Archive for the 'Blog' Category

All quiet on the Aids front…

Friday, February 15th, 2008

The combination of the quiet festive period and the focus on the ANC’s party conference at Polokwane has meant that there has been scant focus on the AIDS question and the issues that surround it. This is disappointing to report, since the drop in AIDS reports seems to have started directly after World AIDS Day, […]

An Old Truth

Friday, November 9th, 2007

This week saw the reemergence of an old and frustrating truth: Mbeki ‘still AIDS dissident’. According to Mark Gevisser, the author of a new biography about Mbeki, the President still maintains that there is doubt over the link between HIV and AIDS, and sees the scientific conventions concerning AIDS couched in racist and colonial paradigms. […]

Power of Images in the fight against HIV/AIDS

Friday, November 9th, 2007

This blog focuses on a series of articles that appeared in the Sowetan last week: “HIV Man Grows Boobs” Condition a side-effect of ARV’s, Sowetan, October 31 st 2007 p1, "Man beats his breasts over ARV effects", Sowetan, October 31 st, 2007, p 5 and “HIV drugs can swell glands”, Sowetan, October 31 st, […]

Democratising Science

Wednesday, October 31st, 2007

If you missed our “Democratising Science” forum in September, you can read and listen to some post-forum interviews with several of the panelists at http://www.health-e.org.za/news/article_audio.php?uid=20031766, courtesy of the Health-e News Service. The text and audio is in both English and isiZulu.  

“It’s not about how many condoms have gone out, but about how many have been recalled”

Tuesday, October 23rd, 2007

The above quote is taken from Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang’s response to media reports that more SABS-approved condoms have been recalled due to concerns about defects. Clearly she is confused as to where the problem lies, for if she fully appreciated the dangers of roughly 8 million defective condoms in possession across the country, she […]

Weekend round-up

Tuesday, October 23rd, 2007

With the Boks’ big World Cup semifinal game and the ongoing Mbeki-Selebi-Pikoli saga grabbing most of the big headlines this weekend, there wasn’t too much on the HIV/AIDS front, but here are a handful of stories from the country’s major weekend reads.
"Mob stones to death man accused of killing HIV-positive son and girlfriend"
City Press - […]

Separation Anxiety

Tuesday, October 23rd, 2007

"Factory gives jobs and hope to HIV people"
Sunday Times - 14 October 2007 - p. 14
This article tells the story of a toy-manufacturing company in Bronkhorstspruit, Gauteng, called The Cuddle Company, which only hires people who are HIV-positive or are otherwise affected by the disease (young people who have been orphaned […]

HIV/AIDS and the Media Project discussion forum

Tuesday, September 18th, 2007

On Thursday, 27 September, the HIV/AIDS and the Media Project will host a discussion forum on science reporting and HIV-prevention trials entitled “Democratising Science”. The forum aims to open discussion on science reporting and clinical trials, with a particular focus on the global campaign for microbicides. Participants in the forum include researchers currently investigating […]

Journalists need to be critical of HIV-prevention efforts

Monday, September 17th, 2007

In this week’s Sunday Independent, page three of the “Dispatches” section (page 15 of the newspaper), was dedicated entirely to a package of four articles from the Health-e News Service syndicate, which looked at the crisis of HIV/AIDS and poverty in the Letaba district of the Limpopo province. With varying degrees of overlap, the stories […]

Media responses to the sacking

Friday, August 17th, 2007

Since the dismissal of Deputy Minister of Health Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge HIV and AIDS has featured prominently in the media. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that the political crisis precipitated by her dismissal has been the focus of recent media coverage. Even Ronald Suresh Roberts has had his say.
The Mail & Guardian […]