01 May 2013
MSF Activity Report: Zimbabwe Providing antiretroviral therapy for mobile populations: Lesson learned from a cross border ARV programme in Musina, South Africa Antiretroviral treatment outcomes from a decentralised ART programme in rural Zimbabwe Management of HIV-related Conditions and Antiretroviral Therapy in Adults and Children Providing Antiretroviral Care to Adolescents in a Decentralized ART Programme in Rural Zimbabwe Implementation of Xpert MTB/Rif Assay in Buhera District, Zimbabwe: Lessons Learned A presentation on 'The Leaking PMTCT Cascade Experience' from the MSF Projects in Lesotho and Zimbabwe Guidelines for antiretroviral therapy in adults Murambida, Zimbabwe: HIV Clinic...
18 April 2013
Tuberculosis remains South Africa’s leading cause of death. This year alone, the country will see 500 000 cases, of which about 3% will be resistant to both of the most commonly used anti-TB drugs. The majority of these patients will have caught drug-resistant TB from someone in their community, most will never have had TB before in their life...One of the critical issues in treating TB is early identification of patients so that you can treat them early to avoid unnecessary, preventable deaths. We welcome the continued roll out of the GeneXpert, a new tool that allows for better and faster diagnosis of TB and drug-resistant TB (DR-TB) — including multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB)...Read article HERE
22 March 2013
25 March 2013
MSF is introducing new technology in Mozambique that could revolutionise HIV and tuberculosis (TB) testing, make the most of the country’s scarce health workers and save lives.Medical officer Neisha Mohess, scans a sample of sputum for loading into an automated molecular TB diagnostic machine called GeneXpert. Photo: Jose CendonMSF has recently introduced the first GeneXpert TB testing machines to the country. Roughly the size of milk crates, the machines allow patients to be diagnosed with TB and drug-resistant TB in just days. Previously, the latter could take months.Before GeneXpert’s international debut in 2010, TB testing relied on a 130-year-old method in which lab technicians studied sputum samples under microscopes, straining their...
20 March 2013
– not just more money and political commitmentsJOHANNESBURG –The medical humanitarian organisation Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) strongly supports the commitments made today by Swaziland and South African health ministers and others to ramp up action against the TB/HIV co-epidemic in southern Africa, but urged for a vigorous response to deal with the growing threat of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB). People awaiting for TB treatment and tests at Kuyasa Clinic in Khayelitsha township, Cape Town. Photo: Jose CendonTB deaths in Southern Africa account for 40% of all TB deaths globally, and the disease remains the leading cause of death for people with HIV. Death rates are the highest among...
19 March 2013
People living with MDR-TB and their healthcare providers call for urgent action Geneva — If measures to tackle multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) are not significantly stepped up, including addressing barriers that prevent both research into better drug combinations and treatment scale up, MDR-TB rates will continue to increase worldwide and a historic opportunity to improve abysmal cure rates will have been squandered, medical humanitarian organisation Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) warned today. Two new drugs effective against MDR-TB must be used to make treatment much shorter, more effective and less toxic. This demand is among others made by people living with the disease and MSF medical staff from...
11 March 2013
Medecins Sans Frontieres/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) SA's Quarterly newsletter.