Opinion: Health budget slashed despite vaccine commitments

Posted in: Latest

The national budget tabled this week shows that planned spending on public health is reduced by a massive R50.3 billion over the next three years. We cannot accept a vaccine versus health system trade-off. Government must both expedite the procurement of vaccines and ensure that provinces have the staff and other capabilities to rapidly roll them out and to maintain and improve the quality of healthcare services, argue writers from SECTION27.

Opinion: Health budget slashed despite vaccine commitments

HIV in Umkhanyakude: Impressive numbers, but living with HIV difficult amid socio-economic hardship

Posted in: HIV/AIDS, KwaZulu-Natal, Latest, Provinces

Premier of KwaZulu-Natal, Sihle Zikhalala praised the Umkhanyakude District recently on its ‘exceptional’ figures in meeting the UNAIDS 90-90-90 targets. Yet, when Spotlight recently visited the Jozini area, we were confronted with a less rosy picture. Some people stopped their HIV treatment because they do not have food to eat, and activists now warn that the progress with the targets can be derailed if poverty, hunger and other social determinants of health are not urgently and comprehensively addressed. Nomfundo Xolo reports.

HIV in Umkhanyakude: Impressive numbers, but living with HIV difficult amid socio-economic hardship

Government can do better, Deputy President says at World AIDS Day event

Posted in: HIV/AIDS, Latest

A high-level government delegation led by Deputy President David Mabuza descended on Soweto during a World AIDS Day commemoration. Ufrieda Ho reports.

Government can do better, Deputy President says at World AIDS Day event

From the frontlines: 20 years of fighting HIV in Khayelitsha

Posted in: Edition 12: SA’s AIDS & TB response, Edition 6: HIV & teens, Edition 8: NSP in general, Edition 9: State of HIV, HIV/AIDS, Latest

Two decades since Doctors without Borders (MSF) started its HIV programme in Khayelitsha, the organisation will start wrapping up its operations. Siyabonga Kamnqa spoke to some people living with HIV who benefitted from this programme and who now work as activists about developments over the last 20 years.

From the frontlines: 20 years of fighting HIV in Khayelitsha

‘Welcome Back Service’ aims to help people get back on HIV treatment

Posted in: HIV/AIDS, Latest

While South Africa is doing well on some of the UNAIDS HIV targets for 2020, one target we are set to miss is ensuring that 90% of people diagnosed with HIV are on antiretroviral therapy. Partly in response to this problem, the ‘Welcome back’ campaign started by Doctors without Borders aims to make it easier for people who have stopped taking treatment to restart. Tiyese Jeranji reports.

‘Welcome Back Service’ aims to help people get back on HIV treatment

WORLD AIDS DAY: How stigma is impacting the 90-90-90 goals

Posted in: Edition 12: SA’s AIDS & TB response, Edition 9: State of HIV, HIV/AIDS, Latest

The HIV epidemic is far from over and we will not reach key UNAIDS targets and control HIV unless we end HIV-related stigma, argues Prof Linda-Gail Bekker.

WORLD AIDS DAY: How stigma is impacting the 90-90-90 goals

New medicines should make life easier for kids living with HIV

Posted in: Child health, Edition 6: HIV & teens, Edition 9: State of HIV, HIV/AIDS, Latest

HIV medicines for children often taste bitter, pills are large, and for many children there is a lot of medication to take. This makes it hard to take treatment as prescribed. Tiyese Jeranji looks at the challenges with currently available HIV medicines for children, what innovations are in the pipeline, and how HIV treatment is being tailored to suit the needs of children.

New medicines should make life easier for kids living with HIV

U=U: We should put people living with HIV at the centre of HIV prevention efforts

Posted in: Edition 12: SA’s AIDS & TB response, Edition 6: HIV & teens, Edition 9: State of HIV, Latest, Reproductive Health

The U=U campaign is based on a simple message – an undetectable viral load in people living with HIV equals an untransmissible virus. The U=U campaign, argues Mandisa Dukashe, has the power to motivate people living with HIV to adhere to ARVs, achieve viral suppression, and subsequently lead long and healthy lives while preventing HIV transmission to sexual partners and their babies.

U=U: We should put people living with HIV at the centre of HIV prevention efforts

Interactive table: See how SA’s provinces compare on the 90-90-90 targets

Posted in: Edition 12: SA’s AIDS & TB response, Edition 9: State of HIV, HIV/AIDS, InFocus, Latest

New estimates of HIV in South Africa’s provinces were made public last week. This interactive table shows how South Africa’s nine provinces compare on the UNAIDS 90-90-90 targets.

Interactive table: See how SA’s provinces compare on the 90-90-90 targets

HIV death rate in SA men much higher than in women

Posted in: Edition 9: State of HIV, HIV/AIDS, InFocus, Latest, Men's Health

While men account for only a third of South Africa’s roughly 200 000 new HIV infections in the year ending mid-2019, they account for more than half of the approximately 74 000 HIV-related deaths in the same period. This is according to new estimates released on Tuesday from the Thembisa mathematical model of HIV in South Africa.

HIV death rate in SA men much higher than in women

IN-DEPTH: Vaginal ring ushers in new era in HIV prevention

Posted in: Access to Medicines, Edition 12: SA’s AIDS & TB response, Edition 9: State of HIV, HIV/AIDS, Latest

A recent announcement about a vaginal ring to prevent HIV has AIDS activists and women’s sexual and reproductive health advocates excited. But where would this ring fit in South Africa’s HIV prevention programme? Amy Green investigates.

IN-DEPTH: Vaginal ring ushers in new era in HIV prevention

COVID-19 may lead to spike in AIDS deaths, warns UNAIDS

Posted in: HIV/AIDS, Latest

Six months more of pandemic-related disruptions could result in a spike of an additional 500 000 AIDS-related deaths in sub-Saharan Africa alone by the end of next year, warns UNAIDS.