Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - December 21, 2003
If you are headed for KwaZulu-Natal this season, and are hoping to meet that someone special, you are in for a good time. But also a risky one. A recent survey conducted in Durban has revealed that people in that city believe that oral sex is safe sex. The Durban Lesbian and Gay Community and Health Centre released its
Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - December 21, 2003
A is for art - lots of it - on Constitution Hill, courtesy of the visionary A for Albie Sachs, showing the potential for mutually beneficial partnerships between publicly funded facilities and artists. Art South Africa , the quarterly visual arts magazine, has defied the survival odds to become an indispensable art com
Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - December 19, 2003
Thabo Mbeki, President -- Grade: C (2002 C-) It is said that on the eve of Liberian dictator Charles Taylor s departure for exile, West African leaders pleaded with South Africa s Thabo Mbeki to be present at the handover ceremony. For them the presence of the South African leader would send a message to Liberia s peop
Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - December 19, 2003
Brigitte Mabandla, Minister of Housing -- Grade: D Brigitte Mabandla took office in February and her 10 months in the position have not, perhaps not unreasonably, borne any fruit. Observers say she is hamstrung by her lack of knowledge about housing - she was formerly the deputy minister of arts, culture, science and t
Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - December 19, 2003
Graeme Reid and Liz Walker**
There is an implicit irony in a public event that addresses the theme of secrecy. This was the experience of the Sex and Secrecy Conference where secrets, in this case sexual secrets, were brought into the public domain and subject to academic scrutiny. A point made succinctly by Professor Achille Mbembe: After all, we
Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - December 19, 2003
This year was one in which peace seriously threatened to break out all over the continent. However, true to form, Africa kept enough hot spots alive to maintain its status as the prime area of international concern. That concern could have been translated into action without troops by addressing the greatest threat to
Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - December 12, 2003
There is an urgent need for local suppliers of anti-retrovirals (ARVs), according to people living with HIV/Aids, pharmacies and manufacturer GlaxoSmithKline . This was highlighted by shortages this week in the supply of ARVs to South Africa . Despite the government s decision to roll out the provision of ARVs, a lack
Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - December 12, 2003
The widely welcomed agreement between pharmaceutical companies and the state s competitions body -- to issue multiple generic licences for anti-retrovirals (ARVs) -- will increase supply and decrease prices of these life-saving drugs. Aids activists celebrated the agreement this week, alongside another one between the
Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - December 10, 2003
It wasn t the president of Uganda s most electrifying speech on HIV/Aids. Bits of it were confused; others, platitudinous. But in the midst of his tired ramblings in honour of World Aids Day, President Yoweri Museveni managed to say something that infuriated half his audience and delighted the other half, and in doing
Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - December 10, 2003
Call me a killjoy, but I have to complain. My last column predicted that Aids would henceforth get less play given that the politics of anti-retroviral provision are over. Little did I know then that front-page coverage of the Durex global sex survey would push the latest figures of the United Nations Joint Programme o
Estimated worldwide HIV infections: 54 963 092 at 12.07pm on Thursday December 4, 2003 A weapon of mass destruction: Kofi Annan, the United Nations Secretary General, said Aids was a weapon of mass destruction for some countries and the world was losing the fight against the epidemic. He urged world leaders to do more
Has Trevor Manuel presented an election budget, or does it reflect a renewed commitment to social democracy? Social democracies seek wide legitimacy for their policies. The mini budget is based on the agreements reached at the Growth and Development Summit. This indicates a resurgence of social dialogue institutions li
Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - November 27, 2003
Those of you with Aids fatigue , brighten up. A pleasant illusion is coming your way. It s this: now that the battle for the government to provide anti-retrovirals has been won, you can look forward to a decline in the coverage of Aids. The reason is that the politics of the story just got a whole lot softer. Something
Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - November 26, 2003
As the 10-year Burundian civil war winds down, Kinama township, set against the hills of the capital, Bujumbura, is once more becoming the bustling place it was. A rutted dirt path just off the tarmac leads to a hardened mud courtyard and Gloriosa Bamboneyeho s house. In 1994, one year into the fighting between the Tut
Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - November 21, 2003
Households affected by HIV/Aids are more likely to spiral into debt and spend less money on food - which, in the long run, will contribute to malnutrition and chronic poverty. Research on 400 households in QwaQwa and Welkom was presented at a seminar on the impact of HIV/Aids on the economy and governance, held in Pret
Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - November 21, 2003
The war against HIV/Aids has been officially declared. General Manto Tshabalala-Msimang has issued a ground-breaking operational plan - which includes her African potato and garlic remedies, alongside the long-awaited roll-out of anti-retroviral (ARV) treatment. At last, the strategy is on the table. Now the challenge
Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - November 21, 2003
On his fourth visit to France this year, President Thabo Mbeki got the full treatment: the pomp and ceremony, the carriage ride, the state dinner - and even a glimpse of the jewelled dagger under the ornate cloak. The rare privilege of a state visit accorded the South African leader is something France reserves for its
Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - November 20, 2003
Estimated worldwide HIV infections: 54 761 439 at noon on Thursday November 20, 2003 High cost: Financial constraints were reported to be the most significant barrier to anti-retroviral adherence in patients living with HIV and Aids in Botswana prior to the introduction of free treatment. Reports say that though 54% of
Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - November 14, 2003
