THE Traditional Healers Association of Zambia (THAZ) should find ways of punishing its members who are misleading their patients that they can be cured of HIV/AIDS by having sex with children, the Child Care and Adoption Society of Zambia has demanded.
Equity in Health
DOTS -Availability and Implementation
Nearly 2 billion people, one-third of the world's population, is infected with the tuberculosis bacillus and at risk of developing active disease. Of the 8.4 million people who develop active TB every year 2 million die from it. There are two types of problems associated with DOTS. One is the non-availability of the treatment program and the other, the less than satisfactory implementation of it. Despite the proven potency DOTS (directly-observed treatment short-course) strategy and widespread agreement on its efficacy, many developing countries have failed proper implementation and expansion of the DOTS program.
Activists in South Africa welcome increase in AIDS budget
AIDS activists welcomed the increased expenditure on HIV/AIDS in the South African 2002-2003 budget released last week, but expressed concern that the funds could be misused at provinical level.
AFRICA: Life expectancy set to reach lowest levels ever
The life expectancy of Africans is set to reach one of its lowest levels ever, it was revealed on Monday. By the year 2005, most Africans will die before they reach their 48th birthday, the fourth general assembly of the African Population Commission (APC) heard.
Could chloroquine have the answer? Malaria drug combats HIV
Researchers at the University of Turin have found that chloroquine and the related compound hydroxychloroquine appear to curb the HI virus in laboratory settings. Dr Andrea Savarino and his team say that chloroquine affects the production of the envelope around the virus. This means that although the virus may be able to hijack human cells to produce fresh viral genetic material, without the envelope it cannot complete the reproduction cycle.
SOUTH AFRICA: AIDS village causes "more harm than good" - NAPWA
The opening of South Africa's first "AIDS village" on Thursday was not what people living with HIV/AIDS needed, and would cause "more harm than good", the spokesperson for the National Association of PWAs (NAPWA) told PlusNews on Friday.
South Africa: Majority of Sex Workers in Gold Mining Community are HIV Positive
Health education programmes and free condom distribution have not stopped South African commercial sex workers from having unprotected sex. A study conducted by the London School of Economics found that 69% of local commercial sex workers (CSWs) in the South African gold mining community of Carletonville are HIV-positive.
South Africa: Mandela attacks Mbeki's Aids policy
Nelson Mandela is wading into the increasingly bitter dispute over the South African government's Aids policies by meeting the ruling African National Congress leadership to press for an end to prevarication over a catastrophe he likened to a war.
South Africa: Mbeki's State of the Nation address barely touches the country's HIV/AIDS
What was hoped to be key in President Thabo Mbeki changing the face of his government's stance on HIV/AIDS was a dismal disappointment. Though Mbeki acknowledged the fact that HIV/AIDS is a problem in South Africa, he still insisted that his government would not change its policy on administering antiretroviral drugs to reduce mother to child transmission of HIV/AIDS. Mbeki's speech came a day after his predecessor Mandela had rebuked the Mbeki administration's HIV policy.
South Africa: Virgin Myth Worries ANC Committee
An African National Congress-dominated (ANC-dominated) parliamentary committee has noted that 25% of young people believe child rape cures AIDS, and urgently called for anti-AIDS drugs to be used to prevent HIV infection by rape.