In his first week as President of the United States of America, Donald Trump has demonstrated a callous disregard for women’s rights by reinstating and extending the so-called global gag rule, a policy which will prevent all organisations receiving US foreign aid for health from including abortion referrals or information within their programmes. Not only […]
HIV/Aids
Posted inGeneral
The neoliberal plague: Aids and capitalism
Another World Aids Day is behind us and the usual spatter of annual reports and politicians’ eager promises continue to reverberate through the media. If you’re like me, you’re probably tired of the whole show at this point. After all, it’s 2012, we were supposed to have this epidemic licked by now. Why, despite billions […]
Posted inGeneral
Playing the politics of exclusion means everyone loses
By Sharon Ekambaram Elbow tests and “amakwerekwere” — these are some of the new markers of difference in South Africa, but playing the politics of exclusion in public health gives new meaning to the slogan “an injury to one is an injury to all”. Although estimates vary, as many as 3.3 million migrants from neighbouring countries […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Why isn’t Angie the new Manto?
So there I was, having dinner with my family, talking about Lance Armstrong and yellow bracelets, when I had a random thought: is Angie the new Manto? They do have an awful lot in common. Both instantly recognisable by a single name. Both spectacularly bad at their jobs. Under Angie, we’ve embraced chronic and possibly […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Cervical cancer: Women’s lives are worth saving
By Nyasha Chingore-Munazvo and Priti Patel Around the world a woman dies of cervical cancer every two minutes. This is even worse in southern Africa, where cervical cancer is the leading cause of cancer death among women — more women in southern Africa die of cervical cancer than breast cancer. Deaths due to cervical cancer […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Angie not to blame for teen pregnancy but…
The world’s super-teacher, Ron Clark, recently told CNN how he “met a principal who was recently named as the administrator of the year in her state”. “She was loved and adored by all but she told me she was leaving the profession. I screamed ‘you can’t leave us’ and she quite bluntly replied ‘look, if […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Africa on track for millennium goals
The African continent’s progress in achieving the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015 has gathered pace and credibility over the past few years. Africa continues to make incremental progress on the majority of the eight development goals aimed at improving social and economic conditions in the world’s poorest countries, which all 193 UN member […]
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Children are the future
On the occasion of my 28th birthday in March this year, the message from my mother was slightly different from that of years gone past: “Happy birthday son. You know I’m now eagerly anticipating the day you bring someone home and of course, also looking to hold your child in my hands.” From where I […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Secondary victimisation: Rape survivors denied emergency ARVs
The 2007 Sexual Offences Act (SOA) requires that certain services be made available to rape survivors. Among these services, survivors of oral, anal and vaginal rape are entitled to receive post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP), a 28-day course of antiretrovirals for the prevention of HIV infection. This must be provided to survivors – at state expense – when […]
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Do myths about African sexuality hurt the fight against Aids?
Stop me if you’ve heard this one. Q: How many sizes do penises come in? A: Five — “small”, “medium”, “large”, “extra-large”, and “does that come in white?” African men have been the subject of European myth-making since the very earliest days of contact between the two continents. One of the hardiest and most enduring […]
Posted inBusiness, Equality, Lifestyle, Media
Why I’m boycotting the Foschini Group
T-shirts that are offensive towards women, ignorant of the HIV/Aids pandemic in South Africa, or are simply offensive are a reflection of a culture that says we shouldn’t care about these things, because misogyny, HIV/Aids and women’s rights are not something to be taken seriously. When a major brand like Foschini chooses to produce shirts […]
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Reed Dance does many things well, fight HIV not one of them
By Vadim Nikitin Last weekend my friends and I lost our Reed Dance virginity. Prior to the deed, my white-liberal squeamishness mingled with a prurient male curiosity. Thousands of essentially naked young ladies having their maidenhood (and much more besides!) scrutinised by an ageing polygamist monarch? Charming, yes, but not generally my idea of a […]