South Africa: Amid Budget Constraints, Tough Choices for SA's HIV Response

Around 13% of South Africa's population are living with HIV and the country has the world's largest HIV treatment programme. The country's finances are however under huge pressure… Read more »

South Africa: SA Can't Afford Proposed Cuts to HIV Funding

In November this year, National Treasury proposed a R1 billion cut to HIV funding. This has come about because - rather than seeing the reduced price of antiretroviral treatment as… Read more »

South Africa: Lead Poisoning Part 2 - Scientists Find Toxic Metals in Kitchenware

A small study published in September found that some ceramic plates and bowls bought from South African chain stores are coated in glaze that contains lead, a toxic heavy metal… Read more »

South Africa: Antibiotic Slashes Risk of Drug-Resistant TB in Kids, Finds Major SA Study

For decades the standard way to prevent people who were exposed to tuberculosis (TB) from falling ill with the disease was to offer them a medicine called isoniazid, taken daily… Read more »

South Africa: Funding Shortfall and Poor Roads to Blame for Ambulance Woes, Says Eastern Cape Health Dept

A recent labour dispute involving emergency medical service (EMS) workers in the Eastern Cape has once again placed the spotlight on the province's chronic EMS problems. Read more »

South Africa: 'Someone Had to Do It', Says TB Activist On Time 100 List

Phumeza Tisile from Khayelitsha was 19 years old when she contracted multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB). She battled the disease for nearly four years, then lost her hearing… Read more »

Africa: What Is Behind the Shocking Number of Deaths Linked to Lead Poisoning?

An estimated 5.5 million people died of heart conditions linked to lead poisoning in 2019 - more than the number killed by outdoor air pollution over the same period. That's… Read more »

South Africa: Country's Remarkable TB Clinical Trial Capacity

Several of the world's most important tuberculosis (TB) clinical trials of the last two decades were done in part or entirely in South Africa. These include several trials that… Read more »

South Africa: 'I'm Doing It With My Whole Heart' - South Africa's Rural Nurse of Year

Nosiphiwo Gunuza from Lusikisiki in the Eastern Cape was the first college graduate in her family - she is also her family's sole breadwinner. In addition, the 43-year-old… Read more »

South Africa: Questions Asked As Gauteng Health Sources Food From Limpopo

The Gauteng Department of Health has struggled this year to ensure that patients in the province's hospitals always have the food they need. In addition to several reports received… Read more »

South Africa: In-Depth - How Do Long-Acting HIV Treatments Work?

Researchers have been trying to develop antiretroviral medicines that can last for weeks, months or even years per dose. It is thought that such long-acting therapies may… Read more »

South Africa: In-Depth - What New WHO TB Numbers Mean for SA

An estimated 54 200 people in South Africa died of tuberculosis (TB) in 2022 and around 280 000 fell ill with the disease, according to new World Health Organization (WHO) figures.… Read more »

South Africa: Surgery Backlog in Northern Cape Getting Worse

Already long surgical waiting lists in the Northern Cape appear to have ballooned in recent months. In May, the province's MEC for Health Maruping Lekwene told the province's… Read more »

South Africa: 'The Situation Is Not Going Away,' Says Inspiring TB Doctor

Dr Juli Switala from Pretoria has treated children in Nigeria, helped fatally ill patients during the 2014 Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone, and has delivered babies at Afghanistan's… Read more »

South Africa: New Drug Offers Hope Against Untreatable Gonorrhoea

Newly announced results of a pivotal phase 3 trial have demonstrated the effectiveness of a new one-dose treatment for gonorrhoea. The medicine, called zoliflodacin, is the first… Read more »

South Africa: There Is So Much to Be Done,' Says Founder of SA's Largest Online Diabetes Community

As a type 1 diabetic, first diagnosed days away from slipping into a hyperglycaemic coma, diabetes education is near Bridget McNulty's heart. Eyes ablaze and hands trailing the… Read more »

South Africa: What Government Is Doing to Reduce Medicines Stockouts

Over the last decade, the National Health Department has rolled out a range of electronic surveillance systems to monitor medicine stocks throughout the country's healthcare… Read more »

South Africa: More Austerity Is the Wrong Medicine for Our Public Health Crisis

In the context of weak economic growth, lower-than-expected tax revenues, and the implementation of measures to reduce public spending, there is "rising panic" ahead of this year's… Read more »

South Africa: Mixed Feelings On NHI Aired At Eastern Cape Hearing

Concerns over corruption and whether or not foreign nationals would be covered under South Africa's proposed National Health Insurance (NHI) system were some of the issues raised… Read more »

South Africa: Exciting Health Reforms Are Possible If We Can Move Beyond All the Political Sclerosis

It is often enlightening for us at Spotlight to ask how and why certain services differ in the ways they do between the private and public healthcare sectors. Read more »

South Africa: Childhood Exposure to Violence Associated With Mental Health Conditions Later in Life, Experts Say

That South Africa has unusually high levels of inter-personal violence is clear from the country's crime statistics and regular news reports about violent crime. The knock-on… Read more »

South Africa: Interview - Rural Doctor of the Year Reflects On the Rutted Road to Quality Healthcare

Describing the rutted gravel road between Butterworth and Tafalofefe District Hospital in the Eastern Cape, Dr Bukiwe Spondo uses the word "terrible" at least eighteen times.… Read more »

Uganda: Interview - a Simple Device Used After Birth Can Help Save Lives, Says Award-Winning Young Innovator

As a child growing up in the Ugandan capital of Kampala, Maureen Etuket used a screwdriver to dismantle electronic appliances and toy trucks. "I was around eight, nine years old,"… Read more »

South Africa: In-Depth - Can Co2 Monitors Help Protect Healthcare Workers From TB?

One of the ways that someone can become infected with tuberculosis (TB) is through airborne transmission - breathing in TB molecules that are exhaled into the air by a person with… Read more »

South Africa: Mabuyane Under Fire for Moving Eastern Cape Head of Health

This week, several healthcare stakeholders have slammed Eastern Cape Premier Oscar Mabuyane's announcement that the heads of several provincial departments have been seconded to… Read more »