South African Press Association - December 25, 2005
Emmanuel Coujon
Nigerian Aids workers on Saturday welcomed a government announcement of free treatment for people suffering from the disease but questioned whether the government could fulfil its promises. President Olusegun Obasanjo signed off on a health ministry proposal to distribute free anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs) to up to 500
South African Press Association - December 1, 2005
Thulani Mthethwa
Events marking World Aids Day were cancelled by royal decree on Thursday in Africa s last absolute monarchy because they clashed with a traditional ceremony scheduled for the same day. The announcement shocked activists in a country where more than 38% of the one-million population are infected with HIV, the virus that
South African Press Association - November 30, 2005
Matebello Motloung
Nearly half of South Africans aged 15 and older find nothing wrong with marrying an HIV-positive person and would not have a problem having sex with them. This is according to the Nelson Mandela Foundation-commissioned Second South African HIV Prevalence, Incidence, Behaviour and Communications Survey released on Wedne
South African Press Association - November 30, 2005
There is confusion among older South Africans about the link between HIV and Aids, the effectiveness of condoms in curbing infections, and the purpose of anti-retroviral (ARV) treatment. This is one of the findings of the Second South African HIV Prevalence, Incidence, Behaviour and Communications Survey released on We
South African Press Association - November 30, 2005
Botswana has shown that developing countries can successfully distribute anti-retroviral (ARV) treatment in their public health-care systems, the country s Department of Health said on Wednesday. Not only was the national roll-out of ARV treatment completed by December 2004, but we have exceeded our patient enrolment
South African Press Association - November 30, 2005
Elvira van Noort and Sapa
Stop fence-sitting and speak out about HIV, the Inkatha Freedom Party told President Thabo Mbeki on the eve of World Aids Day. Come off the fence ... admit the high-profile people who are dying of HIV and become a role model for openness, IFP health spokesperson Ruth Rabinowitz said on Wednesday. This year s World Aids
South African Press Association - November 30, 2005
Alexandra Zavis
The United Nations food agency is setting up pit stops providing lifesaving information about Aids to food-aid truck drivers and the communities they pass through in some of the world s most infected countries. The first centre opened its doors at Malawi s Mwanza border crossing in October, the World Food Programme (WF
South African Press Association - November 29, 2005
Jacques Keet
HIV/Aids has now become the leading cause of deaths in South Africa of children under the age of five years, according to the University of Cape Town s Children s Institute (CI). The HIV/Aids pandemic is first among a number of factors standing in the way of realising child rights in South Africa, CI director Professor
South African Press Association - Tuesday, 29 Nov 2005
CAPE TOWN - The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) has filed an urgent application in the Cape High Court for an interdict against the activities of controversial vitamin salesman Matthias Rath. It has also asked the court to find Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang and her department have a duty to stop Rath, and to
South African Press Association - Tuesday, 29 Nov 2005
CAPE TOWN - HIV/AIDS has now become the leading cause of deaths in South Africa of children under the age of five years, according to the University of Cape Town s Children s Institute (CI). The HIV and Aids pandemic is first among a number of factors standing in the way of realising child rights in South Africa, CI di
South African Press Association -November 23, 2005
Amy Musgrave
A campaign to stop controversial German vitamin entrepreneur Matthias Rath from conducting illegal HIV trials in South Africa will be stepped up, three organisations said on Wednesday. We are convinced there will be a catastrophe [if Rath continues with the trials], Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) presi
South African Press Association - November 22, 2005
Government inaction before 1994 is the main reason why HIV infection has not been curbed, the Department of Health said on Tuesday. It was only after the advent of democracy that tangible efforts were made by government to curb the spread of HIV infection; provide treatment, care and support for those infected and affe
South African Press Association - November 21, 2005
Vitamin entrepreneur Dr Matthias Rath has added Health-e news service to the long list of individuals and organisations he is suing for defamation with a R1,6-million claim. Health-e recently carried a series of investigative articles on Rath s activities in Cape Town s black townships, where he has encouraged people w
South African Press Association - November 21, 2005
