While government make final preparations to host the final meeting of President Thabo Mbeki'€™s international AIDS panel, tasked with discussing the link between HIV and AIDS and anti-HIV therapies, UNAIDS has revealed that South Africa has the largest number of people living with HIV/AIDS (4,2-million).
An article by Kerry Cullinan published in The Star, June/ July 2000.
It is death rather than renaissance that draws the foreign press to Africa. But where are the ethics that protect HIV/AIDS sufferers from unscrupulous journalists?
Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) has denied allegations by the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) that the U$100-million HIV/Aids grant made by the pharmaceutical giant last year to five southern African countries, including South Africa, was an attempt to "silence the voice of affordable medicine".
South African Airways "is not too sure" whether it is presently carrying out pre-employment HIV testing on prospective cabin attendants.According to a stipulation in the Employment Equity Act all employers need to get authorisation from the Labour Court to carry out pre-employment HIV testing.
South African AIDS Vaccine Initiative (SAAVI) scientists and co-workers will present some 25 papers at the World AIDS Conference to be held in Durban in July with a model-type vaccine developed by 2005, according to Dr Walter Prozesky, head of the initiative.
South Africans should move beyond the counterproductive debate about the cause of AIDS to an engagement with President Thabo Mbeki'€™s main thrust of argument '€“ seeking solutions that are appropriate to our circumstances in Africa, according to Professor Daniel Ncayiyana, editor of the SA Medical Journal (SAMJ).
A new study in the latest American Journal of Epidemiology has confirmed what experts have long suspected - that HIV infection rates based on the national antenatal surveys could well be an underestimate.
The fresh offer from five major pharmaceutical companies to reduce the price of anti-AIDS drugs still does not answer the vexed question of what is their best possible discounted price.
An announcement by the five pharmaceutical giants that they are prepared to reduce the price of key drugs used to treat people living with HIV/AIDS, has been met with scepticism.
What was supposed to be hearings by parliament's health portfolio committee into finding solutions to South Africa's high number of HIV infections, turned into an attack on the pharmaceutical industry this week. But with good reason
Tragically, South Africa has failed to manage and control the spread of HIV. Although a comprehensive national plan to fight the epidemic was formulated by a range of organisations before 1994, this has not been put into practice effectively.
The Legal Resources Centre (LRC) in Pretoria has taken the workers' compensation commissioner to court twice in the last year - and won. The commissioner was found guilty of unreasonable delay and received a penalty in the form of interest payments. The LRC is now considering taking the commissioner to court again, this time concerning delays in the objection process whereby rejected claims can be disputed.
Sarafina, Virodene, unspent millions - in a country with one of the fastest growing AIDS epidemics in the world, it's sobering to say the least that these are the predominant associations one makes with the fight against AIDS in South Africa. The AIDS Review 2000, released by the Centre for the Study of AIDS at the University of Pretoria and written by Hein Marais, offers a fascinating overview of the South African response to HIV/AIDS since 1994.
Although the HIV prevalence is high, the rate of increase in South Africa is beginning to stabilise, Health minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang revealed this week at the release of the tenth annual ante-natal HIV survey.
Until recently, the National Association for People Living with AIDS (NAPWA) has had a policy of hiring only HIV positive employees. However, NAPWA has been re-thinking this policy on the grounds that each and every South African is affected by the disease. Some also feel that the continuing distinction between HIV-positive and HIV-negative people runs the risk of feeding into the very prejudice and stigma which organisations such as NAPWA hope to overcome.
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