In the absence of easily available and affordable access to AIDS treatment, the burden of care for those who are sick falls on individual households, NGOs and faith-based organisations who respond to the needs they see around them. Health-e News meets care-giver, Caiphas Mohale of Bolobedu, in Tzaneen, Limpopo province.
Rape survivors are entitled to get PEP within 72 hours of the incident from their PEP designated public clinics. Zoleka Nqonqoza a Rape Crisis Coordinator of Ncedo Rape Centres in Port Elizabeth explains the extent of rape cases they receive and how PEP works.
Natalia Baloyi has a lot to smile about these days. Hers is a tale of what hope and determination can help one achieve in times of trouble. Almost three years ago, as a 22 year-old Natalia was unemployed and head of a household with three siblings and a son of her own following the death of her parents from a suspected AIDS-related disease. Health-e goes back to the young women we first met in 2001 at her home in Marironi village outside Tzaneen in Limpopo province.
Mehleng ena, Natalia Baloyi o ena le lebaka la ho bososela. Pale ya hae ke e supisang hore le ha ho ka eba boima jwang, katleho e tla finyelleha ha feela motho o ena le tshepo le maikemisetso. Lemong tse ka bang tharo tse fetileng, a ena le dilemo tse 22, Natalia o ne a sa sebetse, a bile a hlokomela lelapa labo la dikgaitsedi tse tharo le ngwana e mong eo e leng wa hae. Sena ka mora hore batswadi ba hae ba hlokahale ka mora hore ba kule. Ho hopolwa hore ba nkuwa ke lefu la Phamokathe. Ka mora lemo tsena Health-e News Service e boela e etela Natalia motseng wa habo wa Marironi, Tzaneen, Limpopo.
Memory box and body map outreach worker Nondumiso Hlwele talks about how the project has helped her define her past and face her future. It's also unearthed her talent for drawing and depicting the world around her.
This week we hear from people living with AIDS who readily admit they owe their lives to the support and information they receive from being part of an organisation committed to securing access to treatment.
The relationship between the South African government and the Clinton Foundation, which helped procure low cost antiretroviral drugs for the country's long-awaited AIDS treatment programme, appears to have broken down.
In the space of five years, the Western Cape has set up prevention of mother-to-child treatment sites throughout the province as well as providing antiretroviral treatment on a limited basis. Health-e asked the head of the AIDS Programme in the Western Cape, Dr. Fareed Abdullah to share the lessons they've learned over the past 10 years.
The national treatment plan for HIV and AIDS offers a new opportunity to dispel some of the myths about the virus and to educate people about the epidemic and how best to take care of themselves. The development of this vital communications campaign is already under way.
In the 10 years since our first democratic election in 1994, the HIV prevalence rate among pregnant women has risen from 7.6 percent to 26.5 percent. Ignorance, fear and prejudice have defined the reponse to HIV/AIDS in many countries and South Africa has been no different. However, a key organisation that has emerged to defend the rights of people infected and affected by HIV/AIDS is the Treatment Action Campaign. Health-e looks at how activists have risen to the challenge.
Pressure is mounting on government to honour its promise to roll out an HIV and AIDS Care and Treatment Plan. The plan had aimed to have 53 000 patients on treatment by the end of March 2004, however, it is clear this deadline won't be met. Health-e News Service finds out why.
Results from a recent survey by the South African Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS (SABCOHA) and the Bureau for Economic Research show that most companies have failed to respond to the epidemic. Only a quarter of the 1006 companies surveyed have implemented a workplace policy on HIV/AIDS, and even less have a Voluntary Counselling and Testing programme, or provide care, treatment and support for infected workers.
Three young South African AIDS patients recently missed essential doses of their antiretroviral drugs after the supplier, Merck Sharp & Dohme ran out of stocks. The pharmaceutical giant ran out of its 50 mg tablet of Efavirenz, or Stocrin, one of the principle AIDS medicines for children aged three and older. A serious consequence of such shortages is that resistance to the particular drug can develop if patients interrupt their treatment. Furthermore, irregular drug supplies could jeopardise the government's imminent roll-out of an HIV and AIDS treatment plan.
The South African National Defence Force this week launched Project Phidisa, a programme aimed at providing treatment, including anti-retrovirals, to army members known to be ill with AIDS-defining conditions. The service will also extend to their families.
A new book titled "The Moral Economy of AIDS" by University of Cape Town economist Dr Nicoli Nattrass was published recently, adding to the canon of South African literature on HIV/AIDS. Health-e News Service asked her what she meant by a 'moral economy'.
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