Archive -- SOUTH AFRICA -- FEB. 2009

Report Supports Helping Families Take Care of Children Orphaned by AIDS

Chris Desmond, part of the Joint Learning Initiative on Children and AIDS, describes what his research has shown about AIDS orphans in South Africa, and discusses the JLICA's finding that the best way to protect these children is to strengthen family structures.

Children Orphaned by AIDS Face Uncertain Future

Ray Suarez charts a day in the life of AIDS orphans in South Africa.

TB Thriving Among HIV-Positive

TB is the top killer of patients with AIDS, and drug resistant strains are making it harder than ever to treat. Senior correspondent Ray Suarez looks at the deadly partnership between the diseases in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa.

Extended Interviews: Experts Discuss Challenges to Containing TB

Dr. Salim Karim describes how multi-drug resistant TB and extensively drug resistant TB developed, and TB expert Dr. Refiloe Matji details how the disease spreads and goes unchecked in rural communities.

South Africa Sees New Hope for HIV/AIDS

The country's new health minister is promoting HIV testing, treatment and frank dialogue around AIDS.

Extended Interviews: Preventing and Treating HIV/AIDS

Online exclusive footage of South Africa's health minister discussing efforts to provide enough ARVs to the population, as well as an HIV expert on preventing mother-to-child transmission and a mining company executive talks about the economics of AIDS.

South Africa Considers Male Circumcision as Part of HIV Prevention Plan

Male circumcision, which was recommended in 2007 by the World Health Organization as a prevention method for HIV, is receiving new attention from countries like South Africa that are struggling to fight the epidemic.

South Africa's Challenges

In South Africa, a young democracy that emerged from apartheid in 1994, nearly one in every six people is HIV positive. Senior NewsHour correspondent. Ray Suarez, who visited the country to report on the epidemic, shares his observations of this unique nation.

Text Messages Used as AIDS Education Tool

A mobile health project in South Africa is using cell phone text messages to reach people in even the most remote areas of the country to encourage them to get information and counseling on HIV/AIDS.

South Africa's Health System and Challenges

During apartheid, the vast majority of the public -- black South Africans -- could not access health services and the legacy of inequality left behind by that system meant a centralized health system with a total lack of medical facilities and providers in many of the poorer, more rural provinces.

Reporter's Notebook: Cultural Taboos Around Sex Feed AIDS Epidemic

In his final reporter's notebook from South Africa, Ray Suarez reflects on the entanglement of sex and death in the HIV/AIDS epidemic and the challenges of confronting the issues that no one wants to discuss.

Reporter's Notebook: South African Society Shaped by Racial Identity, Apartheid

Ray Suarez is reporting in South Africa on global health issues. In this reporter's notebook, he reflects on the deep history and continued legacy of racial prejudice in South Africa, and the signs of progress he has seen during his trip.

Reporter's Notebook: TB, HIV Hit South Africa's Poorest Communities the Hardest

Ray Suarez is in Durban, South Africa, reporting on the deadly airborne disease tuberculosis, which has been nearly wiped out in some parts of the world but is flourishing among the South African population, especially those weakened by HIV.

Reporter's Notebook: South Africa Battling Double-threat of Tuberculosis and HIV

Ray Suarez is in South Africa reporting on the country's health policies and the growing threat of HIV-tuberculosis co-infection for an upcoming series of NewsHour reports. In this reporter's notebook, Suarez reflects on what he's seen so far.