The number of people infected with HIV in Zimbabwe has rocketed this year. According to statistics from the Matabeleland Aids Council (Mac) there was a 20% increase over last year s figures. More than 60000 people infected with HIV were recorded this year. This compares to the 48000 registered last year about the same
The US ambassador in South Africa , Donald Gips, took his annual HIV test a day after World Aids Day this month. Elizabeth Trudeau, the press attache for the US Diplomatic Mission in Pretoria, said: He wants to raise the profile of HIV testing and encourage everyone to take responsibility. The Sunday Times and the
Rugby fans with painted faces lined up on Friday to take HIV tests at the HSBC Sevens World Series rugby tournament in George. Springbok supporters Maria and Gerhardus van den Heever decided to take their first HIV test together after being approached at the event. It is great to test people at a rugby festival where t
The prize item for a lucky bidder was a date with the Oscar-winning actress. The Daily Mail reports that when guests began to bid on a pair of tickets to watch the Los Angeles Lakers Basketball team, Theron offered to attend the game with the winner. An insider said bids for the dinner got larger and larger, ending up
On World Aids Day, the world takes time to remember the many millions of people who are affected or infected by HIV/Aids. Many companies have joined the fight by setting up programmes to offer employees support. Andi Bengis, an occupational therapist, said that, for many HIV-positive people, the stress of work makes th
Bafana Bafana defender Matthew Booth and Proteas captain Graeme Smith call on you to take an HIV test and, to prove they are serious, took tests themselves on World Aids Day on Wednesday. It is good to take regular tests and I was asked to encourage people to get down to testing sites, said Booth, who was tested in Ale
Staff at the hospital s HIV clinic are concerned that errant patients will contribute to the emergence of drug-resistant strains of HIV, and spread it. The worst time for defaulting ARV patients at the clinic is over the Christmas holidays. Treatment Action Campaign spokesman Caroline Nenguke said people who defaulted
Unfortunately, religious and cultural morality must be adapted or compromised to prevent the spread of HIV/Aids and other sexual diseases. Abstaining completely from sex is unnatural and saying no to sex can be difficult, but having sex has consequences. Abstinence is the only rational approach to the prevention of sex
Dr Gillian Tarr runs a clinic offering prevention of the mother-to-child transmission of HIV. The clinic is run by non-government organisation Acts in the village of Peebles, near White River. Acts is funded by the Right to Care NGO, which supports 27 other clinics across the country and manages 49 government treatment
Speaking at a World Aids Day event in Driefontein, Mpumalanga, yesterday, Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe announced the results of the department of health s HIV Counselling and Testing campaign. The department aims to meet its 15million target, but must double its efforts to test 10.32 million more people before Ap
Allpass, 48, is currently involved in a labour court dispute in Johannesburg in which he is claiming he was unfairly dismissed and discriminated against, when he told his bosses he was HIV positive. The equestrian champion accepted a job as the stable manager and horse-riding instructor at the Mooikloof Equestrian Cent
The Johannesburg Labour Court has heard how a highly qualified horse-riding instructor was fired after telling his bosses he was HIV-positive. Gary Allpass, 48, was allegedly dismissed as stable yard manager and riding instructor at the Mooikloof Equestrian Centre, part of the prestigious Mooikloof Estate in Pretoria,
DR Namakula Katende tells the 544 HIV-positive children she treats that they have to take their anti-retroviral drugs to make their soldiers strong . Nine of every 10 children she treats at a clinic at the rural Shongwe Hospital, about 20km from Malelane, Mpumalanga, were born HIV-positive. And 10% of her patients, age
Everyone in 70-year-old Lina Ngomane s family is HIV-positive - herself, her husband and her two little grandsons. So was her late daughter-in-law. But her son refuses to undergo an HIV test, even though his wife died as a result of the virus earlier this year. Ngomane, who lives in the village of Mganduzweni, 10km fro
Nearly twice as many South Africans have tested for HIV since the launch of the national HIV Counselling and Testing (HCT) campaign in April than during the whole of last year. Minister of Health Dr Aaron Motsoaledi said the target of testing 15 million people by June next year was very ambitious and there had been set
