Sindiswa Gondwana is HIV positive, but lives a full and active life, thanks largely to the support of friends and family. She believes firmly in the value of support groups and is herself a volunteer who visits people who are HIV positive, encouraging them to adopt an optimistic approach to life.
Treatment Action Campaign chairperson, Zackie Achmat is often in the news. Most recently he made the headlines for importing a quantity of cheap, generic anti-retroviral drugs from Thailand. It was a deliberate act, calculated to show that access to affordable treatment is possible. But who is the man behind the political campaign, what motivates him and how does he feel about living with AIDS? SUE VALENTINE reports.
While politicians and health economists debate the cost implications of offering mother to child treatment programmes, health workers face HIV positive men, women and children on a daily basis.
In this week's feature on "Living with AIDS", we take a look at the fuss surrounding a generic version of the patented drug, fluconazole, which was imported illegally from Thailand recently as a protest action by the Treatment Action Campaign.
The growing number of women who smoke and have become addicted to nicotine was among the issues highlighted at the public hearings held by the World Health Organisation (WHO) last week as a precursor to this week's negotiations leading to a Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.
The Tobacco Products Control Amendment Act, which comes into effect on October 1st, imposes tight controls on smoking in restaurants, pubs, shebeens, hotels and workplaces, as well as limiting tobacco advertising and the sale of tobacco products.
Intergovernmental negotiations that will lead to a Framework Convention on Tobacco Control governing the sale and marketing of tobacco are set to begin in earnest today (Tuesday).
Negotiations for a world treaty on tobacco control begin here today (Monday) among members of the World Health Assembly under the auspices of the World Health Organisation (WHO).
The overwhelming bulk of evidence presented on the second day of World Health Organisation's hearings into the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control called on the international health body to impose tough restrictions on the sale and marketing of tobacco.
Tobacco giants Philip Morris and British American Tobacco both stated explicitly yesterday that nicotine is addictive and that smoking causes a variety of diseases. SUE VALENTINE reports.
The first ever hearings by the World Health Organisation (WHO) to adopt a convention to control tobacco products worldwide began in Geneva yesterday (Thursday). SUE VALENTINE reports.
In this audio feature, a look at how the anti- AIDS Mother to Child Treatment programme works in Khayelitsha and meet one of the women who received AZT during her pregnancy.
In this week's programme, we visit the Mother to Child Treatment (MTCT) programme in Khayelitsha. The MTCT programme is not only proving successful in helping pregnant women prevent the transmission of HIV to their babies, but is also having a significant impact on how people understand and respond to the HIV/AIDS.
This week, in our weekly feature on HIV/AIDS, the World Bank has completed new research on the impact of HIV/AIDS on South African society. Sue Valentine reports.
Living with AIDS is a weekly audio feature which can be heard every Thursday on SAfm radio on the programme, "AM Live" at 6.45am. It's presented by Sue Valentine.
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