Mail & Guardian
Mail & Guardian
hiv treatmentlatest news & developments
South Africa’s first consignment of lenacapavir (LEN), the twice-yearly anti-HIV injection, arrived at OR Tambo International Airport last week. Photo: Mufid Majnun/Unsplash
ANTIRETROVIRAL DRUGS

SA’s first batch of LEN jabs will arrive in February. Use Bhekisisa’s dashboard to find out who should get them

Who should get what slice of the pie once the medicine is available in public clinics? And are numbers alone what would drive decisions?

  • Linda Pretorius
  • Jacques Verryn
11 min read
Two Indian generic drugmakers — Hetero and Dr Reddy’s — will be funded by the Gates Foundation and Unitaid, respectively, to produce and sell the twice-a-year anti-HIV shot around R692 per person per year. (Anna-Maria van Niekerk)
ANTIRETROVIRAL DRUGS

Two drugmakers will sell the 6-monthly anti-HIV jab for the price of the daily prevention pill

Hetero and Dr Reddy’s will be funded by the Gates Foundation and Unitaid to produce and sell the twice-a-year anti-HIV shot around R692 per person a year

  • Mia Malan
9 min read
How close is South Africa to meeting its HIV treatment goals? We look at the numbers. (NIAID/Wikimedia)
AARON MOTSOALEDI

Motsoaledi’s big HIV treatment jump: Is it true?

Last month, the health minister said more than half a million previously diagnosed people with HIV have been started on treatment since the end of February

  • Linda Pretorius
  • Jacques Verryn
8 min read
HIV treatment has, for the first time, been made in Africa.
AFRICAN ECONOMY

The Global Fund has just made history – now it must start a revolution

Africa’s first locally made HIV treatment is more than a milestone, it’s a political, economic and moral turning point in the fight for health sovereignty

  • Tian Johnson
6 min read
HIV vaccine the only real answer
ANTIRETROVIRAL PILLS

How the health department will deal with Pepfar’s near collapse

Until recently, the US President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief funded nonprofits in South Africa to help provincial health departments test people for HIV and put them on…

  • Mia Malan
10 min read
Young people understand social media dynamics, peer-to-peer communication and community mobilisation in ways that can be used improve health services. Photo: Bulungula Incubator
ASONWABISA SIPATANA

Rural areas need community health workers — and so does the NHI

‘Nnomakhayas’ understand a community’s values, practices and problems, as well as modern medicine, making them effective carers

  • Sigrid Kite-Banks
Fewer people are getting tested for HIV than last year.
ARVS

Covid-19 sets HIV treatment and testing back

Fewer people are getting tested for HIV than last year. People are also battling to access chronic medication. These are some of the lasting effects of the lockdown and the…

  • Pontsho Pilane
3 min read