At least 85% of South Africans in need of anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs) had still not received them by mid-2005, a United Nations report revealed on Monday. The report said the South African Aids crisis shows no signs of abating. Preventing infection and providing ARVs is key to halting the death spiral from Aids on the
South African Press Association - November 15, 2005
Seventy-eight healthy South Africans are to test a new candidate HIV vaccine over the next 18 months. The International Aids Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) and a United States company need to determine if the medication is safe and effective. Called tgAAC09 , the preventive HIV vaccine candidate is based on HIV subtype C, t
South African Press Association - November 10, 2005
United States envoy to Zimbabwe Christopher Dell has gotten off with a warning after raising the ire of his host country, Zimbabwe s Herald Online reported on Thursday. It said the Zimbabwean government had summoned and warned him not to interfere in Zimbabwe s internal affairs, failure of which could result in him b
South African Press Association - November 4, 2005
Treatment Action Campaign members demonstrated outside the office of the Medicines Control Council (MCC) in Pretoria on Friday, calling on it to act on the illegal clinical trials conducted by Mathias Rath. Vitamin entrepreneur Rath and his foundation have been involved in a legal battle with the TAC, for conducting cl
South African Press Association - November 3, 2005
The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) has threatened to take legal action against vitamin entrepreneur Matthias Rath within days if the authorities do not move to halt his activities. The TAC has repeatedly called on Minister of Health Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, her Western Cape counterpart, Pierre Uys, and the Medicines
South African Press Association - October 31, 2005
Stuart Graham
Two sisters from Napasha Village in southern Malawi wake up before the sun rises and start walking to the maize fields a few kilometres away. Along the way they stop to eat a slice of bread with the anti-retroviral medicine given them by the Malawian government. Once they get to the fields they join other women and for
South African Press Association - October 27, 2005
Ben MacLennan, Cape Town, South Africa
Aids activists on Thursday challenged Western Cape health MEC Pierre Uys to seek a court interdict against vitamin entrepreneur Matthias Rath, or even have him arrested. The call was made in a memorandum handed over at a demonstration by about 200 Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) members outside Uys s office in central
South African Press Association - October 27, 2005
About R67,2-million not spent on HIV/Aids projects may be given to international organisations, Minister of Health Manto Tshabalala-Msimang said at Parliament on Thursday. On Tuesday, Finance Minister Trevor Manuel reported in the Adjusted Estimates of National Expenditure that the national department of health had to
South African Press Association - October 26, 2005
Fran Blandy
Old allies in the human rights struggle, former president Nelson Mandela and United States civil rights activist Jesse Jackson, rekindled their acquaintance at talks in Johannesburg on Wednesday. I am delighted to meet Mandela again, said Jackson, who corresponded with Mandela while he was in prison under the apartheid
South African Press Association - October 25, 2005
There was no breach between the United Nations and the South African government over HIV/Aids, the health department said on Tuesday in reaction to an article in The New York Times. According to the article about a book published by the UN special envoy to Africa on Aids, Stephen Lewis, there was an extraordinary breac
South African Press Association - October 25, 2005
Amy Musgrave
Funeral undertakers are not concerned about contracting HIV from corpses, they said on Tuesday. It s a load of hogwash. If they take the right precautions, the chance [of contracting HIV] is a big, round nought, said Geoffrey Gilfillan, an operations manager for Doves undertakers. The funeral undertakers were reacting
South African Press Association - October 10, 2005
The percentage of Zimbabweans aged between 15 and 49 infected with HIV has fallen from 24,6% to 20,1%, the country s Herald Online reported on Monday. It said this made Zimbabwe the second country in Sub-Saharan Africa -- after Uganda -- to see its HIV infection rate start dropping. The latest figure emerged from a
Big business in South Africa has become a leading force in the fight against HIV/Aids, investing effort and money into treatment programmes to put ailing workers back on the job. It s absolutely essential, said Alex Govender, head of Volkswagen South Africa s health services. If you don t do anything the figures a
The massive HIV/Aids campaigns that South African society is constantly bombarded with has no effect on reducing the pandemic s prevalence rate. This is according to Warren Parker, a researcher and director of the Johannesburg-based Centre for Aids, who was addressing the Gauteng Aids conference in Midrand on Friday mo
