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HEALTH-SOUTH AFRICA: A Burden That Will Only Become Heavier

Wellbeing October 16, 2024 • 0 Comment

Kristin Palitza*

DURBAN, May 28 2006 (IPS) – Researchers say they are bracing for a sharp rise in the cost of public health services in South Africa within the next few years, due to HIV/AIDS. And, they warn that the country s health department might not be able to cope with its ever-growing responsibilities if government fails to increase the department s budget substantially.
Large numbers of HIV-positive South Africans are expected to develop AIDS-related diseases, as the country s high prevalence rates start manifesting themselves in illness and death, predicts the Health Economics HIV/AIDS Research Division (HEARD) of the University of KwaZulu-Natal, in the coastal city of Durban.

HIV patients might soon account for 60 percent to 70 percent of hospital expenditu…

HEALTH: Pre-Pandemic Vaccine at the Forefront in Bird Flu Fight

Wellbeing October 16, 2024 • 0 Comment

Stephen Leahy* – Tierramérica

TORONTO, Jul 3 2006 (IPS) – Some 17 countries are hard at developing experiments ultimately aimed at preventing the spread of bird flu amongst humans. So far, avian influenza has killed 120 people. The rapid production of effective, low-cost vaccines will not prevent a pandemic from happening, but could sharply reduce its impact, say experts.
In 28 clinical trials, scientists are testing different forms of H5N1, the bird flu virus, to create pre-pandemic vaccines, which could be a boon at a time when the much-feared mutation that would facilitate human-to-human transmission has yet to occur.

An unknown (mutated) virus could show up at any time, and some of these (bird flu) efforts will help, John Treanor, a virus expert at the Universit…

MEXICO: Gender Violence Continues to Claim Its Victims

Wellbeing October 16, 2024 • 0 Comment

Adrián Reyes

MEXICO CITY, Aug 14 2006 (IPS) – No longer able to bear the physical and emotional violence she endured for years at the hands of her husband, Amelia finally committed suicide just one more victim of gender violence in Mexico, which cost the lives of more than 6,000 girls and women between 1999 and 2005, according to official statistics.
Mexico s laws have failed to make a dent in violence against women, psychologist Carla Moreno told IPS. Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) figures show that seven out of every 10 Mexican women have suffered some form of abusive treatment at some time in their lives.

Moreno has plenty of experience on this issue, as the director of the non-governmental Association of Women Survivors of Sexual Abuse (MUSAS), which provi…

HEALTH: WHO Urges DDT for Malaria Control Strategies

Wellbeing October 16, 2024 • 0 Comment

Jim Lobe

WASHINGTON, Sep 15 2006 (IPS) – In an important policy shift, the World Health Organisation (WHO) Friday announced that it is urging the use of the pesticide DDT to control the spread of malaria, a mosquito-borne disease that kills about one million people a year, most of whom are infants and young children in Africa.
The announcement by the director of the WHO s Global Malaria Department, Dr. Arata Kochi, stressed that the use of the controversial pesticide, which was banned in the United States in 1972 due to concerns about its impact on animal and human health, should be confined to what is called indoor residual spraying.

We must take a position based on the science and the data, Kochi told reporters here. One of the best tools we have against malaria is…