The past 11 months have seen HIV/AIDS assume the spotlight in South Africa as never before. However, despite all the meetings, protests and discussions, people have continued to die from AIDS-related symptoms and the numbers of AIDS orphans and HIV positive babies have continued to climb. In this article, we take a month by month look at AIDS in South Africa in 2000.
Will South Africa be able to stem the tide before it is too late? Will the country show a commitment towards finding innovative ways to treat the already more than four million people living with HIV/AIDS or providing a sanctuary for the millions of orphans that will result from the epidemic? Or will our response continue to be questions related to the link between HIV and AIDS, the toxicity of drugs such as AZT or the vested interests of the drug companies. Anso Thom reports
In a wide-ranging, exclusive interview, Dr Nono Simelela, head of government's HIV/AIDS Directorate, spells out to Kerry Cullinan how government is fighting the epidemic.
On World AIDS Day (Dec.1) paediatricians throughout the country launched a protest campaign against government's failure to fast-track plans to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV.An estimated 200 HIV positive babies are born every day in South Africa, but this figure could be halved if all HIV positive mothers were given anti-retroviral drugs during pregnancy and labour. KERRY CULLINAN reports.
Today (Dec1) paediatricians throughout the country are launching a protest campaign against government?s failure to fast-track plans to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV.An estimated 200 HIV positive babies are born every day in South Africa, but this figure could be halved if all HIV positive mothers were given anti-retroviral drugs during pregnancy and labour. KERRY CULLINAN reports.
Caring for the terminally ill with AIDS is emotionally taxing. Kerry Cullinan visits some carers in Daveyton
On World AIDS Day, December 1, paediatricians around the country will hand in petitions to their respective MECs for Health. Their call is for government to provide the affordable, anti-retroviral drug Nevirapine to help prevent the transmission of HIV from mothers to their babies. This action is in response to the growing frustration and despondency among doctors who are left virtually helpless in the face of the epidemic and can offer little more than palliative care to their patients. Health-e spoke to a paediatrician who works at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital.
Today is World AIDS day. A key figure leading the government's programme to combat the disease is the Chief Director of the national HIV/AIDS Directorate, Dr Nono Simelela. In an exclusive interview with Health-e News Service she looked back at what has and hasn't been accomplished and what areas government is prioritising for the future.
How did you learn about sex? From your parents, your friends, books or magazines? South Africans of all cultural backgrounds share a common awkwardness and reluctance to talk about sex. We might all say that sex is normal and natural, but we don't always behave that way. Sex is something that is whispered about, or worse still, never discussed at all. But when a sexually transmitted virus has the potential to decimate our society - it's time the conversation began. In this series of four articles, we speak to parents, a school guidance councillor and a clinic nurse who talk about the difficulty - but the necessity - of talking to children about sex and sexuality.
For the first time there are signs that HIV incidence may have stabilised in parts of sub-Saharan Africa. But with 4,2-million infected people, South Africa has the largest number of people living with HIV/AIDS in the world. Anso Thom reports on the latest UNAIDS/WHO report
For once, it's good news. Gauteng is getting it right in its fight against HIV/AIDS.
Mercy Makhalemele has been thrown out of home, fired from her job, rejected and beaten, all because people discovered she was HIV positive. She is now open and outspoken about her life and the virus she lives with. Listen to her talk about living with AIDS.
If party political promises would translate into improved basic health care, the lives of many underprivileged South African would be transformed - and yet when it come to health issues most parties are only interested in beating the HIV/AIDS drum to woo voters. By Anso Thom
Suzanne believes in not telling children more than they ask when it comes to sex. 'Don't overload them,' says the mother of Cape Town teenager Catherine (14).
Preventing pregnancy is uppermost in many parents and teenagers' minds, says clinic nurse Noxolo Ntenetya. But HIV/AIDS seems to be far less of a concern.
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