Unhealthy climate
Health-e News | 3 April 2013
Southern Africa is due to become hotter and drier as a result of climate change, and this is going to change the country’s disease profile.
But we are currently ill-prepared to address potential threats, and we particularly need to develop “early warning systems of climate stressors… and early mobilisation of disaster and emergency response services”.
This is according to Jonathan Elliot Myers and Hanna-Andrea Rother, from the University of Cape Town’s...
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OR Tambo bottom of district pile
Health-e News | 3 April 2013
Eastern Cape’s Oliver Tambo district remains the worst place to get health services, in the District Health Barometer 2011/12, which compares health indicators in the country’s 52 districts.
The OR Tambo district, a territory that includes Mthatha and Port St Johns in the old Pondoland area of the Eastern Cape, remains the basket-case of South Africa, ranking bottom of the 52 districts in the most important indicators.
It has the worst rate of newborn deaths in the country...
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Poor services undermine HIV treatment programme
Health-e News | 3 April 2013
The state of many public health facilities threatens the expansion of the country’s antiretroviral treatment programme, particularly frequent ARV shortages and poor service delivery.
So argues Professor Francois Venter from the Wits Reproductive Health and HIV Institute in the SA Health Review 2012/13.
“Interventions relating to the National Health Insurance system and the establishment of core standards of care for all health facilities will hopefully address these...
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Preparing for National Health Insurance
Health-e News | 3 April 2013
The Health System Trust's annual SA Health Review 2012/13 and District Health Barometer, which report on trends in the health sector, were launched in Tshwane last night (2 April).
Turning the huge public health service 'ship' around to get it ready for the National Health Insurance (NHI) scheme is both complicated and slow.
Although few changes are visible to Citizen Average, government has been involved in a wide variety of policy and institutional reforms in the last 18...
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Gold miners with work-related TB neglected for too long
TB is linked with a deadly silicosis epidemic hidden for decades in rural South Africa. Gold mining firms must make amends, says Jaine Roberts.
Across the rural Eastern Cape province in South Africa, up to half of men admitted to hospital withtuberculosis (TB) are former gold miners. This should not be surprising: the incidence of TB among miners is 2,000 cases per 100,000, four times the national incidence.
But researchers rarely ask about occupation when studying the...
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SA lands massive TB grant
Health-e News | 27 March 2013
South Africa has again confirmed its position at the forefront of tuberculosis research with a R33,2-million grant to study how humans protect themselves against TB.
The South African Tuberculosis Vaccine Initiative (SATVI) of the University of Cape Town (UCT) yesterday (TUESDAY) announced the multi-million rand research grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
The study aims to gain critical new knowledge about how humans protect themselves against TB.
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One pill a day keeps HIV away
Health-e News | 27 March 2013
From April 1, HIV positive people on antiretroviral therapy will be able to take one pill a day, instead of three pills twice a day.
Pregnant women with HIV will also be put onto this “triple fixed-dose combination” pill, no matter how strong their immune systems (CD4 count), for the duration of pregnancy and breastfeeding to protect their babies from HIV. Pregnant women with CD4 counts of less than 350 would remain on ARVs for life.
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TB testing in South Africa rolling out slowly
South Africa will expand its rollout of GeneXpert tuberculosis (TB) testing machines, which can diagnose TB and drug-resistant TB within 90 minutes, but concerns remain about the capacity to back up this commitment with supplies and treatment.
The country is the largest buyer of GeneXpert technology in the world, but the machines have not yet become point-of-care tests and are often deployed at district rather than clinic level. Nonetheless, they have shaved weeks off waiting times for...
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TB revaccination plan on the cards for SA’s teenagers
Business Day | 26 March 2013
SCIENTISTS in South Africa are considering revaccinating teenagers with the Bacille Calmette Guérin (BCG) shot to see if they can get more mileage out of the jab.
The shot is given to 100-million babies around the world each year, and while it initially provides them with fairly good protection against tuberculosis (TB) its effects rapidly wane over time which means it has limited effect on the spread of the disease.
Although the last decade has seen increasing resources poured...
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Matsoso defends results of health facilities audit
Business Day | 25 March 2013
HEALTH director-general Precious Matsoso has defended the surprising findings of a health facility audit commissioned by her department.
The audit, which Ms Matsoso presented to Parliament last week, ranked Gauteng the best in the country for the quality of its care and for its infrastructure, with the Western Cape ranked third and fifth in these categories, respectively.
The finding was described at the time by the Democratic Alliance as implausible, given the Gauteng health department...
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Southern Africa cracks down on TB in mines
South Africa's gold mines are estimated to have the highest number of new tuberculosis (TB) cases in the world, making the disease a leading export to neighbouring countries. IRIN takes a look at the declaration meant to change this situation.
In August 2012, heads of state from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) agreed to sign the SADC Declaration on TB in the Mining Sector, following endorsements by their national ministers for health, labour and justice.
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Quest for a TB vaccine
Health-e News | 25 March 2013
It is shameful that a disease which is preventable and curable and has been around for so many years continues to kill over a million people each year, the world’s foremost tuberculosis vaccine experts heard today.
Held for the first time in Africa, the world’s top TB scientists will for the next three days meet at the University of Cape Town under the banner of the TB Vaccines Third Global Forum in their quest to develop the only tool that could have a sustainable...
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