Nevirapine, the drug that has cut HIV transmission from mothers to their babies by up to 50% in clinical trials, has finally been registered for use in South Africa. This paves the way for the health department to make good its promise to issue the drug free of charge to pregnant women at 18 pilot sites countrywide.
The much-spoken of TRIPS Agreement - or Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights - is often cited as key factor which cannot be violated in the quest for access to cheaper medicines. But what does TRIPS actually say? Law analyst Jonathan Berger offers a brief history of TRIPS and how pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and computer king IBM pushed for World Trade Organisation approval for such an agreement. He argues that TRIPS balances protection of intellectual property rights with the right of people to access essential medicines.
The South African Students Congress in Bloemfontein made sure that HIV/AIDS was on the agenda of their annual gathering. But besides the "official line", what are students saying about the epidemic and safer sex behaviour?
When the 39 pharmaceutical companies'€™ case against the South African government started on 5 March, it ignited worldwide protests against drug profiteering at the expense of the world'€™s poor.But during the past five weeks that the court has been in recess, the international pharmaceutical industry mounted a major public relations offensive '€“ with price reductions for AIDS drugs as its centrepiece -- that seems to be paying off.
It has been almost two and a half years since Parliament passed the Medicines and Related Substances Control Amendment Act on October 31, 1997. During this time the legislation has been tied up in litigation instituted by the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers' Association who argue that their patent rights will be ignored by section 15c of the new law. AIDS activists around the world have thrown their weight behind the South African government in its bid to create a legal framework to ensure more affordable drugs. Anso Thom reports.
It has been almost two and a half years since Parliament passed the Medicines and Related Substances Control Amendment Act on October 31, 1997. During this time the legislation has been tied up in litigation instituted by the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers' Association who argue that their patent rights will be ignored by section 15c of the new law. AIDS activists around the world have thrown their weight behind the South African government in its bid to create a legal framework to ensure more affordable drugs. Anso Thom reports.
Despite romantic dreams of love and fidelity, cash, cellphones and sex are the raw commodities used in the exchange of sexual favours among young South Africans. This and more emerged during the "AIDS in Context" conference held at Wits University recently. Kerry Cullinan reports.
The free diflucan promised by government on December 1 last year is now available in state hospitals in certain provinces. The medication, which treats two common opportunistic infections that affect people with HIV/AIDS, is currently available in Gauteng and the Western Cape and at least four other provinces will follow soon.
The impact of HIV/AIDS in Zimbabwe has forced communities to take a sober look at certain cultural practices that were previously accepted without question. Zimbabwe, which shares an AIDS profile similar to South Africa's with around one in four adults HIV positive, has had to revise its life expectancy downwards from 65 to 43 years because of the disease. Sue Valentine spoke to Zimbabwean AIDS worker Caroline Maposhere about how certain cultural practices are changing because of the epidemic.
The social security system is failing hundreds of children in one of the poorest regions of South Africa. Children hospitalised for severe malnutrition in the Mt Frere distrtict are being discharged simply to face starvation again as their child support grants fail to materialise, despite several applications being lodged.
Medical innovations such as the DNA revolution, the microchip and the Human Genome Project, along with diseases such as HIV/AIDS, have shifted the way in which medicine will be practised said Professor William Makgoba in a wide-ranging speech to the South African Medical Association
Cabinet is the latest barrier standing between HIV positive pregnant women and the anti-retroviral drug, nevirapine, which can save their babies from the virus.
Government should immediately adopt a practical plan for treating HIV positive people with drugs, challenged Judge Edwin Cameron last night at the opening of the international conference, AIDS in Context.
Confusion within the Department of Health has delayed a government plan to issue the anti-retroviral drug, nevirapine, free of charge to HIV positive pregnant women at 18 sites countrywide.
The fact that one dose may lead to the creation of an HI-virus resistant to Nevirapine is no reason in itself not to register the anti-AIDS drug, but there should be strict monitoring by the drug companies of this, according to Professor Helen Rees chairperson of the Medicines Control Council (MCC).
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