News

In an interview with Dr Nono Simelela, co-ordinator of the government's "Operational Plan for Comprehensive HIV and AIDS Care and Treatment" and chief director for HIV/AIDS, TB and STIs, Health-e asks her about early missed deadlines and the steps needed to implement the plan. The interview was conducted in Pretoria on February 5, 2004.

Although two million South Africans were treated for sexually transmitted infections in the public sector in 2002, it is estimated that some 8,4 million people contracted an STI in the same year.

Have AIDS deaths been exaggerated as South African writer Rian Malan claimed in a recent controversial article published in the British magazine The Spectator?

The Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has issued a call for a new round of proposals for grant funding.

A new book titled "The Moral Economy of AIDS" by University of Cape Town economist Dr Nicoli Nattrass was published recently, adding to the canon of South African literature on HIV/AIDS. Health-e News Service asked her what she meant by a “moral economy”.

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).

Five to six million people infected with HIV/AIDS in the developing world need access to anti-retroviral drugs, but only about 400 000 receive this life-prolonging treatment.

Scientists would describe the Ramothwalas and the Leons as "discordant couples", which means that one partner is HIV positive and the other HIV negative. But how much discord has the virus brought to their lives?

A group of HIV positive women from Khayelitsha in Cape Town have found a unique way to tell and preserve their life stories and to give the epidemic a face.

Few white South Africans know their HIV status or are prepared to disclose it. But one woman, who lost her granddaughter and son to AIDS because doctors failed to recognize that both were infected, is speaking out.

Behind some trees, just off the N2 highway past Richards Bay, a unique village is taking shape that aims to address the many problems faced by people with HIV/AIDS.

Southern Africa is home to about 30% of people living with HIV or AIDS worldwide, yet this region has less than 2% of the world’s population.

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.

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.

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.

Worlds apart, yet united by common purpose, two very different South Africans choose to become part of the AIDS solution.

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.

As Nepad's efforts to coordinate African development creates jobs and opportunities, those who benefit may become more vulnerable to HIV/AIDS, an AIDS conference in Maputo hears.

MAPUTO: Despite being one of Africa's poorest nations, Mozambique has started an ambitious HIV/AIDS treatment plan which has already been treating patients with antiretroviral drugs for 300 days.