Taking care of people who are very sick or dying has traditionally been left to hospices. But in a novel partnership, the Gauteng Health Department will launch the Centre for Excellent Palliative Care at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital tomorrow (Friday, 15/08/2008). This integrates this kind of care into the public health service.
The public health sector has come under criticism over poor services and the failure to implement government policies effectively.
Over 22 000 of the world's key HIV/AIDS scientists, academics and activists descend on Mexico City this Sunday (3 August) for the start of the 17th international AIDS conference.
The Department of Health is reviewing its guidelines for antiretroviral treatment, and at the heart of discussions is whether people should be able to start taking medication sooner.
The Department of Health may allow people living with HIV to get antiretroviral drugs earlier than at present.
Every day, over 2,5-billion people suffer from a lack of access to improved sanitation and half of these practise open defecation, the riskiest sanitary practice of all, according to a report issued by the WHO/UNICEF.
South Africa's top researchers, policy makers, managers and providers have released the outcome of a roundtable discussion held last year, where they grappled with antiretroviral access and the health system's capacity to cope with the increasing demand.
Last week we reported on the launch of guidelines developed by the Southern African HIV Clinicians' Society to prevent and treat TB and HIV in prisons. Their implementation will not be easy.
Health minister Dr Manto Tshabalala-Msimang has told the Board of Healthcare Funders' annual conference that the private health sector has seen an uncontrolled cost spiral since the 1980s and it has become increasingly unaffordable for South Africans to belong to medical schemes.
She identified the most important cost drivers as private hospitals, specialists and administrative costs. Read the Minister's full speech here.
The Southern African HIV Clinicians' Society recently published guidelines aimed at the prevention and treatment of HIV and TB in prisons, affirming the rights of prisoners to quality health care.
The AIDS Law Project (ALP) and Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) have hit back after two senior health department officials attacked one of its senior leader's presentation at the national tuberculosis conference in Durban last week.
This is the last in our two-part conversation with Dr Thys von Mollendorff, author of 'Dare to care', a personal account of how political interference can deny patients the right to appropriate and quality health care.
DURBAN - South Africa needs to revisit its stubborn policy of not employing foreign qualified doctors from other African countries, despite the fact that they are already in the country, the country's first TB conference has heard.
Independent health economist, Alex van den Heever, says the country's public health system does not have the capacity to accommodate foreign migrants. The statement follows a series of reports of foreign migrants being denied access to health care.
Smoke-free policies are reducing heart disease related to smoke exposure, the prevalence of smoking in adults and the exposure of both adults and children to second-hand smoke.
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