Gone are the days when psychotherapy was just for the rich and privileged. From next year clinical psychologists will be providing free mental health care to disadvantaged communities as part of their compulsory community service. For the past decade mental health practitioners have been calling for psychologists to be
Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - November 13, 2003
Estimated worldwide HIV infections: 54 661 987 at 1.40pm on Thursday November 13, 2003 Double trouble: HIV and malaria can independently cause complications during pregnancy, endangering the health of both the pregnant woman and her baby. But when the two diseases occur together, the dangers are compounded, according t
Few experiences have touched Zola Skweyiya as much as a visit to a remote village, Masoyi in Mpumalanga, where he found a whole community openly discriminating against three children who were suspected of being HIV-positive. The parents of the children (aged three, four and 12) had died of Aids-related diseases. The ch
Estimated worldwide HIV infections: 54 560 319 at 1pm on Thursday November 6, 2003 Morning-after HIV medication: A new Californian law could mark the first step toward increasing access to medication that many Aids experts believe can prevent HIV infection if taken immediately after exposure. The measure, AB 879, offer
The popular notion that mental illnesses such as depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder are the preserve of affluent, predominantly white suburban residents is as far removed from the facts as it is to assume that every outlying village is a haven of idyllic tranquillity. Mental health problems in South
The government is to stick to its expansionary fiscal policy despite slower than expected economic growth this year. In an interview last week, Kuben Naidoo, of the Budget Office of the National Treasury, said fiscal policy would be maintained in a way that is sustainable in the long term . This year s budget made prov
Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - Thursday 30 October, 2003
Estimated worldwide HIV infections: 54 458 889 at noon on Thursday 30 October, 2003 Legal protection: Stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV/Aids must be eradicated as a critical component of expanding access to treatment and care, according to UNAids and the World Health Organisation. According to th
Employers have shifted rising medical costs to their employees over the past 10 years, and are increasingly reluctant to fund retirement health benefits, Old Mutual s latest health-care survey finds. However, the survey also notes that employer attitudes towards HIV/Aids among their workers has improved. The survey was
I must admit feeling a touch nervous as I dare to question the analytical powerhouse that is Essop Pahad, minister of no defined portfolio in the Presidency. Far worthier minds than mine would hesitate to interrogate an archetypical revolutionary intellectual of Pahad s faculty. Honed to a razor s edge in the years he
The Department of Social Development has failed to produce guidelines to deal with the increasing numbers of orphaned children who need HIV-testing if they are to gain access to treatment once the government s anti-retroviral roll-out begins. This week the Aids Law Project (ALP) at Wits University s Centre for Applied
Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - Thursday October 23, 2003
Estimated worldwide HIV infections: 54 357 701 as of Thursday October 23, 2003 at 11.10am New drug: A flexible new anti-Aids drug, Lexiva, has been approved by the United States s Food and Drug Administration. Lexiva, launched by GlaxoSmithKline , is part of a class of drugs known as
Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - Thursday October 16, 2003
Estimated worldwide HIV infections: 54 257 519 at 12.10pm on Thursday October 16, 2003 Cut the risk: Uncircumcised men have an eight-fold higher risk of becoming infected with HIV than circumcised men, according to a study of 2 298 Indian men presented on Thursday at the 41st Annual Meeting of the Infectious Diseases S
Beyond the protracted anti-retroviral debate in South Africa is a worrying lack of attention to the shelter and services needs of families with members who are HIV-positive or living with Aids. Local government has been fingered as the villain for failing to deliver basic services - it must, argues a prominent scholar
Fighting Aids was supposed to show George Bush s softer side. Seldom has history offered a greater opportunity to do so much for so many, he said in his State of the Union address in January. He has since reconsidered, deciding instead to offer a few more opportunities to the few. First he handed the top job of his glo
Estimated worldwide HIV infections: 54 157 448 as of Thursday October 9, 2003 at 1.16pm Treatment plan: The Cabinet was briefed this week about progress on a report about a national HIV/Aids treatment plan, which includes anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs). The report, compiled by a task team, was presented to Minister of He
Pieter-Dirk Uys as he appears in his new video Survival Aids, which he proposes to send free of charge to schools, universities and prisons. The government s response to his criticism of President Thabo Mbeki s Aids pronouncements recalled PW Botha, satirist Pieter-Dirk Uys said this week. Uys was hitting back at scath
Personally, I don t know anybody who has died of Aids, President Thabo Mbeki told The Washington Post last week, prompting a flood of criticism and cartoons. It is estimated about 4,5-million South Africans are living with HIV, the highest number for any country in the world. Mbeki and his aides should have anticipate
Traditional healers have a crucial role to play in the implementation of a national anti-retroviral (ARV) treatment plan, especially in rural areas where there is a shortage of doctors. This was the major resolution reached at a forum hosted by the Traditional Healers Organisation (THO), which represents 25 000 members
Estimated worldwide HIV infections: 54 054 103 on Thursday October 2, 2003 at 9.02am Misdiagnosis: Patients may see a doctor up to three times before primary HIV infection is spotted. A review of 30 patients recruited to a United States study during primary infection found that doctors are routinely failing to diagnose
Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - September 29, 2003
As the Aids epidemic bites ever more deeply, companies are reeling from a massive upsurge in HIV-related disability claims. The steep increase in such claims could result in insurance cover becoming unaffordable. This emerged from an attempt to quantify the effect of HIV infections on the business sector and gain insig
Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - September 26, 2003
