South Africa news from aidsmap

• Kenyan heterosexual couples want a choice of antiretroviral prevention methods

  Infectiousness and treatment as prevention
  Michael Carter | 23 May 2012

  Approximately 40% of HIV-positive people in a stable relationship with an HIV-negative person in Kenya have reservations about starting antiretroviral therapy early for the purposes of prevention, investigators report in the online edition ...

• South Africa exceeds 2007-11 treatment targets by 50%

  Access to medicines and treatment
  Carole Leach-Lemens | 17 May 2012

  South Africa exceeded national targets for new patients starting antiretroviral treatment (ART) by around 50% between 2007 and 2011 – achieving treatment coverage of close to 80% of eligible adults – according to ...

• HIV treatment reduces incidence of pre-cancerous cervical lesions and promotes their regression

  Cancer
  Michael Carter | 10 May 2012

  Antiretroviral therapy is associated with a reduced incidence of pre-cancerous cervical lesions in HIV-positive women, South African investigators report in the online edition of AIDS. Their study also showed that HIV therapy was associated ...

• People with TB and HIV in South Africa face a double stigma

  Experiences of stigma
  Roger Pebody | 27 April 2012

  People who have both tuberculosis (TB) and HIV experience “a unique and overlapping double stigma”, according to research published in the May issue of Social Science and Medicine. Having TB sends a ...

• A low CD4 cell count, weight and haemoglobin can identify which HIV-positive patients are more likely to have undiagnosed TB

  TB diagnosis
  Michael Carter | 04 April 2012

  Undiagnosed tuberculosis (TB) is common among patients receiving routine HIV care in South Africa, a study published in the online edition of the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes suggests, reinforcing World Health ...

• Treatment as prevention is starting to work in parts of Africa

  Access to medicines and treatment
  Gus Cairns | 18 March 2012

  A longitudinal study from KwaZulu Natal province in South Africa is the first study from the global south to relate an increase in the proportion of adults on HIV treatment to a fall ...

• Circumcision reduces HIV incidence in Ugandan men and herpes prevalence in South Africans

  Circumcision
  Gus Cairns | 10 March 2012

  The 19th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) heard this week that a tenfold increase in medical male circumcision (MMC) in non-Muslim men in the Rakai district of Uganda has led to ...

• Controversy regarding strategic treatment interruptions in young children who start ART during infancy

  HIV treatment in children
  Theo Smart | 09 March 2012

  Two studies generated conflicting data and rather mixed messages about whether it is safe or advisable to strategically interrupt treatment in children (STIC) who have initiated antiretroviral therapy (ART) during infancy – in ...