Anso Thom

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM) estimates that that more than U$1.6-billion in additional funding will be available in the next two years.

A statement released in Geneva on Wednesday said the new forecast was a result of "strategic decisions made by the Board, freeing up funds that can be invested in countries where there is the most pressing demand".

Living with AIDS # 513 - Khopotso Bodibe

About 30 years into the AIDS epidemic, myths around HIV/AIDS and its transmission still abound. A study by a Wits University sociologist in several townships of Mpumalanga shows that AIDS is still misunderstood.

A lot of myths around HIV/AIDS could be grouped into three areas, which include racial conspiracy theories, traditional beliefs and religion. But many other beliefs are emerging. While studying these beliefs in several townships around a mining community of Mpumalanga province, Wits University professor of Sociology, David Dickinson, came across what he describes as "lay theories that are based on common sense and observation". For example, he found that people can decide whether to have sex with another by merely looking at that person.

Living with AIDS # 510 - Khopotso Bodibe

The Gauteng Health Department aims to test 3 million people for HIV and to put almost one million people onto treatment in the new financial year.

As provinces seek to align themselves with the implementation of the new National Strategic Plan (NSP) for HIV and AIDS, TB and STIs which came into effect this week, the Gauteng Department of Health has announced that it will intensify efforts to test more people for HIV infection. The province will continue with the Health Counseling and Testing (HCT) campaign, which launched in 2010 and whose main focus is to test people for HIV and TB.