Successes made in seeking to achieve the WHO goal to cure 85 percent of new TB cases in South Africa are at a risk of being reversed due to the explosive HIV epidemic. TB is the most common opportunistic infection and cause of death in people living with HIV in the country. This audio report is in Sesotho.
A seaweed-based microbicide gel will be tested on 6 000 South African and Batswana women this year in the hope of finding a safe and effective means to protect women from contracting HIV. Microbicides offer an important way in which women can protect themselves from HIV infection even if their partners refuse to use a condom.
Antiretroviral medicines are costly and complicated to monitor, but this should not put them out of the reach of patients in the public health system. The fledgling antiretroviral therapy programme running in certain hospitals in Khayelitsha is offering these life-prolonging drugs to a small, but growing number of clients. Doctors working with the Medecins Sans Frontieres antiretroviral programme in Khayelitsha are convinced that the drugs can be given in these relatively poor surroundings.
There are many benefits to knowing one's HIV status. If you're negative, it's an added incentive to protect yourself. If you have HIV, it's important to avoid being re-infected and to learn how to live positively. This is where good counselling comes in. One organisation offering this service is ATICC, the AIDS Training, Information and Counselling Centre. Sue Valentine visited their offices in Plumstead, Cape Town. Telephone numbers for ATICC offices: Cape Town (021) 797-3327 Johannesburg (011) 725-6711/2; Durban: (031) 300-3104 Port Elizabeth (041) 506-1249
The health department has denied that government does not wish to access money from the multi-billion Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. This comes after comments by finance minister Trevor Manual in New York that money was not the issue in the fight against HIV/AIDS in South Africa, but that it was rather a question of capacity to spend existing budgets.
Despite a vague statement by the health minister after meeting with the nine provincial MECs, the health ministry seems clear that it is committed to accelerating the roll-out of the mother to child HIV prevention programme in all provinces where the capability exists.
The results of the antiretroviral treatment programme run by Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) in Khayelitsha clinics can be compared with results that are achievable anywhere in the developed world. This was the claim by Dr Eric Goemaere of MSF about the pilot programme which began in Khayelitsha in May 2001.
South Africa has the highest rate of mesothelioma in the world, as we were one of a handful of countries that extensively mined the most dangerous "blue asbestos".
A man who was exposed to asbestos fibres as a nine-year old is suing a leading asbestos manufacturer for R7-million for a rare form of cancer which he believes was caused by the exposure.
In defiance of the Patents Act, the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) and the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) have brought generic anti-retroviral drugs into the country from Brazil, a move that is set to spur another showdown with Government. Three TAC members, including the chairperson Zackie Achmat, as well as Cosatu representative Joyce Pekane arrived from Brazil on Monday with a consignment of anti-retrovirals that will be used for the Medicins Sans Frontieres treatment programme currently running in Khayelitsha.
The newly constituted board of the $1,9-billion Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria yesterday (Tues 29) called for funding proposals from "country partnerships" affected by the three epidemics, saying money would be disbursed from April.
Unless the South African government develops a treatment plan for people with HIV/AIDS, this country is not going to get access to the multi-billion rand Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. This is according to the Treatment Action Campaign's (TAC) Nathan Geffen.
A company in which government is a major shareholder has this year resolved to offer clients free anti-retroviral drugs if they believe they have been accidentally exposed to HIV.
In this audio report HIV/AIDS specialist Dr Clive Evian, outlines how poverty contributes to certain ailments and impacts on people's lives. However, he makes it clear that poverty itself does not cause AIDS.
In this audio report, a visit to the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto where preparations are well underway for the first South African human trials of a vaccine against AIDS. Phase One trials, which test the safety of a vaccine, are due to take place simultaneously at Chris Hani Baragwanath and the Medical Research Council in Durban.
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