October 13, 2022
South Africa: Mixed Reactions to Health Department's Plans to Mitigate Loadshedding
Health minister Dr Joe Phaahla last week announced several measures to mitigate the impact of loadshedding on healthcare services - a move that was met with mixed responses. Some… Read more »
October 12, 2022
South Africa: In-Depth - the Complex Relationship Between TB and Mental Health
Falling ill with tuberculosis (TB) and all the disruption and stress that goes along with it can take a toll on someone's mental health, and mental health problems can in turn make… Read more »
October 11, 2022
South Africa: In-Depth - Healthcare in Mpumalanga Hamstrung By Ambulance Shortages and Other Problems
Despite some interventions by Mpumalanga's health department, a litany of challenges at hospitals in the province continue to hamstrung quality patient care in the province.… 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 »
October 07, 2022
South Africa: How to Help New Nurses Bridge the Gap From Theory to Practice
In South Africa, newly qualified professional nurses often face great difficulties when entering clinical practice after completion of their studies. The transition from theory to… Read more »
October 05, 2022
South Africa: Mixed Feelings About National Health Insurance At Public Health Conference
National Health Insurance (NHI) was one of the hot topics at the 2022 Public Health Association of South Africa (PHASA) Conference recently held in Durban. While several speakers… Read more »
September 30, 2022
South Africa: Clinical Associates Can Transform Healthcare in SA, We Should Support Them
They are called by many names - clinical associates in South Africa, physician assistants in the USA, assistant medical officers in some Asian countries, and assistant medical… Read more »
September 28, 2022
South Africa: In-Depth - What's Behind the Increase in Malnutrition Deaths Among Free State Infants?
On the day Luleka Gqumeta's baby died, she says she was in the streets begging for food for her and her children. It was October 2020, amid COVID-19-related social restrictions and… Read more »
October 03, 2022
South Africa: In-Depth - Use of Urine Test for TB Increasing
While tuberculosis (TB) is the top killer of people living with HIV, TB is also harder to diagnose in people living with HIV than in people who are not. What is more, TB is… Read more »
September 29, 2022
South Africa: Morphine Shortages Leave Patients in Pain
The short-sightedness of relying on a single morphine powder supplier for South Africa's healthcare facilities has been pinpointed as the cause of a devastating disruption in the… Read more »
September 27, 2022
South Africa: In-Depth - Have 4 Years of Administration Reduced Medicine Stockouts in North West?
Public healthcare facilities in the North West have been plagued by chronic medicines stockouts for years. Now, as the province's health department is again taking the reins after… 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 »
September 23, 2022
South Africa: Better Data Is First Step in Improving Services for Persons With Disabilities
South Africa remains one of the most unequal societies in the world, with inequalities, including in health access and outcomes, drawn along racial, geographical, and socioeconomic… Read more »
September 20, 2022
South Africa: From Cameroonian Village to Stellenbosch Professor - Top TB Researcher Reflects On a Remarkable Journey
In 2004, Novel Chegou left his home country, Cameroon, in search of a better life in South Africa. With high hopes and not much money, he sold African crafts - beads, masks, and… Read more »
September 19, 2022
South Africa: Healthcare Problems Persist At 'Ideal Clinics', Studies Show
Launched in 2013, the ideal clinic programme has been one of the Department of Health's cornerstone interventions aimed at improving the quality of care provided at public… Read more »
September 21, 2022
South Africa: In-Depth - What Is Behind the Eastern Cape's Nurse Training Crisis?
Lecturers who are doing administrative work instead of teaching, some nursing student accommodation that was found uninhabitable, frequent break-ins at some campuses, an exodus of… Read more »
September 16, 2022
South Africa: TB Treatment to Be Shortened to 4 Months for Most Children
South Africa last published comprehensive guidelines for the management of childhood tuberculosis (TB) in 2013. Almost a decade later, there is a pressing need to update the… Read more »
September 15, 2022
South Africa: As Testing Volumes Improve, Government Outlines TB Recovery Plan
South Africa's tuberculosis (TB) testing numbers have recovered from dramatic COVID-19-related declines in 2020, delegates heard this week at the opening of the 7th South African… Read more »
September 05, 2022
South Africa: Women in Health - Lydia Cairncross, the Straight-Talker At the Helm of Groote Schuur's Surgery Recovery Project
Professor Lydia Cairncross is a sharp thinker and a straight-talker. Whether it is on issues of equity and social justice or on how to strengthen quality healthcare - Cairncross… Read more »
September 13, 2022
South Africa: Codeine Regulation - a Tussle Between Pain Relief and Addiction
Whether a pharmacist suggests it for treating headaches or whether a doctor prescribes it for managing post-surgical pain, chances are good that at some point you've taken a pain… Read more »
September 12, 2022
South Africa: Patients Paid the Price As Colostomy Bags Ran Out At Gauteng Hospital
In 2017, Morris Ntamo underwent a colostomy at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto. The surgery, which involves diverting a part of the colon through a surgically created… Read more »
September 08, 2022
South Africa: Climate Change Can Set Back Maternal Health, Says Researcher #AfricaClimateCrisis
Researchers around the world are drawing an ever-more distinct line between rising global temperatures and negative effects on maternal, foetal, and infant health. One of these… Read more »
September 06, 2022
South Africa: Reflections On TAC's Future As New Leadership Elected
A New Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) leadership team was elected at the organisation's 7th National Congress recently held in Benoni in Gauteng. The congress was attended by 174… Read more »
September 09, 2022
South Africa: Mothers and Babies Pay the Price for Medical Xenophobia
At SECTION27, we often engage with pregnant women and young children being denied access to healthcare services at hospitals in Gauteng. This is despite that providing free health… Read more »
September 07, 2022
South Africa: We're Facing the Cold Without Blankets in Hospitals - Free State Patients
In July this year temperatures in some parts of the Free State dropped as low as minus 8 degrees Celsius while in some hospitals, patients were told to bring their own blankets or… Read more »