Aids orphans are everyone s problem, says woman who didn t look the other way All these children need is a mother, a father, a brother, an uncle and an aunt in someone People think that in urban areas things are better for the kids, but actually they re not Print Send to a friend ISRAEL MLAMBO CAROL Dyantyi is a saviou
TODAY we report on a deadly menace lurking in our hospitals. In choosing its victims it knows no class or colour. And it is ruthless. This menace - the rise of the superbugs - is responsible for thousands of hospital-acquired infections. Neither the state nor private healthcare groups know how many people die or fall i
-- Results will help scientists in their search for an effective HIV vaccine Those of us with fitter genes for protection against HIV are more likely to fight off an attack SOUTH African scientists have discovered that the ability of an HIV-infected person to fight the disease is determined by the genes they inherit fr
No nation and no single surveillance system can stand alone in heading off antimicrobial resistance THE growing menace of drug-resistant superbugs has become a shadow epidemic throughout the world. A unique global report tracking mounting resistance paints an alarming picture of what happens when drugs meet bugs.
THE major killer of children under the age of five in hospitals is infection in the lower respiratory tract. This was revealed in the results of a survey at 12 rural hospitals, conducted by the Medical Research Council s Unit for Maternal and Infant Health Care Strategies and the Child Problem Identification Programme
DRUG manufacturer Aspen Pharmacare has got the nod from the US government to produce and supply generic HIV/Aids drugs, news that could see the SA firm receive millions of dollars in funding. Late on Friday it was announced that Aspen s new R157-million plant in Port Elizabeth had received approval from the US s Federa
Almost 30000 children under the age of five died each day last year - from preventable causes. And, according to a shocking United Nations report released this week, more than half the world s children, more than a billion in total, suffer extreme deprivation because of war, HIV/Aids or poverty. Worse still, Unicef s C
-- Zimbabwe s ruling heavyweights gather for their leadership congress - and a lavish meal or two CONVOYS of limousines, Mercedes-Benz Kompressors, Lexuses, BMWs, Jeep Cherokees and other posh cars roll into the grounds of the luxurious five-star Sheraton Hotel and Towers in Harare, creating a dazzling spectacle. St
- And MEC slams Yeoville cops for ignoring little girl s plight RESIDENTS of a Yeoville building were so desperate to ensure the prosecution of the man who allegedly raped a neighbour s nine-year-old that they got him to sign a confession. The mother of the little girl then took her child to the Yeoville police station
FOR the health of women, for the health of the world: no more violence . This is the call to action marking this year s 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence. But these words are meaningless to Bridgette Mashope, a 32-year-old mother. Five weeks ago, her partner, Alex Mokgoro, assaulted her viciously in their lo
A PIONEERING board game for children affected by HIV/Aids is helping families to come to terms with the disease. The game, called the Magical Aids Journey, helps youngsters explore their hopes and fears. It was designed by Carin Marcus, a social worker and psychosocial training manager at the Hospice Association of the
THE newly announced Director-General of the Department of Health, Thamsanqa Mseleku, will need formidable determination and skill to work with Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang to make the ailing department strong enough to deliver on its policies. The department has been without a permanent chief for 14 months,
HIV-Positive? Not sure? Get tested! What is an HIV/Aids test? It s a blood test to determine if you have HIV, the virus that causes Aids. A health worker takes some of your blood, which is tested to see if it contains HIV antibodies. If it does, the virus is present in your body. A blood test is the only way to be sure
-- Cosatu backs Tutu s attack, says some in the ANC want them out PRESIDENT Thabo Mbeki is to suffer another round of scathing public criticism this week, this time from Cosatu. The labour federation believes that there are ANC leaders who want to force it out of its political alliance with the ANC. Cosatu s criticism,
-- Rian Malan asserts that a ground-breaking report from Stats SA is about settle a dispute that has been tearing Africa apart for nearly two decades THIS is a story about Aids statistics, but let s begin with a parable about soccer, one of South Africa s other great obsessions. When we emerged as frontrunner in the ra
-- As the President turns his back on them, Aids crackpots set out to convince the public I m completely obsessed with doing all inmy power to bring to the attention of the South African public the fact that AZT is deadly poisonous and completely useless. African traditional medicines have been used to good effect for
AN AIDS vaccine is being touted by many as the only hope for developing countries. But there is a shortage of ideas in the world of science about how to outwit the virus. The International Aids Vaccine Initiative notes that almost all the 30-odd candidate vaccines undergoing human trials are narrowly focused on a singl
1982 *The first two official Aids deaths. 1983 *The Department of Health reassures South Africans that Aids only poses a threat to homosexuals. 1985 *The government sets up an Aids advisory group that includes immunologist Dr Reuben Sher. 1987 *The Chamber of Mines identifies 130 employees with HIV/Aids. The government
IT HAS taken four years but I have found peace. Peace from a demon called HIV. Knowing my blood is contaminated with the HI virus was one thing. But being HIV-positive and Muslim was another. I went against the teaching of my faith, for a man I thought cared for me. My nightmare started in 1998. I lost weight, had dark
THE Beckhams, Sting, George Michael, Elizabeth Hurley and Tim Rice are some of the British A-list guests invited to attend superstar Elton John s exclusive Aids charity ball in the Cape winelands next year. John will visit South Africa for the first time in early January to promote work done here by his international o
Despite its dominance in the banking sector, the scheme is committed to growing its membership base even further over the next five to seven years NINETY and still going strong is the message from Bankmed s top brass - and the leading healthcare giant in South Africa s banking sector is looking to the future with opti
PUPILS who are completing their exams can pat themselves on the back and get ready for the long holiday ahead by going to the When Life Happens festival, which runs in Newtown in central Johannesburg from November 25 to December 1. The focus of the festival, showcasing the arts, film and music of several African countr
-- Sthandiwe Gumede has endured too much tragedy: abuse, abduction and the death of her mother. But now, thanks to caring strangers, life is worth living -- The social worker was always taking me to hospital and, in the car, she asked me if I knew why I was sick. She told me I was HIV-positive and I couldn t believe it
