Kristin Palitza is an award-winning, independent journalist, editor, correspondent, media consultant and trainer. She writes in-depth African features for the South African, German and UK print media, covering socio-politics, health, lifestyle and wildlife.
She lives and works in Cape Town, South Africa, but is available for assignments anywhere on the continent.
+27 72 287 2202 kristin@iburst.co.za
A little while ago, I was interviewed by podcaster Tony Lankester about the ins and outs of blogging - as one of the contributors to the Mail & Guardian Thought Leader blog. Click here to listen to the podcast.
Monday, January 18, 2010 at 02:12PM Inter Press Service | 6 January 2010
By Kristin Palitza
LOUWVILLE, South Africa, Jan 6, 2010 (IPS) - HIV-related stigma and discrimination remain a key concern in South Africa, despite the multitude of HIV awareness campaigns that have been launched by government and civil society organisations throughout the years, health experts say.
Thursday, November 26, 2009 at 01:57PM Mail & Guardian | 6-12 Nov 2009
By Kristin Palitza
Medical experts and AIDS activists have welcomed the South African health department’s long-awaited move to offer male circumcision free of charge as part of its HIV prevention policy. But to be successful, they caution, the service needs to come with a massive education campaign.
Friday, October 9, 2009 at 10:53AM Inter Press Service | 8 Oct 2009
By Kristin Palitza
CAPE TOWN, Oct 8 (IPS) - One hundred African women and girls die unnecessarily from unsafe abortions every day because they have to rely on unqualified medical practitioners or self-induce abortion by ingesting poisonous substances or inserting tools into their uterus.
Africa has the highest percentage of maternal deaths due to unsafe abortion. 60 percent of abortion-related deaths occur in women and girls under the age of 25.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009 at 04:40PM Inter Press Service | 30 Sep 2009
Kristin Palitza interviews HENRY MALUMA, Oxfam Zambia essential services coordinator
CAPE TOWN, Sep 30 (IPS) - A United Nations mid-point review of Zambia's efforts towards reaching the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), released in September, has revealed that HIV/AIDS might prevent the southern African country from meeting the targets.
Monday, May 18, 2009 at 04:00PM Inter Press Service | 18 May 2009
By Kristin Palitza
CAPE TOWN, May 18 (IPS) - International donors and African governments are likely to cut health budgets due to the global financial crisis. Health experts fear that increasing unemployment and poverty will lead to less food security and quality of nutrition, which will in turn put more stress on already weak health systems.
The implications, warns a newly-released World Bank report, could be grave.
Monday, April 13, 2009 at 12:26PM Mail & Guardian | 9 Apr 2009
By Kristin Palitza
The HI virus is reversing strides Namibia has made in improving children's health. The country was well on its way to reducing child mortality, but over the past decade the pandemic has annulled previous gains.
Thursday, April 2, 2009 at 09:26AM Inter Press Service | 1 Apr 2009
By Kristin Palitza
DURBAN, Apr 1 (IPS) - Researchers are now investigating if antiretroviral (ARV) drugs can play a role in not just treating HIV, but in preventing infection. Mitchell Warren, executive director of the AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition (AVAC), called it "a pivotal moment in HIV/AIDS research".
Monday, February 23, 2009 at 03:40PM Panos | January 2009
By Kristin Palitza
Durban, South Africa (2010 Features): "When I was growing up, I understood manhood to mean that the woman has no say in the relationship, no matter if this regards day-to-day decisions or decisions around sexuality," says Zithulele Dlakavu.
Dlakavu grew up in a South Africa where the man is King. Where culture dictates and supports men having multiple sexual relationships and refusing to practice safer sex.
But that is now in the past –- at least for Dlakavu.
Saturday, December 27, 2008 at 05:44PM Inter Press Service | 25 Dec 2008
By Kristin Palitza
MTHATHA, South Africa, Dec 25 (IPS) - Sonwabo Qathula puts on his apron and starts peeling a pile of butternuts, while a pot of rice boils on the stove next to him. The 50-year-old is preparing lunch for poor and orphaned children who attend a rural school in the Eastern Cape.
