What the Treatment Action Campaign is charging MEC Malakoane with
The charge; The offense of “corrupt activities” in terms of section 4 of the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act 12 of 2004 (“the Act”).
Trying to nurse ethically in a broken system
By Ufrieda Ho – “I didn’t go to nursing college to become a politician,” says the matron in her neat office in the facility she heads up.
Who will help the sick and needy?
By Ufrieda Ho – Back in the mid-90s, Angelina Manale Mookadi had dreams of becoming a nurse. “I thought it was a profession I could afford because the government was going to help me pay for my studies. And I always wanted to help my community,” she says, sitting in the kitchen of her home in Tsephong, outside of Welkom, in the Free State.
Health workers still face prosecution
The #BopheloHouse94 community health workers have been on trial since April 2014. Their crime? Holding a peaceful night vigil in the hope that their political leaders will explain why they had all been dismissed.
Won the battle, lost the war
By Marcus Low & Lotti Rutter – In the early days of the AIDS epidemic, the high price of antiretroviral medicines meant many lives were unnecessarily lost. While the global AIDS movement managed to force lower prices for key ARVs, the wider battle has not yet been won.
A time of dying in Durban
By Kerry Cullinan – Every day, I passed three funeral parlours on my 5km drive to work in central Durban. Shiny hearses lined up in the street, one behind the other. Fetching, taking, waiting.
A full version of the special edition of Spotlight will be released during the International AIDS Conference in Durban which starts on 17 July. This is an article which will be published in Spotlight.
Activism and Civil society: what it is and what it’s not
By Mark Heywood – 2016 is a year of AIDS anniversaries. It is the 20th anniversary of the International AIDS conference in Vancouver where the successful use of combination antiretroviral therapy for the treatment of HIV was first announced. A full version of the special edition of Spotlight will be released during the International AIDS Conference in Durban which starts on 17 July. This is an article which will be published in Spotlight.
VIDEO: #FireBenny
The Treatment Action Campaign and partners recently held a meeting to establish the Free State People’s Health Coalition. More than 500 TAC members also took to the streets and delivered memorandums to the police and National Prosecuting Authority demanding an update on the charges against Health MEC Dr Benny Malakoane. This is a short clip of the action in Bloemfontein.
RESOURCE: Health Budget Speech
Budget speech by Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi delivered on 10 May 2016. Download here.
VIDEO: The Price of Gold
Judgment in the historic Silicosis Class Action, Bongani Nkala and 55 Others v Harmony Gold Mining Company Ltd and 31 Others, will be handed down in the South Gauteng High Court tomorrow (Friday 13 May 2016) at 9am.
If the class is certified it will be the largest class to ever be certified in South Africa and it allow hundreds of thousands of gold miners and their families to access justice and redress. This short clip tells the story of some of the gold miners, the advocacy that has happened and the role of the amici.
VIDEO: TB Aware: Nulda Beyers
TB scientist Professor Nulda Beyers speaks about the critical needs to employeers to enable employees to get tested and treated for TB.
Credit: Thom Pierce
VIDEO: Free State in chains
The TAC has been leading a campaign to fix the Free State health system. There have been a number of interventions including hearings into people’s experiences of the health system. The demand is clear: Fire the MEC Dr Benny Malakoane, drop the charges against the innocent Community Health Workers and fix the health system.