Debate is raging about some people using unconventional methods to access the government's social grants. Some claim that a number of people with AIDS, who upon severe illness can qualify for a temporary disability grant, stop taking their antiretrovirals out of fear that they might forfeit the grants once their state of health improves.
Several anecdotes suggest that patients with HIV, AIDS and TB might be defaulting on their treatment for fear of losing their temporary disability grants should they get better. Some of these anecdotes further allege that some people might even go as far as exposing themselves to the HI virus.
Dismissed health workers will offer their services to Khayelitsha's Site B health facility in the morning following an interim interdict by the Cape High Court ordering the health department to restore reasonable functioning of services in the area.
Four weeks ago, we reported that Defence union, SASFU is taking the South African National Defence Force to court over what it calls 'discriminatory policies' on HIV/AIDS. This week, we hear how the union argues in court papers that the SANDF has made HIV a career-limiting factor for positive members and recruits alike.
AIDS activists and their lawyers are gearing up for another battle in court in an attempt to force the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) to commit to the humane treatment of HIV-positive prisoners.
'Consensus' is the theme of the third South African AIDS conference, which opens in Durban today (5 June) and, for the first time ever, it appears that agreement is possible between government, scientists and AIDS organisations on a wide variety of issues.
The lack of public sector antiretroviral programmes is no longer the reason why many HIV-infected people in Africa will die prematurely. A chronic shortage of staff to administer these programmes has now become the greatest challenge to saving lives.
An independent 'ombudsman' to monitor patients' access to health care has been mooted by the SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) ahead of its three-day public hearings on health services.
The Health Products Association ' the umbrella body for the complementary and alternative medicines industry - has criticized the government for failing to create regulations the industry.
A lack of guidelines regulating the multi-billion rand complementary medicines industry makes it difficult to control against false medicinal claims. This places consumers at the mercy of charlatans who claim that they can cure AIDS and other conditions.
Medecins Sans Frontieres' (MSF) flagship antiretroviral programme in Khayelitsha is taking strain and has been forced to put patients on waiting lists as nurses and doctors struggle to cope with the growing demand.
The South African Security Forces Union filed court papers against its employer, the South African National Defence Force, this week. The union seeks to challenge five SANDF policies which it says discriminate against HIV-positive soldiers.
A private hospital group is recruiting professional nurses from India to work in its Western Cape intensive care unit wards where the shortage is most critical.
'Miracles' have been taking place at Mofolo Hospice with the arrival of anti-retrovirals as patients admitted on the brink of death leave the in-patient unit on their own two feet.
Hospice workers become the voice of the vulnerable, supporting those at the end of their lives.
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