South African Press Association - December 20, 2010
South Africa has received a major boost to fight Aids, TB and malaria, Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said on Sunday. The Global Fund has approved a total of up to $302-million funding for South Africa over a period of five years for the tenth round of grants for prevention, treatment and care of Aids and TB, he s
South African Press Association - December 15, 2010
US secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton says she is excited by statistics showing SA is turning the tide against HIV/Aids, as she and International Relations Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane signed a five-year plan to fight the disease. We are here at a moment when South Africa is turning the tide against HIV/A
South African Press Association - December 14, 2010
An antiretroviral (ARV) tender worth R4.3 billion over two years has been awarded to 10 pharmaceutical companies, says Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi. This represented a R4.7 billion saving over what the government had previously paid for rolling out ARVs. South Africa can now afford to treat twice as many people wit
South African Press Association - December 1, 2010
Addressing an international World Aids Day commemoration in Pretoria, Sidibe said: Mr President from the outset of this great day your presence here today is a sign of your commitment of your personal leadership. He said Zuma should not waste any time in addressing the scourge of HIV/Aids. We cannot afford to waste ano
South African Press Association - December 1, 2010
The Young Communist League of SA (YCLSA) called on people to remember the millions who die worldwide daily from HIV/Aids. We equally need to take stock of the immeasurable efforts by our government in prioritising HIV/Aids and ensuring that practical programmes are implemented, not only to create awareness, but encoura
South African Press Association - November 30, 2010
Heather Mason
One year ago, in the small southern African kingdom of Swaziland , 25-year-old Zanele Mamba was living on the edge. She and her husband, Mfanzile Dlamini, were HIV-positive and had already lost two babies to AIDS. They lived in a one-room hut in Mkhulamini, 50 kilometres east of the capital Mbabane, surviving on subsis
South African Press Association - November 23, 2010
Almost half of women working on farms around Limpopo and Mpumalanga are HIV positive, compared to only a third of the male workforce, a study reveals. The study, conducted by the International Organisation on Migration, from March to May this year, focused on 23 farms in Malelane, Tzaneen and Musina. The study found th
South African Press Association - November 16, 2010
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) was planning to launch mobile HIV/AIDS clinics along major trade routes in the region, the health department said. This was one of the decisions made at a SADC meeting of health ministers held in the Democratic Republic of Congo on November 10 and 11. Newly appointed De
South African Press Association - November 12, 2010
The goal of the National HIV/Aids Strategic Plan, to halve HIV infections by 2011, is not going to be met, the DA in Gauteng says. My impression is that we are failing to effect real behaviour change. Awareness is high, but fundamental changes in behaviour are not happening, DA provincial spokesman Jack Bloom said in a
South African Press Association - November 11, 2010
Genevieve Quintal
Johannesburg -- HIV prevalence countrywide among pregnant women in 2009 was estimated at 29.4 percent, Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said on Thursday. This needed to brought down to 17.3 percent by 2015, he told delegates at the National Consultative Health Forum in Johannesburg. The national estimate and provincial
South African Press Association - November 1, 2010
Home HIV testing kits should be made widely available in South Africa , three Aids experts have urged in the latest issue of the SA Medical Journal. Laws and policies should be changed to pave the way for the kits distribution, said Wits University academics Marlise Richter and Dr Francois Venter, and Andy Gray, a seni
South African Press Association - October 26, 2010
The KwaZulu-Natal government has defended the use of the controversial Tara KLamp for male circumcision in the province. To me the debates around the use of the clamp are peripher[al], Premier Zweli Mkhize said on Tuesday. To me it does not matter whether you use scissors or forceps as long as it will remove the foresk
South African Press Association - October 13, 2010
The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Wednesday unveiled a new five-year plan to end tuberculosis, which affects more than two million people every year. We have done similar launches in Davos, but this time we said let us go where the problem is, said the WHO s Mario Raviglione at the launch in Alexandra of the Globa
Unexplained stillbirths make up more than half of all such deaths, Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said on Wednesday. In written reply to a parliamentary question, he said other main causes included infections, such as syphilis and HIV; diseases affecting the placenta, such as high blood pressure (hypertension) and di
South African Press Association - September 17, 2010
ANC Youth League president Julius Malema will meet King Goodwill Zwelithini to discuss misperceptions around the league s position on polygamy. The league is running a One boyfriend-One girlfriend campaign to achieve its resolution of stopping HIV/Aids infections by 2014. Last Sunday Malema raised the topic of monogamy
Israeli researchers says they have discovered a way of killing off cells infected with HIV that offers hope for a cure for the disease. The technique involved getting the virus to overload the host cell with viral DNA, which made the cell self-destruct and kill off the virus. However they warned that so far they have o
The U.N. s top investigator on torture and punishment is warning that overcrowded prisons are breeding grounds for AIDS. Manfred Nowak, who has visited detention facilities around the world, says inmates are often held in inhumane conditions in which the HIV virus is spread through the use of non-sterile drug injection
The announcement of a breakthrough gel to help women protect themselves against HIV and other infections was welcomed by Cabinet on Tuesday. Cabinet welcomed the groundbreaking news that a study that was jointly funded by the South African and United States governments had established that an antiretroviral microbicide
The Medical Research Council says women who are in abusive or unequal relationships are at risk of becoming infected with the HI Virus. Professor Rachel Jewkes and a colleague at the MRC studied 1099 young African women who were HIV negative at the start of the study, and who had at least one subsequent HIV test over t
More than 5000 people are expected to march to the US consulate tomorrow to protest about cuts in HIV funding, march organisers said in Johannesburg yesterday. We have been receiving bouncing cheques from [US President Barack Obama s] administration and the G8 [group of developed nations], World Aids Campaign co-ordina
The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa applauds President Jacob Zuma for disclosing his HIV status after taking a public test, said spokesman Castro Ngobese. Zuma buries the denialism, aloofness, poetic and bookish approach to the HIV/Aids pandemic associated with the presidency during the 10 year tenure o
Zuma decided to share his results on Sunday at the launch of the HIV/AIDS counselling and testing campaign in the Natalspruit Hospital, east of Johannesburg. After careful consideration, I have decided to share my results with all South Africans...to promote openess. I m sure South Africans will know I am very open.
