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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Government to tackle TB treatment for inmates
Health-e News | 24 March 2013
Screening every inmate for TB, treating them upon diagnosis - coupled with improved cell ventilation and an urgent focus on alleviating overcrowding are the cornerstones of government’s plans to tackle this curable disease, deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe told a group of Pollsmoor inmates yesterday (SUNDAY).
Arguably South Africa’s most overcrowded prison with an unsurprisingly high TB prevalence, Pollsmoor was yesterday the focus of government’s World TB Day...
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UNAIDS calls for Zero parallel systems for HIV and TB
Message from UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé on the occasion of World TB Day 2013
GENEVA, 24 March 2013—Every day more than 1000 people living with HIV die of tuberculosis. This is unacceptable. Today we have the knowledge and the power to stop HIV and TB in their tracks. By integrating HIV and TB services and systems, we can save millions of lives and millions of dollars.
UNAIDS is calling for Zero parallel systems for HIV and TB. This means that HIV and TB systems...
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Further resistance to TB drugs identified in SA
Health-e News | 22 March 2013
EXCLUSIVE: Researchers have identified a new strain of tuberculosis in 17 patients in the Eastern Cape which is totally resistant to the all current drug regimens.
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Public health failing patients – audit
Health-e News | 21 March 2013
Government's health facilities audit shows most staff fail to have "positive and caring attitude" towards patients
Seventy percent of public health facilities do not have “positive and caring attitudes” towards patients, while two-thirds do not have adequate safety measures.
This is according to the ‘National Health Care Facilities Baseline Audit’, which was quietly released via the Department of Health’s website yesterday.
The...
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Sadc has less than 1,000 days to meet millennium goal on TB and HIV
Business Day | 20 March 2013
SOUTH Africa and the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) have less than 1,000 days to significantly reduce the impact of the tuberculosis (TB) and HIV co-epidemic in the region to meet the United Nations (UN) Millennium Development Goals (MDG) deadline in 2015.
Sadc health ministers and nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) will join a delegation in Mbabane, Swaziland, on Thursday to discuss the co-epidemic as well as its impact on labour in the region’s mining sector....
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African Health Ministers Commit to Ramped Up TB/HIV Treatment
Voice of America | 20 March 2013
Health ministers from Swaziland and South Africa have agreed to radically change the diagnosis and treatment of the co-epidemic of TB/HIV in their countries. They made their comments at a press conference held on March 20 in Johannesburg. Doctors Without Borders, also known as MSF, said TB deaths in southern Africa account for 40 percent of all TB deaths globally, and it remains the leading cause of death for people with HIV.
In addition, death rates are...
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