Sunday Times Editorial: If you have HIV, you can live a long and healthy life. If you do not, the methods of protecting yourself against the virus are increasing, as exciting study results this week show. Taking one antiretroviral tablet a day reduces the risk of HIV infection by at least 73%, an iPrEx study found. But
Sex education shows and ads for Aids-awareness campaigns are helping to increase the number of viewers who take HIV tests, use condoms and stay faithful to their partners. A study of three SABC TV shows and three advertising campaigns, conducted by five research groups, found the messages were hitting home and the prog
Taking an antiretroviral tablet once a day is likely to prevent HIV, the first large study to test this approach in uninfected people has found. The result could revolutionise the field of HIV prevention, which relies heavily on the use of condoms to stop the virus. Men who took the pill
On World Aids Day we pay tribute to the millions who are infected and affected by HIV/Aids worldwide. We continue to spread the word that in spite of much success, too many lives are still being devastated by this deadly disease. Our task looms large, but our message is simple: we have a shared responsibility as govern
Almost one in three pregnant women in South Africa is HIV-positive - and if they do not receive treatment their babies will be born carrying the Aids virus. The 29.4% national average of HIV-positive pregnant mothers was revealed by Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi yesterday in Johannesburg at the launch of the 20th Na
Experts step aside: peer educators have the advantage when it comes to promoting HIV/Aids behaviour changes, said Professor David Dickinson of the University of the Witwatersrand. Dickinson, from the sociology department in the School of Social Sciences, said educators talking to their peers spoke to people in their ow
The third episode of SABC 1 s new educational drama series Intersexions airs tonight. The 26-episode programme tells of individuals who are all interlinked through their previous and present sexual partners. The series explores the way HIV/Aids moves through social networks and how one s past can devastate one s partne
Treatment programmes for people with HIV/Aids may have to be scaled down - and some may close down altogether - thanks to an international funding shortfall, Treatment Action Campaign chairman Nonkosi Khumalo said yesterday. Drug programmes would be hit hard by a lower-than-expected three-year budget for the Global Fun
Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi will today sign an agreement with eight other government ministers who he expects to help him tackle the country s health crisis. The agreement states that improving health in South Africa is a responsibility that cuts across a number of sectors . Ministers of higher and basic educa
The Department of Health beat several targets during the year to March, but provinces managed to spend only three-quarters of the money given to them to revive collapsing hospitals. The director-general of health, Dr Precious Matsoso, said in a presentation to parliament s health committee that R820-million of the R3.4
Men in rural KwaZulu-Natal are still reluctant to disclose their HIV status, fearing public ridicule and rejection. A study examining the health behaviours and experiences of HIV-positive men receiving antiretroviral treatment (ART) in rural districts, showed men preferred to keep their status secret as they didn t wan
The Big Read: Searching for powerful antibodies to block HIV infection is like trying to find a needle in a haystack, says Professor Lynn Morris from the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) and Wits University. But Morris and her team in Johannesburg together with their US collaborators at Duke Universi
Pupils will be paid to abstain from sex, take HIV tests and do well academically. The payment will be part of a scientific trial starting next year - to be conducted among 3864 grade 9 and 10 pupils from 14 high schools in KwaZulu-Natal s Vulindlela district to determine whether cash incentives can help reduce new HIV
Nearly 2 000 pupils at seven high schools in South Africa will each receive R2 700 in total over the next three years if they achieve top academic results and take regular HIV tests. The payments will form part of a scientific trial which starts next year in KwaZulu-Natal s Vulindlela district, in a bid to determine wh
A German girl-band singer is on trial for infecting one of her lovers with HIV. Nadja Benaissa, 28, appeared in the District Court of Darmstadt on a charge of aggravated assault. She was also charged with attempted aggravated assault for having unprotected sex with other men, according to Britain s Daily Telegraph.
Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has called for a re-launch of the HIV/Aids-testing campaign, which had slumped because of the World Cup. Motsoaledi said yesterday that millions of people had been tested since the HIV-counselling and testing campaign was launched four months ago. But he said he was not satisfied with t
The minister of health practises what he preaches: Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, who urges South Africans to get moving to prevent lifestyle diseases, is fit enough, at the age of 51, to walk 30km. He has even lost weight since he took office in May 2009 despite working every day, sleeping barely six hours a night and enduring
If everyone in South Africa stopped having sex - or at least had protected sex - for a month, the HIV infection rate could be curbed drastically. This is the innovative response that Professor Alan Whiteside and Justin Parkhurst suggest in a paper published in the Southern African Journal of HIV Medicine. We re no
A South African husband and wife research team stunned the world this week with the first proven way of protecting women somewhat getting HIV by having sex. The trial of a new vaginal gel among 889 women in KwaZulu-Natal found that 38 women using it got HIV, compared to 60 who got HIV and were not using the gel. And
Now those most at risk of the epidemic can finally take control of their sexual health, writes Salim Abdool Karim What does an Aids-prevention gel have to do with rural South Africa ? I was asked in Vienna this week. Everything, I explained, recounting how in 2001 a message requesting help with Vulindlela s Aids proble
An HIV-fighting microbicidal gel, which could prevent more than 500000 Aids-related deaths, will have to be authenticated and licensed before it can be made available to South African women. The gel, hailed as breakthrough in reducing women s risk of contracting HIV, is unlikely to be sold over the counter. Dr Koleka M
The Big Read: Half the women in Vulindlela - the KwaZulu-Natal rural area where a ground-breaking gel used to prevent HIV infection was tested - contract the disease by the time they are 24 years old. The new anti-retroviral-based gel safely reduces by 39% the risk of women getting HIV during sex, scientists told deleg
The Big read: Nowhere to be seen is how one could describe the attention given to children only a few years ago - two decades into the HIV/Aids epidemic. Tear-stained faces and sick parents illustrated how fundraising efforts seldom benefited children affected by the disease. Many important HIV/Aids gatherings used chi
International R&B diva Alicia Keys gushed in cyberspace this week about weeping tears of joy during her visit to a KwaZulu-Natal HIV/Aids treatment centre. Keys, writing on her blog after her visit to South Africa this month, praised staff at the facility, describing them as heroes who treated people better than
Innovative transplant surgery - giving kidneys from HIV-positive donors to HIV-positive patients who would die without a transplant or dialysis - has proven its worth one year down the line. The patients received transplants in 2008 and, 12 months after the surgery, had good kidney function and did not need dialysis, t
New HIV infections in South Africa dropped by 35% between 2002 and 2008, a study reveals. The most striking reduction was a 60% decline among 15 to 24-year-olds. These results - obtained from analysing three national HIV household surveys conducted in South Africa in 2002, 2005 and 2008 - confirm the initial findings o
Sunday Times Editorial Scientists asked whether the tide of HIV infections among teenagers was turning when they released the results of the 2008 national HIV household survey last year. Now we have the answer, and it was worth waiting for. New infections among the 15- to 24-year-old age group have more than halved, a
Hundreds of representatives of international Aids charities gathered in Sandton yesterday to march on the US consulate, demanding that the US government increase its funding of antiretroviral treatment in Africa. Mark Heywood, deputy president of the SA National Aids Council, said the US President s Emergency Plan for
The hidden HIV epidemic among men in Africa who have sex with other men - many of whom have wives - is fuelling the Aids crisis on the continent. In Africa, HIV prevalence is high in young women and that s the picture we have of what s driving the epidemic, Professor Salim Abdool Karim, director of HIV/Aids research in
The M2010 Microbicides conference in Pittsburgh, in the US, finished after days of science and advocacy, achieving its goal of Building Bridges in HIV Prevention . As the world waits to see whether the tenofovir microbicide tested in South Africa will block HIV infection - the results will be release
New HIV infections in South Africa could be almost eliminated by combining prevention tools that have been proven to reduce transmission, an expert on the virus told a conference in the US yesterday. Dr Susan Buchbinder said scientific trials had shown that medical male circumcision, condoms and the prevention-of-mothe
The development of new microbicides to protect against HIV infection is progressing steadily with promising options in the pipeline, researchers reported today at the M2010 Microbicides conference in Pittsburgh, in the US. Microbicides are substances, like gels or creams, designed to stop HIV or other sexually-transmit
Another important study suggested it was safe for pregnant women to use a small, single dose of a microbicide gel during their pregnancy. Previous studies on the risk of getting HIV have shown that women are about twice as susceptible to HIV when they are pregnant. But now Dr Nelly Mugo, from the University of Nairobi
South African Revenue Service officials yesterday raided the Durban and Pretoria offices of a public company that Cosatu and the ANC Women s League once partnered with to sell immunity boosting packs to those living with HIV and Aids. Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan announced the raids in his Budget vote speech in Parl
It was almost eight years ago to the day this week that journalists piled into a room in Pretoria to hear what, at the time, was a most dramatic announcement by the government. That day, April 17 2002, the government of President Thabo Mbeki announced that it was jettisoning its Aids denialism and adopting a caring att
Zuma, whose personal life has been much criticised, surprised the nation yesterday when he revealed the results of his HIV tests. He did so at the Natalspruit Hospital in Katlehong, east of Johannesburg, at the launch by the department of health of South Africa s biggest HIV testing and counselling campaign so far.
