For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Sane Dhlamini.

Making headlines: Ramaphosa announces fundamental changes needed to end Aids, over 7 000 KZN public healthcare workers infected with Covid-19 since the start of the pandemic and, Malaria death toll to exceed Covid-19's in sub-Saharan Africa

 

Ramaphosa announces fundamental changes needed to end Aids

With World Aids Day set to take place on Tuesday, President Cyril Ramaphosa has touted a combination of medical breakthroughs and fundamental behavioural changes as catalysts to end Aids as a public health threat within the next ten years.

In his weekly column to the nation, he said he was encouraged by the recent pre-exposure prophylaxis study, which showed that long-acting injections once every eight weeks were better than the daily tablet used for HIV prevention.

Ramaphosa added that the end of AIDS would be achieved through the empowerment of young people, women and other people at risk.

 

Over 7 000 KZN public healthcare workers infected with Covid-19 since the start of the pandemic

A total of 7 132 public healthcare workers in KwaZulu-Natal have been infected with Covid-19 since the start of the pandemic, while 88 have succumbed to the virus.

The majority of the infected healthcare workers were nurses.

KZN Premier Sihle Zikalala said no new healthcare infections or deaths have been reported as of 27 November.

Zikalala said the province has now recorded a total of 127 506 Covid–19 cases, with 6 212 still active and added that his government is concerned about the increase in the number of cases.

 

Malaria death toll to exceed Covid-19's in sub-Saharan Africa

The World Health Organization has warned that deaths from malaria due to disruptions during the coronavirus pandemic to services designed to tackle the mosquito-borne disease will far exceed those killed by Covid-19 in sub-Saharan Africa.

In its latest global malaria report, the WHO said more than 409 000 people globally - most of them babies in the poorest parts of Africa - were killed by malaria last year.

Director of the WHO's malaria programme Pedro Alsonso said  there could be an excess of malaria deaths of somewhere between 20 000 and 100 000 in sub-Saharan Africa, most of them in young children.

 

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today

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