The third and most devastating wave of the HIV/Aids pandemic is now ravaging Eastern and Southern Africa. So warns a United Nations report presented at the 13th International Conference on Aids and STIs (sexually transmitted infections) in Africa, held this week in Nairobi, Kenya . This wave, said the report, threat
As the HIV/Aids crisis worsens, independent medical relief organisation Médécins Sans Frontières (MSF) has released a report on how countries can gain access to cheap anti-Aids drugs. The report was released on Monday at the 13th International Conference on Aids and STIs (sexually transmitted infections) in Africa. It
Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - September 25, 2003
Estimated worldwide HIV infections: 53 953 874 as of Thursday September 25, 2003 at 9.56am Rebound: Immune activation caused by infection with syphilis can stimulate latent reservoirs of HIV and cause viral load to rebound to low levels, according to a recent report on Aids. Researchers say syphilis should be considere
Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - September 19, 2003
As the government works out how to provide anti-retrovirals (ARVs) to people infected with HIV/Aids, health professionals are putting forward a strong case for combining HIV programmes and those dealing with tuberculosis (TB). In South Africa more than half of all TB patients are also infected with HIV/Aids.
Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - September 19, 2003
On Monday of last week President Thabo Mbeki cheerfully set off in his spanking-new Boeing, launching the Spring Collection in his popular Personable African Statesman international appearances. He uses these frequent trips both to air the gold-plated jacuzzis in his new aircraft and to let the rest of the world see ho
Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - September 17, 2003
Estimated worldwide HIV infections: 53 843 866 as of Wednesday September 17, 2003 Change of tune: South Africa s Medicines Control Council (MCC) has issued a statement stressing that the use of nevirapine for the prevention of mother to child transmission is not “banned” in South Africa, following the publication of fu
Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - September 14, 2003
The Pharmaceutical Society of South Africa (PSSA) on Saturday acknowledged research that a single dose of nevirapine was cost-effective saying despite a lack of resources in South Africa, the drug can be offered successfully to curb mother-to-child HIV transmission .
Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - September 12, 2003
Inkatha Freedom Party leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi has warned that South Africa is an embryonic one-party state and unless voters in 2004 are given an alternative there will be further consolidation of African National Congress central-government power. He was speaking at Thursday s first joint parliamentary caucus meet
Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - September 10, 2003
Estimated worldwide HIV infections: 53 640 776 at 4.15pm on Wednesday September 10, 2003 Fat protects: Women who are overweight experience slower HIV progression and have higher CD4 cell counts than women who are underweight, according to research published in the September 1 edition of Clinical Infectious Diseases.
Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - September 10, 2003
Nawaal Deane
I was not going to vote for this government if my child died of Aids. This was the vow that Nombuyiselo Maphongwane s mother made after witnessing her daughter suffering from full-blown Aids. Six weeks ago Maphongwane had her will ready. But, having taken anti-retroviral drugs for six weeks, she rediscovered her deter
Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - September 3, 2003
Estimated worldwide HIV infections: 53 640 776 at 4.15pm on Wednesday September 3, 2003 Sobering: Two unusual cases of HIV transmission within two Australian families are reported in the latest issue of AIDS. The first case involves a 16-year-old girl and her 18-year-old sister. The younger sister became aware of her H
The knives are out at the National Development Agency (NDA), with staff at the organisation insisting that a ministerially ordered investigation into employment irregularities and misuse of funds be transparent. Minister of Social Development Zola Skweyiya this week appointed a team to conduct a preliminary investigati
Estimated worldwide HIV infections: 53 539 087 as of 2.46pm on Wednesday August 27, 2003 Twist in the tale: Letters in the latest issue of the journal Aids tell contrasting tales about HIV treatment in developing countries. M‚decins Sans FrontiŠres (MSF) writes that treatment can be delivered as effectively as in indus
Battle lines have been drawn between Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) veteran Thandi Modise and Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula as the African National Congress Women s League prepares for a future without Winnie Madikizela-Mandela. Modise, the incumbent deputy president of the league, is now serving as t
MBABANE - Swaziland s largest minority group by 2010 will be children under 15 who will have lost both their parents to Aids. We are turning into a country of orphans. No one is really prepared for the scale of the social, economic and even political challenges this will bring, said Charles Mngomezulu, a social welfare
Estimated worldwide HIV infections: 53 436 309 as of 11.21am on Wednesday August 20, 2003 South Africa is perfecting cheaper and more effective HIV tests, according to reports on diagnostic tests presented at the recent First South African Conference on Aids in Durban. Two reports were delivered on new lab tests that m
So, the Cabinet has directed the minister of health to develop a detailed operational plan for an anti-retroviral (ARV) treatment programme. Does this mean that we are about to see a major roll-out ? Perhaps, but very unlikely, so don t hold your breath. The Cabinet statement is a major breakthrough (ARVs are now expli
The case for providing anti-retrovirals (ARVs) is clear and compelling. The sheer magnitude of the problem and its consequences form the most serious public health problem ever to face South Africa . Over the next 10 to 15 years more than five million HIV-positive South Africans will die from the consequences of the in
Senior ministers, including Minister of Education Kader Asmal and Minister of Public Enterprises Jeff Radebe, played a key role in driving last week s Cabinet U-turn on anti-retroviral drug treatment for HIV/Aids. Senior party officials said that among those responsible for the government s turnaround were the African
Cautiously optimistic health-care workers and Aids activists are playing a waiting game in response to the government s surprise announcement last week that it will roll out universal anti-retroviral (ARV) treatment. The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) said that while it welcomes the nnouncement, it is also cautious .
