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.

Today the challenge brought by Rustenburg Platinum Mine against Mavis Anne Hermanus '€“ the Chief Inspector of Mines '€“ and the Ministry of Minerals and Energy Affairs will finally be heard in the Pretoria High Court. In the following report, the spokesperson of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) explains to Khopotso Bodibe the consequences of ruling in favour of the mine.

A court case that could have a significant impact on the protection of the rights of workers living with HIV is to be heard in the Pretoria High Court on Tuesday, the 27th of May. This is a matter between Rustenburg Platinum Mines and the Chief Inspector of Mines together with the Ministry of Minerals and Energy Affairs, wherein the mine is the applicant. Khopotso Bodibe gives us more details on the case.

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.

Wezi Khoza, Executive Manager for Corporate Health at SAA, says since the launch of its AIDS policy employees have been making use of the company'€™s clinic. Apart from providing Voluntary Counseling and Testing of HIV, staff at the clinic also manage other life limiting diseases such as diabetes and cancer. Ms Khoza said SAA was honouring the Bill of Rights and that workers who are HIV positive would not be discriminated against and that the company would attempt to create a secure, caring and confidential environment. Thandeka Teyise compiled this report.

The chairperson of the South African Medical Association, Dr Kgosi Letlape, has often said that doctors are ethically bound to serve their patients; that the government'€™s policy of no treatment for AIDS is not acceptable to the medical profession; and that doctors must stand up for the health of their patients. And stand up for the health of their patients is exactly what doctors did at various hospitals and clinics nationwide this past Monday and Tuesday. Doctors at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto also took part in this solidarity action. Khopotso Bodibe was there.

Last week, ahead of Workers'€™ Day 2003 - which is being celebrated today - the National Union of Metalworkers'€™ of South Africa (NUMSA) demanded that employers provide anti-retroviral drugs to HIV positive employees.

In South Africa the spread of HIV has largely been associated with men'€™s sexual athleticism, their unwillingness to use condoms and the uneven gender relations that often render women unable to negotiate safe sex.

Out of 120 million Nigerians about 2.6 million are living with HIV/AIDS. Helen Shok-Jok, a journalist who has worked in Nigeria for the past 16 years, says that government in that country has shown no political will when it comes to addressing the HIV epidemic. She adds that the situation is getting worse as people are still afraid to disclose their HI status because of the stigma that is still attached to the disease. Shok-Jok added that the silence about HIV/AIDS was an issue in all regions and that those who are being tested are pregnant women. Thandeka Teyise of Health-e News Service asked Shok-Jok for an update on HIV/AIDS in Nigeria.

Prof. Richard Feachem, Executive Director of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB and Malaria is concluding a week-long fact-finding mission to South Africa, which is expected to culminate in the signing off on a document that will see the first funds of a promised total of $US 150 million (R1.2 billion) released to the government.

As the TAC'€™s civil disobedience campaign against government'€™s tendency to drag its feet in introducing a comprehensive AIDS treatment programme in the public health sector continues, Khopotso Bodibe went out to seek the views of ordinary South Africans on this heated and somewhat controversial debate.

Khanyisa Ndlotyeni of Guguletu in Cape Town was born HIV positive fifteen years ago. While Khanyisa'€™s mother, Ntsuki, unfortunately died last year, the teenager has managed to surive despite poor living conditions and without taking anti-retrovirals. Does her survival mean children born with HIV can survive and live longer? Nkosi Johnson, who died at the age of 12 two years ago, was believed to be the oldest surviving child in South Africa. Now Khanyisa'€™s survival is offering new hope to those children born with HIV. Dr Kwezi Mtoti, of the Guguletu Community Health Clinic, said when Khanyisa'€™s health deteriorated last year she began taking anti-retrovirals and has become a beacon of hope for those who are infected or affected by HIV/AIDS. While Khanyisa accepts that she contracted HIV from her mother she is determined to get on with her life. One day, she says, she hopes to become a nurse so that she can help others.

Globally, women are still disproportionately affected by HIV/AIDS because they are socially, culturally, biologically and economically more vulnerable and because they shoulder the burden of caring for the sick and dying. Richard Delate, of Journ AIDS and the Centre for AIDS Development and Evaluation (CADRE), says women are still afraid to negotiate condom use and in most cases do not seek treatment for sexually transmitted infections because of the stigma that is still attached to these infections. According to UNAIDS, about 50 percent of adults living with HIV/AIDS globally are women. Women constitute 58 percent of HIV/AIDS positive adults in Sub-Saharan Africa, 55 percent in North Africa and Middle East and 50 percent in the Caribbean. Thandeka Theyise of Health-e News Service compiled this report.