There is a steady increase in HIV prevalence in South Africa , a professor from the University of KwaZulu-Natal said at the opening of the Gauteng Aids Council conference in Johannesburg on Thursday. The life expectancy in the country would soon plummet from 63 years to 46, Professor Alan Whiteside said. HIV preval
An indigent burial support programme was needed to cope with the rising number of HIV/Aids deaths in South Africa , a researcher said on Thursday. Shirley Ngwenya, a public health researcher in Johannesburg, was addressing a Gauteng Aids conference at Gallagher Estate. An indigent is a person who can be identified but
South African Press Association - September 30, 2005
Organisations including the International Coalition of Genital Integrity on Friday cautioned against reports indicating that mass circumcisions could help prevent the spread of HIV. HIV cannot be prevented by mass circumcisions. Circumcision may result in a false belief that safe-sex practices are no longer required, i
South African Press Association - September 29, 2005
Jenni Evans and Staff Reporter
Health Minster Manto Tshabalala-Msimang is happy with the South African National Blood Service s (SANBS) new race-free risk rating model, she said on Thursday. I am glad the SANBS has been able to implement the new risk model for blood donations that excludes race within timelines that we set, she told reporters in Joh
South African Press Association - September 28, 2005
Public hospitals in Zimbabwe are finding it difficult to conduct HIV/Aids tests because of a lack of essential laboratory chemicals, the state-run Herald newspaper reported on Wednesday. Zimbabwe has one of the highest HIV infection rates in the world. An estimated one in four Zimbabweans is HIV-positive. Tendai Ny
South African Press Association - September 26, 2005
The health ministry has responded angrily to Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi s criticism of its Aids policies, labelling remarks by the trade union leader at the weekend as irresponsible and saying he needs to get his facts straight. The ministry s reaction follows an a
South African Press Association - September 22, 2005
A survey of HIV/Aids infection and sexual behaviour conducted by a US-based university and SA s Wits University has shown that women are more likely than men to be infected with the virus. The survey, to be published in the September 23 edition of the journal AIDS , was led by researchers from the University of North C
South African Press Association - September 21, 2005
A third of Nelson Mandela Bay s population of about 1,3-million is HIV-positive, making the region s prevalence the highest in the province, the Eastern Province Herald reported on Wednesday. The figure was revealed in the annual national ante-natal HIV prevalence study. The most recent results for the entire Nelson Ma
South African Press Association - September 8, 2005
Thinking about obtaining a bank loan in Ghana ? That will soon depend on whether you have been given an HIV-free status report, according to a banker in the West African country. Banks appear to be motivated by wanting to ensure that all loans granted are repaid. However, Professor Awuku Sakyi Amoa, director general of
South African Press Association - September 7, 2005
White farmers on Wednesday threatened an armed struggle similar to that waged by the African National Congress unless their property and cultural concerns are addressed. A handful of farmers presented a memorandum to agricultural union TAU South Africa president Paul van der Walt on the fringes of a union conference, u
South African Press Association - September 6, 2005
The Medicines Control Council (MCC) of South Africa has been ordered to probe claims that the industrial solvent, Virodene, is being openly peddled on the internet as a cure for HIV/Aids, the office of Minister of Health Manto Tshabalala-Msimang said on Tuesday. The MCC would be tasked with establishing whether any of
South African Press Association - September 3, 2005
Raphael Tenthani
A 25-year-old woman has been arrested for allegedly hacking her nine-month old son to death with an axe and attempting suicide after they both tested positive for the Aids virus, police said on Friday. Aids carries a strong stigma in this impoverished Southern African nation. An estimated 14% of Malawi s 11-million pop
Uganda has appointed an international audit firm to oversee its anti-HIV/Aids programmes following the suspension of more than $200-million in assistance by the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria, a senior official said on Wednesday. Respected auditors Ernst and Young will assume responsibility of Ug
Tens of thousands of unmarried Swazi girls performed a final dance on Monday culminating a week-long celebration of chastity as Swazi authorities moved to defend the centuries-old reed dance from international ridicule. Every year, tens of thousands of girls from across the country gather at the royal palace to partici
After mocrea in the 1990s and the African potato five years ago, moringa powder is the latest medical craze for Zimbabweans battling one of the world s highest HIV/Aids infection rates. Do you want to feel well, have a healthy appetite and live longer? a pamphlet on a supermarket noticeboard screams in bold print.
