Traditional healers and medical doctors alike are singing the praises of an immune-boosting medicinal plant, Sutherlandia, which they say offers hope to people living with HIV who cannot afford expensive drugs.
Sutherlandia (or unwele) has been used by traditional healers for years as a tonic. But now scientists are going to test whether it can be used as an immune booster for those with HIV.
December 1st is World AIDS Day, but for Jabulile Ngwenya, every day could be an AIDS day. Jabulile is a teenager from the North West province who contracted HIV after being raped by her father over a period of time. Despite the virus that threatens to cut short her life, Jabulile believes in a future that is bright and full of opportunities. And most of her days she spends teaching people, especially children, about the epidemic. This report is in English and Sesotho.
Health professionals at the Universities of Cape Town and the Witwatersrand have called on government to respond more effectively to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. They expressed concern that the epidemic was "out of control" in South Africa and listed several key measures, including the provision of antiretroviral drugs, that they believed government should implement to address the situation.
While the run-up to World AIDS day in South Africa has been characterised by, among other things, a court case demanding that government implement a national plan to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV, in neighbouring Botswana, construction workers are burning the midnight oil to complete a state of the art laboratory to support the introduction of a national antiretroviral therapy treatment programme.
Antiretroviral drugs have made a significant improvement to the life expectancy of many people living with HIV/AIDS in Western countries. Although there is still no cure for the disease, Professor Robin Weiss of the Windeyer Institute of Medical Sciences at University College London, says antiretroviral drugs have reduced the number of AIDS-related deaths by 60 percent.
A handful of countries continue to achieve a downward trend while in the rest of the world, especially sub-Saharan Africa, the AIDS epidemic continues to reverse development gains, rob millions of their lives, widen the gap between rich and poor and undermine social and economic security. Health-e reports on an update released by UNAIDS.
In this report, Khopotso Bodibe sketches the arguments from both sides in the court case.
It's World Aids Day on Saturday. Kerry Cullinan spoke to two men who have been living with HIV/Aids
It's World Aids Day on Saturday. Kerry Cullinan spoke to two men who have been living with HIV/Aids
A few short months ago, the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) and government were joined in court action against the pharmaceutical industry. But tomorrow (26th) they meet in the Pretoria High Court as adversaries in what promises to be a bitter and emotional case.
The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) goes head-to-head with the Health Minister in the Pretoria High Court on 26 November over her apparent failure to implement a national programme to prevent mothers with HIV from passing the virus on to their babies. In this package of three stories, Kerry Cullinan sketches the context of the court case and summarises the different positions taken by TAC and the Health Ministry.
"Public pressure for a cure and for quick solutions, while understandable, could contribute to hasty decisions to assuage the sentiments of the public with extremely negative consequences." - Affidavit from Dr Ayanda Ntsaluba, Director General of Health
"I gave birth to an HIV positive baby who should have been saved. That was my experience, the sad one, and I will live with it until my last day." -Busisiwe Maqungo, supporting affidavit for the Treatment Action Campaign.
Two of the country's most powerful figures in health yesterday crossed swords at the Health Summit over whether government should investigate providing anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs) to people with HIV/AIDS.
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