disease

The Cancer Association of South Africa (CANSA) has declared "Movember" the month to challenge all South African men to grow their moustaches and help change the face of men's health.

Co-founder of the Movember, Justin Coghlan, points out that, "The aim of Movember is to raise awareness about men's health issues, and the idea has already generated interest from South African men ready to donate their faces and time."

The high cost of drugs needed to treat AIDS patients is putting the lives of thousands at risk, the medical humanitarian organisation Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said on Monday.

“Patients needing new drug regimens will return to AIDS death row”, MSF warned in a statement released at the 2009 International AIDS Society conference in Cape Town.

New research suggests that circumcising HIV-positive men does not reduce the risk of their female partners becoming HIV-infected.

The findings, reported in the British medical journal, The Lancet, emerged from a clinical trial in Rakai District, southern Uganda, involving 922 HIV-infected men and 163 of their HIV-negative female partners.

A study released by medical experts at Germany's University of Heidelberg has found that a chemical found in green tea can inhibit sexual transmission of the virus which causes AIDS.

The study, which recommends using the compound in vaginal creams to supplement antiretrovirals, also concludes that the compound could be a low-cost arrow in the quiver of medical weapons to fight the spread of HIV in research-poor countries.

The United States Coalition for Child Survival has warned that diarrhoea might wreak havoc in poor countries in Africa.

The organisation points out that the disease is already killing 1.6 million children a year in these countries.

It says millions of babies between birth and the age of five die, mostly from preventable diseases. It further estimates that over half a million women in poor countries also die from pregnancy-related diseases, due to unsafe drinking water and malnutrition.

The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) has welcomed the appointment of new health minister, Aaron Motsoaledi.

However, TAC’s Rebecca Hodes points out that, “... Motsoaledi has to work hard to be able to deliver on the national strategic plan which aims to provide 80 percent of people living by 2011 with HIV with treatment.”

Hodes says Motsoaledi must eradicate the antiretroviral (ARV) waiting list because people are dying of opportunistic infections as a result of low immune systems.

The South African Depression and Anxiety Group (SADAG) has trained about 20 traditional healers on subjects such as mental illness, depression and suicide.

SADAG says 72 percent of black South Africans consult traditional healers before seeing medical doctors for conditions such as schizophrenia and HIV and AIDS.

“If traditional healers understand mental illness it will be easier for them to refer their patients to doctors or counsellors,” says SADAG manager, Lefate Makunyane.

The government is responsible for the failure of the country’s healthcare system says the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC). The commission launched a report entitled “Public Inquiry: Access to Health Care Services” on 16 April 2009 in Johannesburg.

Medicines Sans Frontieres (MSF) says at least six percent of people diagnosed with tuberculosis in Khayelitsha last year had a drug-resistant strain of the disease. This is according to a report on a pilot treatment programme in the township.

MSF points out that 196 of the 6 000 people diagnosed with tuberculosis in Khayelitsha last year had the drug-resistant strain of the disease and of those, three-quarters were also HIV-positive.