It is the sheer volume of children one notices first in Changwe Village, a small collection of thatched roof huts scattered along an empty sun-baked highway in central Malawi . Dressed in threadbare school uniforms or cast-off shirts and pants, they are everywhere underfoot, running around the dusty yards, playing with
Estimated worldwide HIV infections: 53 334 718 at 10.01am on Wednesday August 13, 2003 Double trouble: Researchers at the University of Cape Town have found further evidence suggesting that patients infected by more than one strain of HIV before seroconversion - when the body starts to produce antibodies to the virus -
Uganda officials fear a resurgence of HIV infection among young women who are displaced because of the civil war. Tradition, the subservient role of females and pervasive poverty contribute to the soaring rate of HIV infection among women in sub-Saharan Africa. Recent UNAids statistics show that up to 30% of pregnant
Confusion still reigns over the degree of government commitment to providing treatment for rape survivors. And where such treatment exists it remains difficult to access. The controversy arose when a Sunday newspaper report said the Cabinet had removed a clause from a new Sexual Offences Bill that obliges the governmen
Another week, another Aids debacle. This week the annual South African Aids conference was the site of a searing debate over nevirapine , a drug shown to be effective in stemming the rate of mother-to-child HIV infection. Last week the Medicines Control Council (MCC) said it would deregister nevirapine while it underto
The glaring absence of President Thabo Mbeki from the first South African Aids Conference, and the health minister s ongoing sidelining of science in favour of politics, took much of the gloss off the conference s undoubted achievements. The pall of divisive politics hung over the conference. This was a recurring preoc
Estimated worldwide HIV infections: 53 247 835 at 9.18am on Thursday August 7, 2003 Passing the test: Nevirapine is generally safe and well tolerated by children, reports a United Kingdom paper published in the latest edition of the journal AIDS, but the investigators found that effective control of the virus was impro
Recent press coverage of the World Bank report on the economic costs of HIV/Aids to South Africa has been misleading. It may have led readers to believe that, according to the bank, South Africa will suffer an economic meltdown due to the pandemic. In fact, the World Bank report does not make this claim. What it says i
Joseph Sirrah looked forward to receiving his first injection on last Tuesday as part of Uganda s Aids vaccine trials, despite the reservations of his wife and members of his community. The pastor of the Centurion Faith Centre in Kitintele, a small village between Kampala and Entebbe in Uganda, is joining 35 other volu
Minister of Health Manto Tshabalala-Msimang s inspiring announcement last week about a herbal remedy for Aids-related diseases was yet further proof of our health department s imaginative approach to crisis. Wherever he was last week in his global peregrinations, Thabo Mbeki must have been well pleased to hear of Minis
The Medicine Control Council has denied that its decision to review nevirapine was a political one, saying it would not allow itself to be treated as banana regulatory authority . The council was responding to accusations that its rejection of a Ugandan study on nevirapine, which is used to prevent mother-to-child tran
Daily Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - 01 August 2003
The life-saving drug nevirapine has been endorsed for the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV by the World Health Organisation (WHO), and its efficacy is almost universally acknowledged in the medical fraternity. Its relatively low price and simplicity of use makes it particularly suitable for developing
Estimated worldwide HIV infections: 53 133 869 at 11.25am on Wednesday July 30 Resistance: Taking between 60% and 90% of prescribed anti-retrovirals is the surest way to acquire resistance to the drugs, according to the results of a clinical study presented at a recent conference on HIV pathogenesis and treatment in Pa
Estimated worldwide HIV infections: 53 038 312 at 8pm on Wednesday July 23 Drug-resistant: An international collaboration to monitor the transmission of drug-resistant HIV has found that a significant number of HIV-positive Europeans carry a drug-resistant strain of the virus even before they have taken HIV treatment.
