insert_link Health / Medical Pharma firm urged to share new ‘game-changer’ HIV drug By Daniel Lawler Paris, May 30, 2024 (AFP) - More than 300 politicians, health experts and celebrities on Thursday called for US pharmaceutical giant Gilead to allow cheap, generic versions of a promising new HIV drug to be produced so it can reach people in developing countries most affected by the deadly disease. The drug lenacapavir could be a "real game-changer" in the fight against […] todayMay 30, 2024 22
insert_link Health / Medical On International Women’s Day, UNAIDS calls for protecting women’s rights to protect their health Ahead of International Women’s Day, celebrated on 8 March, UNAIDS is calling for the protection of women’s rights to protect their health. The world is way off track to meet the gender, equality and HIV targets that are part of the Sustainable Development Goals. At the current rate of progress, it will take an estimated 300 years to end child marriage, 140 years for women to be represented equally in […] todayMarch 6, 2024 15
insert_link Health / Medical On the 10th anniversary of Zero Discrimination Day UNAIDS calls for the protection of human rights as a path to protecting health for all Zero Discrimination Day was established by UNAIDS ten years ago to advance equality and fairness for everyone regardless of gender, age, sexuality, ethnicity or HIV status. However, progress is in peril. Attacks on the rights of women and girls, of LGBTQ+ people, and of other marginalized communities are on the rise. And when laws, policies, practices or norms enshrine punishment, discrimination or stigma for people because they are women, or are LGBTQ+, or […] todayFebruary 27, 2024 14
insert_link Health / Medical Thirty years of rural health research: South Africa’s Agincourt studies offer unique insights By Stephen Tollman, University of the Witwatersrand and Kathleen Kahn, University of the Witwatersrand In 1992 a group of academics from the University of the Witwatersrand introduced a health and socio-demographic surveillance system in remote, rural South Africa to track and understand health and wellbeing in these environments. This initiative built on pioneering work by a Wits team to establish a health systems development unit in a […] todayFebruary 6, 2024 19
insert_link Health / Medical Surge in Syphilis Cases Leads Some Providers to Ration Penicillin Vials of injectable penicillin in cold storage at the Metro Public Health Department in Nashville, Tennessee. Injectable penicillin is the go-to treatment for syphilis and the only treatment considered safe for pregnant people with the disease. In mid-2023, the health department began rationing the injectable to just pregnant women because of a nationwide antibiotic shortage. Patients who test positive for syphilis and are not pregnant are given an oral antibiotic […] todayFebruary 2, 2024 8
insert_link Health / Medical HIV, AIDS, and COVID-19 leading causes of death in working-age population A new report from the Namibia Statistics Agency shows that HIV and AIDS, COVID-19, and other communicable diseases remain the leading causes of death among the economically active population in the country. In 2020 alone, HIV and AIDS accounted for 13.5% of deaths among adults aged 15-59, while COVID-19 became the leading cause of death in 2021, accounting for 15.1% of fatalities in this age group. todayDecember 6, 2023 3
insert_link Namibia ELCIN empowers infohut project The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia (ELCIN) through its infohut project has handed over chickens to five young people living with HIV/AIDS to help them start poultry farming businesses. ELCIN’s eastern diocese youth leader Esther Sakaria at the handing over ceremony in Oniipa on Sunday said through the infohut project, they engage and equip young people and church leaders in life skills through the use of computers. She said they […] todayDecember 5, 2023 6
insert_link South Africa South Africans are living longer, mostly thanks to HIV treatment By Daniel Steyn and Nathan Geffen via GroundUp President Nelson Mandela in 2002 wore the Treatment Action Campaign’s iconic HIV-positive T-shirt to try to convince President Thabo Mbeki’s administration to provide antiretroviral treatment in the public sector. Photo: Brenton Geach (copyright reserved) South Africa has some state-run systems that are working well. One of these is the HIV treatment programme. We quite possibly have the largest public sector chronic medicine programme for a […] todayDecember 1, 2023 7
insert_link Health / Medical Ahead of World AIDS Day UNAIDS is calling for urgent support to Let Communities Lead in the fight to end AIDS As World AIDS Day (1 December) approaches, UNAIDS is urging governments across the world to unleash the power of grassroots communities across the world to lead the fight to end AIDS. A new report launched today by UNAIDS, Let Communities Lead, shows that AIDS can be ended as a public health threat by 2030, but only if communities on the frontlines get the full support they need from governments and donors. […] todayNovember 28, 2023 7
Paying it forward: Kenyan coastal doctor Bashrahil Mohammed Mafudh has made it his life’s work to care for the most vulnerable in his community, at no cost.