A recently released report by United Nations Secretary-
General Ban Ki-moon, titled Uniting for Universal Access: 
Towards Zero New HIV Infections, Zero Discrimination 
and Zero AIDS-related Deaths, highlights the facts 
that the global rate of new HIV infections is declining, 
treatment access is expanding, and the world has made 
significant strides in reducing transmission from mother 
to child. 

The Secretary-General makes five suggestions to 
strengthen the AIDS response. We are encouraged 
to harness the energy of young people for an HIV 
prevention revolution, revitalise the push towards 
achieving universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, 
care and support by 2015, work with countries to make 
HIV programmes more cost effective, efficient and 
sustainable, promote the health, human rights and dignity 
of women and girls, and ensure mutual accountability to 
translate commitments into action. 

His goal setting is ambitious: to reduce the sexual 
transmission of HIV by 50%, and prevent all new HIV 
infections resulting from injecting drug use; to eliminate 
transmission from mother to child; to reduce tuberculosis 
deaths in people living with HIV by 50%; to ensure HIV 
treatment for 13 million people; to reduce by 50% the 
number of countries with HIV-related restrictions on 
entry, stay and residence; and to ensure equal access 
to education for children orphaned and made vulnerable 
by AIDS. 

With these challenges in mind this journal continues to 
press forward with the goal of keeping you informed, 
very much with a philosophy of ‘learning by sharing’. 
 
In this edition, Campbell makes an eloquent case for 
an evidence-based approach to palliative care for 
children. Gounden compares outcomes in a private and 

a public sector cohort on antiretroviral therapy and finds 
some interesting prescribing differences between the 
two groups, although outcomes were very similar. The 
recent national testing campaign has included expansion 
into schools, and Pfaff and De Beer describe a youth-
friendly testing campaign that has been implemented by 
an NGO in the Manguzi district. The surveillance and 
causes of infant mortality in South Africa was a passion 
of a very much missed colleague, David Bourne, who 
unexpectedly passed away in February 2009. The 
paper by Boulle and colleagues is dedicated to David 
and acknowledges his work. Polyclonal gammopathy is 
a common finding in HIV, and Tathiah and colleagues 
present a retrospective study of serum electrophoresis 
patterns in patients in KZN.

Readers have expressed great interest in case reports. 
The benefit in learning from real clinical cases is 
acknowledged by the review committee, so this edition is 
full of interesting case reports. Continuing our important 
guidelines series, we present the management of 
hepatitis B infection as a co-infection with HIV. Thanks 
to the Southern African HIV Clinicians Society for this 
excellent collaboration. Coming soon are guidelines 
for safer conception, HIV-infected health care worker 
protection, and pre-exposure prophylaxis. 

Exciting news is that in 2011 the editorial office is 
undergoing revitalisation and will have increased 
resources. This will be good news for those of you who 
have waited so patiently for reviews of your submissions. 
I sincerely apologise to frustrated authors who have 
found our current system tardy. This will be improved in 
2011. Please continue to submit copy!

LINDA-GAIL BEKKER 
Editor

5

F R O M  T H E  E D I TOR

m e s s a g e  f r o m  t h e  e x e c u t i v e
Several things are coming to completion in this important 
year for the Society. A new board of interim directors 
has been elected to construct our new constitution, or 
‘Memorandum of Association’, legalese from the new 
Companies Act that is about to come into force. It will 
be presented to the old executive for discussion, and 
then circulated for comment, in the next few months. I 
welcome Tim Tucker, one of South Africa’s unsung 
heroes from the vaccine enterprise, and Eric Hefer, who 
is known by reputation to many of you and is a long-
time Exco member, to the interim board. They’ll also 
be advising on our new structure, and how we take the 
organisation towards new elections in November.

The Society bids a sad farewell to Linda-Gail Bekker 
as an editor.  It has been a tough tenure – the Journal 
has to compete with many others, and clinicians are not 
all polite, naturally gifted researchers or writers. Despite 

this, we distribute over 15 000 copies of every issue, 
and the feedback is that you love it. LGB has all our 
gratitude. Incoming editor will be Dr Landon Myer, 
another Cape Town find, who has experience with 
international journals and an impressive research CV. 

We have secured a further grant from Atlantic 
Philanthropies, which will allow the Society’s transition 
to this new structure as well as support our advocacy 
and networking work. In addition, we have met with the 
Monument Trust, who fund our nurse/NiMART work and 
want this programme expanded even further.  On top 
of all this, all our other activities carry on, and are very 
successful.

FRANCOIS VENTER
President

T H E  S O U T H E R N  A F R I C A N  J O U R N A L  O F  H I V  M E D I C I N E                                    A P R I L  2 0 1 1

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