At dawn on Monday, thousands of Swazi girls removed tasselled scarves symbolising their chastity, abandoning an ancient rite revived to combat the modern scourge of Aids. King Mswati III, Africa s last absolute monarch, in 2001 reinstated for five years the umchwasho rite, banning sexual relations for girls younger tha
Swaziland s absolute monarch King Mswati III has ordered an end to a five-year no-sex rite for teenage girls, who had to pledge chastity and wear woollen do not touch me tassels in a bid to halt the spread of Aids. Swaziland s maidens will forsake their tassels and the umchwasho chastity pledge on August 22, ahead of t
The United Nations warned on Tuesday of an explosion of HIV/Aids in lawless Somalia unless steps are taken quickly to stop the spread of the deadly disease and reduce numerous risk factors. The latest edition of the UN s monthly report on the humanitarian situation in Somalia said current infection rates were relativel
Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo has lauded the production of the first anti-retroviral drugs used to battle Aids to be produced by an indigenous firm in the country, his office said on Monday. Obasanjo said at the weekend during the presentation of the Aids drug Virex by local drug firm Fidson Healthcare that he i
Youth representatives from across Africa will meet next week in Morocco to discuss the continent s most pressing problems, including HIV/Aids, poverty, the environment and the technology gap, the organisers said on Thursday. We bring the young together and we let them loose, let them work together to solve these proble
More than two dozen ecumenical bodies across the world on Tuesday called for an investigation into the shooting by police of Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) protesters, the same day the organisation marched in Queenstown to highlight police brutality. In a letter addressed to the ministers of safety and security and he
Anti-Aids drugs will be more accessible to prisoners in KwaZulu-Natal after threats of a hunger strike and a letter of demand was sent to prison authorities earlier this week. The prison s HIV/Aids coordinator is negotiating with the Department of Health so that we can get two accredited anti-retroviral [ARV] sites, s
As the Aids pandemic cuts a deadly swathe across Southern Africa, a multidisciplinary research team is looking at developing intervention strategies to care for affected children and orphans. The main aim of the project is to improve the social conditions, health, space for personal development and quality of life of v
A Ugandan lawmaker said on Wednesday he would reward girls from his central constituency with university scholarships if they leave high school able to prove their virginity. Sulaiman Madada, a member of Parliament from Uganda s Kayunga district, said the scheme aimed to promote morality and that successful scholarship
Lauding President Thabo Mbeki s drive for gender equality and South Africa s women for their fight against HIV/Aids, United States First Lady Laura Bush said Africa s progress is best measured in hope. A few years ago, having HIV/Aids was a death sentence and shame; today, they have hope, Bush said at a gathering at t
A 25-year-old Hout Bay resident was arrested on Tuesday in connection with the rape of a German tourist near Cape Town s Sandy Bay, police said. The man was arrested at 1.30am after police followed up on information provided by the public, Superintendent Billy Jones said. He will appear in the Wynberg Magistrate s Cour
People should use condoms and not have sex too young, said former president Nelson Mandela on Monday. Aids has spread because people have so many partners. People should use condoms and try to resist being with a partner until [they are] about 18 or 19 years old, Mandela said in Johannesburg on Monday morning. Mandel
Stopping HIV/Aids starts with knowing you have it, Global Business Coalition chief executive Richard Holbrooke said on Thursday. The former Clinton-era United States Cabinet member and ambassador to the United Nations is in South Africa to encourage local business to do more to save lives. It is frightening that o
The Medical Research Council (MRC) plans to launch a national study on hospital infections later this year, council president Anthony Mbewu said on Monday. When we realised several months ago that hospital-acquired infections were becoming a problem, we discussed it with the Department of Health and decided that the MR
Fewer than 1 000 children infected with HIV/Aids in KwaZulu-Natal are currently receiving anti-retroviral (ARV) treatment, the Natal Witness website reported on Friday. It said the figures were revealed at the Medical Research Council (MRC) KwaZulu-Natal Aids Forum in Pietermaritzburg this week. About 11 000 adults wer
The Democratic Alliance has again reported Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang to the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA), saying the latest statements by the minister mean the council can no longer ignore her. The minister of health is conducting what could amount to medical malpractice by telling
Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang held a private one-on-one meeting with controversial vitamin entrepreneur Mathias Rath earlier this year, it emerged on Monday. In a written reply to a question in the National Assembly by Dianne Kohler-Barnard of the Democratic Alliance, she also refused to distance herself fro
Drugs alone will not help Africa beat HIV/Aids, one of the scientists who discovered the virus that causes the disease said on Thursday at an African business summit. Robert Gallo said research -- not just on the development of antiviral drugs to fight the disease or a vaccine to prevent it -- but on their proper use a
A nurse accused of injecting her stepson with HIV-contaminated blood in January last year will appear in the Mhala Regional court on Thursday, Limpopo police said. Captain Moatshe Ngoepe said the woman -- a nurse from Matikwane Hospital near Bushbuckridge -- was arrested on January 17, 2004 after the now six-year-old b
The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) is going to make sure vitamin entrepreneur Matthias Rath gets arrested, TAC chairperson Zackie Achmat said on Tuesday. He was speaking to supporters on the steps of the Cape High Court after a full bench reserved judgment in TAC s urgent application for an anti-defamation interdict a
A 23-year-old man has died while attending a school offering circumcision rituals illegally, the Eastern Cape health department said on Tuesday. The man died of dehydration at the school in Sada outside Queenstown on Monday, said department spokesperson Sizwe Kupelo. His was the second death in a week. Another candidat
About 50 children per day are raped in South Africa as the country struggles with the legacy of apartheid, HIV/Aids and an influx of sexual material into a society which remains somewhat puritanical. That is according to the official figures, which specialist groups say grossly underestimate the true scale of the pheno
Africa needs at least $1-billion (830 million euro) a year to deal with children orphaned by HIV/Aids, the United Nations and the African Union said on Thursday. More than one in 10 children in Africa are already orphaned with numbers expected to hit more than 50-million children by 2010, officials said at the African
Zimbabwe s HIV/Aids prevalence rate has declined from 24,6% two years ago to 21,3%, due to greater Aids awareness and changed sexual behaviour, according to a new study quoted in the state-run daily on Wednesday. There has been massive awareness and behaviour change in our people over the past year, Health and Child We
Screen idol Brad Pitt was almost in tears when he visited a hospital in Durban in May to be confronted with the young victims of HIV/Aids. Pitt was experiencing for the first time the circumstances under which millions of children on the continent live and often die. Disease, malnutrition, and early death hang over the
Participants at the second national Aids conference that ended in Durban on Friday have hailed the event as a huge success. Professor Jerry Coovadia from the University of KwaZulu-Natal said the conference was proof that South Africa was really a democracy because of the solidarity between academics, non-governmental o
Blue tents with sunshine posters are starting to become a familiar sight in townships near South Africa s major cities, inviting locals to come in for free HIV testing and counselling. With studies showing that less than 20% of South Africans know their HIV status, a new programme is providing free, anonymous testing i
South Africa s health minister angered Aids activists on Tuesday when she told a national Aids conference that they should focus on other diseases and reiterated her view that drugs are not the only answer to fighting HIV. I hope you have come in such big numbers not just to focus on one ailment but to focus on all of
The South African National Blood Service (SANBS) has received two testing instruments as part of efforts to exclude racial profiles from its blood safety procedures, the service said on Tuesday. Last year, the service was ordered by the Department of Health to develop blood safety procedures less reliant on a racial pr
The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) wants at least 200 000 people on anti-retroviral (ARV) treatment by 2006, thereby holding the government to its own commitment in the operational plan. Of the proposed figure, at least 20 000 should be children, the TAC said in its electronic newsletter. Sufficient funds have been se
The parents of HIV-infected children tried to storm a court on Tuesday when a judge announced the postponement of a ruling on the death sentence appeal of six medics, including five Bulgarians and a Palestinian, convicted of infecting 400 children with the virus that causes HIV/Aids. The angered parents, some of them c
An African agenda for the July meeting of the Group of Eight (G8) industrialised nations is to be canvassed when President Thabo Mbeki meets United States President George Bush in Washington next week. Bush extended an invitation to Mbeki a few weeks ago for talks at the White House, partly to discuss the upcoming summ
Vitamin entrepreneur Matthias Rath should not be deprived of the chance to debate with the Treatment Action Campaign even if he hits under the belt , his advocate told the Cape High Court on Thursday. Even unfair debate could not and should not be restrained, advocate John van der Berg told a full bench of judges.