ARCHITECTS around the world have risen to the challenge of designing a soccer pitch for the youngsters of a remote KwaZulu-Natal town plagued by the highest rate of HIV/Aids in South Africa . Architecture for Humanity, a non-profit organisation based in New York that promotes design solutions to humanitarian crises, ch
Patients are now paying more as pharmacies add administration fees to survive MANY patients, particularly medical aid members, are paying more for prescription medicines at pharmacies - despite the government s new rules that have forced down the manufacturers prices. A Sunday Times investigation into the prices of com
-- Themba Malaza was once commissioned by the Department of Correctional Services to paint this anti-Aids message - with the words Hope 76 - on a wall of the Tshedimosho Primary School in Soweto. Now he has been jailed for 15 months for painting on a factory wall GRAFFITI artist Themba Malaza s creativity cost him dear
-- Danny Glover came to town to open a centre for Aids orphans. Bongani Madondo went up to his suite for a free lesson in the art of revolution IF YOU RE one of those people who confuses Hollywood make-believe with the real lives of the actors who oil the hype-machine s cogs, then you too would have experienced anxiety
IN APRIL, Minister of Health Manto Tshabalala-Msimang announced new pricing regulations to drive down the prices of medicines, predicting they would drop by at least a third. The regulations, under the Medicines and Related Substances Control Amendment Act, control the price of medicines from the factory gate to the co
MANY patients, particularly medical aid members, are paying more for prescription medicines at pharmacies - despite the government s new rules that have forced down the manufacturers prices. A Sunday Times investigation into the prices of common medicines found that consumers were out of pocket. Prices varied from phar
CAPE Town s Formula One hopefuls say they have billions of reasons why they deserve the government s blessing, including nearly R1-billion in cold cash. But David Gant, SA Grand Prix Bid Company CEO, says even that kind of money is a drop in the ocean compared with the financial benefits of top-flight motor-racing.
HOLLYWOOD heart-throb Brad Pitt passed the test in media evasion with flying colours this week, leaving the local press guessing as to his whereabouts. Pitt quietly entered South Africa without his wife, former Friends actress Jennifer Aniston, on Monday. He spent the night at the five-star Sandton Sun Intercontinental
-- Dingilizwe Ntuli looks back on 12 months that made winners of some and losers of many *IN JANUARY, food company Parmalat SA s chief executive Fernando di Gaetano declared his company financially sound and a stand-alone operation, after the turbulence at its Italian-based parent company which plunged into bankruptcy
-- Sicelo Mbambo, 22, was president of the Student Representative Council at the University of Cape Town this year. After he completes his Business Science degree next year, he hopes to do a masters degree in economics and then wants to work either in government or for the Reserve Bank. I would like to contribute to th
-- Springboks and Danny Glover help raise a flood of money at Noah bash BIG business took its charitable heart out to supper on Monday to support a Nurturing Orphans of Aids for Humanity (Noah) fundraiser. The Sandton Sun s ballroom was wall-to-wall schleb faces from the business pages - about 550 of them - whose compa
Theatre heroes have always had to work in strapped financial circumstances, writes Edward Tsumele He is the face of theatre in Soweto and has a reputation for turning young artistic talents into successful performers and contributing greatly to township theatre. It is easy to be dismissive of soft-spoken Peter Ngwenya
As a counsellor for theGround Breakers Impinchi Team, Keabetswe Mekgwe helps build physical and mental health among the youth Print Send to a friend The Ground Breakers Impinchi Team is a group of youngers working under the auspices of loveLife, which focuses on HIV and Aids awareness and prevention at schools in Dobso
SOUTH Africa s rocketing Welfare Bill is greying the last of Finance Minister Trevor Manuel s hair. It is also cutting into provincial expenditure on health and education. Welfare grants will swallow R20.8-billion of the R50-billion that Manuel was able this week to add to the spending programme for the next three year
Gordimer is outraged by the failure of writers to tackle HIV/Aids - this medieval plague of the millennium THE announcement of Publishers Choice always kick-starts the local book world s festive season. It is an event we look forward to: publishers fly in and featured authors are prised away from their keyboards to gos
AILING theatre icon Gibson Kente is in the middle of an unseemly spat over his legacy. The playwright and theatre director - who announced last year that he has HIV/Aids - has refused to co-operate with a foundation set up in his name by a group of artists led by director Duma kaNdlovu. Kente claims they are using his
PRESIDENT Thabo Mbeki chose in Parliament this week to restate his rage at those in our country whose minds, he said, had been corrupted by the disease of racism. Instead of responding to a question about the role of rape in the spread of HIV/Aids, he accused the new Democratic Alliance MP who posed it, Ryan Coetzee, o
AS MORE South African companies enter international markets, business schools need to develop global managers, says Professor Karl Hofmeyr of the University of Pretoria s Gordon Institute of Business Science (Gibs). Hofmeyr says managers and executives need to be asking: How do we do business elsewhere? to penetrate Af
Most people who consider themselves intelligent will deny being addicted to soapies. They d rather fess up to having an affair with a troupe of trapeze artists than have to say out loud that they cannot do without their daily dose of Isidingo or Egoli. Yet Nobel Prize for Literature winner VS Naipaul has said that he i
PROFESSOR Gavin Staude, director of Rhodes University s Business School, says business schools add value to industry by identifying business problems and commissioning and interpreting scientific research. He says researching the problem of absenteeism in the Eastern Cape, for example, would require more than the stand
Children who are HIV positive need the same love, care and compassion as other children. * Find out if there is a home-based care organisation in your area. They will give you support and advice on caring for HIV-positive or sick children. If there isn t one, talk to community members or health workers at your clinic o
I am living with HIV I am living with HIV My parents are HIV positive My parents are HIV positive Many, many people in South Africa are affected by HIV and AIDS. Some people are HIV positive, others have family members who are HIV positive, others have lost friends and relatives who have died from AIDS. Like Thapel
JENNA Myburgh has to brave the eyes of the world with a heavily scarred chin and shoulder after a pot of steaming noodles burnt her six months ago. The two-year-old girl from Goodwood, in Cape Town, is one of hundreds of children treated in hospital each month for devastating accidents - most of which happen at home.
