An interesting article and a promising one as well:
POZ – POZ Magazine – POZ.com – Treatment News : Long-Lasting HIV Nucleoside Analogue in Development.
Filed under: HIV and AIDS, HIV Treatment, Medical and Research, Aids, hiv, HIV Treatment
01/30/2010 • 6:10 pm Comments Off on POZ.com – Treatment News : Long-Lasting HIV Nucleoside Analogue in Development
POZ.com – Treatment News : Long-Lasting HIV Nucleoside Analogue in Development
12/18/2009 • 9:03 am Comments Off on PlusNews Examines Cases of Hospital-Acquired HIV in Africa – The Body
PlusNews Examines Cases of Hospital-Acquired HIV in Africa – The Body
10/28/2009 • 5:25 pm Comments Off on 28.10.2009 450 youngsters…
28.10.2009 450 youngsters…
A big surprise when I enter the Liebfrauen church in Bitburg for the first part of my day: talking and celebrating a prayer service with the students of the St. Willibrord Gymnasium. Round about 450 students are filling the church – I am not sure what I thought before but I was indeed surprised to see so many youngsters. Talk and service went well, we were able to connect and it seems, at least according to some teachers afterwards, the noise level was significant lower than in other services. The youngsters listened – a good experience and quite energizing for me. And energy I needed: After the service I met with 120 students of class 13 – the Abitur class. At the “Haus der Jugend” we had time to discuss matters and to try to bridge the gap between South Africa and Germany. And again an audience to connect to – with good questions and I hope some good answers too.
Prevention, treatment, sexuality, sangomas, academic research, grass root projects, theology, church and condoms – there was not a lot untouched during the discussion – a lively debate.
After that I went with the principal and the teachers to the school to be formally welcomed in front of all teachers. The principal found some nice words of welcome and some of my very own teachers 30 years ago were still working – a pleasure to meet them again. 2 Jahrggangsstufen (standard 8 and standard 9) were singled out to have a discussion with me during the next two hours. Amazing to hear that some students came after the talk to pass on the regards of their parents who happened to be my friends and neigbors or classmates while I was myself a student of the school.
Then a nice drive to Aachen – changing briefly into Belgium to cut time and some more busy streets – and now I prepare for my evening talk about “HIV and AIDS as signs of the time” – with a discussion afterward with the students of the University of Aachen. As mentioned before the representatives of misereor, misso and others where not allowed to discuss this topic with me – and I still feel sorry for them: not talking to each other is the worst case scenario for us as Christians. It is indeed a shame, as I strongly believe that we all try to find ways and solutions serving mankind. And we do this with seriousness and we all deserve respect and a listening ear for our ideas. I hope and pray that this ignorance will cease soon and that we are able to engage in fruitful discussion. I am amazed to see who all is talking to me, also from the church side – but not those big Catholic development agencies. Are they are scared of competition? Or anything else I am not aware?
Be it as it is – I am looking forward to discuss a theology of HIV and AIDS with the students and to see, whether my very fragmented approach of theology, bounced on the minds of those students, can develop further. I continue to hope for the best…
Filed under: HIV Prevention, HIV Treatment, HOPE Cape Town Association & Trust, Medical and Research, Networking, Politics and Society, Aachen, Aids, Bitburg, Catholic, Church Matters, hiv, HOPE Cape Town Association & Trust, people living with the virus, student, students, theology, Willibrord Gymnasium
10/27/2009 • 10:30 am Comments Off on 27.10.2009 The state of the health care system in SA
27.10.2009 The state of the health care system in SA
An insight into the health system of South Africa is given by the following article published by IOL and spread throughout the country – this article speaks for itself:
South Africa’s public hospitals are in a bleak state with failing equipment, a lack of basic consumables and dwindling numbers of doctors, Parliament heard on Wednesday. Professor Bongani Mayozi, the head of internal medicine at the University of Cape Town, told the portfolio committee on health it was taking up to three days for patients to get a bed in a public hospital. “It takes about 24 hours a day for us to put 50 percent of people into a bed,” he said. “These people are sitting on a chair or lying on a trolley. They are very sick. They need to be admitted. Some people wait up to three days to get into a bed. “We regard this situation as completely unacceptable. Something that you would not wish on your mother or father.” Mayozi said surgical lists in many centres had been cut, equipment had not been renewed and there had been an overall decrease in tertiary level beds. The capacity to train new doctors had also been severely diminished. “When you go to war you need troops. You can’t fight a war without soldiers.”
South Africa is producing 0.58 doctors per 1 000 people, he said. Brazil and Mexico, with a similar gross domestic product per capita, are producing nearly two doctors per 1 000.
“As a result of this South Africa’s infant mortality rate is a lot higher than it should be and more people are dying from infectious diseases,” he said. Mayozi said the situation had arisen due to an “increasing demand” with “diminishing resources”. “When one looks at the reasons for the lack of progress, they are not difficult to find. They are related to under-investment to our public health sector over the past 15 years.” Andries Stulting, the acting head of the school of medicine at the University of the Free State, said the province’s health care situation is in a dire position. “There is a collapse of systems in the Free State. TB, HIV, primary health care, hospital services, training platforms, research, you name it, we are declining. “We can’t do elective surgery anymore. Patients with hernias and cataracts. They don’t seem to be emergencies, so we cannot operate. People go blind and people can’t do their work. “We don’t have basic things like eye pads, eye shields, medications… or should we keep quiet because we can be reprimanded?
“I hope I can give you some good news, but at the moment there is none.” –
Filed under: HIV Treatment, Medical and Research, Politics and Society, Reflection, Society and living environment, Uncategorized, health care, hospital, south africa
10/21/2009 • 11:29 pm Comments Off on 21.10.2009 Need a doctor
21.10.2009 Need a doctor
Need a doctor? Call a nurse.
by Laura Whitehorn
Nurses rival doctors at keeping HIV-positive patients healthy. That’s what a South African study concluded after nearly two years of observation.
First, 812 people had an HIV combo prescribed by a doctor. Then they were divided into two groups. One group was regularly monitored and treated by doctors, the other by nurses. After 96 weeks, the groups were almost identical in viral load, CD4 counts and number of regimen switches, side effects and deaths—and how many clinic appointments they missed.
These results bode well for places with few doctors but many HIV-positive people. And if you were worried that you got inferior care because you saw the nurse instead of the MD at your last clinic visit, relax. The nurse is in.
read more:
Filed under: HIV and AIDS, Medical and Research, hiv, HIV Treatment, people living with the virus, south africa. aids
God, AIDS, Africa & HOPE 