Demographic projections by the Population Reference Bureau for the first half of the 21st century show that the Democratic Republic of the Congo leads countries in middle Africa that are expected to experience the fastest population growth in the region. The bureau s World Population Data Sheet for 2003 showed that th
It took last year s international Aids conference in Barcelona for several of the world s larger transnational corporations to feel that public pressure might dent the bottom line, and that they had better find ways of treating workers for HIV/Aids. The pressure was on - not just to prevent the disease, provide home-ba
The government conceded last week that it can afford an Aids drug treatment programme to prolong the lives of 1,7-million people. The devil is in the detail, said a senior health official, explaining the six-month delay in releasing the top-secret report, which was leaked last week. The Department of Health is not disp
The Global Fund for HIV/Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria is in need of funding for 2004 and has called on European nations and the British for pledges to raise $2,3-billion to meet its goals in 2004. The fund hosted its first appraisal meeting in Paris this week to brief these countries on its progress after 18 months in
Estimated worldwide HIV infections: 52 932 020 at 11am on Wednesday July 16 Pill ills: Hormonal contraceptives increase the risks of women being infected with the HI virus, according to research conducted among prostitutes that was presented to the Second International Aids Society Conference on HIV Pathogenesis and Tr
As awareness of the Aids crisis breaks in Swaziland like a blinding dawn, measures that would have been unthinkable a year ago are now being initiated. This week the Mbabane city council - in a bid to stem the spread of HIV among sex workers and their clients - announced plans to leave boxes of condoms in parks and oth
The widening gulf between the global haves and have-nots was starkly revealed this week when the United Nations announced that while the United States was booming in the 1990s, living standards fell in more than 50 countries. The UN s annual human development report charted increasing poverty for more than a quarter of
On a chilly Wednesday morning Minister of Health Dr Manto Tshabalala-Msimang arrived late as all other Cabinet ministers were waiting to welcome President George W Bush at the Union Buildings. She dashed out of her VIP vehicle and started running briefly and then stopped and walked briskly towards fellow Cabinet minist
PARIS - Scientists from around the world gather in Paris this Sunday for an update on the war against Aids, gloomily aware that good news will be rare and that, after more than two decades, they still lack basic knowledge about their foe. The four-day forum comes on the heels of President George Bush s tour of Aids-str
Rapule Tabane speaks to Gauteng Premier Mbhazima Shilowa about governance, ANC policy and the role of legislatures. Do we really need the provinces? We have a constitutional dispensation that recognises the need for government at provincial, local and national level. Most people who ask this question do so on the basis
Estimated worldwide HIV infections: 52 833 209 at 2.11pm on Wednesday July 9 Tonsils out: The oropharynx, the middle part of the throat that includes the soft palate, the base of the tongue and the tonsils, could be a source of infectious HIV in individuals with a high viral load and intact tonsils, according to a stud
Gabarone - Patients start queuing at 6am outside the two steel portable buildings of the Princess Marina Hospital in Gabarone, some standing, others supporting themselves on a stick or a child s arm. The queue looks bleak but is actually testimony to a remarkable success story in Botswana which suggests it may not
As African leaders prepare to receive United States President George W Bush, they could do no worse than to ignore the old Nigerian proverb: the person that always eats bread does not appreciate the severity of a famine. The US trip to Dakar, Abuja, Gaborone, Pretoria and finally Kampala will give the delegation an opp
Airforce One hits the tarmac at Waterkloof airbase next Tuesday, the first pulpit on United States President George Bush s evangelical five-stop African junket -- his second trip to the continent, his first to South Africa . Bush will also visit Senegal ,
Brittle bones: HIV-positive patients have lower levels of a protein associated with bone density, according to a small Brazilian study published in the July 4 edition of AIDS. Decreased bone density in HIV-positive individuals is thought to be caused by the HIV infection and treatment with prote
While the government holds up its mother-to-child HIV-transmission prevention programme as the continent s largest, it is turning into a shambles in many provinces. Investigation has revealed that mismanagement within the HIV/Aids sections of the national and provincial health departments could result in the dismal fai
Evolution: HIV infection is less likely to progress in individuals with rare immune system gene variations than those with common variations, suggesting that HIV has evolved to exploit the most common gene patterns, according to a study in this week s Nature Medicine. HIV-infected people who carry particular, rare gene
Vaccine update: The use of therapeutic vaccines - with and without concurrent Highly Active Anti-Retrovial Therapy (Haart) - was the major topic at the Immune Reconstitution and Control of HIV meeting in Italy last week. Although IL-2 remains the only immunomodulator likely to be approved in the near future, there are
The decision to take four tablets for the rest of his life came easily to Pumzile Nywagi (40), who counsels other HIV-positive people in Khayelitsha, a township in the Western Cape, on the importance of taking their anti-retroviral (ARV) treatment. In a green pillbox marked with each day of the week are the tablets tha
For 26 years, June 16, now called Youth Day, has been associated with the effects of youthful exuberance. The youth of 1976 have a lot to be proud of for their role in dismantling apartheid, but their offspring have less reason to be enthusiastic. The Youth Development Trust (YDT), an NGO that finds employment for unem
South Africa s first youth radio station, Yfm, turns six this year, but questions have been raised about whether it is making much of a contribution towards developing the youth. Critics credit the station with using entertainment to reach young people - it boasts more than one million listeners - but say it needs to d
