Media Watch
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ANALYSIS: Dailies should offer valuable HIV-coverage
At the end of last week the ANC announced its intentions to make HIV a notifiable disease. The divergent approaches taken by two news outlets covering the issue suggests that a major disparity exists in the quality of journalism between weekly and daily papers.IN THE NEWS: Budget Speech 2012
The budget speech for 2012 sees approximately the following as highlights to the health sector. R121.9 billion allocated to health - an extra R12.3 billion for the next 3 years. R6 billion more to fund the National Health Insurance (NHI) in 2014/2015. R968 million extra over 3 years for ARV treatment at CD4 threshold of 350IN THE NEWS: The State of our Nation
The State of the Nation Address is used to by the president of the republic every year to share the government's progress and inform the public of its plans for the year ahead. It's a platform to take stock of the previous year's achievements and chart a common direction for the country.IN THE NEWS: Upbeat Mokonyane says Gauteng is improving people’s lives
During her state of the province address on Monday, Gauteng Premier Nomvula Mokonyane high lighted some of the successes that her government has notched in improving the lives of citizens as well as the challenges that the provincial government continues to face.Gauteng health’s cash flow woes
Today The Times reports that the Gauteng health department has failed to reach important goals and targets because of ‘self-induced’ cash flow problems.
The department’s annual report reveals that among the goals which the department has failed to reach is the implementation of a workplace HIV education drive.
SA’s approach to ‘underage’ sex is two-faced
Today the Mail and Guardian’s Mia Malan gets to grips with the struggle on how to address teen pregnancy, which sees conservatives and human rights approach activists at loggerheads.
Malan explores the rift between the two parties, who advocate different means of addressing the twin troubles of soaring teen pregnancy rates and HIV infection.
The article has quotes from those who believe that sex education and life skills programmes should be strengthened in schools and that condoms should be made available.
However conservative elements located in the health and education departments fear that these measures would encourage youngsters to have sex. They are reportedly sticking to their ‘abstain’ or ‘be faithful’ guns as the best way to prevent unwanted pregnancy and HIV.
Provincial funding fiasco
An article in yesterday’s The Times has reports that “corruption and incompetence” are standing in the way of efficiently spending HIV grants.
Mpumalanga province has been implicated in the under spending of money for HIV grants, having spent only R81-million of its budget which amounts to a whopping R134-million.
DA puts the DoH to the ‘test’
Going for an HIV test is daunting at the best of times without the added worry that the result might be a false negative. The Citizen and The Star newspapers have reported that a number of people tested for HIV at a Hillbrow clinic were told they had tested negative when they did in fact have HIV. The Health Department’s scant explanation of the event should have set alarm bells ringing and sent journalists and other interested parties in search of alternative explanations for this lapse.The TAC and the CD4 score
In the late 1990s to the early 2000s the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) led the civil disobedience campaign, taking the government to court in a bid to force Mbeki and his cabinet to provide the ARV nevirapine to HIV-positive pregnant women in the public sector.
Years later and the TAC continues to push the envelope of HIV treatment.
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