Politics

KAMPALA, Uganda - As a woman living with HIV, I am often asked whether there will ever be a cure for AIDS. My answer is that there is already a cure. It lies in the strength of women, families and communities, who support and empower each other to break the silence around HIV/AIDS and take control of their sexual lives. I am a mother who has been HIV-positive for 14 years. I abstained until marriage and was faithful to my husband, but still I became infected. At the time, I knew nothing of HIV and felt powerless to discuss condoms or fidelity with my husband. When he died, I had to fight to keep my in-laws from grabbing my property, inheriting me and taking custody of my two children, aged four years and three months.

THIS promises to be another year of controversy, confusion and anxiety for South Africans on the health-care front, as government comes under renewed pressure to deal with its human resource crisis, speed up provision of AIDS drugs and implement a raft of new laws.

Contrary to expectations about the expense of antiretroviral therapy (ART), using ART in people with AIDS should be cost-effective for South Africa's public health sector according to a study published in January's PLoS Medicine (an 'open-access' medical journal). The cost of not using ART to treat people with AIDS is significantly greater - as patients with AIDS required more expensive time in the hospital and other medical care.

JOHANNESBURG, Dec 15 (IPS) - South Africa's high HIV prevalence has been described as the biggest challenge facing the country since apartheid. In light of this, one would expect to be bombarded with AIDS prevention messages on radio, television, billboards and bus stops. Yet some say that not enough of these messages are available.

South Africans are leading unhealthy lifestyles, forcing companies and government to pay more to their health.

Many decades after South Africa became aware of conclusive medical evidence of the deadly risks of asbestos, the government is finally acting to protect public health by banning the fibres completely from a wide range of day-to-day building, piping and motor car products.

Government will spend an additional R78.3 billion over the next three years on improving public services, infrastructure and boosting the fight against crime, Finance Minister Trevor Manuel announced on Tuesday.

MAPUTO, Oct 24 (Reuters) - Only a tiny fraction of children in Mozambique eligible for AIDS drugs have access to the medicines due to a severe shortage of staff who themselves are dying of the disease, the country's health minister said.

New Study Shows Expanded Use of FC2 Could Prevent Thousands of HIV Infections and Save Millions of Dollars in Health Care Costs Annually in South Africa and Brazil Alone

The worldwide shortage of health workers means that rich countries are not likely to stop poaching health workers from poorer countries.