Pupil rate plunges as households struggle
Pupil enrolment in Grade One in KwaZulu-Natal has plunged by 20% over the past four years - and experts believe a key cause is the direct and indirect effect of HIV/AIDS on already poor households
Health
Read More » Pupil rate plunges as households struggle
Worms can compromise AIDS vaccine
Scientists need to take into account that worm infestation could compromise the success of a potential AIDS vaccine as is the case with established vaccines against viral diseases such as cholera and tuberculosis, local researchers have warned.
Youth speak out with vision and purpose
Living with AIDS – Programme 41
Earlier this week the Lovetrain was launched in Cape Town as part of the national loveLife campaign to prevent sexually transmitted diseases and HIV among South African teenagers. The campaign, funded by the Kaiser Family Foundation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the South African government is the largest initiative of its kind in the country. It's aim is to halve the number of HIV infections among South African youth within the next five years. But what are young people themselves saying about the challenges they face socially and sexually?
Living with AIDS – Programme 41
Government squares up to TB
Despite the fact that TB can be cured, TB infection rates in South Africa have almost doubled in the past five years. Against a backdrop of stark statistics the government has committed itself to a plan of action to achieve a cure rate of 85% in the next four years.
Government shifts TB programme into a higher gear
Health workers, researchers and international experts will share their knowledge at a workshop which starts today [Tuesday] aimed at setting clear and achievable goals to cut South Africa's shockingly high TB rates over the next four years.
Antiretroviral therapy – a moral obligation?
Living with AIDS – Programme 40
The cost of anti-retroviral therapy as well as the complicated logistics that are involved in administering it have been cited as reasons why it is impossible to implement a national programme of this kind in South Africa. However, others argue that not only is anti-retroviral therapy manageable, even a long patients from poor backgrounds, it offers people hope, an important ingredient in the response to HIV/AIDS. This audio report airs different views on the pros and cons of anti-retroviral therapy.
Living with AIDS – Programme 40
Little hope for HIV+ Lesotho miners
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This audio report looks at the impact of the AIDS epidemic on migrant workers from Lesotho who are retrenched and sent home from the South African mines.
Living with AIDS – Programme 39
AIDS vaccine tested on apes shows promising results
Scientists are excited by the reaction of monkeys injected with an AIDS vaccine similar to that which is due to be tested in South Africa within months.
Ways of dying
Government cannot afford to treat all terminal AIDS patients in state hospitals. But unless the state invests significant funds in home-based care, it will simply be the cruellest form of privatisation. Kerry Cullinan reports.
Children can’t wait for Cabinet
One in four South African children are stunted by malnutrition. Children's organisations are calling for a basic income grant to be given to all children under the age of 18.
Enough is being done for those living with HIV, but more children should be saved – NorthWest Health MEC
Until access to more affordable AIDS drugs becomes a reality, government has responded as best as they can for those living with HIV, according to NorthWest Health MEC Dr Molefi Sefularo.He said the province'€™s aim was to follow urgently on the mother-to-child transmission pilot phase with the expansion of the programme to the rest of the province. "In the end, no child must be born with a lifespan predetermined by HIV and AIDS to be no more than five years."
Volunteers for AIDS vaccine
Many concerned South Africans, including radio DJs, have volunteered to be injected with the country'€™s first HIV/AIDS prototype vaccine, according to HIV/AIDS expert Professor Salim Abdool Karim.
Row brewing between ANC and South Peninsula Municipality over smoking laws
While the rest of country is implementing the new smoking legislation that came into effect on Sunday, Cape Town's South Peninsula Municipality is being accused by the ANC of stalling the process. The municipality  is in the process of rescinding a by-law that takes precedence over national law, but the ANC's National Health Secretary Dr Saadiq Karim says they have been given ample time to make the changes and should be fined.
Drugs seem to help rape survivors
None of the rape survivors given anti-retroviral drugs by Sunninghill Hospital has become HIV positive, according to Dr Adrienne Wulfsohn who heads the hospital'€™s accident and emergency unit. Kerry Cullinan reports.
Smoke ban enforced
From Sunday (1 July) the ban on smoking in public places was enforced. Smoking is now only allowed in specially designated areas that do not take up more than 25% of the public space and are separated from the non-smoking area by a solid partition. Kerry Cullinan reports.