A DURBAN union has hired retrenched workers to take the message of HIV/Aids onto the stage. Retrenched members of the SA Clothing and Textile Workers Union (Sactwu) are taking part in a soap-opera-style play. Set in a factory, it tells workers about the value of knowing their HIV status and teaches them their rights. T
THE city of Johannesburg is committed to becoming a world-class African city by focusing on a short list of core priorities outlined in the city s strategic agenda. These strategic priorities - outlined in the city s 2004-05 Integrated Development Plan - include sustainable development and environmental management, ser
THE first time I worked forDarrell Roodt was in 1986. I had put on a play and our mutual friend, the cameraman Paul Witte, asked me whether I wanted to work on a movie. Yes, I said. There was no money, though, Witte said. Fine, I said. We were young. Roodt drove an old grey VW Beetle and, at 24, was already going grey.
MZWANDILE Ngidi had a black belt in karate and prided himself on his fitness. A loader operator on a Welkom mine, he earned R1532 a month and shared a simple four-roomed house with his wife Calesia and five children. He was only 43 when he died, less than two years after he received a coldly impersonal letter informing
RESEARCHERS with a British pharmaceutical company believe they have found the first vaccine that is effective against malaria - a disease that afflicts as many as half-a-billion people each year, most of them African. Tests carried out on more than 2000 healthy children in the southern Mozambique village of
ORGANISATIONS and individuals around South Africa are throwing their weight behind programmes to alleviate the plight of Aids orphans but another important intervention is being made - co-ordinating all the efforts. Sunday Times, Hollard Insurance and Deutsche Bank are holding a conference to facilitate networking betw
SANDTON... the high temple of shopping, the Mecca of merchandise and the holy cathedral of consumerism. Its glossy, hallowed halls attract well-heeled big spenders from near and far who religiously flock to genuflect before its till points: Gucci. The Body Shop. Crabtree & Evelyn. Tumi. Godiva. Versace. Diesel... t
IT WAS almost unnerving to hear that my novel Bitter Fruit had been short-listed for the Man Booker Award. My wife Audrey called from New York to tell me the good news. I was with my boss, Peter Piot, executive director of UNAIDS at the time. He is no small cheese and his schedule is hectic, to say the least. But he gr
TENDERS On Line (TOL) has developed software that will speed up and virtually eliminate the paperwork involved in tendering, says company director Colin Smith. He says that, starting in February 2005, the University of the Witwatersrand will include TOL software on the syllabus of its School of Construction, Economics
PRESIDENT Thabo Mbeki s weekly letter on the ANC website has become required reading for anyone trying to understand what motivates his policies. The letters are windows to the President s mind; the clearest available view of the thinking of this complex man. Though they can run to 3000 words, they are usually a pleasu
HEALTH Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang yesterday warned women who use female condoms to be careful as they are delicate and more difficult to use . However, Tshabalala-Msimang did not elaborate on her warning. She said R10-million had been set aside for the distribution of female condoms, and this would increase to R
ALMOST half of South African men believe a woman who drinks and wears a miniskirt is asking for trouble. Preliminary results from an ongoing study for the private Population Council group of 3000 Gauteng men aged between 15 and 34 reveal that many South African men still hold some disturbing views towards women. The
PRESIDENT Thabo Mbeki last week took out some of his frustration with big business by kicking the biggest dog in the pack. The government has become increasingly frustrated by the perceived slow rate of investment in South Africa by local business. Anglo has stoically accepted the beating - recognising that because of
THE state is unleashing a major new offensive in the war on fat as perceptions that slim people are associated with HIV and Aids makes the battle against obesity even harder. The government will release reworked dietary guidelines for healthy eating, township walking clubs will be established and a major international
AMASSIVE 30,000 jobs are available across several government departments, but officials are dragging their feet when it comes to filling them. Auditor-General Shauket Fakie has warned Parliament that the empty desks pose a risk to the government s ability to carry out key social-delivery projects. Fakie, in his 2003 au
A CAMPAIGN to mobilise parliaments in Africa and Europe to address the growing number of Aids orphans has been launched in Cape Town by the Association of European Parliamentarians for Africa (AWEPA). There are an estimated 11 million children under the age of 15 living in Sub-Saharan Africa who have lost one or both p
A STATE probe is under way to find out why the number of people receiving disability grants is increasing so rapidly. Official statistics indicate that the number of people receiving such grants jumped from just over 600,000 to about 1.3 million in just four years - at an average cost of R10-billion a year. About 8.5 m
THE 284 municipalities in South Africa face numerous critical challenges relating to the delivery of housing, water and services. These challenges include: * How best to improve the performance of governance systems - this relates to the need to develop strong leadership to handle conflict management, and to more clear
THE feud between a pistol-packing Catholic nun and parishioners in a little town in northern KwaZulu-Natal has got so fiery it has ended up at the Vatican. The headquarters of the Catholic Church is now to send an emissary to South Africa to try to solve the problems with the controversial Sister Priscilla Dlamini, who
SUNDAY Times readers have opened their hearts following the story last week on the emerging generation of Aids orphans who, with both great courage and little choice, are going it alone in life. The Sunday Times will, over the coming months, be working closely with reputable organisations in an effort to alleviate the
NOTHING happens by chance in President Thabo Mbeki s government. Whimsy is not his way. Mbeki began building the machine that would deliver social and economic transformation in 1995, while Nelson Mandela applied his almost unerring political instinct to the emotional healing of post-apartheid South Africa
