Earlier this week, reports surfaced of doctors in the US who had successfully “cured” an infant of HIV. According to the Mail & Guardian, the child was born HIV positive and placed on ARV treatment consisting of three different anti-retroviral drugs at 30 hours. Now, two and a half years later, the child is regarded [...]
Ahead of World Aids day tomorrow (Sat 1 Dec) there is a large movement taking place encouraging people to get tested and know their status. Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi took to television to deliver the message himself this morning, proudly displaying a bandage from his own test which has been administered five minutes before he [...]
As an activist, I am always looking for new opportunities to increase awareness of HIV and Aids education. Now, a fantastic new partner has come on board to help spread the message to a whole new generation. Connect-Ed is an initiative by Durex that I am proud to put my name to. Working together, we [...]
One of the reasons that scientists have found it so difficult to create a vaccine against Aids is that the HI virus has the ability to mutate once it enters a host body. This means that it is incredibly difficult to create antibodies that target the virus, since the virus can just change to a [...]
President Zuma has thrown his weight behind Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi’s bold school health scheme that would make condoms freely available to learners. Speaking at an event in Cullinan, President Zuma encouraged parents to take an open and honest view of their children’s sexuality saying “We know that this subject makes parents uncomfortable, understandably so. [...]
Debate has been raging about a new initiative planned by the Health Department that would make condoms freely available in schools around South Africa. The plan, which is being championed by Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi aims to provide comprehensive healthcare to school pupils, including STI testing and sexual health counseling. Unfortunately, this admirable initiative is [...]
With HIV/Aids hitting the headlines in the wake of the 19th International Aids Conference in Washington, two important medical breakthroughs are indicative of the rapid progress being made against the disease. Firstly, in a report delivered at the conference, findings showed that ARV treatment was far more effective at reducing transmission than previously thought. New [...]
According to health minister Aaron Motsoaledi, South Africa is on track to reduce mother-to-child transmission of HIV to below 2% by 2015. He was commenting on the results of a study released by the medical research council that saw mother-to-child transmission rates drop by almost 1% from 2010 levels. Increased education and greater access to [...]
HIV-positive women face shocking abuse at the hands of health-care professionals and police. These are the findings detailed in a study titled “We were never meant to survive” and reported by the Mail&Guardian on Friday (1 June). According the study, which was conducted by advocacy group One in Nine, HIV-positive women in the Eastern Cape [...]
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