Investigations into the introduction of a national anti-retroviral programme for South Africans living with HIV/AIDS are far advanced and recommendations are close to finalisation, it was announced in this week's budget documents. Anso Thom reports.
CAPE TOWN - The cost of a state supported anti-retroviral programme in its most expensive year could be below R10-billion and still be highly effective, according to calculations by Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) and researchers at the University of Cape Town (UCT).
CAPE TOWN - KwaZulu-Natal should receive the much disputed U$11,4-million (R92,5-m) from the Global Fund to fight HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria by April and this time around the province will have the full support of the national health department, according to Health minister Dr Manto Tshabalala-Msimang. Anso Thom reports.
Hospital opens palliative care ward to facilitate peaceful deaths.
Drug companies are continuing to sell anti-retrovirals at hugely inflated prices in South Africa with some branded drugs selling for up to eight times more than generic versions available worldwide but that are not yet manufactured locally.
Thanks to donations from the public, government departments and business, the Sparrow Rainbow Village that opened last year is able to provide destitute adults and children terminally ill with AIDS with holistic care in a loving and dignified environment. Last week (Friday 14/02/2003) the centre, situated on the corner of Lola and Nadine Streets, in Maraisburg, Johannesburg, announced that it is extending its services and will now cater for 200 terminally ill people. This makes the Sparrow Rainbow Village the largest live-in hospice for AIDS-infected adults and children in South Africa. Khopotso Bodibe of Health-e News Service visited this unique centre, and filed us this report.
The sharp increase in multi-drug resistant tuberculosis in South Africa can be attributed to the loss of Directly Observed Treatment Short-course Strategy (DOTS) workers to the more lucrative field of caring for people living with HIV/AIDS, health department officials admitted this week. Anso Thom reports.
Government's HIV/AIDS policy is characterised by confusion and public relations blunders.
Department of Health's Director General, Dr Ayanda Ntsabula, has said that while governemnt has not signed any agreement on an AIDS treatment plan, negotiations with all parties concerned would continue. In the meantime Pan Africanist Congress Member of Parliament Patricia De Lille said thousands of people were dying while government stalled. By Thandeka Teyise of Health-e News.
In his recent state of the Union address, the President of the United States, George W. Bush, announced a 15-billion dollar five-year commitment to address HIV/AIDS in Africa and the Caribbean. This large, but still insufficient amount of funds is aimed at preventing seven million new infections of HIV in both targeted regions. However, the question is who, and what, projects will benefit from the promised US funds? As Khopotso Bodibe reports, delegates at the African Women's Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights (AMANITARE) Conference, held in Johannesburg recently, grappled with this question.
In an attempt to understand the nature and spread of HIV, experts have shifted attention from classical epidemiology to a socio-political analysis. In contrast with the developed world, the number of women with new infections in Africa are increasing, exceeding that of men by around two million. There is enough anecdotal evidence that factors linked to under-development such as gender inequity and that are characteristic of the developing world are intricately linked with increased vulnerability to HIV/AIDS. An analysis of the spread of HIV/AIDS in Africa shows that its heightened prevalence amongst women can be traced to patriarchal ideology so prevalent in parts of Africa. Khopotso Bodibe of Health-e News Service, explores this system and its grave consequences.
About 10 000 people from across the country participated in the Treatment Action Campaign's 'Treat the People March' that took place in Cape Town on Friday, February 14. TAC activists, religious leaders and non-governmental organisations called on government to implement a national ARV treatment plan before the end of the month. Morne Visser, a South African actor and HIV activist, is one of many who are growing despondent with the government's slow response to the epidemic that is killing thousands. Tandeka Teyise of Health-e News spoke to him.
Government is under increasing pressure to provide anti-retroviral drugs to people with HIV. In developed countries, the drugs have resulted in babies born with HIV now reaching university. But what about South African children with HIV?
We continue to explore PEP services for rape survivors in our Living with AIDS slot. Without this service the South African public health system would be failing our children, many of whom also experience the sexual abuse and rape that continues to plague our communities. Khopotso Bodibe looks at the services available for these most vulnerable members of society.
Gauteng province has been hailed as the most proactive in its drive to implement PEP services to prevent HIV infection in survivors of rape and sexual abuse. In the following report by Khopotso Bodibe, we hear about the province's progress in the roll-out of this potentially life-saving programme.
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