Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, the South African health minister, and Paulo Ivo Garrido, the Mozambican health minister, have signed an agreement ensuring co-operation in tackling health issues affecting the two countries. South African citizens and their Mozambican counterparts will from now on have easier access to health care at both countries' public hospitals. The agreement was signed at Tonga Hospital in Mpumalanga, an area plagued by malaria. To prevent the spread of the disease, local households were sprayed with insecticides. South Africa has also donated ten tons of DDT, an anti malaria insecticide, to Mozambique.
Equity in Health
SA, Mozambique sign health care agreement
Changing the face of violence prevention
Each year, over 1.6 million people worldwide die as a result of violence. Violence is among the leading causes of death for people aged 15-44 years, accounting for 14% of deaths among men and 7% of deaths among women worldwide. For every person who dies, many more are injured and suffer from a range of physical, sexual, reproductive and mental health problems. Violence can be prevented. Through the Global Campaign for Violence Prevention, WHO and its many partners are contributing to a new way of thinking about violence prevention.
Dysentery spreads in Zimbabwe
Four people died of dysentery last month in northern Zimbabwe in what appears to be the first outbreak of the disease outside the capital, reports said. An outbreak of the highly contagious diarrhoeal disease was reported earlier this month in Harare and its satellite town of Chitungwiza. Two hundred people were taken to hospital.
End State Sanctioned Denial in South Africa
A TAC briefing on why TAC and SAMA are taking the Minister of Health to court
The Treatment Action Campaign and the South African Medical Association (SAMA) have filed court papers against the Minister of Health, the Medicines Control Council (MCC), the Western Cape MEC for Health, as well as pharmaceutical proprietor Matthias Rath and several of his employees and associates, including AIDS denialists Anthony Brink, David Rasnick and Sam Mhlongo (Professor of Family Medicine, MEDUNSA). This briefing explains why.
Health civil society issues statement on the struggle for health
"Health civil society groups in Zimbabwe and east and southern Africa, recognising the initiative of health civil society in the region met in Harare on the 13th of October 2005 to discuss our struggles for health. We agreed on the following resolutions.
We are united, together with health civil society in the region, around the core principles and values of:
- the fundamental right to health and life
- equity and social justice
- people-led and people-centred health systems
- public over commercial interests in health (health before profits)
- people-led and grassroots-driven regional integration."
Further details: /newsletter/id/31174
Lack of Coordination, Leadership Led To Missed 3 by 5 Target, Treatment Advocacy Coalition Report Says
The World Health Organization will miss its 3 by 5 Initiative target of treating three million HIV-positive people in developing countries with antiretroviral drugs by the end of this year because of a lack of cooperation and coordination internationally and a lack of national leadership, according to a report released by a coalition of HIV/AIDS treatment advocates, the New York Times reports. The International Treatment Preparedness Coalition, a group of 600 treatment advocates from more than 100 countries, produced the report, titled "Missing the Target -- A Report on HIV/AIDS Treatment Access from the Frontlines," which aims to identify challenges to treatment access and provide solutions to overcome them.
Women Who Suffer Domestic Violence Experience Long-Lasting Health Problems, Report Says
Women who suffer physical abuse from intimate partners - the most common form of violence perpetrated against women worldwide - experience serious health consequences, according to a report released in November by the World Health Organization, the AP/Boston Globe reports. The survey of 24,000 women in 10 countries found that women who suffer domestic abuse were twice as likely as other women to suffer health problems, including pain, dizziness, gynecological and mental health problems, which persist after the abuse has stopped, the report says.
Cash plea to fight Africa's forgotten diseases that kill 500,000 a year
The Guardian UK news report
Scientists have called for a more balanced approach in distributing the billions of pounds available for controlling tropical diseases. In a paper published recently, they said that a focus by governments and charities on the big three tropical diseases - HIV, malaria and tuberculosis - had left millions of the poorest people in Africa without treatment for a range of illnesses.
The neglected diseases, which include schistosomiasis, river blindness, ascariasis, elephantiasis and trachoma, affect more than 750 million people and kill at least 500,000 every year.
Immunization maintains strong performance made in last quarter century
Press Release
Immunization at the global level has progressed very well during the past 25 years, but further increases in coverage would save the lives of millions more who do not yet benefit from this protection, said a group of immunization partners at the World Vaccine Congress in Lyon, France. This conclusion was drawn after an analysis of the latest immunization global data. The World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF, with financial support from the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, conduct world-wide monitoring and work closely with Ministries of Health to produce estimates of immunization coverage each year.
SADC meeting on traditional medicine
Press statement
The SADC Ministerial Sub-Committee on Traditional Medicine met at Sheraton Hotel in Harare on 16 September 2005. With regard to legislation the Ministers agreed to encourage member states to start with the development of appropriate legislation on Traditional Medicine and that the legislation will cover amongst others, establishment of councils for Traditional Medicine, protection of practitioners and consumers including the issue of licensing Traditional Medical Practitioners.
Further details: /newsletter/id/31130