South Africa has a proud tradition of student activism, with youths having played a critical role in expediting the collapse of apartheid. Student protests and street clashes with security forces in the Seventies and Eighties marked the heyday of the youth movement in South Africa. As the 27th anniversary of the
Downward spiral: The United Kingdom s sexual health is in crisis and should be made a government health priority according to a report published by the House of Common s health select committee. The cross-party committee of MPs highlighted huge increases in rates of sexually transmitted infections over the past six yea
Urgent action: The rising number of HIV infections in Australia requires urgent government action, a leading Australian HIV/Aids community organisation said this week. Bill Whittaker, president of the Australian Federation of Aids Organisation, said that the number of new HIV cases had risen in the three states that ha
About 3% of the South African workforce - or about 500 000 people - could have full-blown Aids by 2010, Department of Labour guidelines on HIV/Aids have forecast. The projected rate of 2,9% in the terminal stage of the illness represents a three-fold increase since 2001, when it stood at 0,93%. Statistics South Africa
I recently asked someone (who I deemed broad-minded) what the term gender means to him. Without thinking, he said, A big woman, with big hair and a big voice, standing somewhere in public burning her bra. Then he guffawed. The man next to him, chuckling heartily at his friend s stroke of genius, added that, to him, ge
The basic income grant (BIG) stands a very small chance of becoming policy. While this proposal to pay every household a basic income of R100 a month has support in the broad ranks of the African National Congress, it has not caught the imagination of President Thabo Mbeki and for this reason is unlikely to fly as the
Resistant: Researchers in Vancouver, Canada , have identified two separate cases where anti-retroviral-resistant HIV was transmitted up to three years after the virus developed its resistance. These drug-resistant viruses were unusual in that they retained the ability to destroy CD4 cells and did not revert to wild-typ
Even though it means agreeing to think like John Battersby for a whole 10 minutes, I count myself among the small handful of citizens who acknowledge the perspicacity and intellectual vigour of our miserably undervalued Minister of Health, Dr Manto Tshabalala-Msimang. As with so many in the Mbeki-appointed Cabinet, Min
Breakthrough: Scientists believe they are a step closer to developing an effective Aids vaccine after studying an unexpected response to the HI virus in individuals in Uganda who appear immune. Just more than two dozen people near Lake Victoria have been found to remain uninfected though they have unprotected sex with
Government leaders have embarked on a nationwide charm offensive, apparently spurred by mounting criticism of their handling of the HIV/Aids crisis, Zimbabwe and unemployment. In the past two weeks President Thabo Mbeki, his deputy Jacob Zuma and several senior Cabinet ministers have met trade union federations, church
Child care: A first-of-its-kind child counselling centre at the Chris Hani Baragwanath hospital is making a difference to HIV-positive and Aids-infected children and their families. The hospital and Cotlands charity are sponsoring the project. Counsellors at the children s centre will assist HIV-positive children and t
Some years ago Albie Sachs, during the course of a series of celebrated articles, introduced the necessity of including socio-economic rights in the Constitution. Sachs said that because socio-economic rights raised different questions of enforcement than was the case with traditional civil and political rights, consid
Beyond the R1,4-billion Eskom write-off of electricity arrears announced last week is a deeper political significance. The social movements, or ultra-left as they were labelled by the African National Congress last year, are beginning to make an impact on policy. The electricity arrears wipe-out is a huge moment - it i
Washington - One form of the virus that causes Aids made the jump from animals to people by 1940, a new analysis indicates. HIV-2 didn t spread across West Africa until the 1960s, perhaps spurred by a war in Guinea-Bissau , where researchers say it originated. HIV-2, which is common in West Africa, is genetically diffe
Access: People with HIV living in poorer areas of San Francisco are more likely to progress to Aids than those living in wealthier districts, according to a recent study. But the study also found no difference in survival rates regardless of wealth and social status among patients with access to highly active anti-retr
The Aids community believes the government has been given the political space to launch a national Aids treatment plan without being seen to be buckling under pressure, the Mail & Guardian understands. This comes after the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) suspended its civil disobedience programme. A task team of he
According to a report in the Mail & Guardian two weeks ago, Minister of Health Manto Tshabalala-Msimang recently attacked Mark Heywood in public as a white man who manipulates Africans to take part in Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) actions. This is a betrayal of the tradition of non-racialism of the Freedom Charte
The US House of Representatives on Thursday passed a $15- billion bill that would more than double US contributions to the worldwide fight against Aids. Supporters, led by President George W. Bush, said the money could bring relief to millions of people with Aids and prevent the deadly disease from infecting millions m
Sars: Contradicting pronouncements by HIV co-discoverer Luc Montagnier, Chinese Aids experts have said they believe people with Aids are less vulnerable to severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars). Laurie Garrett, a respected medical reporter specialising in HIV and emerging infections, reported that experts are invest
Aids and Sars don t mix: French biologist Luc Montagnier, one of the researchers who discovered the HI virus, voiced concern this week that the combination of Aids and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (Sars) will lead to terrible loss of lives. Montagnier says the Sars virus kills about 4% to 5% of those infected but
Edwin Cameron is a judge of the Supreme Court of Appeal.
