The second HIV prevention vaccine to be tested in South Africa began its Phase One trial in Johannesburg and Durban, on Wednesday November 11, 2003. The testing of the Modified Vaccinia Ankara (MVA) follows just a week after the start of the Venezuelan Equine Encephalitis vaccine trial. Dr Eftyhia Vardas, Director of the HIV Vaccines Programme at the Peri-natal HIV Research Unit at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital spoke to Health-e.
Cabinet has referred the draft "Operational Plan for Comprehensive HIV and AIDS Care and Treatment" back to the technical task team to provide more information on certain legal matters and the "scope of research" during implementation of the roll-out.
South Africa and other southern African countries are on the verge of eliminating measles thanks to an effective vaccine and solid efforts to innoculate children against the diesease. Dr Greg Hussey, head of Paedriatric Infectious Disease Unit at Red Cross Children Hospital spoke to Health-e.
South Africa ushered in a milestone event in the history of HIV/AIDS this week when the first of two human clinical trials of an HIV vaccine started in Durban and Johannesburg. Recent studies have shown that the efficacy of a vaccine can vary between men and women and so there has been a special effort to enrol equal numbers of both sexes for the trials.
Government is likely to compel medical aid schemes to offer their members antiretroviral drugs.
The 2002 Nelson Mandela Foundation/HSRC study shows that most South Africans take HIV more seriously once they know someone who has died of an AIDS related illness. Health-e canvassed the views of some youths and found that they agreed.
Despite being a vaccine-preventable death, 745 000 children under five are killed each year by measles ' 2 000 every day ' and at least half are in Africa. Unicef and the World Health Organisation have targeted 45 countries in the hope of halving the deaths by 2005.
Antibiotics, once hailed as 'miracle drugs' that would rid the world of life-threatening diseases, are losing their effectiveness leaving us vulnerable to bacteria that is resistant to treatment. Health-e News investigates the situation in South Africa.
African diva and queen of funk Angelique Kidjo is more than a musician. She's also a UN goodwill ambassador and on a visit to Cape Town urged girls to refuse to have unprotected sex.
Two South Africans have been appointed to a high-profile Commission on HIV/AIDS and Governance in Africa (CHGA). The University of Natal's
Professor Alan Whiteside and World Bank managing official Dr Mamphele Ramphela are members of the 20-person commission, chaired by Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa K. Amoako, and established
at the behest of United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
The Commission's mandate is to study the impacts of HIV/AIDS on African state structures and economic development and identify threats to governance. It will report back in June 2005.
Experts told him it was impossible do hip replacements in rural KwaZulu-Natal. But 'Rural Doctor of the Year' Victor Fredlund doesn't understand 'impossible'
Over a quarter of a million women have accessed safe, legal abortions since the implementation of the Termination of Pregnancy Act in South Africa six years ago. But many are still not aware that services are legal or even exist.
Next week in Nairobi, researchers from Africa and beyond will attend the International Conference on AIDS and Sexual Transmitted Diseases in Africa (ICASA). Chairperson of the conference, Dr. Malaki Owili, says African governments must provide treatment and care for HIV/ AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. The ICASA meeting runs from September 21st to 26th, 2003.
'Letting them Die ' How HIV/AIDS prevention programmes often fail' by Catherine Campbell is a compelling and honest account of why a well-funded intervention in a mining community failed. She spoke to Health-e News.
Antenatal surveys have been conducted by the Department of Health since 1990. An internationally recognized tool for estimating the magnitude, growth and spread of the HIV epidemic over time, the latest South African survey reveals that 5,3- million people are living with HIV or AIDS in this country.
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