Pholokgolo Ramothwala
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/ 8 October 2007

Aids, law and culture

It seems the battle between Aids activists and government on how to move forward in the fight against HIV/Aids is (almost) over. The National Strategic Plan on HIV/Aids is ready for implementation. One of the plan’s goals is to "identify and remove legal, policy, religious and cultural barriers to effective HIV prevention, treatment and support". Good thinking! But how, exactly?

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/ 26 June 2007

Mandatory testing for HIV? No thanks

Is mandatory HIV testing for all what South Africa needs to fight the epidemic? Statistics show that there are about 1 500 new HIV infections a day. The call for mandatory testing, which is now finding greater space in the public discourse, took me back a few years, when a close friend died of Aids. He died despite having the best information on treatment and support., writes Pholokgolo Ramothwala.

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/ 20 April 2007

A hollow victory?

There has been a lot of noise about the so-called ”victory over insurance companies” for people living with HIV/Aids. The new approach means that a family member or any other nominated beneficiary will be paid out the insurance money when an existing policyholder dies of an Aids-related illness, writes Pholokgolo Ramothwala.

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/ 1 January 2002

Not a hollow victory

In his piece about labour’s role in the government’s decision not to privatise large portions of Spoornet ("A hollow victory?", May 31), Reg Rumney displays a puzzling ignorance of the details of the agreement reached. Puzzling, because, as with other serious economic journalists, Rumney was fully briefed at the time of the announcement in February.