WITS University

The African Centre for Migration & Society (ACMS) at the University of the Witwatersrand is looking for a postdoctoral researcher to join its ‘Illness, Boundaries and Health Systems’ team. The position will contribute to a project exploring the impact of migration legislation, trafficking discourses and transnational networks on the feelings of belonging of migrant sex workers (MSWs) in The Netherlands and South Africa. This position is financially supported by WOTRO and is a central component of a research collaboration between the VU University in The Netherlands and Wits University. The position will be based in Johannesburg and is for one year (starting July 2013), with the possibility to renew for a second year.

Male and female condoms are currently the only effective dual protection methods against unintended pregnancy and the transmission of STIs and HIV.  In recent years, an important development has been the emergence of new FC products, differing in design and materials, that have the potential to lower cost, improve acceptability and increase choice and options for couples who choose to use FCs as their prevention method.  The purpose of this meeting was to develop strategies, recommendations and guidelines for future female condom (FC) parallel programming. This meeting presented an update on FC product technology, shared experiences and plans for FC programming and reviewed current FC programmes and initiatives that will support FC programming more broadly.

Women using hormonal birth control, especially progesterone injections, are twice as likely to be infected with, or transmit, HIV, the results of a study published in the Lancet Infectious Diseases journal show.

But a co-author of the study, Professor Helen Rees, of Wits University's Reproductive Health and HIV Institute, said that not all studies show a link between hormonal birth control and increased risk of HIV transmission.

The connection between the use of the hormone progesterone and HIV infection "is a grey area, and the world’s scientists are unsure of how to interpret it” she said. 

“It is an outstanding question and nobody knows how to answer to it.”

The National Health Minister, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, has applauded Wits University for heeding his call to increase their intake of medical students in order to address the shortages of human resources in the public health sector.

Health Minister, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, says the shortage of human resources cripples the effectiveness of the public health system in the country. Motsoaledi has challenged all faculties of health sciences to follow Wits University’s lead and take on 40 extra students in 2012. He says this will help address the country’s doctors’ shortage in the long term.

Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi has launched the Human Resource Strategy for Health, which aims to ensure a workforce fit to meet the country's health needs.

Unveiled on Tuesday at Wits University, the HR strategy is set to ensure necessary and equitable staffing of the health system as well as develop health professionals to meet health care needs.

The strategy will go a long way in ensuring the health workforce has an optimal working environment, rewarding careers, innovative and efficient recruitment and the retention of the health workforce.

Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi on Tuesday announced a healthy R1.24-billion would be spent to "revitalise nursing colleges" and improve infrastructure to train more nurses, as part of the department's new human resource policy.

Motsoaledi unveiled the health department's first human resource strategy to deal with the country's severe shortages of doctors and nurses, at the University of Witwatersrand's medical school in Johannesburg.

He had promised to address staff shortages in the public healthcare sector, when he unveiled the national health insurance green paper in August.

Two years ago, the AIDS community was electrified by news that a vaccine had partially protected people against HIV. Now this vaccine will be tested in South Africa.

This is according to scientists attending the International AIDS Vaccine conference, which opened yesterday (Monday) in Bangkok.

South Africa will be the first country outside of Thailand to have access to the only vaccine in 30 years to show any success against the virus that has killed millions of people, particularly in southern Africa.

The vaccine, known as RV144, protected 31 percent of the people who received it in a massive clinical trial in Thailand involving 16 400 people.