The AIDS crisis arrived in Australia in 1982 and triggered an enormous (and successful) public health response, largely driven by volunteers. These people, often from marginalised communities in their own right, deserve recognition in Australia’s proud volunteer tradition.
Antiretroviral drugs suppress the HIV virus and stop progression of the disease.
Reuters/Finbarr O'Reilly
HIV remains a synonym for death in Kinshasa and many leave testing and treatment until it’s too late. It’s not common knowledge that an infected person can live a normal and healthy life.
Full decriminalisation of sex work is advocated by many health and human rights organisations around the world. Sex workers in New South Wales kick-started the process 40 years ago.
Tens of thousands of Australians have been cured of Hepatitis C since March 2016.
from shutterstock.com
Australia has been subsidising drugs to cure hepatitis C since March 2016. Unlike in many other countries, these are available to everyone with the disease and are much cheaper for our government.
The most important blood borne viruses for human health are the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C.
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Despite being so small they can’t be seen with the naked eye, pathogens that cause human disease have greatly affected the way humans live for centuries.
Spanish flu killed more people than the Great War that preceded it. And tuberculosis even more than that.
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Marriage has long been tied to better health. The first study of the relationship between marriage, health and quality of life for LGBT Americans affirms the benefits of marriage – with some caveats.
Reggie Batiste with the AIDS Healthcare Foundation in Atlanta administers an HIV test.
David Goldman/AP
The number of new HIV-positive cases has sharply declined – in most parts of the country. Nonurban areas, particularly in the South, are showing sharp increases. Why?
Karen Hofman, University of the Witwatersrand y Charles Parry, South African Medical Research Council
Under pressure to create new markets, big alcohol producers are scouring the African continent in what promises to yield negative socioeconomic consequences.
Keeping medical data electronically is ideal. It saves time and can be used more efficiently.
Philip Setel
Africa is expected to have among the steepest increases in the number of people affected by non-communicable diseases - it needs health care systems that can cope.
Some of the notable additions to the PBS include drugs to treat eye and HIV infections, cystic fibrosis, multiple sclerosis, and cancer.
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Double standards about sexual activity not only make life difficult, but they also complicate STD research. As we observe STD Awareness Month, it’s good to think about how to get to the truth.
As South Africa marks Human Rights Day and the 20th anniversary of its constitution it’s a good time to reflect on the problems it faces in making constitutional rights a reality.
Mass funeral for the victims of the 1960 Sharpeville massacre.
Flickr
Besides a reminder of a dark period in South Africa’s history, Human Rights Day also celebrates the country’s unique, highly acclaimed constitution which guarantees human dignity and equal rights.
Director, The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, The University of Melbourne and Royal Melbourne Hospital and Consultant Physician, Department of Infectious Diseases, Alfred Hospital and Monash University, The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity
Professor of medicine and deputy director of the Desmond Tutu HIV Centre at the Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine, University of Cape Town
Dean Faculty of Health Sciences and Professor of Vaccinology at University of the Witwatersrand; and Director of the SAMRC Vaccines and Infectious Diseases Analytics Research Unit, University of the Witwatersrand
