Medical technology

Medical Technology & Practice Patterns Institute (MTPPI) is a nonprofit organization established in 1986 to conduct research on the clinical, economic, and social implications of new and emerging health care technologies. MTPPI's research is directed toward the formulation and implementation of local and national health care policies. In addition, MTPPI has been designated by the World Health Organization as a WHO Collaborating Center for Health Technology Assessment and in that role contributes to international health care research.

An electronic serial for medical and information system professionals interested in the latest academic developments in clinical informatics and computing

Candidate microbicide PRO 2000 cuts HIV transmission by 30 percent, falling just short of the one-third required to be deemed a success. But scientists say this trial offers proof that the concept of a vaginal gel to block HIV is possible. For the first time in over a decade of research, a vaginal gel called PRO 2000 has been show to cut HIV transmission by 30 percent. Principal investigator Professor Gita Ramjee described this as extremely hopeful at the simultaneous launch of the results in Durban and Montreal, Canada, yesterday (9 Feb). This is the first microbicide study in over a decade that shows promise. It suggests that we are on the right track and we will be able to develop a women-controlled product to prevent HIV in the future, said Ramjee, who heads HIV research at the Medical Research Council (MRC).

Zena Stein, Ida Susser and Marion Stevens report from Mexico on the diaphragm: inexpensive a single purchase may last for years easy to use and virtually hidden from the partner. Would it give harm reduction to HIV, as it did for pregnancy?

Condom sales in South Africa have climbed by as much as 55 percent in the last year, pointing to increased condom usage - but does this mean that behaviour has changed? Health officials and researchers said it was too soon to tell if HIV-prevention messages had really filtered through and were having the impact they were supposed to have on people.

The lives of millions of South Africans could be at risk, and South Africa's health department has recalled 20 million government condoms as it scrambles to do damage control after allegations of corruption in the country's quality-assurance and standards body.

JOHANNESBURG, 6 March 2007 (IRIN) - Alarming figures released by a South African provincial education department indicate that schoolgirl pregnancies have doubled in the past year, despite a decade of spending on sex education and AIDS awareness.

SPRINGS, 23 May 2006 (PLUSNEWS) - A conversation with a group of mini-bus taxi drivers in Springs, about 50km east of Johannesburg, revealed a mixed set of attitudes and behaviour when it came to condom use and HIV. The men were the targets of a condom distribution and awareness-raising programme run by the Save Our Loved Ones Foundation (SOLOF), a local NGO.