Yanelisa Ngqongwa is a 12-year old Grade 6 pupil at Mthawelanga Primary School, in Ekuphum'leni, a section of Khayelitsha township in the Western Cape. It's a Thursday morning and she and a group of 14 other pupils are attending a workshop run by their teacher and a social worker from a child rights organisation Ilitha Labantu, on child abuse. Yanelisa is a vocal participant in the workshop. After a while, she stands up and tells the group that she is a rape survivor.

In a  dramatic turnaround, the KwaZulu-Natal provincial government has withdrawn from government'€™s appeal today (1 March) against the court ruling compelling it to provide Nevirapine to pregnant HIV positive mothers -- and has instead joined forces with government'€™s court opponent, the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC).

There are no good reasons for delaying the gradual and phased expansion of prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) services in all provinces, a research report commissioned by the health department has revealed.But the report also highlights that given the difference in capacity and infrastructure, it is reasonable for provinces to expand the provision of PMTCT services at different speeds.

RIETVLEI - Only two nurses run the entire prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) programme at Rietvlei Hospital in rural Umzimkulu in the Eastern Cape.

In a move that seems to have baffled even those close to her, Health  minister Dr Manto Tshabalala-Msimang has opted to lash out at Gauteng's  moves to expand the nevirapine programme that will see the distribution of  the drug to thousands of HIV positive pregnant women in the province's  hospitals. The only possible explanation for her outburst comes from a lone voice in  the health department who claims that she had been angered by the fact that  she had read about Gauteng's expansion plans in the media.

Although Finance Minister Trevor Manuel made no moves to make social income grants accessible to older children, over 60 organisations dedicated to addressing social security issues on behalf of South Africa'€™s millions of poor and vulnerable children welcomed the R20 increase in the child support grant, but hastened to add that it was still not enough.