Health

President Umaru Musa Yar'adua's long medical sojourn in Saudi Arabia ended early this morning when two planes landed at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport, Abuja. While the first plane, an air ambulance, landed at 1.47am, a second one, the presidential aircraft, landed at 1.54am.

The government achieved more than it bargained for when it urged people to get tested for HIV as part of its anti-Aids campaign. Many answered the call, and learnt that they were positive. But now they cannot get anti-retroviral drugs because they are not available.

The crisis stems from a government initiative six years ago to make anti-retroviral (ARVs) widely available to patients.

HIV prevention is based on getting people to change their sexual habits - but this is a very difficult process as President Zuma has shown.

Although South Africa has almost a million HIV positive people on treatment, actuaries tell us that over 300,000 citizens are still being infected with the virus every year.

THERE were strong indications, yesterday, that the plan to fly ailing President Umaru Yar'Adua to Nigeria may have been delayed by unavailability of required air ambulance for the President's condition.

Yar'Adua, whose absence from the country in the last two months, has created tension in the polity, is said to be on life support machine at a Saudi Arabia hospital.

A failed clinical trial HIV vaccine that left 46 Zambian women infected with the virus has sparked controversy.

The Microbicides Development Programme (MDP) 301 trial, which was testing if the gel PRO2000 would prevent HIV infection took place between September 2005 and 2009.

It was conducted at six research centres in South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia and 9,385 participated.

President Umaru Yar'Adua is brain damaged and can no longer perform the functions of his office, the Nigerian newspaper.

The newspaper said that Yar'Adua, who has been undergoing medical treatment in Saudi Arabia for the past seven weeks, was unable to recognize anyone, including his wife, Turai.

A 24 year-old Zimbabwean man who has been languishing at an immigration detention centre in Portsmouth for over a year now, awaiting deportation, was last week moved to a psychiatric clinic.

There are fears that Tatenda Jera might be suffering from bouts of depression, anxiety and general mood disorders. Tatenda came to the UK in 2000 when he fled Zimbabwe's political troubles.