Human rights and HIV/AIDS in the context of 3 by 5: time for new directions?
The Price of Denial
Scaling up HIV testing in resource constrained settings: Debates on the role of VCT and Routine ‘Opt-in or Opt-out’ HIV Testing
Imagine John Lennon at 80
In 1975, John Lennon wrote in a letter, ‘I’ll live till a ripe old age! I’m sure of it.’ In 1980, he wrote in a song on Double Fantasy, the last album before he died, ‘Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.’ And then life happened…
Letter to American voters: Vote for all our rights
These days, in the age of global pandemics, global climate change, global financial systems, global migration and global inequality, we are all global citizens. Unfortunately, though, we do not yet have global voting rights. Although our governments sit in global bodies like the United Nations (UN), they rarely consult us on the resolutions they adopt. This leaves us powerless to shape some of the political processes that have the greatest impact on our lives. But there are also countries whose politics affect the whole world. One of these is the United States, whose election on 3 November 2020 is of global importance.
Gauteng’s Covid-19 infrastructure splurge: New report on R1.2bn spend raises more questions than answers
The plot thickens over the Gauteng Provincial Government’s health infrastructure programme, planned for a Covid-19 wave that has now passed, which is starting to look like a big white elephant. The worst part is that the buildings and ICU units that were supposed to be up and running when Covid-19 hit SA’s most densely populated province, are still under construction.
Gauteng’s Covid-19 infrastructure splurge: Where’s Andy, the multimillion-rand floor man, and why was he paid so much?
Either the latest Gauteng Expenditure Disclosure report got its maths wrong by nearly R200m, or the Department of Infrastructure Development paid almost R190m over its budget for wooden floors for tents put up at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital to manage the Covid-19 emergency.
Of epidemics, expediency and inequality – time to do the right thing
Although there’s occasionally still a chill in the breeze, it’s clear now that spring is in the air. Winter is no longer coming, neither is Covid-19. For many people the sense of dread is departing, giving way to a return to normality: time for friends, family, sport, unhindered love, the prospect of summer holidays.
Big questions loom over Gauteng’s billion-rand ICU field hospitals
The Gauteng government has spent hundreds of millions of rands on ‘barrack-style field hospitals’ in anticipation of a Covid-19 surge which has already passed, with most of these nowhere near close to completion. Doctors say these structures were also not fit for purpose and warned billions more could be wasted. This suggests the construction of 1,400 additional ICU beds, a signature project of the provincial health department may turn out to be the biggest misspending of emergency health funds that has yet bedevilled the pandemic response.