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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 response to the need to care for the rapidly growing number of children with HIV/AIDS, a community of Catholic sisters at Nazareth House in Cape Town, has embarked on a project in Khayelitsha where they have set up a day care centre for such children. The centre, Lizo Nobanda, opened its doors in July last year. Since its launch the number of children cared for has quickly risen to its capacity of 30. The ages of the children range from just a few months to six years. A job creation programme, "Ithemba Loo Mama" (Mothers' Hope) has started alongside the creche, giving employment and hope to mothers of the children in the care of Lizo Nobanda Day Care Centre. This audio report is in Sesotho.  

With the start of the school year, many parents are once again fearful that their children may contract HIV through playground rough-and-tumble with infected children. However, HIV/AIDS experts stress that the chances of such transmission of the virus are virtually zero.