Anyone who claims vitamins are a cure or treatment for Aids is a charlatan, United Nations Joint Programme on HIV/Aids (UNAids) director Peter Piot said in Johannesburg on Wednesday. It s really unfortunate that there will always be people who try to make money out of the misery and suffering of others, he told journal
It is irresponsible to sell HIV/Aids test kits to the general public, the South African Medical Association, the doctors union, said on Tuesday. Chairperson Dr Kgosi Letlape said that self-testing without counselling could be disastrous for those concerned. Selling the kits in supermarkets could also lead to their abus
The impact of Aids in Southern Africa is considered so grave the United Nations is set to hold a special meeting in Johannesburg this week to examine ways to cope with the crisis. The meeting comes during a visit by UN special envoy James Morris, whose 11-day mission includes visits to Zambia ,
A representative of vitamin entrepreneur Matthias Rath has come under fire from the SA Jewish Board of Deputies for likening the Treatment Action Campaign to Nazis. Lawyer Anthony Brink made the claim in papers he filed in reply to the TAC s application in the Cape High Court for an urgent defamation interdict against
Politician Patricia de Lille is not liable for the publication of the names of three women with HIV/Aids in her biography, the Johannesburg High Court found on Friday. Author Charlene Smith is also not to blame for the naming of the women against their wishes, Judge Ivor Schartzman found in a 58-page verdict. The judge
An application by the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) for an urgent interdict against vitamin entrepreneur Matthias Rath got under way in the Cape High Court on Friday morning. However, proceedings were adjourned minutes after they started because the noise of demonstrators outside the building was interfering with the
The court case against vitamin entrepreneur Matthias Rath is a distraction from the real work of the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), its national chairperson Zackie Achmat, said on Friday. He was addressing several hundred TAC supporters on the steps of the Cape High Court, where a full bench of judges was hearing the
Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo launched a major blood bank and transfusion project on Thursday, donating blood at a new centre that hopes to begin cleaning up the Aids-contaminated blood supply in Africa s most-populous nation. Spearheaded by a United States charity called Safe Blood for Africa and funded with hu
The government denies it has ring-fenced Minister of Health Manto Tshabalala-Msimang in an effort to limit her controversial pronouncements on HIV and Aids, and on treatment for victims of the disease. Responding to a question during a post-Cabinet-meeting media briefing at Parliament, Government Communications and Inf
The Medicines Control Council and the Department of Health confirmed on Wednesday that they are investigating the South African activities of the Dr Rath Health Foundation. The investigation has not yet been completed, they said in a joint statement in reply to a South African Press Association query. Therefore [we] ar
Harvard researchers have accused vitamin entrepreneur Matthias Rath of deliberately misinterpreting their findings to bolster his campaign against anti-retrovirals. Anti-retroviral therapy saves lives, and its scale-up should be vigorously pursued in all countries, the researchers, Wafaie Fawzi and David Hunter, said i
Over 34 farming schools have been set up in sub-Saharan Africa to assist Aids orphans, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said on Monday. The Junior Farmer Field and Life Schools target about 1 000 children in Kenya , Mozambique , Namibia and
Pope Benedict XVI encouraged South Africa to work for peace on the African continent during a private meeting on Friday with President Thabo Mbeki, who has tried to mediate some of the region s most intractable conflicts. The Holy Father underlined the role the Republic of South Africa can play as a factor of peace on
South Africa has been proved right by its plan to aggressively engage nutrition as a means of combating HIV/Aids, Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang said in Pretoria on Thursday. As a country and as South Africans we really have been vindicated in this regard. We are what we eat, and we are what we drink, she
A detailed plan for fighting the increasing number of tuberculosis (TB) cases in Africa was unveiled in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia , on Wednesday, according to the global Stop TB Partnership. African and international health and development officials met to discuss the spiralling epidemic of TB, which in combination with
