SOUTH AFRICA: National HIV testing campaign disappoints
7 September 2010 (PlusNews ), South Africa, home to the world’s largest HIV treatment programme, is trying to pull off the most extensive global HIV testing campaign but the ambitious initiative is facing some daunting realities.
http://www.plusnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=90410
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KENYA: Nomadic communities struggle to access PMTCT
7 September 2010 (PlusNews ), Nomadic Kenyan women who test positive for HIV but live in remote areas far from the nearest health facility are missing out on the opportunity to prevent their children from becoming infected with the virus.
http://www.plusnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=90411
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HEALTH: New two-hour TB test
3 September 2010 (PlusNews ), A new, accurate, easy-to-use test can diagnose tuberculosis (TB) - including drug-resistant strains of the disease - in less than two hours. It has the potential to save thousands of lives in developing countries, where current tests are often unreliable, take weeks to process, or are simply unavailable.
http://www.plusnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=90377
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SOUTH AFRICA: Strike sends XDR-TB patients home
3 September 2010 (PlusNews ), Striking public health workers in South Africa have virtually shut down King George V Hospital, a referral facility in the port city of Durban, KwaZulu-Natal Province, which specializes in caring for and isolating patients with multidrug-resistant (MDR) and extremely drug-resistant (XDR)-TB.
http://www.plusnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=90385
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SWAZILAND: Task-shifting could improve HIV treatment and prevention
3 September 2010 (PlusNews ), Swaziland has yet to act on a 2006 World Health Organization (WHO) recommendation to alleviate health worker shortages through task-shifting and according to the Ministry of Health, the failure to do so is compromising scale-up of the antiretroviral (ARV) programme.
http://www.plusnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=90387
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SOUTH AFRICA: Survivor's guide for non-striking health workers
2 September 2010 (PlusNews ), Public sector strikes in South Africa have become so common in recent years that people are asking if plans should not be put in place to prevent the disruption of HIV and tuberculosis [TB] treatment, and prepare health workers.
http://www.plusnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=90374
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UGANDA: New strains of HIV spreading in fishing communities*
31 August 2010 (PlusNews ), A study of HIV-positive people in fishing communities on the shores of Lake Victoria in central Uganda has found that more than a quarter have "recombinant" viruses that might threaten both treatment and prevention efforts.
http://www.plusnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=90350
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KENYA: Camel clinics bring condoms to nomads
31 August 2010 (PlusNews ), In the remote and rural district of Samburu, northern Kenya, where paved roads are scarce and motorised transport hard to come by, reaching the mostly pastoralist and nomadic inhabitants with HIV/AIDS services requires an unusual approach.
http://www.plusnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=90351
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SOUTHERN AFRICA: More sterilizations of HIV-positive women uncovered
30 August 2010 (PlusNews ), Veronica* did not realize she had been sterilized while giving birth to her daughter until four years later when, after failing to conceive, she and her boyfriend consulted a doctor.
http://www.plusnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=90337
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SOUTH AFRICA: Pholokgolo Ramothwala, "You can never hide HIV forever"
26 August 2010 (PlusNews ), Journalist and long-time HIV activist Pholokgolo Ramothwala, 32, was diagnosed HIV-positive at the age of 19. He runs his own communications company and writes an online diary about living with HIV. He spoke to IRIN/PlusNews about love, disclosure and discordance.
http://www.plusnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=90296
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UGANDA: Optimism as PEPFAR increases funding*
25 August 2010 (PlusNews ), More Ugandan HIV patients are set to receive life-prolonging medication after the United States President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) responded to appeals from healthcare providers overwhelmed by patients by committing to increase its support of the country's treatment programme.
http://www.plusnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=90288
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SOUTH AFRICA: Strike jeopardizes HIV treatment
24 August 2010 (PlusNews ), A strike for better wages by South African health workers is putting the lives of HIV-positive people on the line as industrial action disrupts treatment programmes.
http://www.plusnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=90277
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KENYA: Government changes tack on HIV prevention, treatment for drug users
24 August 2010 (PlusNews ), Intravenous drug users have been largely ignored by the government's HIV programmes on the basis that drug-taking is illegal, but a new policy is being drafted with the aim of reducing HIV transmission among this high-risk group.
http://www.plusnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=90266
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KENYA: TB patients held in police cells for defaulting on treatment
24 August 2010 (PlusNews ), Kenyan government officials have defended the arrest and incarceration of two men infected with multi-drug resistant tuberculosis, who failed to adhere to their treatment.
http://www.plusnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=90270
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SOUTH AFRICA: Communities debate microbicide results
23 August 2010 (PlusNews ), The recent release of positive results from a microbicide trial in South Africa have kick-started discussions between scientists, activists and community workers about the quickest and most responsible way of getting a product into women's hands.
http://www.plusnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=90252
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SOUTH AFRICA: Nevirapine linked to HIV treatment failure
20 August 2010 (PlusNews ), One of the cheapest and most commonly used drugs for treating HIV in Africa - nevirapine - has been associated with an increased risk of treatment failure in a retrospective South African study.
http://www.plusnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=90234
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KENYA: TB patients with HIV miss out on ARVs
20 August 2010 (PlusNews ), Only a third of Kenyans infected with tuberculosis and HIV are receiving treatment for both conditions, despite the latest World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines recommending that anti-retrovirals be taken soon after TB treatment begins.
http://www.plusnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=90238
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TOGO: Manya Andrews, "The condoms had the thickness and sensitivity of a tyre"
19 August 2010 (PlusNews ), Manya Andrews is a health communications consultant and former head of the international reproductive health organization, Populations Services International, in Togo. At a recent conference on HIV and couples, she spoke to IRIN/PlusNews about how she and her team had to rethink what they knew about sex to kick-start Togo's male condom distribution campaign.
http://www.plusnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=90223
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TANZANIA: Women caught in crossfire of HIV battle
18 August 2010 (PlusNews ), Regina Joseph was beaten up by a group of young men for "dressing indecently" on her way to the local market in northeastern Tanzania's Mkinga District.
http://www.plusnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=90207
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SWAZILAND: HIV threat "exaggerated", says King's brother
18 August 2010 (PlusNews ), Remarks disparaging programmes to reduce HIV infections, made by Swaziland's second top-ranking traditional leader, have sparked disbelief and anger among AIDS activists.
http://www.plusnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=90210
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