God, AIDS, Africa & HOPE

Reflections / Gedanken

10/07/2012 • 8:43 am Comments Off on Significant Court Case in Canada relating to disclosure

Significant Court Case in Canada relating to disclosure

English: Statue of Justicia (Justice), by Walt...The Supreme Court of Canada ruled that people living with HIV do not need to disclose their status to partners before intercourse, provided they have a low viral load and a condom is used. The decision, issued early October, addresses two cases heard by the court in February 2012 regarding a 1998 ruling concluding that people living with HIV who fail to

their HIV status to sex partners can be charged with aggravated sexual assault. Prosecutors from the two provinces where the cases originated, Manitoba and Quebec, petitioned the court to rule that all HIV-positive people should be legally compelled to tell their sex partners, regardless of the risk reduction associated with condom use and effective HIV treatment. The court disagreed with the prosecution. To read more about the case go here.

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Filed under: HIV and AIDS, HIV Prevention, Politics and Society, Society and living environment, Uncategorized, , , , , , , , ,

10/03/2012 • 8:06 am Comments Off on Not shy to sell “milk not for sale”

Not shy to sell “milk not for sale”

Some spaza shop owners in Khayelitsha are selling formula milk that is marked “Not for resale”. TAC reports. This milk is supposed to be given free to HIV-positive mothers to give to their babies instead of breast milk to avoid infecting the newly born. The brand name for the state’s formula milk is Melegi. It is manufactured by Aspen. In August 2011 the Ministry of Health in South Africa announced that exclusive breastfeeding will be replacing the formula feeding throughout South Africa. The reason for the change of heart: clinical trials over the last few years have shown that if women take anti-retroviral treatment they can breastfeed with very little risk of passing on the virus.

A consequence of this is that the milk is now being sold illegally because some mothers still want to use it and it is not available free anymore. The question is now: How got the free milk “not for sale” into the spaza shops where mothers have to pay for it. And the next question is whether mothers, who use the formula milk and breast-feeding are aware that mixing the two methods is more dangerous to their baby than exclusively either breast-feeding or formula feeding.

Filed under: HIV and AIDS, HIV Prevention, HIV Treatment, Society and living environment, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

09/25/2012 • 9:21 am Comments Off on Only Southern Africa?

Only Southern Africa?

There is a perception that Southern Africa is the only hot spot of the HIV/AIDS pandemic.  But Eastern Europe and Central Asia have the world’s fastest-growing HIV epidemic according to the World Health Organization. It is said the epidemic there is concentrated mostly among injection drug users. Experts blame punitive drug policies, discrimination and trouble accessing treatment. They say the situation will not be contained until local governments affected by the epidemic change their AIDS policies. To read more click here.

Filed under: HIV and AIDS, HIV Prevention, HIV Treatment, Medical and Research, Networking, Politics and Society, Reflection, Society and living environment, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

09/21/2012 • 9:06 am Comments Off on A new date to celebrate?

A new date to celebrate?

Unknown to many in South Africa, this month of September saw a new global awareness date: The Global Female Condom Awareness Day was celebrated on the 12th of September for the first time. Advocates and organizations in 22 states and 21 countries promoted the use of female condoms as underutilized safer sex tools. Although they’re called female condoms, these prophylactics can be used for both vaginal and anal sex. Here in South Africa more and more women use the female condom which can be worn for a longer time. Protecting themselves in the case of rape is also a reason often said when questioned about it.

Read more from the AIDS Foundation of Chicago here.

Filed under: General, HIV and AIDS, HIV Prevention, Networking, Reflection, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

09/17/2012 • 7:45 am Comments Off on Sex worker denied PTMCT

Sex worker denied PTMCT

At a conference in Johannesburg a sex worker spoke of how she was detained by the police when she was pregnant. Being HIV-positive, she was forced to default on her medication to prevent her from transmitting the infection to her unborn child. “The worst thing for me was being denied my ARV’s when I was on PMTCT (prevention of mother to child HIV transmission programme). I was pregnant and denied this treatment for the whole weekend. I felt it is the worst thing because it was about the child inside of me who could have gotten infected”, she said.

Read the whole article here

Filed under: General, HIV and AIDS, HIV Prevention, HIV Treatment, Reflection, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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