Journalist Charlene Smith shed a tear as she told the Johannesburg High Court she would hate to do anything that brought harm to anyone. She was being cross-examined in a civil case brought by three women who complained that their HIV-positive status was disclosed without their consent in Smith s book on politician Pat
The biography of politician Patricia de Lille is the only place where three women suing her were named and their HIV-positive status disclosed, the Johannesburg High Court heard on Monday. De Lille made the concession under cross-examination after earlier testifying that the information entered the public domain when a
Politician Patricia de Lille said on Friday she was aware that the three women suing her had retracted their complaints about a clinical Aids trial in which they participated. However, she had ignored this, she told the Johannesburg High Court. She was responding to counsel Daniel Burger, appearing for the plaintiffs,
Independent Democrats leader Patricia de Lille took the stand on Friday during the civil case against her in the Johannesburg High Court. She explained she met the three women who are suing her while they were taking part in a clinical Aids trial at the University of Pretoria in March and April 2000. The women complain
Minister of Health Manto Tshabalala-Msimang again stressed the importance of nutrition in regard to HIV/Aids at a Pietermaritzburg gathering on Friday of organisations dealing with the pandemic. Nutrition, nutrition, nutrition, the minister emphasised, saying there is scientific proof that lemon, olive oil and garlic c
Satirist Pieter-Dirk Uys has launched a biting attack on President Thabo Mbeki s stand on Aids and nutrition. Most of the black people who have died of Aids in South Africa were too poor to even phone for help, let alone pizza delivery, Uys said in a statement on Friday. Most of the white people who have died of Aids a
The Democratic Alliance has criticised President Thabo Mbeki for his statements on HIV and Aids made during his state visit to Singapore on Thursday, saying he should stay out of the debate. Responding to a question after addressing business leaders in Singapore on Thursday, Mbeki said experts at a World Health Organis
The University of Pretoria said its inquiry into the efficacy of drugs used in HIV/Aids clinical trials was never meant to be made public, South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) news reported on Tuesday. This was heard during cross examination in the Johannesburg High Court where three women are claiming damages
An HIV/Aids housing policy launched by the Department of Housing in Pretoria on Tuesday is meant to assist those with the illness and the families and people around them affected by it. The policy looks at long-term housing solutions providing housing for those infected by HIV/Aids and the families who need to help the
The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) has threatened legal action against the Medicines Control Council (MCC) if the body does not act against controversial vitamin entrepreneur Matthias Rath. If the MCC and HPCSA [the Health Professions Council of South Africa ] fail to close down Rath s medical activities by April 27,
The Treatment Action Campaign has threatened legal action against the Medicines Control Council (MCC) if the body does not act against controversial vitamin entrepreneur Matthias Rath. If the MCC and HPCSA (Health Professions Council of South Africa ) fail to close down Rath s medical activities by April 27, TAC will p
A biography of politician Patricia De Lille had devastating consequences for three women whose identities and HIV positive status were disclosed in the book, the Johannesburg High Court heard on Friday. The women -- who may be identified only by their initials -- now lived in constant fear of their family and communiti
The health department met its target of establishing at least one service point for HIV and Aids care in all 53 districts in the country by the end of March, Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang said on Friday. Some districts already have more than one facility providing HIV and Aids related care and treatment with
South Africa is one of three countries lagging behind as the World Health Organisation (WHO) tries to get anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs to three million people with HIV/Aids by the end of 2005. If Nigeria , India and South Africa move strongly to significantly increase anti-retroviral therapy, it will m
Poor infection control at dental, maternity and paediatric facilities is possibly contributing to the spread of HIV/Aids, statistics showed on Tuesday. The findings were in a study commissioned by the Nelson Mandela Foundation, conducted by the Human Sciences Research Council and released at an international Aids confe
