Limpopo

Closing date: 26 May 2006

WIRHE is seeking to appoint a part-time secretary for a fixed period contract (50% appointment) for three years.

You are invited to join a half weekend retreat-type workshop aimed at providing doctors with time out and an enjoyable, non-pressurised, experiential sharing of issues around coping with brownout or burnout, and the stress of coping with caring for others. We will look at our own strengths and weaknesses and at knowing ourselves better. Come and fail in good company!

The 8th Annual RuDASA Conference will be held in Limpopo Province from 24th to 26th September 2004 For more information contact the convenor: Dr Ntodeni Ndwamato [ndwamato@samedical.co.za]

At least 39 Limpopo residents have died and 1 900 others have been infected with malaria in the past two months because of bureaucratic bungling. The outbreak, with infection rates four times higher than normal, is largely due to the government's failure to launch annual DDT spraying and prevention programmes before the advent of the summer rains. Last year, when preventive programmes were launched in time, not a single death was reported in the region. Limpopo health spokesperson Phuti Seloba conceded on Thursday that the tendering process for companies to spray homes and pools of water with mosquito poison like DDT had taken longer than expected this year. The cases were very high this year because we launched the prevention methods later than usual, he admitted. Seloba said about 1 500 people were hospitalised with malaria in October alone, but admissions dropped to 400 cases last month once preventive measures began. The worst affected areas are Thohoyandou, Giyani and Phalaborwa in the Bohlabelo, Mopani and Vhembe districts. About 40 teams of 830 people are currently conducting an intensive malaria control programme, which includes spraying homes and pools of standing water with poison to prevent mosquitoes from breeding. The best possible malaria treatment is also being made available at clinics and health centres to ensure prompt and effective treatment of the disease, Seloba added. The measures might not, however, protect the government from damages claims by victims. Charlotte McClain, of the SA Human Rights Commission, said on Thursday the government had both a constitutional and legal obligation to take protective measures. None of the victims, most of whom are impoverished, functionally illiterate villagers, have announced plans to sue. Residents and visitors to Limpopo are meanwhile advised to use anti-malaria sprays and lotions and to burn anti-mosquito coils and drape mosquito nets over their beds. Those visiting high-risk areas are advised to take anti-malaria drugs, which are available at pharmacies. Seloba said the disease was treatable if detected early but deadly if left too late. (Source: The Star, 5 December 2003).

Work as part of a team training Primary Health Care nurses for the Limpopo province, based at Tintswalo hospital in the Health Systems Development Unit which is jointly managed by Wits University and the Limpopo DoH. Duties include: * teaching of PHC nursing students and qualified PHC nurses (updates) * spend up to 20% clinical time at the hospital, clinics or some of the units' other programmes e.g. HIV/AIDS research program. Location: The location is in a beautiful area, within half an hour of the Kruger National Park with many private game reserves, the Drakensburg escarpment, the Blyde River Canyon and more, in Acornhoek city, Bohlabela District, Limpopo Province, South Africa. Requirements: Registration with HPCSA as medical practitioner. Additional qualifications in medicine and teaching will be an advantage. Availability of the job: From 01.01.2004 onward Salary: According to experience e.g. MO, SMO, included rural allowance and optional overtime at the hospital. For more details on the job: Contact Dr Theunis Kotzee Cell:+27 072 428 3510, Tel/Fax:+ 27 013 795 5076, Email:adelek@mighty.co.za

South Africa, facing a devastating toll from HIV/AIDS, with nearly one in four adults infected with the deadly virus, is mobilizing change agents to work with provincial and local leaders in Limpopo Province in a campaign that links action against HIV/AIDS and poverty. The Leadership for Results Initiative was launched in Polokwane, Limpopo Province this month, the first stage in developing provincial and local capacities around the country to take on the challenges of HIVAIDS and poverty together. Denmark is providing US$8.5 million for the initiative through the UN Theme Group on HIV/AIDS. The leaders from other provinces joined in the launch, indicating their readiness to apply lessons from the initiative. Participants also came from local communities, civil society groups, private sector, labour, government, academia and the media -- signaling broad support. The pilot project for the initiative has already worked in partnership with provincial governments and communities in Limpopo, Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal, three of the county's poorest provinces that are severely affected by the epidemic. Of 54 participants in the pilot, 20 have received leadership training and are on the march as change agents with government, civil society and the private sector in the Limpopo initiative. Working with small groups, they will help empower leaders in all sectors and levels of society to tackle HIV/AIDS and poverty by building knowledge and awareness, facing issues of stigma, silence and denial, and working together for more effective action. (Source: United Nations Development Programme (New York), April 29, 2003 , Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com))

This report highlights the achievements of the Greater Tzaneen Sub-District (former Halegratz District) in improving health care delivery without a fully-fledged Sub-District Management Team. The aim of the report is not to play down the importance of DMTs, but rather to emphasise that motivated and commitment task teams can bring significant improvement in delivery of the health care services. The Greater Tzaneen Sub-Districts success depended on Quality of Care Task Teams, which were guided by an Interim Sub-District Manage-ment Team (Sub-DMT) that did not have the authority described above.

Less than a week after South Africa's highest court ordered the government to make Nevirapine immediately available to HIV-positive pregnant women, politics appears to be getting in the way. A key provision of the ruling by the Constitutional Court was that public clinics and hospitals must have the capacity to provide the medicine. Doctors disagree sharply with the government about which hospitals have capacity and which do not. In Limpopo, Health MEC Sello Moloto said in a speech before the court made its decision that the province's health infrastructure may not necessarily be capable of handling the assignment on a widescale basis, but a draft survey by his health department found every hospital in the province set up to do so. Moloto said he had never seen the document, which was compiled at the end of March. The differences may simply reflect confusion in the government bureaucracy. On the other hand, AIDS activists believe they may signal deliberate delaying tactics. Nathan Geffen, spokesperson for the Treatment Action Campaign, said provincial claims of a lack of capacity were yet another attempt to obfuscate and confuse. Limpopo isn't the only place where dissension is brewing. The Eastern Cape Health Department insists that it needs three weeks to determine which of its hospitals have the capacity to provide Nevirapine - a claim which the province's former health MEC, Dr Trudy Thomas, describes as absolute nonsense. Thomas has accused the government of creating spurious obstacles to introducing Nevirapine. Any hospital or institution with a qualified doctor had the capacity, if the HIV test kits and the drug were made available, she said. Doctors from nine Eastern Cape hospitals say their institutions are willing and able to provide the treatment. Even at national level, delays are preventing the immediate implementation of the court order. The circular that the Health Department has promised provinces, outlining instructions and a guideline on how to deal with the issue, is still awaiting approval by Health Minister Dr Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, a department source said. (Source: The Star & SAPA, 10 April 2002)