International poverty relief organisation, Oxfam has thrown its weight behind the South African Government and AIDS activists'€™ attempts to bring affordable life-saving drugs to marginalised South African communities. Launching Oxfam Great Britain'€™s (GB) "Cut the Cost" Campaign in Pretoria, International Director Stewart Wallis, said he hoped Government would "win the court case" against the pharmaceuticals. Anso Thom reports
The Western Cape Health Department confirmed this week that the results of tests conducted on a man suspected of carrying Congo Fever are positive. The  Maitland abbatoir worker is being treated in an isolation ward at Groote  Schuur Hospital. About 90 people, including family, colleagues and health workers have come into contact with him, but what are the facts around this disease?
The Rural Doctors Association of South Africa has urged government to act immediately to address the crisis in rural hospitals and to develop meaningful incentives to attract doctors to these areas. Among its concerns Rudasa lists the worrying statistic that only a quarter of community service doctors will work in rural hospitals this year and the continued difficulties experienced by foreign-qualified doctors to have their work permits renewed to serve in South African hospitals.
The Mail & Guardian newspaper recently printed two highly critical responses to Charlene Smith'€™s article on free medication and milk formula to prevent mother to child transmission of HIV (Mail & Guardian, January 26 '€“ Feb 1), but a letter sent to the newspaper by Professor Hoosen "Jerry" Coovadia, co-convenor of the AIDS 2000 Conference, Professor Anna Coutsoudis and other colleagues at the University of Natal went unpublished. Coutsoudis approached Health-e to clarify several key issues regarding HIV transmission and breast-feeding.
A grandmother, whose life was made a living hell after she was wrongly diagnosed HIV-positive is claiming R2-million in damages from the laboratory that tested her blood. Now she has launched a damages action against Van Drimmelen Laboratorium, the laboratory which carried out the initial test, claiming she suffered severe emotional stress, loss of dignity and humiliation as a result of the initial Elisa test finding that she was HIV positive. Subsequent tests showed that she was in fact HIV-negative. Health-e investigated the reliability of the Elisa test and others, the protocol followed by the life insurance industry and government'€™s own investigation into HIV testing'€¦
In this audio feature, we focus on the value of talking about sex and sexuality. Children and adolescents need to receive appropriate and accurate information to keep them safe and healthy in a society which has one of the fastest growing rates of HIV transmission in the world.
It stands to reason that if something affects you, you're more likely to take an interest in understanding it. Treatment literacy - the process of understanding how a disease affects you and what medication works best - is still relatively undeveloped in South Africa. In the United States, however, AIDS activists have not been content to leave the research into AIDS drugs in the hallo wed halls of scientific institutions. The Treatment Action Group based in New York has made substantial progress in ensuring that safe and effective medicines reach the people living with HIV/AIDS as fast as possible.
Living in denial about HIV/AIDS is not good for your mental or physical health. Three people with HIV/AIDS talk about living with the disease. Linda Sambata, Pholokgolo Ramothwala and Sindiswa Godwana all say that the more they learn about the virus and how to look after themselves, the better they feel about their lives.
2000 was a year all too often fraught with confusion, anger and frustration for those people living with HIV/AIDS. But as we head into the new year, what are people who have the HI virus hoping for? Sue Valentine compiled this report.
Steve Andrews has seen too many patients die of opportunistic infections related to HIV/AIDS that could have been prevented if the drugs were affordable. He respects the right of pharmaceutical companies to make a profit, but in the case of Fluconazole believes that it borders on the criminal not to make the medicine available. That's why he is importing the approved generic, Biozole, in defiance of Pfizer's patent on the drug in South Africa.
As the vigil next to Nkosi Johnson's bedside continues and messages of support flood in from around South Africa and the world, doctors and AIDS lobbyists have applauded the contribution that this eleven year old little boy has made to challenging the ignorance and prejudice all too often associated with HIV/AIDS. Sue Valentine compiled this report and began by asking Treatment Action Campaign leader Zackie Achmat why he thought Nkosi has made such an impact on our lives.
A few weeks ago, the generic drug, Biozole, was successfully tested and found to be a valid equivalent of the anti-fungal medication, Fluconazole. This fulfils the conditions required by the Medicines Control Council before it can grant a Section 21 exemption that will allow Biozole to be used as a valid generic for specific purposes. Provided the exemption is granted, Biozole will be imported from Thailand by the Brooklyn Medical Centre and distributed free of charge to HIV/AIDS patients. Dr Steve Andrews, is a partner at the centre and is the man who will defy the Pfizer patent to dispense the life-saving generic drug. Sue Valentine spoke to him to find out what prompted this action.
Nkosi Johnson is in a semi-coma at his home in Melville, Johannesburg. During his 11years, the soft-spoken but determined little boy who was born with the HI virus has achieved more than many do in a lifetime. He has addressed world conferences, fought and won the right to attend his local school and established a haven for HIV positive mothers and children in Johannesburg. In July last year, on the eve of the 13th International Conference on AIDS in Durban, Health-e interviewed the young boy about his life, his hopes and his dreams.
Earlier  in the year  Health-e reported that Johannesburg Hospital's AIDS Clinic was unable to cope with the increasing load of patients. Nine months later, after  cutting back on patient numbers the clinic continues to only treat about 70 patients on Tuesdays, while new patients are subjected to waiting lists of up to four months. The  facility is staffed by part-time doctors who do it to ensure that the clinic remains semi-functional.
Researchers are concerned that the increase in the rate of sexual abuse of young girls, as well as increased mortality among girls aged between 15 - 19 years, are due to a change in men's sexual habits to avoid HIV by having sex with virgins and young girls. Jo Stein reports.
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