NEXT to the main road into Ledig is a fantasy garden which once so impressed Arnold Schwarzenegger that he gave its creator R7000. Elias Molefe started his garden, just outside Sun City in North West, in 1996, creating his ever-changing themes by combining plants and rubbish-dump scraps. Lady Di was made from an old te
THE state has upped its search for criminal syndicates looting drugs meant to treat the poor. The crackdown comes as Laudium pharmacist Shaheen Ismail-Vally faces charges in the Pretoria Regional Court of theft of some R30-million in antiretrovirals and other medicines destined for elsewhere in Africa. Ismail-Vally was
FREE trade talks between the five members of the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) and the largest economy in the world have reached a dead end. SACU and US negotiators are unlikely to meet again before the end of the year, the original date set for completion of the process. South Africa s chief negotiator, Xavier
WHEN Pretoria has gone to sleep and just two lights still burn in the west wing of the Union Buildings, you can bet it s Mojanku Gumbi, friend and adviser to President Thabo Mbeki, who is still at work with her boss. You have to fit into his schedule, so most of the time I don t go home until very late or the early hou
OVER the past 10 years, since the advent of democratic government, there have been huge advances in the efficiency of local government. Despite this, challenges remain in the fields of administration, housing, water and sanitation. Salga chief executive Thabo Mokwena says typical problems include under-performing gover
EMNDENI Secondary School in Soweto was once a crime-ridden place that resembled a chaotic scene from Yizo Yizo. Pupils carried weapons and took drugs openly. Now the school has become a model institution and the matric pass rate has soared from an appalling 20% to 60%. This is thanks to a school crime-prevention pilot
AS AN aspirant musician, Ernie Smith recorded his first demo on a hi-fi system in the 1980s - but recording companies paid no attention. So it was only in 2001 that he recorded his debut album, Child of Light, which featured the hit Lonely. He followed up with the album Lovely Things in 2002. Now the likeable jazz guit
AN ANGLICAN priest who tested HIV-positive has co-founded a support network for religious leaders that is active in four countries. The African Network of Religious Leaders Living with HIV/Aids - which provides non-judgemental support to HIV-positive clerics - has 500 members in eight African countries including
Leleti Khumalo is the antithesis of what a movie star and polished celebrity is all about. Her quiet demeanour requires no retinue to feed her sense of self-importance. No whispers or curious stares follow her as she makes her way to a table at the Park Hyatt hotel s conservatory in Rosebank, Joburg. Instead of designe
An Oscar can often create a speed wobble in an otherwise distinguished career. Since winning for Training Day, Denzel Washing ton has not had a hit movie and at least two of his post-Oscar movies have been distinctly under-par. The good news is he regains his momentum in Man on Fire, a full-blooded action thriller abou
WE ARE a country in crisis. Three out of every 100 households in South Africa are headed by children. And that is three too many. Almost a million children have lost their mothers to Aids and the numbers are rising. The nature of the disease is such that if a child loses one parent to it, he or she is likely to lose th
Look through the newspapers or browse the Internet and you ll find countless clinical facts about Aids - how easy it is to contract and the different ways of trying to control it through antiretrovirals and scientific diet plans. Rarely are there the stories of those who are afflicted by it and how it affects them. And
SOUTH Africa s first Zulu feature film, Yesterday, was awarded the inaugural Human Rights Film Award at the Venice International Film Festival on Friday. Produced by Anant Singh and starring Leleti Khumalo, the film was written and directed by Darrell James Roodt. At its first screening in Venice last week the film, wh
MY VISIT this week brought home to me just how far South Africa has come since the end of apartheid and international isolation a decade ago. The depiction of strife at such places as the Hector Pietersen Memorial in Soweto contrasts starkly with the vibrant democracy and increasingly prosperous country that will host
NEW York became the focus of the world again this week as thousands of demonstrators and Republican Party members gathered there for the four-day Republican National Convention which starts tomorrow and is set to nominate President George W Bush as the party s candidate for this year s presidential election. With tight
* Phir Milenge may not be among the year s biggest films, but it could be one of the most significant, as it features Salman Khan in the role of an Aids victim. Bollywood generally doesn t address issues well, but if the sincerity of the cast in this instance is anything to go by, this film may turn out differently.
Companies must look beyond their own HIV/Aids programmes and start assessing how the pandemic is affecting target markets and changing spending patterns, says David Blecher, principal actuarial consultant at Glenrand MIB s Benefit Services Actuarial division. Blecher says the typical corporate response to HIV/Aids is t
Companies need to develop trust within the organisation to overcome the stigma around HIV/Aids and encourage employees to participate in voluntary counselling and testing. The social stigma around HIV/Aids and the fear of being discriminated against remains a massive hurdle for business, says Brad Mears, CEO of the Sou
A car company is leading the way for big corporates to run internal HIV/Aids prevention programmes. The secret of BMW s success is attitude: people need to know their HIV status in the same way they should be aware of their cholesterol level and blood pressure, says Dr Natalie Mayet, head of BMW South Africa s occupati
Businesses need to implement programmes of action against HIV/Aids because increasing numbers of HIV-positive people are now developing full-blown Aids, says Clem Sunter, chairman of the Anglo American Chairman s Fund and a board member of the SA Business Coalition on HIV and Aids. Sunter says the vast majority of HIV-
A protein-rich food supplement developed by a disaster relief agency could soon be used to aid Sudanese refugees on the Chad border. The immune-boosting product, developed by the KwaZulu-Natal-based Gift of the Givers humanitarian organisation for people with malnutrition and HIV/Aids, requires no water or cooking.
