Health

Virginity testing cannot prevent HIVAIDS

Health

With their panties scrunched up in their hands, the girls laying in a row on the ground of a township football stadium range from five to 22 years old. The virginity tester, whose job it is to determine whether the girls are still virgins, uses the same pair of gloves for all 85 girls. Certificates are exchanged, at a cost of R5 each, for all but the three of the girls who "failed" the test. This is a scene described by University of Natal anthropologist, Suzanne Leclerc-Madlala who points out that regular virginity testing is gaining growing public support as an AIDS prevention strategy in South Africa, especially in KwaZulu'Natal.

Bibi-Aisha Wadvalla
September 1, 2000

Protecting kids from tobacco advertising

Health

Large numbers of children as young as seven years old can recognise product logos and names - even for products they don't use such as cigarettes, snuff and beer.This, says Dr Krisela Steyn of the Medical Research Council, is all the more reason why the new tobacco control legislation should impose strict controls on the advertising of tobacco products and their logos.

Bibi-Aisha Wadvalla
September 1, 2000

Nkosi Johnson talks to the world

Health

Nkosi Johnson is 11 years old and is living with AIDS. His mother died from AIDS when he was very young and he has grown up in Johannesburg with his adopted mother, Gail Johnson. Among the giant sets and razzmatazz of the opening ceremony of the 13th International AIDS conference in Durban in July, Nkosi cut a small figure as he stepped onto the stage to deliver his poignant message to the world.

Health-e News
August 29, 2000

Smoking ‘ what the regulations say

Health

The Tobacco Products Control Amendment Act, which comes into effect on October 1st, imposes tight controls on smoking in restaurants, pubs, shebeens, hotels and workplaces, as well as limiting tobacco advertising and the sale of tobacco products.

Bibi-Aisha Wadvalla
August 25, 2000

Robotic surgery to become the norm

Health

"The future of surgery ' and medicine in general ' is not in blood and guts, but in bits and bytes," says University of Cape Town Prof of Cardiothoracic Surgery Ulrich Von Oppell.Von Oppell recently spent seven months at the University of Leipzig which, in his opinion, has one of the most up-to-date robotic theatres in the world. Apart from increasing surgical control and precision, robotic surgery makes possible new surgical procedures which could never be done by the human hand. JO STEIN reports.

Bibi-Aisha Wadvalla
August 25, 2000

Breast or bottle? Don’t mix your milk

Health

HIV positive mothers are often advised to bottle-feed their babies to avoid the possible transmission of HIV through breast-milk. This sets HIV-infected women apart from all other mothers, who are encouraged to breastfeed exclusively for six months. But exciting new research, conducted by Professor Anna Coutsoudis and colleagues at the University of Natal, shows that exclusive breastfeeding for the first three months may result in no greater risk of HIV transmission than exclusive bottle-feeding. Coutsoudis's findings still need to be confirmed by other studies. If they are confirmed, it will be extremely good news for HIV positive women, especially in developing countries such as South Africa where exclusive breastfeeding is cheaper, healthier, and a more socially acceptable option in many communities.

Health-e News
August 24, 2000

The legacy of the “dop” system

Health

Although the "dop" system, whereby wine farmers pay their workers with alcohol has largely disappeared, many farms supply wine to workers on credit, contributing to poor health and social conditions. This is according to a recent survey conducted by the Dopstop Association, which found that the health and environmental conditions were significantly poor on several Stellenbosch farms where alcohol was easily available on credit or through sales. ANSO THOM reports.

Anso Thom
August 24, 2000

Swaziland, Botswana crack down on HIV+ people

Health

The punitive measures that Swaziland and Botswana want to introduce for HIV positive people are unfortunate, says AIDS expert.

Kerry Cullinan
August 23, 2000

Lower pension age, say AIDS organisations

Health

Older people, particularly women, bear the brunt of caring for AIDS orphans. However, many of these people are not yet 60 years old and have no access to pensions. For this reason, some organisations are calling on government to lower the pension age to ease the burden of care on "underage" grandmothers and grandfathers.

Kerry Cullinan
August 22, 2000

The highs and lows of the AIDS 2000 conference

Health

Now that the delegates have left town, the exhibition halls emptied and the media centre silent, what impact has the 13th International AIDS conference had on efforts to prevent and treat the disease in our country? Sue Valentine reports

Bibi-Aisha Wadvalla
August 21, 2000

Race is on to provide Nevirapine

Health

Health minister Dr Manto Tshabalala-Msimang has indicated that role-players are "working with a sense of urgency to apply our minds reasonably and carefully to the possibility of providing drug therapy to HIV positive pregnant women".

Anso Thom
August 18, 2000

Volunteers make all the difference

Health

Volunteering is no longer just for those with time and money to spare, it can be a major social force and will become a necessity in order to care for people with HIV/AIDS, says the director of The Volunteer Centre in Cape Town, Joan Daries.

Health-e News
August 17, 2000

Cheap drug could reduce mortality in HIV infected infants

Health

A cheap prophylaxis drug, trimethoprim-sulphamethoxazole (TMP-SMX) cotrimoxazole, has shown to prevent the unnecessary death of many HIV infected infants who succumb to a deadly strain of pneumonia, according to University of Cape Town (UCT) researchers.

Anso Thom
August 15, 2000

S A wins Anti-Tobacco Award

Health

The 11th World Conference on Tobacco OR Health currently underway in Chicago has honoured the South African health ministry for its leadership in tobacco control.

Bibi-Aisha Wadvalla
August 11, 2000

More reliable method to diagnose TB in young children

Health

University of Cape Town researchers have found a less invasive and more reliable method of confirming pulmonary tuberculosis in infants and young children, especially those who are HIV infected.

Anso Thom
August 11, 2000

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