When the meal is ready, he dishes out the food and serves it to the boys and girls. Later, he collects the empty plates and washes the dishes.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008 at 01:10AM Inter Press Service | 18 Nov 2008
By Kristin Palitza
BAMAKO, Nov 18 (IPS) - Health systems on the continent are riddled with inadequate policies, strategies, lack of institutional capacity, poor scientific review mechanisms and weak funding for research in the public and private sector, said Luis Sambo, regional director of the World Health Organisation (WHO) in Africa.
Thursday, October 9, 2008 at 02:15PM
Panos | 1 Oct 2008
By Kristin Palitza
Without the decriminalisation of sex work it will be almost impossible to reduce sex workers’ risk of HIV infection, experts say. Because sex work is regarded as a crime in South Africa, sex workers are particularly vulnerable to violence and largely unable to negotiate condom use with their clients. As a result, it is difficult for them to practise safe sex.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008 at 01:06PM
Panoscope | 6 Aug 2008
By Kristin Palitza
Male circumcision is being toted as increasingly important in HIV prevention across the globe, but experts caution on the need to link to prevention education and counselling to be most effective. Recent studies have confirmed that male circumcision reduces HIV acquisition in heterosexual men by 60 per cent.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008 at 12:50PM Panoscope | 05 Aug 2008
By Kristin Palitza
Wednesday, July 2, 2008 at 09:00AM Inter Press Service | 1 July 2008
By Kristin Palitza
DURBAN, Jul 1 (IPS) - Refugees and migrants do not have adequate access to health care services in South Africa, aid organisations and NGOs say. This is particularly detrimental for those who are HIV-positive and in need of continuous antiretroviral (ARV) medication: interrupted treatment can mean illness, development of drug-resistance and ultimately
Monday, June 23, 2008 at 05:58PM Panos | 31 May 2008
By Kristin Palitza
South Africa (2010 Features): South African children and teenagers know quite a lot about HIV and AIDS, but very little of this information translates into behaviour change when they become sexually active. Experts put this dangerous trend down to a gap between education and lived experience.
Monday, June 23, 2008 at 05:56PM MaMail & Guardian | 4-10 Feb 2005
Honouring the dead is putting a community’s livelihood at risk, writes KRISTIN PALITZA
The fields of the Msinga Valley in the heart of KwaZulu-Natal show the merest trace of green. This is partially because of the modest rainfall in the region this summer, but mainly because many fields simply haven’t been cultivated.
Monday, June 23, 2008 at 05:54PM Perspective | Nov 2006
The cost of healthcare is to rise substantially due to HIV/AIDS, writes KRISTIN PALITZA
The cost of public health services in South Africa will drastically increase within the next few years due to HIV/AIDS, researchers say. Within the next couple of years, large number of HIV-positive South Africans will fall sick of AIDS-related diseases, when the country’s high HIV-prevalence rates will start to manifest in illness and death, predicts the Health Economics and HIV/AIDS Research Division (HEARD) of the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban.
Monday, June 23, 2008 at 05:35PM TLC | Autumn 2006
HIV-positive children continue to lack adequate access to antiretroviral (ARV) drugs in South Africa. KRISTIN PALITZA investigates treatment barriers resulting in low numbers of youngsters receiving life-saving treatment.
HIV-positive children are dying unnecessarily because of a lack of access to ARV treatment, according to South African AIDS activists.
Monday, June 23, 2008 at 05:34PM Mail & Guardian | 20-26 Jan 2006
‘Counsellors have the power to influence the life of an HIV-positive person in a very positive or very negative way’
By Kristin Palitza
Voluntary counselling and testing (VCT) services are meant to help HIV-positive people cope with the disease, but some counsellors are doing more harm than good, particularly in KwaZulu-Natal.
Monday, June 23, 2008 at 05:32PM Inter Press Service | 12 July 2006
By Kristin Palitza
DURBAN, Jul 12 (IPS) - It is tempting to call it a "no brainer": the idea that attempts to prevent transmission of HIV from mothers to children should be matched by initiatives to keep these mothers alive after they give birth.