Gibson Kente, the icon of South African theatre who last year revealed he was HIV-positive, has been admitted to a hospice in Soweto. The playwright and actor is now permanently confined to bed and spends most of his time sleeping and resting. His relatives from the Eastern Cape have flown to Joburg to be at his bedsid
THE Portfolio Committee on Justice and Constitutional Development announced this week that it was redrafting large sections of the controversial Criminal Law Sexual Offences Bill on the recommendation of its members. The Bill has been the subject of heated debate among various or ganisations, particularly after a draft
TEACHERS and officials who allegedly defrauded the Eastern Cape Education Department of hundreds of millions of rands using false salary claims will be criminally charged if found guilty. The department has launched a massive investigation to uncover the reasons why it overspent more than R500-million on its personnel
Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto has barely half the staff it needs, with only 56% of professional posts filled. But Baragwanath plans to halve these vacancies by the end of the month, by making hundreds of appointments. The public sector in Gauteng has 31.9% of health professional posts vacant - equivalent to
Survey: Tribute to SA Women There is no doubt that the HIV/Aids pandemic is having a severe impact on South African society and on the economy. As the country pauses to celebrate National Women s Day tomorrow, it is important to note that not only is the disease affecting more women than men at present; it is also wome
WOMEN s groups and organisations dealing with HIV/Aids are up in arms over the state s bid to make the wilful transmission of the virus a crime. Their view is that such a move would increase the stigma associated with the disease, and unjustly target vulnerable women -- the very sector the provision aims to protect. Ev
Deaths among 25 to 40-year- olds now exceed deaths among those aged over 55, suggesting South Africa is in the graveyard shift in the battle against HIV/Aids, says Clem Sunter, a director of the SA Business Coalition against HIV/Aids. Meanwhile, research shows that businesses have been virtually oblivious to the impac
THE Khomani San of the Kalahari may have won back their land but the 1000-strong community may not survive another generation, as Aids, alcohol abuse and family violence take their toll. While conducting research, funded by the South African San Institute (SASI), Stella Carter found that as a result of chemical depende
Substitute remedies give Aspen results a healthy colour. Powerful growth in the generic drugs market will be reflected in the annual results of Aspen Pharmacare next month. The company, South Africa s largest generic drugs manufacturer, says its earnings for the year ended June will be materially higher than those of t
HEALTH Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang was back in fighting mode this week, challenging the UN special envoy on HIV/Aids in Africa, Stephen Lewis, to visit South Africa after he slammed its slow antiretroviral roll-out. She threw the first punches on the opening night of the International Aids Conference in Bangkok t
Perhaps his torturous 27 years in prison prepared him for a life longer than the average. At 86 today, former President Nelson Mandela is still healthy - at least according to my doctors , as he is wont to say. Every morning when he jumps out of bed or hops onto a plane on yet another of his globe- trotting voyages, Ma
Leaders stress that implementation of new African Union policies is vital to break from the lethargy of the past, writes S thembiso Msomi Botswana s President Festus Mogae amused African leaders this week when he recalled a female delegate saying a male-dominated meeting on the status of women in Tanza
SUNDAY Times journalist Claire Keeton has won a fellowship from a US foundation that finances in-depth journalism for reports on mental health. Keeton was this week named as one of 10 recipients of the Rosalynn Carter Fellowships for Mental Health Journalism, named after the former US First Lady and awarded by Atlanta
Hollywood actor Richard Gere launched an HIV-Aids prevention campaign in India s financial and entertainment capital, Mumbai, this week with the support of film and sports stars. The Heroes Project is the latest initiative by Gere, who over the past year has become a vocal campaigner against HIV-Aids in the region, ide
INDIA is poised to overtake South Africa as the country with the highest number of HIV/Aids victims in the world. UNAIDS , the joint United Nations programme on HIV/Aids, says in its 2004 Report on the Global Aids Epidemic that South Africa has an estimated 5.3 million people living with HIV/Aids, 2.
Leading human resources practitioners say companies need to break down the stigma surrounding HIV/Aids to encourage employees to enrol on treatment programmes at an early stage - possibly by encouraging top management to lead the way. Tracey Peterson, the HIV/Aids manager at De Beers, says prevention strategies such as
ONE helped freedom fighters, the other hunted them. But together they have saved an entire Karoo town. A retired apartheid army lieutenant-colonel, from the notorious 32 Battalion, has teamed up with his former enemy to turn a dead-end dorp into a remarkable empowerment programme. Now united against poverty, Lieutenant
Newsmaker : Sipho Nkosi Chief executive - Eyesizwe Coal Black empowerment has not been getting a good press lately. There s a growing and well-informed suspicion that behind many headline-grabbing BEE deals lies very little real transformation. And this week the hopes of black empowerment mining company Khumo Bathong w
Johannesburg is to address five priority investments issues: Its huge water losses; refurbishing electricity networks; efficiency in transport; a new traffic signalling system; and dealing with the backlog in town- planning applications. Councillor Parks Tau, who is a member of the mayor committee (MMC) for finance, st
Lucia Sibanyoni, 25, from Alexandra has never travelled further than Swaziland . Molly Kellogg lives in New York in the US, 12, 000km away. But, thanks to digital technology, they have become great friends over the past year. Eighth-grader Kellogg and her fellow pupils at the White Plains Middle School are taking part
A MONTH after Heike Mayer hired a domestic worker to look after her baby, she fired her for having two dread diseases. Gogo , as Mayer referred to the woman, had tested positive for hepatitis B and HIV. Hepatitis B is a contagious disease that attacks the liver but, like HIV, is spread only via blood or bodily fluids e
EMPLOYERS cannot test employees for HIV without permission from the Labour Court; Employers do not have the right to know their employees HIV status, even if they pay for the test; Employees cannot be dismissed on the basis of their HIV status or because they refuse to have an HIV test; Doctors cannot disclose HIV test
THE chances of being infected by an HIV positive employee are remote, says Dr Adrian Puren, deputy director of medical services at the National Institute for Communicable Diseases. HIV and hepatitis B are spread via contact with blood or by sex. The risk after exposure of broken skin to HIV-infected blood is less than
HOLDING up an orange and a skipping rope to promote healthy lifestyles, Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang adopted not only the kind of props favoured by Finance Minister Trevor Manuel but also his amicable way of dealing with the opposition. After delivering a predictable budget speech in Parliament on Thursday
