Living positively: Make Love Safe
Ufrieda Ho, Spotlight Love may be blind; but some things, you shouldn’t ignore – like knowing your and your partner’s HIV status. South Africa is still considered the world epicentre…
Health4Sale: Free State – Multi-million Rand contract delivers dodgy medical equipment
Brand new theatre beds are broken within months and sub-standard anaesthesia machines stand unused following the award of a multi-million Rand medical equipment tender by the Free State Department of Health to a company called Mediquip SA Hub of which two co-directors are George Sebulela, of the Black Business Council and one of the latest additions to the Eskom board, and Tefetso Bernard Phitsane, a senior ANC politician in the Free State and close ally of Ace Magashule.
Living positively: Tshepo Ngoato, Midrand, Gauteng
When Tshepo Ngoato’s doctor and aunt sat him down to tell him he was HIV-positive, he felt as if his world had crashed before his eyes – that he had been dealt a death sentence.
Living positively: Shakira Namwanje, Uganda
Uganda has about 1.4 million people living with HIV, with women – and young women especially – disproportionately affected. According to AVERT, an HIV education organisation, Uganda sees about 52 000 new HIV infections per year.
Access denied
Activists blame government for limited access to abortion services in the public sector.
The dangers of vaginal douching
Ever heard of using plain yoghurt, or a mixture of Stoney and Lemon Twist, or cinnamon and milk? Well, these are some of the ‘remedies’ that have been recommended to help women douche and get their vaginas to be ‘tight and clean’.
Period-shaming must fall
Ufrieda Ho, Spotlight Statistics about menstruation and girls’ missed school days in South Africa have been guesstimates at best, and range wildly – between two and seven million girls affected.…
The cost of liberation
A moment of true liberation came for Thembi Mahlathi when she was standing at a supermarket check-out queue. In her shopping basket, for the first time, were sanitary pads that she could afford.
DREAMS and She Conquers
An estimated 2 000 new HIV infections occur in young women and girls every week in South Africa. Two high-profile programmes are aiming to address this crisis. In this joint Spotlight/Health-e News Service special investigation, we go beyond the bells and whistles and ask what difference these programmes are really making.
Improving SRHR access for queers in South Africa
Melusi Dlamini shares his take on the state of play when it comes to the Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR) of the LGBTQIA+ community.
UNAIDS must Address Culture of Impunity, Michel Sidibé Must Go!
[caption id="attachment_6210" align="alignright" width="300"] Michel Sidibe at the civil society march held at Durban 2016.[/caption] By 23 leading women activists Note: This op-ed is adapted from a letter sent by…
The needs of queer folk in SA
by Thuthukile Mbatha, Spotlight June 2017 saw the launch of South Africa’s first Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Queer Intersex Asexual Plus (LGBTQIA+) HIV Plan 2017-2022. [caption id="attachment_6205" align="alignright" width="191"] Luckyboy…