Binging on alcohol. Condom-free casual sex. Sugar daddies. More and more young women take major sexual risks. WH reveals the dangers of the “it won’t happen to me” attitude.

By Kristin Palitza

“I used to have sex with men for drugs. They were all older because they were the ones with money. It was very self-destructive but I didn’t care,” says 30-year-old Samantha.

By Kristin Palitza

DURBAN, Jun 4, 2010 (IPS) - African medical experts have realised they need to make a much bigger effort to educate rural communities if they want to effectively contain the continent’s tuberculosis (TB) epidemic.<

In sub-Saharan Africa, 1.7 million people are infected with TB each year, which is almost a quarter of all global TB cases, according to the World Health Organisation.

By Kristin Palitza

CAPE TOWN, May 5, 2010 (IPS) - "I sometimes drink alcohol because it makes things funny," 15-year-old Senelo* giggles shyly. "I go to unlicensed taverns. They sell alcohol without asking questions." The petite, pretty teenager from Mfuleni township 35 kilometres outside of Cape Town is far from being an exception. Thirty-five percent of South African adolescents say they drink alcohol, and 29 percent binge drink.

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.

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.

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.]]>

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.

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.

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.

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".