Strike wreaks havoc on health services
The public servants' strike has left patients high and dry as services have shut down and patients are being turned away from hospitals. A visit to the Sebokeng Hospital in the Vaal proved just that.
Health Systems
Read More » Strike wreaks havoc on health services
Hospital battles to help the most helpless of patients
A row of tiny babies, many premature and weighing less than a kilogramme, lie under blue ultraviolet lights. Feeding tubes snake into their little noses while others are fed intravenously.
Baby Blues
For the last decade, everyone living and working with AIDS has been preoccupied with securing access to life-saving drugs. Now that just under a million South Africans are on ARVs, there's a new frontier in the fight against the virus: Safeguarding the human rights of people living with HIV.
Strike impact
Government got an interdict over the weekend ordering public service workers to return back to work. In the wake of the strike last week, public sector hospitals, which already operate with insufficient staffing levels, were abandoned and patients suffered the consequences.
High level of intimidation of docs and nurses
Government resorts to court to prevent intimidation of healthworkers as patients are abandoned in hospitals.
Striking ‘the only weapon we have’
Lucas Shimanga, a finance clerk at the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital, is one of hundreds of thousands of striking government employees who have abandoned their posts at various institutions, including hospitals and schools.
Partnering to spread AIDS Living with AIDS # 444
Have you ever wondered why HIV spreads so fast in Africa? Have you ever thought that people considered high risk takers, like sex workers and truck drivers, are at more risk of HIV infection than yourself? Molecular biologist and author, Helen Epstein, turns conventional wisdom around in her renowned book, 'The Invisible Cure: Africa, the West and the Fight against AIDS'.
Working in fear ‘ nurses and doctors
There is chaos and widespread intimidation in KwaZulu-Natal hospitals as working nurses and doctors are coerced to join the strike by public servants.
PEPFAR makes u-turn in Uganda
Advocacy organisations in the US and Uganda have welcomed the announcement that the U.S. global AIDS program, PEPFAR, has reversed severe restrictions that capped enrollment of new HIV patients on life saving treatment in Uganda.
Rape survivors still feel marginalised
Every 17 seconds a woman is raped in South Africa. According to the South African Police Services' 2006 rape statistics, close to 55 000 women reported being raped that year. But how many more rapes go unreported, and why?
Eastern Cape asks for R1.7-bn
The Public Service Accountability Monitor has issued a statement revealing details on the dire state of the Eastern Cape health department's finances. It also called on the department to reveal how the situation will impact on patients.
Need for African govts to increase health spending Living with AIDS # 441
At the recent International AIDS Conference in Vienna, Austria, Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi appealed to donors to desist from cutting aid to support AIDS programmes in sub-Saharan Africa. The irony of his call, however, is that countries in Africa are not increasing their spending on health.
Health systems to blame for Charlotte Maxeke baby deaths
A gastro-intestinal infection killed six babies at the Charlotte Maxeke Hospital in May, according to findings of an investigation launched into the tragedy. The investigation also found that health care staff did all they could to save the babies. Hospital systems, however, were found to be lacking.
HIV funding cutbacks will hamper treatment success
Health Minister, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi has cautioned those attending the International AIDS conference that backtracking on funding for HIV by donors could threaten the treatment success rates. Read his speech here.
AIDS funds fall flat
Global funding for AIDS efforts fell flat during last year's economic meltdown, ending a six-year streak of annual donation increases, according to new analysis released this week.