A major hurdle in the path towards the implementation of a national HIV and AIDS Care and Treatment Plan has been cleared. At a parliamentary briefing on Monday, the Minister of Health, Dr Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, announced that tenders for drug procurement in preparation for the roll-out of the Plan are to be advertised this Friday, (13/02/04).
A major hurdle in the path towards the implementation of a national HIV and AIDS Care and Treatment Plan has been cleared. At a parliamentary briefing on Monday, the Minister of Health, Dr Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, announced that tenders for drug procurement in preparation for the roll-out of the Plan are to be advertised this Friday, (13/02/04).
Why do South African consumers pay so much for prescription drugs? Health-e News Service follows the money and explains exactly who pockets what in the profit chain.
About 120 old-age pensioners from Khayelitsha are trying to help their children, grandchildren and communities to better understand HIV and AIDS. The pensioners are trained by the organization, Neighbourhood Old Age Homes (NOAH), in a pilot project that enables senior citizens to take messages of prevention and care to their households and onto the streets. Health-e spoke to some of the grandmothers at the NOAH centre in Khayelitsha.
Have AIDS deaths been exaggerated as South African writer Rian Malan claimed in a recent controversial article published in the British magazine The Spectator?
Contrary to popular belief, female genital mutilation is taking place in South Africa. At the National Conference on Gender Based violence in November, Magistrate Tshifiwa Maumela of Mutale District in Limpopo Province said that the practice was no longer something that took place only north of our borders.
The Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has issued a call for a new round of proposals for grant funding.
The World Health Organisation warns that cardiovascular disease, tobacco-related illness and road deaths are increasingly responsible for millions of deaths in the developing world.
HIV and AIDS has reduced labour capacity, increased absenteeism and raised the cost of employee benefits according to a new survey by Bureau for Economic Research (BER).
One in five teenage fathers admitted to forcing girls to have sex with them, and 30% of these forced sexual encounters resulted in the girls becoming pregnant.
Three months after the government'€™s delayed authorisation of the release of the Global Fund grants into South African AIDS, TB and Malaria projects, the money has still not reached its destination. The problem? According to the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the government has to make a formal request before the institution can make the money available.
With Cabinet approval for the rollout of anti-retroviral drugs, the Gauteng government is moving at top speed to ensure that the drugs are available at 22 health facilities within a year, reaching an estimated 10 000 AIDS patients.
Government'€™s historic announcement this week that all HIV-positive South Africans needing anti-retrovirals will be treated within the next five years could be the much-needed catalyst to uplift the country'€™s struggling national healthcare system.
Cabinet has referred the draft "Operational Plan for Comprehensive HIV and AIDS Care and Treatment" back to the technical task team to provide more information on certain legal matters and the "scope of research" during implementation of the roll-out.
Government is likely to compel medical aid schemes to offer their members antiretroviral drugs.
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