AT TUGELA Ferry s hospital in rural KwaZulu-Natal, a circle of adults repeated the name of Aids drugs held up by the nurse as if their lives depended on getting the answers right. And with one exception, knowing how to take the antiretroviral drugs properly and being aware of their side-effects will be critical to thei
MANY South African teenagers are engaging in anal sex in the belief it will protect them from HIV/Aids and keep their virginity intact. The youngsters also favour the high-risk practice over conventional sex because it avoids unwanted pregnancies. Despite the fact that anal sex carries the highest risk of HIV infection
THREE HIV-positive Aids activists from Lesotho , who were on their way to Germany to receive an award for their work in Aids education, spent six days in jail after being arrested at Johannesburg International Airport. SAA officials and police suspected that the travel documents of Thabiso Motsusi, 30, Thabo Rannana, 2
AN HIV-positive woman was so desperate to end her suffering that she paid a man R500 to hire someone to kill her. This startling evidence emerged in the Durban Regional Court this week during the trial of Sibongiseni Ngcobo who pleaded guilty to the murder of Pamela Thaver, 35. Ngcobo told the court that Thaver, who wo
After mourning for a year, Albertina Sisulu, the wife of the late ANC stalwart Walter Sisulu, this week visited orphans and destitute children at Orange Farm in the Vaal Triangle. The visit to a feeding scheme project at Masibambane School was one of her first official appearances since her husband died last May. Ma
THE first Zulu-language feature film ever has its world premiere in South Africa this month. Hailed as a breakthrough for indigenous South African languages, Durban movie producer Anant Singh s Yesterday is shot entirely in Zulu, with English subtitles. Directed by Darrel Roodt and starring Leleti Khumalo, the film - w
THREE award-winning South African condoms - known as Dick, Shaft and Stretch - are set to become international stars. The banter of the sassy and streetwise animated condoms - characters in an HIV/Aids public-service announcement - will be translated into 40 languages. The Three Amigos , the brainchild of Johannesburg-
Twenty maximum-security prisoners from Brandvlei Prison, Worcester, have an unusual way of passing their time behind bars - they spend their days sewing and knitting for children. The men, who are serving sentences for crimes ranging from murder and rape to armed robbery, have taken up needlework to help HIV-positive o
Soweto s Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital has begun a drive to find more kidney donors. The Dumisani Mzamane African Institute of Kidney Disease - established last November and named in honour of the country s first black kidney specialist - this week announced the employment of Sister Matsie Pooe to raise awareness of
Prominent Chatsworth community activist Dr K V Moodley has been appointed a councillor in the eThekwini municipality. Moodley, leader of the ANC in Chatsworth who also sits on various civic and community organisations, took up his post on Tuesday, along with Wentworth s Flo Walljee. The two were selected for the positi
THE head of the government s HIV/Aids programme, Dr Nono Simelela, has resigned and other Health Department staff have signalled their intention to leave soon. Simelela and senior communications official Jo-Anne Collinge confirmed to the Sunday Times that they had handed in resignations effective by the end of June. Bo
The inability of small and medium companies to manage HIV/Aids - 85% of them have no programme to control the epidemic - has left small business exposed to grim economic and social costs. Now, though, a new toolkit gives firms a simple way to set up an HIV/Aids workplace programme. The South African Business Coalition
A group of academics at the University of KwaZulu-Natal have compiled a manual for HIV/Aids caregivers. Prof Madhu Kasiram, together with Babalwa Dano and Rubeena Partab, drew up the manual after an extensive workshop on the impact of HIV/Aids on marriage and family life conducted by the university s departments of soc
IF EVERY will requires a way, President Thabo Mbeki s Cabinet faces a busy year. With none of the oblique elegance of his earlier keynote speeches, Mbeki gave his government a tough to do list on Friday. He set 56 tasks linked to specific deadlines ranging from immediate to five years, but mostly in the range of three
As soon as the smiling bride and groom had exchanged vows, the couple turned to the congregation and said: We are proud to announce our HIV-positive status. They then hugged and kissed each other amid ululations from guests and well-wishers. HIV-positive couple Themba Radebe and Busisiwe Skhakhane, who are both unemplo
Effective testing might be the key to unlocking the Minister s Aids block, says Claire Keeton Now that Manto Tshabalala-Msimang has secured a second term as minister of Health, she might want to take bold steps against HIV/Aids. Fortunately she doesn t have to look far for inspiration. Botswana has good l
Zifundele: Donate a library to a deserving school for just R3000! See details below Thina Sonke is a 14-year-old girl who was born in prison. She has a friend by the name of Thabang. They love going to the beach. People laugh at Thina, but Thabang understands her. Thabang s mother is sick with a disease called Aids.
When Bonginkosi Thuthukani Dlamini launched an assault on the music charts four years ago with the kwaito song Ghetto Fabulous, South Africa sat up and took notice. The song, praising the beauty and togetherness of township life, was number one on most radio charts and is still one of the favourite dance songs at parti
DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Jacob Zuma Many inside and outside the ANC thought that the allegations linking him to a bribery scandal in the arms deal fiasco would be the proverbial last straw that broke the proverbial camel s back. But Jacob Zuma has bounced back as deputy president, boosting his prospects of landing the top job
Dire staff shortages, the intolerable state of clinics and the spectre of HIV-related deaths in Tshwane have been highlighted in the city s annual healthcare report. According to the report, the city s health service departments are suffering from an acute staff shortage , with 2,052 healthcare providers serving a popu
About 50 of the 160 companies listed on the All Share index have qualified in the first round of the Social Responsibility Index (SRI) being developed by the JSE Securities Exchange SA. As 74 companies submitted entries, the success rate was 68%. More are expected to seek compliance with the index once it is launched o
LIKE so many people from so many countries, I was first drawn to Berlin as the Wall was coming down. U2 recorded a whole album there, at Hansa Studios, right in the shadows of the Wall. The streets were flooded with people as we arrived, it was totally overwhelming and we wanted to be part of it. So [ we] went out to p
TRUST and communication - these are the two key elements if small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are to provide HIV/Aids services to their employees. This is the finding of a survey carried out by the Center for International Health and Development, a division of the Boston University School of Public Health in the US.