Both President Jacob Zuma and his deputy, Kgalema Motlanthe, will be tested publicly for Aids at the national launch of the HIV counselling and testing campaign (HCT) on Sunday. [The launch] will see the president and the deputy president ... who will be conducting their tests publicly, government spokesperson Themba M
The government will not tolerate what amounts to blackmail in the provision of antiretrovirals (ARVs) by local companies and will look further afield for cheaper suppliers if necessary, Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi warned on Tuesday. Speaking during debate on his budget vote in the National Assembly, Motsoaledi sai
The test was timed to mark the implementation of the government s new policies on preventing and treating the disease, which took effect on April 1. This includes a campaign to urge all South Africans to undergo testing, which was due to be formally launched next Thursday, but has been delayed because the president wil
New HIV and Aids treatments will be available in all Gauteng hospitals and clinics from Thursday, says the provincial department of health and social development. The new guidelines ensure that all HIV positive pregnant women and patients on TB treatment with a CD4 count of 350 or less will now receive ARVs [antiretrov
Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi on Monday implored leaders from all walks of life to be the first in line for the massive HIV testing programme that will begin next month. It s quite a shame that many of us don t know our status, Motsoaledi told delegates at a higher education HIV/Aids programme in Sandton. We have g
A revolution in South Africa s response to HIV/Aids will unfold next month as the largest-ever testing and counselling campaign kicks off, Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said on Thursday. ...We are absolutely united and ready to take the bull by the horns, Motsoaledi told a media briefing at OR Tambo International Ai
The business community has thrown its weight behind next month s national HIV counselling and testing campaign, the SA Business Coalition on HIV/Aids says. It said representatives from the business sector met Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi this week to discuss preparations and business support for the government-led
Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said he would not make his HIV test results public because that would put pressure on people who did not want to do so. If I release my results, you (media) will go to other people and say Aaron has released his results, what about you, he said. He was addressing the media after meeting
The Cabinet has approved an implementation plan to scale up the HIV/Aids prevention and treatment programme recently presented by Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi. The new plan aims to reduce the rate of infection by 50% by 2011 and provide antiretroviral (ARV) treatment to 80% of those who need the treatment, governme
Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said he was worried that South Africans did not appreciate that prevention was the best treatment against HIV/Aids. President [Jacob] Zuma made two far-reaching statements on World Aids Day, he made a strong statement about prevention and a strong statement about treatment regimes, but
Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi on Monday dismissed accusations that President Jacob Zuma damaged the fight against HIV/Aids after fathering a child out of wedlock. I am not sure why that statement is being made ... people are playing politics, Motsoaledi said on the sidelines of a media briefing in Johannesburg on Ai
South African Press Association - February 24, 2010
The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) has urged President Jacob Zuma to take leadership and responsibility for himself, those around him, and South Africa in fighting HIV/Aids. Zuma s leadership on Aids needed some constructive scrutiny, the TAC said in its latest newsletter. We do not want to impose moral judgements o
South African Press Association - January 31, 2010
President Jacob Zuma had undermined the struggle against HIV/Aids by having unprotected sex again, says the Democratic Alliance (DA). This, after the Sunday Times reported that he fathered a love-child with the daughter of soccer boss Irvin Khoza. President Jacob Zuma s behaviour directly contradicts the government s c
South African Press Association - January 20, 2010
A Bedfordview, Johannesburg woman was infected with HIV by a KwaZulu-Natal health department paramedic who attended to her, the Pietermaritzburg High Court said. The paramedic attended to the woman after he worked on a pedestrian who died when the woman s car crashed. The accident occurred near the Mooi River toll plaz
South African Press Association - January 19, 2010
Bongani Mthembu
The KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) government will start a massive male circumcision programme before the end of this year to help prevent the spread of HIV, Premier Dr Zweli Mkhize announced on Tuesday. We believe that circumcision will help us to reduce HIV infections. Before the end of this year, we will be counting the number
Being infected with HIV will no longer be an ineligibility when foreign citizens apply for visas to travel to the United States , the US embassy in South Africa said. Foreign citizens would also no longer be required to take an HIV test during medical examinations for visa purposes and HIV positive applicants would no
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