South Africa: Ozempic, Wegovy and the R33bn Bill That Is SA's Obesity Time Bomb

Obesity is a big driver of healthcare spending in South Africa, yet most medical schemes still limit cover for effective treatments. The gap between the scale of the problem and… Read more »

South Africa: NGOs Take Up the Cudgel for Equal Access to Health for Everyone Living in SA

Organisations such as Collective Voices are fighting to ensure foreign nationals have access to medication. Read more »

South Africa: New Hope After Shuttered Hillbrow Transgender Clinic Finds State Hospitals As Partners

United States funding cuts shredded specialised services at a transgender clinic in the heart of Johannesburg. But a new collaborative initiative refuses to let this be the end of… Read more »

South Africa: Gauteng's Specialist Shortage - Frustration, Resignations, and a Looming Crisis

The flight of specialist doctors from the public health sector in Gauteng points to another looming crisis that will affect patients, staff and those training to be specialists. Read more »

South Africa: Covid Played the Long Game and Got Me, At Last, As My Worst Fears Came True

Three weeks ago, I visited a multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) and HIV medical facility. I was wary and paranoid, as I always am around viral diseases. I did not shake hands… Read more »

South Africa: Joburg's Children's Memorial Institute Faces Dark Times As Electricity Is Cut Over Unpaid Bills

The city's essential NGO services for the most vulnerable children are being severely slashed and it's because the Gauteng Department of Health is failing to pay its outstanding… Read more »

South Africa: The SA Forensic Nurse Who Turns Evidence Into Justice Is About to Lose Her Job As GBV Soars

As funding dries up, one of South Africa's few forensic nurses faces losing her post. Read more »

South Africa: SA Faces a Cervical Cancer Crisis As a Woman Dies Very 67 Minutes

In May 2025, South Africa and Nigeria successfully sponsored a World Health Assembly resolution declaring 17 November as World Cervical Cancer Elimination Day. A proud achievement,… Read more »

South Africa: Biovac Launches 'State-of-the-Art' Cape Town Lab to Manufacture End-to-End Vaccines

A newly opened product development laboratory will enable the SA biopharmaceutical company Biovac to manufacture end-to-end vaccines, a 'major milestone' for drug substance… Read more »

South Africa: NMU Researcher Consults Eastern Cape Healers to Uncover Cancer-Fighting Secrets of Indigenous Plants

Dr Nehemiah Latolla, a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Nelson Mandela University's Department of Human Physiology, has been awarded a prestigious Australia-Africa Universities… Read more »

South Africa: Preventing Migrants From Using Hospitals Is 'Un-South African', Says Ramaphosa

In the wake of a court ruling against the xenophobic organisation Operation Dudula, President Cyril Ramaphosa said such groups don't represent South Africa's values. Read more »

South Africa: Withdrawal of US Aid Has Hurt South Africa's HIV Management Programme

Number of viral load tests is significantly lower than expected. Read more »

South Africa: High Court Bans Dudula From Blocking Access to Hospitals, Clinics and Schools

The high court in Johannesburg has ordered Operation Dudula to stop harassing foreign nationals and directed the police and key government departments to enforce the ruling. Read more »

South Africa: Minister Motsoaledi Relaunches SA TB Caucus, Reaffirms Commitment to Ending the Disease

Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has relaunched the South African Tuberculosis Caucus, a platform for political leaders to advance the response to the disease in the country. This… Read more »

South Africa: Madness and Civilisation - Memorialising the Lives of Institutionalised Individuals Through Poetry

The 150th anniversary of Fort England Psychiatric Hospital makes it South Africa's oldest psychiatric facility. Rory du Plessis's poetry collection, Automaton(tik), memorialises… Read more »

Africa: Why We All Need Glimmers - - As a Mental Health Practice and a Matter of Urgency

Glimmers are more than a gimmick - they are a way to navigate the daily grind, and to find slices of joy in the mundane. Read more »

South Africa: Built Different - Fedhealth and Sanlam Are Redefining Medical Aid in South Africa

Addressing a packed house at the Cape Town International Convention Centre on Wednesday, Fedhealth announced its reimagined medical aid scheme for 2026, in partnership with… Read more »

South Africa: Ghosted By the Eastern Cape Health Department - How Bureaucratic Silence Is Destroying Stoma Patient Dignity

The South African Society of Stomates' offer to help tackle the stoma crisis has been met with silence. Read more »

Africa: A Booming Longevity Industry Wants to Sell Us 'Immortality' but There Could Be Hidden Costs

If you could, would you pay to live forever? Some Silicon Valley billionaires aren't just making tech products - they've set their sights on immortality. Read more »

South Africa: Confronting SA's Hunger Emergency - - From Constitutional Rights to Empty Plates

South Africa's Constitution guarantees the right to food, yet children are still dying from malnutrition in the Eastern Cape. Bureaucratic failure, systemic inequality and… Read more »

South Africa: From Playground Design to Patient Care - How NMU Is Humanising Healthcare

At Mandela University, a collaborative care model plays out in joint case discussions, school health screenings, mobile health truck outreach and even playground design projects… Read more »

South Africa: New Cape Town Transgender Health Service Addresses Funding Gap After Pepfar Cuts

Run by the Desmond Tutu Health Foundation, the service at Groote Schuur Hospital seeks to help transgender and gender-diverse people who previously relied on specialised clinics… Read more »

South Africa: Why Public Health Advocacy Should Not Be Silenced

At its core, this case is about whether South Africans have the right to know the truth about products that harm them and whether civil society has the right to say it. Read more »

South Africa: Charlie Kirk and the Danger of Performative Empathy for Those Who Hate

Instead of empathy, a moment of reflection on Charlie Kirk's death can be used to dismantle the altar of bigotry with which we are confronted. Read more »

South Africa: After the Bell - Millions Belong to Medical Aids, but Few Care About Governance Issues

Three of the biggest medical schemes have millions of members between them, but they do not publicly disclose how many attend their AGMs, which is where trustees are elected. Read more »