The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) has welcomed the planned roll-out of government s new HIV and AIDS prevention and treatment plan which will see more HIV positive people getting treatment than before. The Presidency has anounced that President Jacob Zuma will on the 25th of April launch the roll out of government s
President Jacob Zuma took a blood test to kickstart the government s campaign to encourage people to find out about their HIV status. Zuma came under pressure recently after he admitted fathering a child out of wedlock. Opposition parties accused him of undermining his government s efforts to fight the Aids pandemic. T
The Eastern Cape has the highest number of university students who have contracted HIV, according to a recent study on the prevalence of the disease at South African universities. Speaking in Sandton, Higher Education and Training Minister Blade Nzimande told university chancellors and vice-chancellors that he would th
President Jacob Zuma, his deputy Kgalema Motlanthe, Cabinet ministers and their deputies are expected to lead the nation by taking HIV tests on April 15. Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi made the announcement in Johannesburg at the launch of his ambitious National HIV Counselling and Testing Campaign, which aims to tes
The local series: Love - Stories in a time of HIV and Aids kicks off tonight on SABC1 with the tale Umtshato (The Wedding). Set in a village in the Eastern Cape, this is a powerful and tragic story of a young couple who are in love and decide to tie the knot. However, at the wedding, the bride, NoMandla, is faced with
From April 1, all HIV-positive children under a year old in SA will receive ARV treatment. HIV-positive people with TB will be treated with ARVs if their CD4 count is 350 or lower, said Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi. The campaign aims to reduce the rate of infection by 50% by 2011 and to provide ARVs to 80% of those
Government s new plan to replace voluntary counselling and testing with the HIV testing and counselling (HTC) programme could backfire and cause panic if people are not sufficiently educated about it. The programme, which begins on April 1, entails offered HIV testing to all patients upon their entering public health c
Intensifying the fight against HIV and Aids dominated this week s cabinet meeting, with the government committing itself to reduce the infection rate by half by the end of next year. Retired doctors and nurses were asked to help. The current infection rate is more than 10% of the population and 33% of women aged 20 to
President Jacob Zuma and his Cabinet have agreed to public HIV tests during the launch of the government s campaign to combat HIV/Aids. This is the second time Zuma has agreed to a public HIV test. He agreed to be tested on World Aids Day in December, but failed to do so. But government spokesman Themba Maseko said the
Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has lambasted men for their dangerous sexual behaviour. At the launch of the latest report of the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria in Africa, the minister accused men of infecting women with HIV and other sexual diseases . Though he did not cite scientific data, he sa
Comedians brought the house down at the Sun City Superbowl at the weekend to raise cash for charity. The 46664 It s No Joke comedy extravaganza was hosted by Highveld 94.7 presenter Darren Whackhead Simpson. Guests such as businessman Moss Mashishi, Precious Moloi Motsepe and The Coconuts actress Philicity Reeken lent
Young teachers, may be openly discussing the dangers of promiscuity with their pupils, but they are themselves engaging in risky sexual behaviour. Their older colleagues, on the other hand, are reluctant to talk about sex and HIV/Aids in the classroom, because of their conservative nature. This is according to a study
In a statement released by the presidency a few minutes ago, President Jacob Zuma admitted to having a relationship and a love child with soccer boss Irvin Khoza s daughter, Sonono. FULL STATEMENT IN HIS OWN WORDS I have noted recent media reports about aspects of my personal life. I have noted too that these reports h
The US yesterday lifted a 22-year-old ban on entry by foreigners with HIV or Aids. The state department said HIV infection would no longer be an ineligibility condition when foreigners applied for a visa to travel to the US. Additionally, HIV testing will no longer be required in medical examinations for visa purposes.
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