Jillian Green

Johannesburg: Every day, Thembi Ngubane tells the HI virus in her body that it is a trespasser and that she is in charge.

Wealthy and educated, they believe they are not at risk of HIV infection. But a new study has shown that an increasing number of affluent, well-educated South Africans with money to spend and invest are infected with the virus that causes AIDS. Now researchers are warning that the country could be facing a third epidemic as HIV takes a foothold in the more affluent sectors of society. The third epidemic follows on from the initial epidemic among gay men and the second which mainly affected poorer heterosexuals.

Hundreds of state patients are having to wait months for life-saving operations because only four of Johannesburg Hospital's operating theatres are in use.

TORONTO: When Maclarka Jeanet Rakhiba left the familiar surroundings of her Ekhuruleni home to travel to the unfamiliar city of Toronto, she had one message: grandmothers need better economic and social support from the world.

Sue Roberts is many things to many people - a nurse, a mother, a daughter - and to the thousands of HIV-positive people she sees at the Themba Lethu Clinic, she is a living legend.

Don't worry, it's not too late to get vaccinated against the flu virus.

South Africa's biggest killer is HIV and AIDS, according to a new Medical Research Council report on cause-specific death rates for each of the nine provinces.

Traditional medicine must be respected and promoted by Western health practitioners, a World Health Organisation (WHO) official has said.

Johannesburg Hospital is to become the first state hospital to use a new blood substitute in treating trauma patients, albeit in clinical tests.

Six premature babies have died in hospital after being fed contaminated nutritional drips. A seventh infant is fighting for its life at the Pelonomi Hospital in Bloemfontein. The Free State Department of Health has launched an investigation into the incident.