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.

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.

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 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.

The British government has given three South African organisations and researchers from five countries a multi-million rand grant to develop vaginal microbicides (a gel that can be used to prevent HIV transmission) over a five-year period.

Prisoners at the Pietersburg Prison are being educated about how to prevent the transmission of HIV and the result is a prison population willing to be more honest about their sexual behaviour and the need to use condoms.

The Global Campaign for Microbicides has hit out at the lack of interest by large pharmaceutical companies to urgently develop a microbicide that could protect women against HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases.

Health minister Dr Manto Tshabalala-Msimang has kicked off the New Year with the launch of a new plan aimed at tackling the unacceptably high tuberculosis (TB) rate in the country. The minister said it was '€œnot simply another piece of planning on paper'€.

US doctors have come up with a new potential treatment for HIV infection that involves boosting the body'€™s immune system so it can fight the virus more effectively.