My theme touches on two momentous issues from the past century. The first is the Holocaust - the Nazi state s methodical extinction during World War II of approximately six million people, mostly Jews. The second is the Aids pandemic - the global pandemic of disease and death, particularly in Africa and the developing
Quick Link: An international study has found that HIV-positive patients who develop symptoms of primary HIV infection, or acute retroviral syndrome (ARS), soon after infection, progress faster to full-blown Aids. In the study, published in the April 15 edition of the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes, inv
Zackie Achmat s article in last week s edition of the Mail&Guardian, A long walk to civil disobedience , deserves consideration and a response that is rational and measured. It will be a serious mistake if anyone, in his or her right-thinking mind, would stoop to the level of the author and personalise the importan
Minister of Health Manto Tshabalala-Msimang this week launched an extraordinary racial attack against the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) at a formal gala event. Guests at the event, who heard the attack, included United Nations emissaries, diplomats, leading academics and corporate captains. The health minister was sp
Mutating: Scientists in California have provided the first detailed look at how human antibodies may drive HIV to mutate. The findings, reported last month in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in the United States , may be key to efforts to develop an effective Aids vaccine. The team found that HI
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) is gearing up for battle with the ruling African National Congress over the privatisation of state assets and the government s HIV/Aids treatment plan as they decide on the agenda of the Growth and Development Summit. Cosatu has said it will insist the treatment plan
Our voters rolls are bloated with dead voters, said Monica Ngwembe of the Malawi Electoral Commission. The number of registered voters that is on the voters roll is not a true reflection of what is on the ground. A pilot project in two of Malawi s constituencies showed that about 100 000 voters, or 2% of the voters r
The government has thrown a veil of secrecy around the task team appointed to calculate the costs of universal anti-retroviral treatment. The team will report back to the Cabinet at the end of April. Efforts this week to assess the team s progress and find out who sits on it met with an official wall of silence. Member
When my comrades and I disrupted Minister of Health Manto Tshabalala-Msimang s speech at the Health Systems Trust conference last week, a public health official taunted one of the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) members by saying: How did you get HIV anyway? We also received an angry letter from a man who feels our dem
British defence giant BAE Systems is backing human trials in South Africa of a Russian-designed radiation machine touted as a radical new treatment for HIV/Aids. In the strangest spin-off yet from South Africa s arms deal, BAE Systems has pumped R24-million into Hivex, a KwaZulu-Natal company formed in 2000 to develop
Nurses and doctors are still endangered species despite efforts by the Department of Health to retain them, the 2002 South African Health Review has found. The annual review published by the Health System Trust is the most comprehensive look at issues affecting the health care sector. The review found that 43% of docto
Estimated worldwide HIV infections: 51 324 632 at 10.30am on Wednesday March 26, 2003 Pain in the ass: Infection with human papillomavirus ( HPV ) -- associated with vaginal and anal cancer, and pre-cancerous lesions -- has been found in a significant number of HIV-positive men who have never had anal intercourse, say
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) announced on Wednesday March 19 that it might participate in the Treatment Action Campaign s (TAC) planned civil disobedience protest. The turnaround is significant after resistance to the campaign from conservative elements in the federation, said insiders. Emerging
South Africa s multibillion-rand arms deal is slowly strangling the defence force as capital spending squeezes out operational requirements. Figures released in the latest national budget show the strategic arms procurement package will consume a staggering 45,8% of the defence budget over the medium term. Expenditure
Estimated Worldwide HIV Infections: 51 218 159 At 10.24am On Wednesday March 19, 2003 Unsafe sex: The World Health Organisation (WHO) and UNAids have rejected claims that injections with reused needles are responsible for many cases of HIV infection in Africa. After a recent investigation the two groups say that unsafe
The long-overdue joint permanent commission established by South Africa and Botswana in the second week of March has its work cut out. Determined not to let anything spoil the pomp and ceremony of President Thabo Mbeki s state visit, South Africa s mineral-rich neighbour has stayed its hand on criticising his governmen
What a difference a year makes. A collective sigh of relief was heard throughout South Africa on April 17 last year when the Cabinet at last acknowledged its programmes would be based on the premise that HIV causes Aids and promised to introduce a national treatment and prevention programme. Health providers throug
Estimated worldwide HIV infections: 51 116 929 at 9.40am on Wednesday March 12, 2003 Diabetes link: HIV-positive women taking protease inhibitors are three times more likely to develop diabetes than HIV-positive women on non-protease inhibitor combinations or HIV-negative women, according to a
Infighting and accusations of racism have split one of the country s most influential Aids groups. At the beginning of March 10 prominent people with HIV/Aids sent a letter to the National Association of People Living with Aids (Napwa) expressing dissatisfaction with the disdain the group has shown for other Aids organ