THE University of KwaZulu-Natal has become the first tertiary institution in the country to provide antiretrovirals to HIV-positive students. The initiative allows students to access Aids care, including triple ARVs, for R50 a month. The average monthly cost for treatment - ARVs, counselling, medication, blood tests an
President Thabo Mbeki has stamped his vision on our young nation, emphasising the supremacy of planning, but also forcing South Africa to test the strength of its democracy, writes Mondli Makhanya At a conference of heavyweight government decision-makers back in 1995, Thabo Mbeki, who was then deputy president, turned
We have lived in the decade that changed the world. Black people freed themselves from apartheid, restoring our dignity, writes TAC chairman Zackie Achmat My mother voted for the first time on April 27 1994. She sent me a message: Tell Zackie I did not vote for the Africa Muslim Party, they were nowhere in the freedom
Veteran swimmer Lewis Gordon Pugh will attempt to become the first person to swim 100km around the Cape Peninsula next week. British-born Pugh, 34, who grew up in South Africa , will brave the Cape s wintry waters to raise money for Starfish, an HIV/Aids charity. He is planning to complete the 100km in seven days and h
The Medicines Control Council (MCC) is restricting public access to affordable medicines by delaying their registration for years, generic drug companies charged this week. South Africa s third-largest generic manufacturer, Cipla Medpro, supported by other pharmaceutical companies, has instructed its attorneys to take
The multibillion-dollar US porn industry shut itself down at the weekend amid a growing Aids scare, as a health advocacy group disclosed that two porn stars had tested HIV-positive. The California-based Adult Industry Medical Health Care Foundation, which screens about 1 200 porn actors for HIV and sexually transmitted
A former South African who is an expert on HIV/Aids in the United States will be returning to the country to help in the fight against the pandemic. Dr Anil Mangla, formerly from Lenasia, will spend three months from May visiting the sub-Saharan region, including South Africa, to work with various HIV/Aids organisation
President Thabo Mbeki yesterday urged voters to go to the polls on Wednesday without fear of being killed or having their houses burnt down . Speaking at an interdenominational church service to celebrate 13 years of peace in Mpumalanga township west of Durban, Mbeki implored priests to pray for God to enter our hearts
The police played their all too usual shoving game with the crowd trying to shake Thabo Mbeki s hand as the tired-looking ANC leader walked up the steps to the tiny kitchen. Furnished with an old stove, a rusty refrigerator, an assortment of kitchen chairs and a broken bench, the kitchen spoke of a household battling t
The KwaZulu-Natal MEC for health, a Cabinet minister and the chairman of the parliamentary portfolio committee for health are potential heirs to Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang s throne - should dissatisfaction with her performance unseat her. The frontrunners are Health MEC, Dr Zweli Mkhize, the Minister for
Sceptics in the West warned that developing countries didn t have the capacity to deliver antiretroviral therapy. But Claire Keeton finds that Botswana s roll-out programme is proving them wrong It s not a tea party, although the chatter of the patients in the corridor of an HIV clinic in central Botswana sounds that a
LONDON - 46664 Concerts has announced that Former South African President Nelson Mandela is to attend the album & DVD launch of 46664: The Concert in Johannesburg, South Africa, on 1 April. Mandela, who hosted the all-star music event in Cape Town on 29th November last year, is expected to appoint all the artists t
Television: Cas St Leger looks at the miniseries you mustn t miss if you want to be in the know Emma Thompson as a buxom angel crashing through the ceiling, Meryl Streep as a comic-book male rabbi, statues of angels that come to life... all this is in Angels in America, the acclaimed drama on Aids, angels, gay people,
SINDISWA Moya, 34, took a gamble with her life when she disclosed in a public letter to President Thabo Mbeki that she has Aids. She made a plea for antiretroviral drugs for herself and other people with Aids. Moya s courageous stand - published on the front page of the Sunday Times on February 15 - turned her life aro
HEALTH Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang s department attempted to make antiretroviral drugs available by this week - but nothing came of the move. A lack of drugs has delayed the national roll-out of antiretrovirals, to which the government committed itself last November. The target was to deliver treatment to 53 000
INGANATHI, October 98 - March 99. This five-month-old baby s name sits alongside hundreds of names of other children and adults who died of HIV/Aids on a remembrance wall at a Paarl, Western Cape, community project. But there is no more space, says Aids counsellor Eileen Fortuin. We stopped the wall as there were too m
Despite offering an attractive range of benefits for members with HIV/Aids, uptake of the Bonitas Aid for Aids programme has been slow, causing the scheme much concern. The first of its kind in South Africa , the support programme provides antiretrovirals worth R18 000 a head to members who have the disease at no extra
MAJUBILEE Masitha has no job, no fancy education and lives in a shack - but she is still the saviour of her impoverished village in Lesotho . Armed only with compassion and determination, the 47-year-old mother of four and grandmother of one has become a surrogate mother to more than 200 Aids orphans and scores of pens
CHARLIZE Theron has promised to visit South Africa more often to contribute to a proposed charity that will tackle HIV/Aids and the abuse of women and children. At a tea party in her honour in Pretoria this week, hosted by US Ambassador Cameron Hume, Theron canvassed the opinion of journalists, activists and government
HEALTH officials have been working flat-out this year to prepare for the roll-out of antiretroviral drugs for Aids patients, says Dr Nono Simelela, the national head of HIV/Aids. But the Treatment Action Campaign warns that, unless the procurement of antiretrovirals speeds up, it will take the government to court to fo
Aside from humanitarian grounds, the purpose of an HIV/Aids management programme is to reduce the impact and associated costs of HIV/Aids in the workplace. Businesses need to acknowledge that HIV/Aids is a workplace issue to which they need to respond, says Jenny Terwin, a researcher for the Bureau for Economic Researc
Raising awareness on HIV/Aids prevention is a starting point, but this activity cannot function in isolation, says Neels Barendrecht, CEO of Mx Group, a healthcare provider. In the current South African business environment, HIV/Aids plans must form a central part of the business strategy of all forward-thinking compan
