April 29
South Africa: Flu Rates Anticipated to Return to Pre-Covid-19 Levels
COVID-19-related factors resulted in several years of lower-than-normal rates of the flu, but experts say that is now something of the past. As this year's flu season gets under… Read more »
December 11, 2023
South Africa: Health in 2023 - a Deceptively Busy Year in Fewer Than 1 000 Words
2023 was a busy year for healthcare in South Africa. There were several policy developments, landmark court cases, important pieces of legislation, and some changes in leadership.… Read more »
May 22, 2023
South Africa: Covid-19 - What Next As Shots Expire and Become Harder to Get?
Millions of doses of the Pfizer-BioNtech COVID-19 vaccine procured by the South African government have expired and the shot is largely unavailable to people in the country. Read more »
February 13, 2023
Africa: Why South Africa Is Not Getting the New Bivalent SARS-CoV-2 Vaccines
The Department of Health is not planning to buy the new COVID-19 bivalent booster vaccines, specifically tailored to target Omicron variants, anytime soon. Read more »
January 26, 2023
South Africa: As With Covid-19, the Effects of TB Can Linger Long After It Is Cured
According to the World Health Organization, of the roughly 10 million people who fall ill with TB annually, over 80% survive, in most cases due to a six-month treatment course.… Read more »
January 18, 2023
South Africa: Health in 2023 - 13 Things to Look Out For
Set against the backdrop of the ongoing COVID-19 recovery, the National Health Insurance Bill winding its way through Parliament, healthcare worker shortages, and the ongoing… Read more »
December 15, 2022
South Africa: Spotlight On Health - 2022 in Under 1 000 Words
2022 is maybe most notable for what didn't happen. While SARS-CoV-2 continued to mutate rapidly, we did not see another devastating wave of COVID-19 deaths as some feared we might.… Read more »
November 17, 2022
South Africa: Still Many Unknowns, but Long-Covid Is Real and Deserves Support for Rehabilitation, Says Expert
"I think I'm in trouble," came the message through to Professor Veronica Ueckermann one evening during the first surge of COVID-19 in South Africa in the winter of 2020. It was a… Read more »
November 10, 2022
South Africa: Breathing Easier - How Madwaleni Hospital Started Producing Its Own Oxygen
As the strain on the Eastern Cape's oxygen supply increased during the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, health authorities often had to intervene and use their own trucks… Read more »
October 10, 2022
South Africa: Interview - Prof Wendy Stevens On Following the Science, Even If It Means Swimming Against the Stream
When Wendy Stevens' mother succumbed to breast cancer in 2020, she left a series of letters to her four children that she had penned during her illness. Read more »
September 26, 2022
South Africa: Rural Doctor of the Year - Craig Parker - the Doctor-Engineer Who Created a Covid Lifeline for Rural Areas
Dr Craig Parker's oxygen device - the OxERA - saved hundreds of lives during COVID-19, particularly around the rural Eastern Cape. Now, the device has earned a global nod as it was… Read more »
August 16, 2022
South Africa: Covid-19 - Benefits of Vaccines Still Far Outweigh Risks, Experts Say
The benefits of vaccines still far outweigh the risks, experts say following the recently reported death linked to a COVID-19 vaccine. Read more »
August 02, 2022
South Africa: 'It Took Me Three Seconds to Decide' - Fareed Abdullah Reflects On His Career in Public Health
Over the last three decades, Dr Fareed Abdullah has been at the coalface of South Africa's response to HIV, tuberculosis (TB), and more recently, COVID-19. In this time, he proved… Read more »
July 27, 2022
South Africa: SA Research Shedding Light On Role of Microclots in Long Covid
Professor Resia Pretorius sounds rushed when Spotlight first tracks her down by phone at Heathrow Airport outside London. She is about to board a plane to South Africa after… Read more »
July 25, 2022
South Africa: Analysis - Vaccine Partnership With U.S. Government Boosts Prospects for Local Production
It has been just over a year since the World Health Organization (WHO) announced the selection of Afrigen Biologics, a Cape Town-based biotechnology company, to host its ambitious… Read more »
July 15, 2022
South Africa: Covid-19 - the Role of Next-Generation Vaccines in Immunity
Since its discovery in November, the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) has continued to adapt and evolve at an extremely fast pace to evade the body's… Read more »
July 12, 2022
South Africa: Covid-19 - Reinfections Amid 'Complex Mix of Immunity'
Variants of the original version of SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) first made headlines in December 2020. It was a sign that SARS-CoV-2 is more volatile than initially… Read more »
July 05, 2022
South Africa: Covid-19 Blamed for Shortcomings of 'Ideal Clinics' in Free State
On 23 June, the Free State Department of Health reportedly opened the "first municipal clinic in South Africa which solely operate on solar power and [that] has two 2500 litre each… Read more »
June 20, 2022
South Africa: Unacceptably Long Wait for Surgery in Free State, Healthcare Workers and Patients Say
Surgical waiting lists are not unexpected in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, but there are indications that the situation is particularly acute in the Free State, and… Read more »
June 14, 2022
South Africa: Covid-19 - What Role for Masks, Sanitising, and Ventilation in the New Normal?
South Africa's fifth wave of COVID-19 infections was comparatively small and is already abating. As with the fourth wave, infection was much less likely to result in… Read more »
June 13, 2022
South Africa: Covid-19 - Death Risk in SA Differed Depending On Where People Were Hospitalised
The risk of a hospitalised person dying from COVID-19 in the Eastern Cape was almost double (1.9 times) the risk of someone dying of the disease in the Western Cape. In the largely… Read more »
June 06, 2022
Africa: Interview - "Guys, I Think That's a New Variant" - De Oliveira Reflects On Two Years Chasing the Virus
South African bioinformatics expert Professor Tulio de Oliveira is still deciding whether to travel to New York City next month to accept his Time Magazine 100 most influential… Read more »
May 12, 2022
South Africa: Two Years Into the Covid Disaster, Where Do We Stand?
COVID began to hit South Africa badly in May 2020. Read more »
February 19, 2021
South Africa: Face to Face with Gift of the Givers Founder Imtiaz Sooliman
Gift of the Givers founder Dr Imtiaz Sooliman has declined renewed social media calls that he be nominated for the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize. Read more »