Elephants in the Knysna forest are medicating themselves with magic mushrooms that could be used by people to counter the effects of HIV. Research shows the elephants are eating a type of mushroom called Ganoderma applanatum, a large fungus that grows on trees and can live for up to 50 years. Though it is not hallucino
A national prevention and treatment programme for HIV/Aids would save three million lives and cost no more than R18-billion a year by 2015, according to a cost-benefit analysis conducted by the University of Cape Town. The researchers found that moves to reduce new HIV infections would save the state money, but that on
Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - February 21, 2003
The government will not elevate HIV/Aids above other diseases by giving it priority attention, says Minister of Health Manto Tshabalala-Msimang. In an interview with the Mail & Guardian this week, Tshabalala-Msimang said while she had seen the draft treatment plan drawn up by the government, labour and business neg
Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - February 19, 2003
The Department of Correctional Services has reached an out-of-court settlement after a seven-year legal battle with a former inmate who sued the department after becoming infected with HIV while in jail. The settlement came just before the department s nine provincial HIV/Aids coordinators met from Monday February 17 t
Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - February 17, 2003
I agree with you, my president: say no to the United States war against Iraq . Say no to President George W Bush and his nemesis, Osama bin Laden. And to all the unholy gods in whose name innocent civilians and conscripted soldiers are killed. In whose name the bodies of women and children are desecrated.
Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - February 14, 2003
Nawaal Deane
A Free State pathologist is lobbying the government accept an Aids immune booster that is said to alleviate the plight of people living with HIV/Aids. It is believed that Dr Chris Barnard, a pathologist at the University of the Free State, made presentations to close circle senior government officials this week. The
Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - February 12, 2003
Zimbabwe , as I allowed myself to imagine in the final days before I went there, would be rowdy and in the terrifying grip of a barbaric militia, brandishing long knives. In my imagination there were images of thousands of frail Zimbabweans thronging the city streets and villages. The security forces, I imagined, wou
Shock: About 375 670 South Africans are expected to die from HIV/Aids this year, an increase of more than 30% from the estimated 219 660 Aids-related deaths in 2000, according to projections by the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) reported to Parliament s social development committee. The results of another major
Segomela, 59 years old and sickly, conveys a resolute strength and acceptance about her life. She laughs a lot, though her laughter is tinged with a sense of sadness and regret. Segomela and her grandchildren moved into the house after they were forced out of their previous home by the taunting and criticism of neighbo
Educating employers: This week the United States launched a R6-million programme to promote HIV/Aids education in Vietnam ’s workplaces. Part of the programme is to try to decrease the discrimination and stigma of HIV and Aids, said Jennifer Bacchus, a representative of the US Department of Labour. Programme worker
High risk: A study of syphilis among homosexual men in New York City has found high rates of HIV infection, unprotected sex and recreational drug use among the men. The New York City Department of Health is about to release the report. The city recruited 88 gay or bisexual men with syphilis (cases) and 176 gay or bisex
High risk: Hispanic women in Pennsylvania suffer twice the national rate of HIV infection, in part because they often feel pressured by their husbands to have unprotected sex, according to a study released this week. The high percentage in infections was caused by a different set of family values and cultural attitudes
The landlocked African kingdom of Swaziland is believed to have the world s highest rate of HIV, with almost four out of 10 adults infected with the virus which causes Aids. In a New Year s address published last week, Prime Minister Sibusiso Dlamini said the official rate of infection had risen to 38,6% from 34,2% in
The National Association of People Living with HIV/Aids s (Napwa) turned its guns on its allies as the hunger strike by several of its members ended dramatically this week. They were arrested after they allegedly forced entry into the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association s offices in Midrand outside Johannesburg.
On August 13 2001 Harriet Kopi weighed 35kg, had severe migraines, a debilitating skin condition and lacked movement in her right side, forcing her to use crutches. Fourteen days later, things had changed. My right side began twitching on its own, then it stopped and I found I could move again. That was the last time I
Making the connection: This week the World Health Organisation (WHO) called for increased interaction between tuberculosis and HIV/Aids programmes to raise public awareness of the connection between the diseases. In the report titled Analysis of Interaction Between TB and HIV/Aids in sub-Saharan Africa the WHO said age
Treatment for all: Doctors in Iran received a government order on Monday not to turn away patients infected with HIV. The move is part of a new effort to control the spread of the disease, medical workers said. The Health Ministry directive instructs doctors to catalogue all cases of people infected with HIV or sufferi
This information is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.