HIV & Stigma by Zelda Gauld Working at the practice of Dr Gail Ashford has changed me in many ways. I must confess that I knew in my head that everyone could contract the disease whether you were rich or poor, African, Indian, European, Coloured, English, Afrikaans, Zulu or Sotho, yet in my heart the connection was not yet made. My eyes have been opened on so many levels and I am grateful for that. Most of all I have been shown what the true meaning of grace is. Dr Ashford really does not judge or discriminate - maybe because of her position as a Specialist Physician, but my gut tells me ..read more

 At the plenary session of the 1st South African HIV Clinician Society Conference in Cape Town cure was not high on this Prof's list of hopes "We are going to be saddled with treatment for the next forty years " says  Prof Brian Gazzard of UK . We need to focus on good regimens that are tolerable.  I must say this has been something I have said to a number of my patients too. Absolutely, the search must continue and the research will go on, but in the meantime, we have got excellent tools at our disposal - Antiretroviral drugs. And they WORK. So, we need to focus on getting t ..read more

I'm about to climb on a flight to Cape Town for the very first South African HIV Clinician Society HIV Conference. I am delighted to have been sponsored by Pharmafrica and am able to make the trip to go down. I plan to bring you news from the conference and updates so please check in so I can let you know what is local and happening in our very own quarter of the continent. Cheers ..read more

Credit where credit is due. I have unashamedly taken this letter from the "Twin Noakes" blog, a fascinating journey happening right now. For the blog see here. It is a blog by Jax Duncan who has teamed up with her twin sister Jeanne, and Prof Tim Noakes, to subject themselves to the low carb high fat diet vs the high carb low fat diet. It really is worth a look, and if you have followed my previous blog about nutrition and the changes/challenges to our conventional understanding of nutrition - then this blog will interest you. This letter was posted on the blog below and it was really well wr ..read more

I am delighted to introduce you to a guest blogger who can tell her story from her heart. her story goes like this:   The year was 2001, I was a 20 year old ambitious Zimbabwean young lady. So full of life and looking forward to university and becoming the answer to my family's financial cries. My life was well planned, finish high school, work whilst waiting for college, attend college, get a very good job, get married and have kids. Getting an HIV test was never part of the equation. After all, I had never indulged in sex and from what I was hearing on the news and on TV ..read more

It's been a while since I blogged, not because I have nothing to say (no such luck there I'm afraid), but I have been swamped with duties. I have so many topics I'd still like to air, but I thought that perhaps in the meantime it might be a good opportunity to open the floor to you. I am looking for some "guest bloggers" to submit a personal experience, viewpoint, philosophy or story. If it's in line with the blog ethos and well written, then I'll post it. If you would like credit, then your name will be listed. If you prefer to be anonymous, that's fine. Or use a pseudonym. Whatever you are ..read more

It's been a little while since my last post and I must admit I have been swamped in reading and keep thinking of points to raise on the blog, but then reimmerse myself in a book long before I get near my computer. Poor excuse I know, but true nonetheless. I know on the home page of the website I said I would discuss more about Lesego Motsepe's decision to stop treatment and announce it on television, but, I changed my mind (it will have to come later). Simply put, the reading has so intrigued and fascinated and confused me that I thought I would share some of it with you. And that p ..read more

Lesego Motsepe disclosed her HIV status on 1 december. She has been living with the virus for 13 years. What a wonderful and courageous statement to make. what a difference could be made to the world, if every 1 December, the world could shed a further layer of stigma by disclosing hiv negative and positive status. I would like to see us move to a society where the shame is in not knowing one's status, the plus or minus sign after HIV could become irrelevant as they both indicate self-awareness, a willingness to take responsibility for health, and a respect for other human beings that the shi ..read more

The last few weeks have brought some interesting insights into the working psyche of some of my patients. Two particular women specifically. I want to tell you about Betty. Betty was diagnosed HIV positive in 2001, in what is fair to call, a different era of HIV. In South Africa, this was a time well before Antiretroviral treatment became available, in a time when Minister Tshabalala Msimang and President Mbeki were openly dismissive of AIDS. At this time, Betty found out that her future plans, dreams and goals would all become impossible. She was only 21, had only ever had one sexual partner ..read more

Ok, so the title is a little harsh, but really, sometimes I think people need a good shake. HIV positive people seem to be 'soft targets' for so-called natural products. I say so-called, because it is a self-proclamation. If you want a product to sell, add words like 'natural', 'organic', 'herbal' and people believe a whole lot of things about a product automatically. We believe that it must be 1) safe (i.e. natural implies that there is no risk involved. We believe it must be 2) harmonious with the body because it is from mother earth and we are earthly creatures, thus our body and the produ ..read more