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Why major HIV and statins finding may not apply in South Africa
One of the biggest stories in HIV in the past year was that statins could help reduce cardiovascular disease in people with the virus....
SA's rollout of HIV prevention jabs stymied by price
Although HIV infections in South Africa have plummeted in 20 years, from highs of more than 500 00 to around 149 000 in 2023, new...
Campaigners call for cheaper version of costly HIV drug
Former world leaders, celebrities and a Nobel prize-winning scientist who helped discover HIV have written to US pharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences pleading with it...
TAC calls for six-monthly ARV supply
The Treatment Action Campaign is urging national health clinics to supply HIV patients with ARV medication supplies for six months, instead of the current...
Pharmacy ARV treatment will erode GPs’ income – HPCSA
The Health Professions Council of SA (HPCSA) has warned against pharmacists being allowed to prescribe HIV treatment, saying it could affect the income of...
HIV diagnosis after dodgy ‘vampire facials’
Three American women who were diagnosed with HIV after undergoing “vampire facials” at an unregistered New Mexico medical spa are believed to be the...
Perinatal HIV transmission tied to cognitive deficits – US meta-analysis
A detailed analysis of 35 studies suggests that perinatal transmission of HIV to newborns may be associated with serious cognitive deficits as children grow...
Nephrologists urge early screening for high-risk kidney disease
South African experts believe it is crucial to get the balance right between scaling up kidney dialysis capacity and investing in transplantation, and called...
Ending Aids in Africa is a challenge of equity, not science
The world has come a long way in the fight against HIV, but inequity – particularly for groups that continue to suffer a disproportionate...
Don’t panic, say experts as HIV drug flagged for resistance
Results from recent studies reveal the emergence of resistance in subsets of HIV patients to dolutegravir – an antiretroviral commonly used in South Africa...
One in four HIV+ South Africans not on treatment
Around 50 000 people died of HIV-related causes and around 7.8m were living with HIV in South Africa in 2023 – but only 5.9m...
Tanzania winning NCD war as it merges HIV and diabetes care
Non-communicable diseases like hypertension and diabetes have emerged as serious health crises in developing countries, as HIV was a decade ago. New models of...
WHO elaborates on resistance to ARV medicine
Although the WHO recently reported that drug resistance to the gold-standard antiretroviral medicine, dolutegravir, “exceeded levels observed in clinical trials”, it has since elaborated,...
Progress on HIV vaccine trial foiled by side effects on skin
One of the most promising attempts to reinvigorate the stalled quest for an HIV vaccine has hit a snag that might seem minor but...
SA company gears up to produce vaginal ring
That a Johannesburg company – Kiara Health – will start manufacturing affordable and flexible silicone rings to protect women from HIV is a crucial...
Health Department considers six-month ARV supplies to meet targets
South Africa is behind target on efforts to ensure 95% of people with HIV are on sustained treatment, and in an attempt to remedy...
SA urges Pepfar to buy more African HIV/Aids drugs
South African pharmaceutical companies have urged the US President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (Pepfar) to shift 2m patients to made-in-Africa HIV/Aids medicines by...
HIV-prevention jab rolled out in pilot project
The new HIV-prevention injection is now available to a select number of people in South Africa, with the fact that a single shot provides...
CDC updates privacy guidelines for HIV sample tracking
Guidelines relating to a controversial practice used by American state and local health departments to curb HIV infections were updated last week by the...
SA firm to produce contraceptive anti-HIV vaginal rings
Within the next few years, South African company Kiara Health of Johannesburg is to start manufacturing the vaginal ring contraceptive for women, which protects...
Call for HIV prevention strategies to evolve as risk perceptions change
The irony of the success of the decades-long focus on HIV/Aids treatment is that the disease is no longer seen as high-risk, especially among...
HIV cases drop in SA, but so does condom use
The Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) says that while fewer South Africans have HIV and more people are getting treatment, a growing proportion of...
Pepfar boss pledges ongoing support to SA in HIV/Aids fight
Despite American Congress not reauthorising funding for a further five years – after a political row over abortion derailed the process – the head...
Health Department slams cost of anti-HIV CAB-LA shot
Government is fuming over the newly announced price of the two-monthly anti-HIV injection from Viiv Healthcare, calling its non-profit price – between R540 and R570...
Eswatini on track to end Aids by 2030
In 2020, Eswatini became the first African country to achieve the 95-95-95 target, well ahead of 2025, and since then, seems on track to...
Politics holds up US funding of Pepfar
More than $1bn in funding for the President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (Pepfar) has been delayed in the US, in the latest complication...
HIV prevention pill uptake in SA climbs to 1m users
By the end of May this year, more than 1m public healthcare users – 1 033 805 – had started using the HIV prevention...
'Colossal impact' fears as US anti-abortion lobby threatens to kill Pepfar
A decades-old US-funded global Aids programme that supports South Africa’s health sector, as well as that of 38 other African countries with billions of...
‘Geneva’ HIV patient possibly cured in new case
Another HIV patient has been off antiretroviral medication for 20 months without detectable HIV levels after undergoing stem cell transplant to treat cancer, but,...
Nearly 5m South Africans placed on new HIV medicines in four years
In what is possibly one of the largest treatment roll-outs in South African history, more than 4m people with HIV have started taking the...
New guidelines and ARVs for SA children with HIV
Several sessions at the recent 11th SA AIDS conference held in Durban highlighted the worrying fact that key HIV numbers – like treatment coverage –...
Why SA pilots of HIV prevention shots and vaginal rings have been delayed
Last year it was reported that pilot projects testing out a new HIV prevention injection and a vaginal ring in South Africa would start...
Couples intervention boosts joint HIV testing: HSRC/UK study
Researchers involved in the collaborative Igugu Lethu study – a couples-focused intervention aimed at promoting couples’ HIV testing and counselling – revealed that of the...
Challenges in developing 'vital' HIV vaccine
The genetic diversity of the HIV virus is greater than any other pathogen, and constructing an effective vaccine is vital, despite its scientific challenges,...
Unacceptable that people are still dying from AIDS, conference hears
Despite major strides to curb HIV infection, and boasting the world's largest ARV treatment programme, people are still dying from AIDS in South Africa...
New HIV cases and resulting deaths on the decline in SA
The rate of new HIV infections in South Africa continues to fall, with statistics showing that in 2022, there were an estimated 164 000...
SA’s HIV testing formula to change
For years, South Africa has used HIV Rapid Diagnostic Tests (finger prick – same-day testing), but the National Department of Health has now decided...
Cipla to produce anti-HIV injection in Benoni, Durban
The South African arm of Indian drug company Cipla has confirmed that a generic version of the two-monthly HIV prevention injection, CAB-LA (long-acting cabotegravir),...
Global report urges more investment in Aids war
Fully financing the HIV response in Africa to end Aids as a public health threat by 2030 will save millions of lives and improve...
Patient’s HIV remission after umbilical blood stem cell transplant
A transplant of stem cells from the umbilical cord has resulted in an American woman with leukaemia going into remission for HIV for the...