose, two very different South Africans choose to become part of the AIDS solution.
A vaccine volunteerLiving with AIDS #152
Talita Thekiso is one of two volunteers who received her first dose of the Modified Vaccinia Ankara (MVA) vaccine at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital, in Soweto on Wednesday. The MVA vaccine is based on sub-type A of HIV, a strain of the virus which is predominant in east Africa. Health-e met Thekiso at the hospital.
Explaining the AIDS Vaccine Part 2
The Phase One trial for the Modified Vaccinia Ankara (MVA) vaccine is now underway. Two of the first 55 volunteers in South Africa ' 40 in Soweto and 15 in Durban - have received their initial vaccinations. Worldwide a total of 111 people are taking part at research sites in Switzerland, the UK and The Netherlands. As Dr Eftyhia Vardas, director of the HIV Vaccines Programme at the Peri-natal HIV Research Unit explains, the Phase One trials are all about checking the safety of the vaccine in humans.