The Medicines Control Council held an urgent council meeting on the 5th of November, following its receipt in October of an interim report from America'€™s National Institutes of Health (NIH) on the on-going review programme of nevirapine. The report, received more than a month later than expected, provides details of Phase One of the two-stage investigation. In the following report by Khopotso Bodibe, the Registrar of Medicines Precious Matsoso, couldn'€™t reveal details of the council meeting, nor the contents of the preliminary report from the NIH, citing a secrecy agreement.

Small projects offering anti-retroviral treatment have been set up countrywide. But there is need for co-ordination. Kerry Cullinan reports.

Zola also known as Papa Action of Yizo Yizo fame says South African musicians have taken HIV/AIDS seriously and almost every day they convey a loud and clear message about the pandemic through musical performances and shows. He says the coming of Alicia Keys, Usher and P.Diddy to perform at the Staying alive Concert will boost the morale of musicians and will add more emphasis on the message local musicians are trying to put across.

Thousands of music lovers gathered at the Staying Alive Concert at Green Point Stadium in Cape Town to show support to the people living with HIV/AIDS . Alicia Keys Grammy Award winner, Usher, P. Diddy, Zola and Mandoza shared the stage and the message was one to stay safe and condomise. Thandeka Teyise asked Alicia her understanding of the pandemic in Africa and in South Africa in particular.

Three years after the establishment of Nkosi'€™s Haven in Berea, Johannesburg, and one year after the death of the celebrated young AIDS activist Nkosi Johnson, a new home for HIV positive mothers and their children has been opened in Berea, in honour of the late Nkosi.

The question that AIDS activists have been asking is: Are the vaccines that will be tested in South Africa specific to sub-type C, the virus that is predominantly circulating in the country and the southern African sub-region? Khopotso Bodibe put that question to Dr Eftyhia Vardas, Director of the HIV/AIDS Vaccine Division at the Peri-natal HIV Reseacrh Unit at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital, in Soweto.

Despite delays caused by protocol, preparations for the AIDS vaccine trials in South Africa are still underway and clinical researchers and scientists are hopeful that the Phase One tests will start early next year. This sense of optimism follows months of discussion and debate amongst the Medicines Control Council, the government as well as the vaccines'€™ developers. It is hoped that the extensive consultations will help accelerate the onset of the vaccines trials '€“ the search for the ultimate hope in HIV prevention. Khopotso Bodibe went out to seek clarity on the outstanding issues.

AIDS activists have launched a contempt of court application against Mpumalanga Health MEC Sibongile Manana for failing to implement the Constitutional Court'€™s order on preventing mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV. The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) also called on the African National Congress, Government and the health department to remove Manana. The court application was this week made to the Pretoria High Court against Manana and Health minister Dr Manto Tshabalala-Msimang.

Anti-retroviral drugs are becoming more accessible to people living with HIV through workplace programmes and research projects being set up countrywide. The drugs can't cure HIV but they can stop the virus from growing in your body, thus giving your body's immune system a chance to recover.

Almost all South Africans are in favour of implementing anti-retroviral therapy to HIV-positive pregnant mothers and those people living with HIV/AIDS, a Human Sciences Research Council survey has revealed.

The provision of ARV (anti-retro-viral) therapy should be fast-tracked, generic ARV drugs should be produced in South Africa and VAT should be removed from medicines the Nelson Mandela/HSRC Study on HIV/AIDS has recommended.

After months of speculation, the first independent and nationally representative study of HIV/AIDS in South Africa released in Johannesburg today (Thursday) revealed several shock findings. Anso Thom reports.

South Africans have modified sexual behaviour in the face of the HIV/AIDs epidemic the Nelson Mandela/Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) study of HIV/AIDS has found. Anso Thom reports.

HIV prevention messages appear to be having an impact on the sexual behaviour of South Africans who also have a very clear understanding of the key aspects of HIV/AIDS.

The world'€™s most powerful weapon against HIV/AIDS -- anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs '€“ dominated public debate about the disease in South Africa this year. By Kerry Cullinan.