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.
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
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".
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.
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.
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.
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.
For many young people, resigned to a life with few opportunities and a future without promise, sex is one of life?s few pleasures. But their lack of faith in the future means that many are not bothering to practice safe sex.
The Chamber of Milling, a body representing the maize and flour industry, has come out in support of moves by Government to enrich the staple foods of South Africans, such as maize meal, bread flour and possibly sugar despite concerns over the cost implications.
South Africa is considering enriching staple foods such as maize meal, bread flour and possibly sugar following the finding of a health department survey that one in five children between the ages of one and nine years is stunted.
The Compensation Commissioner'€™s Office has been strongly criticised for the time it takes to settle workers'€™ occupational health claims. Some say this is the fault of companies that obstruct the commission'€™s work, but regardless of where the blame lies, it is workers like Derick Wolfaardt who suffer the consequences. Jo Stein reports.
The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) is heading for a showdown with the government if it does not approve the use of Nevirapine to prevent mother to child transmission of HIV. The question of giving Nevirapine to pregnant women is on the agenda for the next MINMEC meeting on August 12 when the Minister of Health, Dr Manto Tshabalala-Msimang is scheduled to meet with the provincial MECs for health.
Ella and Paul Hartley's lifestyle characterises the lifestyle of many South African middle-class whites. Their neat small home is in Sasolburg's suburbia. They have three children. He works, she is a housewife and they have two pet dogs. By Cecelia Russel.
AIDS pandemic forces communities to confront two of the world's most uncomfortable taboos: death and sex, conference learns.
Gail Johnson adopted Nkosi Johnson when he was three years old. Despite being HIV positive, Nkosi is now eleven. Nkosi dreamed the other night that a voice told him he must die. When Gail asked him if he wanted to die, Nkosi said, "No, not yet." "Well then," replied Gail, "We'€™ve got to fight."
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