Treatment Action Campaign - Campaigning for the rights of people with HIV/AIDS!

TB and HIV: Five interventions we need

moderator — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 14:37:04 +0200

A key advocacy issue that TAC will focus on going forward is TB. TB has historically been one of South Africa's largest health problems, especially in the mines and poor communities. This has been further exacerbated by the HIV epidemic. HIV-related TB is the leading cause of death in South Africa. Recorded TB deaths have increased from 25,640 in 1997 to 73,903 in 2005. Of particular concern is drug-resistant TB. We will be campaigning for the following five interventions:

Treatment Action Campaign on 2007 Antenatal Survey

guy — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 14:08:20 +0200

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Yanga Janet out on bail

moderator — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 14:49:20 +0200

Yanga Janet was released on bail for R500 last week. The case will be heard today (2 September 2008) outside the Khayelitsha Regional Court. TAC will be picketing outside the court to demand that justice is served.

On 8 April 2008, TAC filed an urgent application at the Cape High Court for protection against Yanga Janet who had been intimidating and threatening TAC members in Harare Khayelitsha. Janet had been one of the four accused in the Nandipha Makeke rape and murder case, but the charges against him were dismissed because of a lack of evidence. He was arrested on 15 May 2008 on charges of murder, attempted murder and intimidation. For more on the Nandipha Makeke case follow this link.

TAC responds to Cape Town Mayor Helen Zille's misrepresentation of TAC's litigation

moderator — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 14:45:56 +0200

In Cape Town Mayor Helen Zille's recent address to the full City Council (27 August 2008) she states that it is disingenuous for the TAC to withdraw its case in the High Court (demanding norms and standards from government for the sites housing displaced persons) on the basis that these have subsequently been provided because the TAC "was party to the formulation of these standards from the word go, and knew they were coming".

AIDS and Human Rights Groups Call on Botswana Government to Grant Access to Treatment for MDR TB Patient in Prison

Andrew Warlick — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 16:45:12 +0200

The AIDS and Rights Alliance for Southern Africa (ARASA), the Treatment Action Campaign, the AIDS Law Project, the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa and the HIV Collaborative Fund call on the Government of Botswana to urgently grant access to treatment for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR TB) patient Mthandazo Sibanda, who is being held in a maximum-security prison clinic in Gaborone pending his deportation to Zimbabwe. The grounds for deportation are his TB status and self-interruption of treatment in June, following months of mismanagement in the health care system.

TAC and ALP Win Critical Victory in Court Action Against Government on Behalf of Displaced Persons

moderator — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 17:47:29 +0200

Today is an important day for displaced people and a victory for Hirsi and TAC.

At the end of July 2008, the Treatment Action Campaign, the AIDS Law Project and Mahammud Hirsi took all tiers of government -with the Western Cape Provincial Government being the first respondent- to court after waiting for about 9 weeks to ensure that minimum norms and standards on sanitation, food and shelter amongst others would be implemented in places of shelter in accordance with our Constitution and the obligations we have under international law.

HIV is a virus, not a crime: Criminal statutes and criminal prosecutions – help or hindrance?

moderator — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 12:13:04 +0200

XVII International AIDS Conference
Mexico City

View a webcast of this speech at the kaisernetwork.

Adcock Ingram’s ARV recall

moderator — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 20:15:19 +0200

Pharmaceutical manufacturer Adcock Ingram has issued a recall of certain batches of Adco-Nevirapine and Adco-Zidovudine (what is commonly known as AZT) due to a packaging error. It was discovered by Adcock Ingram that blister packs of Adco-Nevirapine had been packed into nine packs of Adco-Zidovudine. The Nevirapine blister packs were labelled correctly but they had been inserted into AZT boxes.

As a precautionary measure Adcock Ingram is recalling entire batches of the affected anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs). The recalled boxes are: Adco-Nevirapine batch number 1J, expiry date January 2009; and Adco-Zidovudine batch number 1Z, expiry date November 2008. All recalled drugs will be replaced by the correct medication.

Scaling Up Antiretroviral Therapy and the Struggle for Health for All

moderator — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 23:54:19 +0200

Gregg Gonsalves
AIDS and Rights Alliance for Southern Africa (ARASA)
International Treatment Preparedness Coalition (ITPC)
Yale University

XVII International AIDS Conference 3-8 August 2008 Mexico City

* * *

Do you remember where you were 8 years ago? I remember it distinctly. In the summer of 2000, I was in Durban for the first — and so far only — international AIDS conference held on African soil. There are many unkind things said about these events, but those few days in South Africa changed the lives of millions of people forever. I still get shivers when I remember the challenge directed at us by Edwin Cameron, a justice of the South African Supreme Court of Appeal and an openly HIV-positive, gay man. He said:

Those of us who live affluent lives, well-attended by medical care and treatment, should not ask how Germans or white South Africans could tolerate living in proximity to moral evil. We do so ourselves today, in proximity to the impending illness and death of many millions of people with AIDS.

TAC running out of funds for Humanitarian Aid

moderator — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 10:05:01 +0200

The TAC is running out of funds to supply humanitarian relief to the approximately 5 000 displaced persons living in city and community halls and camps in the Western Cape. As of 30 July 2008 the TAC had spent R 2,744,891.50 on direct humanitarian assistance. The amount to date is now closer to R 2,900,000.00. The Joint Operation Centre (with both Provincial and City representatives) is still unable or unwilling to meet the basic needs of those displaced. This is especially concerning in the case of women and children and in particular those at smaller shelters which receive no government assistance. We have notified the JOC, Province and City that we will be unable to provide aid beyond Monday 11 August 2008. However, it appears that we will run short of funds even before this date. In addition we are concerned that urgent humanitarian intervention may need to be made in various instances after Monday 11 August.