The South African Communist Party has called on the country s major financial institutions to stop discriminating against workers living with HIV/Aids and the poor. Kaizer Mohau, spokesperson for the party, said the question that needs to be asked on Human Rights Day on Monday is: How far have we come, in 50 years, to
Millions of women in Africa are living on their own Robben Islands, imprisoned -- and often in solitary confinement -- because of the Aids virus, former South African president Nelson Mandela said on Saturday. At his second concert to raise awareness of Aids, held at Fancourt Golf Estate in George, Mandela told a crowd
South African Press Association - February 16, 2005
Ben Maclennan, Cape Town, South Africa
The head of communications in the Presidency, Murphy Morobe, has urged the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) to continue to speak out on the issue of HIV/Aids. You are our conscience, he told several thousand TAC supporters who marched on Parliament on Wednesday to hand him a memorandum of demands. The TAC is campaigning
South African Press Association - February 15, 2005
The local and international community should take action against Swaziland s King Mswati III s insensitive expenditure , the Swaziland Solidarity Network (SSN) said on Tuesday. This comes after the monarch spent R5-million on 10 BMWs for his wives and R6-million on a Chrysler Maybach for himself. With this act, it is t
South African Press Association - February 9, 2005
Couples wanting to marry should be required to undergo a compulsory Aids test before the wedding ceremony, says Inkatha Freedom Party leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi, who has lost two children to the disease. Speaking at a Cape Town Press Club luncheon on Wednesday, he said such testing is not only medically sensible, but
South African Press Association - February 4, 2005
The South African Council of Churches (SACC) has expressed shock and dismay at continuing assertions that condoms don t work as a means of preventing the spread of HIV. In a statement released on Friday, secretary general Molefe Tsele said the SACC believes that all credible scientific studies conclude that the virus t
South African Press Association - January 31, 2005
This year could be a turning point for Africa, United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan said on Sunday at a summit of the 53-member African Union, urging pan-African cooperation to resolve conflicts on the world s poorest continent. Africa has an indispensable contribution to make in ensuring that 2005 becomes a tur
South African Press Association - January 28, 2005
While the world s richest and most powerful meet in the snowcapped mountains of Switzerland to lament Africa s dead and starving, the people here advise them to save their breath -- they ve heard it all before. All they ever do is make promises to Africa, but never apply them, said Lucy Munyololo, a fish seller in Kin
South African Press Association - January 25, 2005
Wendy Jasson da Costa - Durban, South Africa
The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) has criticised the Catholic Bishops Conference in Southern Africa for saying the government should promote abstinence and not condoms in the fight against Aids because condoms are clearly not working . TAC spokesperson Denis Matwa said Cardinal Wilfred Napier s comment has set back i
South African Press Association - January 17, 2005
Ben Maclennan - Cape Town, South Africa
The United States wants to resolve the issue of the debt burden that is crippling the growth of many African countries, British Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown said on Monday. American ministers have told me that they want to see some resolution of the debt-relief issue, he told journalists in Cape Town, where
South African Press Association - January 15, 2005
Aids activists will join President Thabo Mbeki and anticipated thousands of other mourners at the funeral of former president Nelson Mandela s son, Makgatho Mandela, on Saturday. Makgatho, a Johannesburg lawyer, died of Aids-related complications last week, and Mandela used the announcement of his death to plead for op
South African Press Association - January 13, 2005
South African pop-culture icons have joined the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) and jeans manufacturer Levi Strauss in a campaign to limit the spread of HIV/Aids among youth. Details of the Red for Life campaign were released on Thursday, with the TAC s Zackie Achmat citing Levi s fair labour practices as a reason for
It is best for a family to be open about suffering from terminal diseases rather than let rumours spread like wildfire, former president Nelson Mandela said on Thursday after announcing that he lost his son, Makgatho Mandela, earlier in the day to Aids. Addressing reporters in the garden of his home in Houghton, Johann
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