Only 25% of SA companies have a formal policy on HIV/Aids, writes Antonella Gibson Companies in South Africa are failing to respond adequately to the HIV/Aids epidemic that is sweeping through the nation. This is according to the results of a survey on the impact of HIV/Aids on business commissioned by the South Africa
WE were scared. The first week was very hard. We had never had sex before. But Mbali [an older prostitute] told us that life is like this in Joburg - that is what we have to do if we need food and a place to stay. This is how Zinzi, 16, describes her and her 14-year-old sister Sisanda s descent into child prostitution
Hookers in Hillbrow in central Johannesburg say many of their clients want longer-lasting romantic relationships and that some who regard the exchange of body fluids as a way to achieve this pierce their condoms with tiny holes. Yet prostitutes view relationships with their clients as less risky than those with their l
The discovery that a certain monkey protein blocks HIV infection in both primate and human cells has been hailed as a major step forward in research to prevent the spread of HIV. Humans have a similar protein to the monkey cell protein (known as TRIM5-alpha). However, the human protein is much less powerful in blocking
Dear Sindiswa Patience Moya, The Office of the President has referred your letter to me as the minister of health. It is with deep regret that I hear of the situation you face. Your letter once again brings forth the reality of having to deal with a major disease that has no cure. It reminded me of different accounts I
The health minister s detailed letter to Sindiswa Moya, explaining the delays in the government s antiretroviral treatment programme, has evoked concern among medical staff and Aids advocates that it promises Aids patients very little right now. The HIV Clinicians Society of Southern Africa, the Treatment Action Campai
The health minister continues to tap-dance around Aids, says Phylicia Oppelt Sindiswa Moya was catapulted from being just another unknown black South African woman to being a national heroine last week. A former police officer, her fame did not stem from apprehending a criminal or saving someone s life - her acclaim ca
Sindiswa Moya, a 34-year-old Aids patient at Helen Joseph Hospital, is being embraced as a hero in Soweto after appealing to President Thabo Mbeki in a public letter to speed up the supply of antiretroviral drugs to public hospitals so that patients like her can start treatment. In the letter, published in the Sunday T
Sindiswa Patience Moya, who has written this open letter to South African President Thabo Mbeki, is one of at least 1 000 Aids patients at Helen Joseph Hospital s HIV clinic who need antiretroviral treatment now. In her heartfelt letter to the President, who made only a cursory mention of the HIV/Aids epidemic in his S
Most businesses in South Africa have failed to respond to the HIV/Aids epidemic despite its adverse effect on profitability, new research by the Bureau for Economic Research shows. The research into the economic effects of HIV/Aids was commissioned by the South African Business Coalition on HIV and Aids. The resear
Sunday Times (Johannesburg) - Sunday, February 8, 2004
Claire Keeton
TAKING antiretrovirals is like catching a taxi. At first the ride may be rough and a small number on the trip are at risk, but the need to go that route outweighs the potential dangers. This is clear to thousands of South Africans waiting for the government s national roll-out of the Aids drugs, which it promised in No
Sunday Times (Johannesburg) - Sunday, February 8, 2004
Futhi Ntshingila
NOKUTHULA Khathi, 33, who is HIV-positive, has always dreamt of owning her own home. But because of her HIV status she did not apply for a home loan for fear that her application would be rejected. Now, thanks to a scheme in which non-profit companies will act as guarantors, Khathi and thousands of other HIV -infected
Two HIV-infected and pregnant South Africans seeking asylum in Britain have been granted refuge and free medical treatment there. They are among several African citizens - mainly from Southern African countries including South Africa, Zimbabwe and Malawi - who have won permission to live permanently in Britain
These are the main players to watch as election frenzy gains momentum, writes Sabelo Ndlangisa. MUSA ZONDI - IFP election guru The 43-year-old national spokesman for the IFP has been the deputy minister of public works for the past three years. The Lutheran minister s profile within the country s third-largest politica
A South African man described by British police as a ruthless predator has been sentenced to six years in jail for infecting his married lover with the Aids virus, as well as for fraud and bigamy. Kouassi Michel Adaye, 37, who left South Africa five years ago to seek political asylum in Britain, was sentenced in the Li
Disputes over figures are red herrings, says Claire Keeton AFRICA s HIV/Aids statistics are inexact but this does not mean that they are inflated. Nor does their inexactitude detract from the scale, or the severity, of the epidemic. Why should there even be a debate over the accuracy of statistics when HIV/Aids, its s
A study by the World Health Organisation warns that road accidents will surpass HIV/Aids as the world s leading cause of unnatural death by 2020. The report, published on the WHO s website, says road accident-related deaths will rise to over 8.4 million a year by 2020. Today road accidents are ranked ninth; eight place
A new T-shirt has hit the streets of Khayelitsha, bearing the face of a murdered woman who some laud as a quiet hero . Stop rape now. Viva the spirit of Lorna! reads the slogan on the shirt, which commemorates Lorna Mlofane, an Aids activist, educator and mother, who was beaten to death after telling the men who had ra
The death of Yfm s Fana Khabzela Khaba has inspired a new Aids-awareness campaign by the radio station. Khabzela, 36, died on Wednesday at Joburg Hospital from an Aids-related illness. The charismatic DJ made headlines last year when he announced that he was living with Aids. Yfm s marketing manager, Kim Thipe, said th
A KENYAN study has revealed that one million people in the country are infected with HIV - two million fewer than previously estimated. The study by the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey - which was funded and backed by a US government agency, the Centres for Disease Control - suggests that HIV/Aids figures are overe
How can you fill in a form for your pension or any of the services that the government offers if you can t read? How can you get the HIV/Aids message across if people can t read? Two women are taking literacy to the streets with a books-and-bread campaign that is changing the lives of the province s poorest. Among Tau
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