HIV

Celebrate Global Female Condom Day

As we celebrate the second Global Female Condom Day on 16 September 2014, I join the celebrations with a wide smile and confidence, writes Nokhwezi Hoboyi.

Nokhwezi Hoboyi

News | 16 September 2014

People with HIV should be able to fight for their country

There is no reason people with HIV shouldn't be soldiers, says Tim Flack, who served in the navy and is the Western Cape representative for the South African National Defence Force Union.

Tim Flack

Opinion | 16 September 2014

Premier Zille: wrong again

DA leader and Western Cape premier Helen Zille has again entered the HIV prevention arena, telling us we are failing to deal with HIV because we don’t have the right approach to taking personal responsibility for sexual behaviours.

Francois Venter

Opinion | 4 September 2014

Shortage of drug that prevents babies from getting HIV

The National Department of Health (NDoH) has sent out a circular nationally to all doctors, nurses and pharmacists informing them of a shortage of a paediatric anti-AIDS drug called nevirapine, used to prevent HIV infection in the newborn children of mothers with HIV.

Mary-Anne Gontsana

News | 2 September 2014

Healthcare workers worry injecting heroin on increase

Sunday 31 August was International Overdose Awareness Day. Health workers in Cape Town have warned of a possible increase in drug overdoses and the spread of infectious diseases, including HIV, if the use of needles to inject drugs increases.

Ian Broughton

News | 2 September 2014

Circumcision just got easier

In a bid to get thousands of men in the Western Cape circumcised, the national department of health (NDoH) officially cut the ribbon to launch the new mobile theatres which will be going around the Cape’s remote areas, to get males circumcised.

Mary-Anne Gontsana

News | 1 September 2014

TAC pickets Michael Mapongwana baby unit

“There is no privacy, you are asked in front of everyone what your baby's HIV status is. It is dirty and the staff is very disrespectful in the way they speak to patients. I don’t go to that clinic anymore; it’s been a year now. Because of their treatment I did something I shouldn’t have done, I tested my child for HIV myself, because I too work at a clinic.”

Mary-Anne Gontsana

News | 14 August 2014

South Africa leads in HIV prevention among gay groups

As homophobic discrimination continues to sweep across the African continent, we should be acutely mindful of the diverse ways it harms societies. While we are most aware of the direct effect homophobic physical violence has on sexual minority groups, it is also crucial that we be cognisant of the many insidious ways stigma and discrimination impact not only on sexual minorities but society at large.

Andrew Tucker

Opinion | 11 August 2014

Treatment Action Campaign in a tavern

People should view taverns as part of the community, where young people can meet to enjoy themselves, and not as enemies, community activists told a meeting at the weekend of the Kuyasa branch of the Treatment Action Campaign.

Munda Kula

Brief | 5 August 2014

Activists call for fair employment conditions for community health workers

Community health workers (CHWs) are an essential link between communities and the often confusing health-care system. There are about 70,000 of them countrywide. They do a myriad tasks: visiting and assisting frail people at their homes, educating people about HIV and TB, and much more. But their conditions of employment are beset with problems.

Barbara Maregele

News | 9 July 2014

The week in political activism

This week we cover the availability of generic drug-resistant tuberculosis medication in Khayelitsha, a worldwide anti-corruption campaign taken up by Corruption Watch, a parents’ camp hosted by Equal Education, and an upcoming school infrastructure reform conference.

Michelle Korte

News | 3 July 2014

“ËśA place where we ought to love one another’

Emasithandane home, founded in 1994 in Nyanga, currently looks after 39 children, most of them HIV infected and affected. 20 years later, it is still going strong despite financial constraints.

Bulelani Ngovi

News | 14 April 2014

Our Kind of People

In Our Kind of People, novelist Uzodinma Iweala reflects on the damaging misconceptions which shape the way the world sees HIV/AIDS in Africa.

Joshua Maserow

News | 7 April 2014

Beyond HIV: How we die in South Africa

Reports published this month by Stats SA and the Medical Research Council (MRC) provide interesting information on how South Africans are dying.

Nathan Geffen

News | 1 April 2014

South Africans living longer but drug-resistant TB a threat

Two government reports published in March show that the nation’s health is improving dramatically, but more people are getting sick from forms of tuberculosis that are difficult to treat.

Nathan Geffen

News | 31 March 2014

Are sugar daddies bad for your health?

“Sugar daddies destroy lives” say billboard adverts in Kwazulu-Natal in big bold black and red letters. The same message is echoed in radio adverts played across the country.

Nathan Geffen

Opinion | 11 March 2014