The national health department has signed off new HIV treatment guidelines, bringing South Africa in line with international best practice and removing a drug responsible for a wide range of side effects.

Treating herpes does not reduce the risk of transmitting HIV, a New England Journal of Medicine study has found. The anti-herpes medication is dispensed from all South African Primary Healthcare clinics in the public sector and has been added to the sexually transmitted infection treatment guidelines.

HIV prevention is based on getting people to change their sexual habits '€“ but this is a very difficult process as President Zuma has shown.

Health-e staff will soon be embarking on our annual break. Feel free to browse our website and send any stories or suggestions to editor@health-e.org.za See you in 2010!

President Jacob Zuma'€™s announcement last week that he will take a public HIV test will go a long way in boosting a massive HIV testing campaign that will start early next year. This will encourage all South Africans to know their status.

KwaZulu-Natal has managed to slash HIV transmission from mothers to their newborn babies by almost two thirds -- to seven percent '€“ since it introduced '€œdual therapy'€. This is according to research being released today (Tues 8th) following a huge, year-long study that involved interviewing 38 000 mothers at 347 clinics in six districts in the province.

Antiretroviral therapy (ART) can be delivered safely in the first year without routine laboratory monitoring for toxic effects, according to an article in The Lancet.

Experience from other countries shows that not everyone will respond well to the same antiretroviral drugs. Some will improve, others will not. Those who fail on one or more group of drugs need a replacement. But the current pool of ARV drugs in the public sector offers no alternative.

Nomthandazo Mtuta'€™s life story is a powerful testimony to how themothers2mothers (m2m) programme has spared many parents the heartbreak of having to bury their children.

Simple in its design and methodology, yet massive in its impact - the mothers2mothers (m2m) programme is emerging as one of the Aids epidemic'€™s success stories.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has released new recommendations on HIV treatment and prevention and for the first time recommended that HIV-positive mothers or their infants take antiretrovirals while breastfeeding to prevent HIV transmission.

Years of digging for gold at Anglo-American mines have left Zonesele Blom with an incurable lung disease, called silicosis. His health has deteriorated to such a degree that he is no longer fit to work.

OPINION: Surveys have consistently shown that over 40% of Americans do not believe in evolution. It is not surprising, then, that our society is vulnerable to being fooled by people who misrepresent scientific or historical facts. By Dr. J.P. Moore, PHD.