April 17 is a day that could have gone down in the history of South Africa as a turning point in the manner that government views the AIDS epidemic and how it deals with it.
Despite knowledge about HIV/AIDS, the Swazi epidemic shows no signs of abating.
Kenya is one of the leading African countries that have started AIDS vaccine trials. The Kenyan AIDS Vaccine Initiative (KAVI) was initiated in 1998 and began HIV-1 vaccine trials in 2001. All of the vaccines that were tested have been specifically designed to be used in Kenya but have also been tested in UK. Phase One testing in humans has been proven to be safe and, says Dr Omu Anzala of KAVI, second phase vaccine trials will kick off soon. These will take approximately two years and will test the body'€™s immune response to the vaccine. The trials will include volunteers from Nairobi and London. Thandeka Teyise of Health-e News Service spoke to Dr Anzala and asked him to explain KAVI'€™S second phase of the vaccine trials.
The historic uprising by the youth in Soweto in June 1976 was sparked by, among other things, the imposition of Afrikaans as teaching language in township schools. Today the youth of the new South Africa face different challenges, the most urgent being HIV/AIDS. June is national youth month and the National Youth Commission has embarked a campaign to highlight the many issues that affect the young including unemployment that stands at around 40 percent. Thandeka Teyise of Health-e News Service spoke to Liziwe Konyana, Deputy Director for Communication at the National Youth Commission, about its strategy to help combat the spread of HIV/AIDS and why the commission has chosen to focus on poverty and development.
In what could be seen as a move to an out-of-court settlement, Rustenburg Platinum Mine withdrew its challenge, for the meantime, against the Chief Inspector of Mines and the Minerals and Energy Affairs Ministry.
One of the latest research studies in the ongoing search for innovative technologies and strategies to help prevent HIV infection is the development and testing of microbicides.
A feasibility study in preparation for Phase 3 clinical trials involving microbicides is underway at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital, in Soweto.
The Global Fund to fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria faces bankruptcy and health activists are blaming the G8 nations. They are accusing US President George Bush of attempting to block bipartisan efforts to increase American contributions to the fund while it has also been revealed that the European Development Fund is sitting on 10 billion unspent euros.
Treatment Action Campaign leader Zackie Achmat has received the prestigious Jonathan Mann Award for Global Health Human Rights by the Washington-based Global Health Council. He was awarded it jointly with Dr Frenk Guni, the former director of the Zimbabwe Network of People living with HIV/AIDS. The award carries U$20 000 prize money. Achmat received U$10 000 of which half was donated to TAC. The award was accepted in Washington on behalf of Achmat by TAC's women's health programmes co-ordinator Nonkosi Khumalo. Click to read the full speech.
Africa has the highest rate of HIV infections in the world with an estimated 13 million children left orphaned by AIDS. In sub-Saharan Africa, around 75 precent of a population of 40 million people is infected. These are the challenges that face African scientists who are still searching for an AIDS vaccine. Since 1987, says the African Aids Vaccine Programme over 27 candidate vaccines have been tested but none have proved effective. Thandeka Teyise of Health-e News Service visited Kenya and spoke to Dr Malaki Owili of the Research Society on AIDS. She asked him about the challenges and obstacles faced by African scientists. In this audio Dr Owili sketches the background to the African AIDS Vaccine Programme and the development processes thus far.
A talk given by Kerry Cullinan at a Journ-AIDS Roundtable in May 2003.
While South African health journalists are doing a sterling job covering HIV/AIDS related issues, the focus should now shift to the provision of anti retroviral drugs and treatment. Richard Delate, of the Centre for Aids Development, Research and Education (CADRE) says while politics dominates coverage of the pandemic the focus should now be on people are affected and infected by the virus. He applauds the role and expertise of health journalists in the country who he said are committed to conveying information about the epidemic.
The death of a Mozambican miner after a leg injury is the subject of a complicated legal wrangle with potentially serious implications for the mining industry and workers who are HIV positive.
A potentially precedent-setting court case between Rustenberg Platinum Mines, the Inspector of Mines and the Ministry of Mineral and Energy Affairs and which could have a serious impact on the mining industry with regard to the rights of HIV positive miners has been postponed in the Pretoria High Court until January next year.
We follow up on the story we aired in our last Living with AIDS slot. A major court challenge against the Chief Inspector of Mines, Mavis Anne Hermanus and the Ministry of Minerals and Energy Affairs, brought by Rustenburg Platinum Mines gets underway in the Pretoria High Court tomorrow (Tue, May 27). A decision made by the Chief Inspector of Mines in January 2001, to classify the death of a HIV positive miner, Jose Mulungu Cossa, as a mine fatality and the resultant levy imposed on the mine, are at the centre of the court challenge. Khopotso Bodibe reports on this significant matter.
Be in the know with our free weekly newsletter. We deliver a round-up of our top stories and insightful reads from across the web.