February 26
South Africa: Top Forensic Pathologist Looks Back As Cape Town Gets Shiny New Mortuary
Mortuaries are grim places, yet Professor Lorna Martin - South Africa's first woman to head a forensic medicine department - also visits mortuaries when she is on holiday. She was… Read more »
September 29, 2023
South Africa: This Court Case Will Literally Determine Whether Some People Get to Breathe
In a pivotal case for access to affordable medicines in South Africa, the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) and Doctors Without Borders (MSF) Southern Africa - represented by… Read more »
September 08, 2023
South Sudan: In-Depth - What Two Major Bills Might Mean for Health Sector Procurement in SA
Recently, in a major feat for transparency and accountability, the North Gauteng High Court ordered that the public must have access to COVID-19 procurement contracts - details of… Read more »
August 29, 2023
South Africa: Calls Mount to Act Against Senior Northern Cape Health Officials Implicated in Alleged PPE Corruption
The head of health in the Northern Cape Dr Dion Theys - appeared in the Kimberly Magistrate’s Court on Monday. Read more »
August 25, 2023
South Africa: We Are Short-Changing Women With Budget Cuts, Corruption, and Underspending in Health
It is often said that when you educate a girl; you educate a nation. The same rings true for investing in women's health, which ultimately benefits our entire country. The World… Read more »
August 18, 2023
South Africa: In-Depth - the Court Ruling That Gives Qualifying Pharmacists the Green Light for HIV, TB Meds Without Script
Specially trained and accredited pharmacists in South Africa will now be allowed to provide people with medicines to prevent HIV and tuberculosis (TB) and to treat uncomplicated… Read more »
July 27, 2023
South Africa: The Complexities of Traditional and Medical Circumcision in the Eastern Cape
There is compelling scientific evidence that Voluntary Male Medical Circumcision (VMMC) is both safe and significantly reduces a man's risk of becoming infected with HIV. While… Read more »
July 24, 2023
South Africa: Centres for Gender Based Violence Support Working Well - Experts Say We Need More of Them
It's a rare sunny winter morning on the Cape Flats. We are standing inside a small building on the premises of the Heideveld Community Health Centre. This is a Thuthuzela Care… Read more »
June 22, 2023
South Africa: Right of Reply - Reducing the Surgical and Cancer Treatment Backlogs Is an Urgent Priority
Recently an opinion piece was published on this platform bemoaning what the author described as a "... lack of urgency" to tackle the backlog of cancer treatment in Gauteng,… Read more »
April 25, 2023
South Africa: In-Depth - How Cystic Fibrosis Is Being Treated in SA While Breakthrough Meds Remain Out of Reach
Legal action is underway in South Africa to improve access to a game-changing new class of medicines called CFTR modulator therapies for treatment of cystic fibrosis (CF). Where… Read more »
April 21, 2023
South Africa: Struggle for Migrant Health Rights Still Far From Over After Landmark Judgment
On 14 April 2023, the High Court in Gauteng confirmed the rights of all pregnant and lactating women and children under age six to access services for free at all levels of care,… Read more »
March 30, 2023
South Africa: Ongoing Security Concerns At Gauteng Hospitals Amid Reports of Cable Theft
Already bogged down by loadshedding, operations at various health facilities in Gauteng and some other provinces have also been disrupted due to cable theft, creating another layer… Read more »
March 08, 2023
South Africa: Head of Free State Health Department Not Suspended Despite Being Charged
It is business as usual at the Free State Department of Health with the acting Head of Department (HoD) Godfrey Mahlatsi back at work after he was released on R5 000 bail on 11… Read more »
March 07, 2023
South Africa: Landmark Court Case Takes On U.S Maker of Cystic Fibrosis Drugs
Cystic fibrosis (CF), which is caused by a faulty gene inherited from one's parents, is a debilitating disease requiring difficult and time-consuming treatment and resulting in… Read more »
January 27, 2023
South Africa: Changing the Law On Sex Work Will Save Lives, We Must See It Through
In December 2022, the Minister of Justice, Ronald Lamola, set into motion a public participation process on the laws that govern sex work in South Africa. Cabinet approved the… 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 »
August 22, 2022
South Africa: Women in Health - Mary Selona Is Changing 'The Way Things Are' - One Woman At a Time
Mary Selona is only half-joking when she says her favourite down-time activity as a strictly "indoorsy person" is catching up on sleep. The community activist who heads up the… Read more »
August 19, 2022
Africa: Abortion Rights in Three African Countries After a Major Setback in the US
The right to abortion has been catapulted into the spotlight by Dobbs v Jackson, the landmark judgment of the United States (US) Supreme Court that overturned Roe v Wade - a… Read more »
August 12, 2022
South Africa: The Health Sector Can Help Address the Impact of Violence Against Women, Here's How
At the start of Women's month this year, the gang rape of eight women at a mine dump in Krugersdorp made headlines in South Africa and abroad, adding to the country's… Read more »
June 07, 2022
South Africa: Intimate Partner Violence in SA - Is It Getting Worse and How Do We Tackle It?
According to a recently published Lancet Psychiatry report, intimate partner violence (IPV) is a public mental health issue that requires collective societal change to tackle it… Read more »
June 02, 2022
South Africa: NHI Bill - Clause-By-Clause Headbutting Begins in Parliament
In what is expected to become a verbal minefield littered with the usual ideological quips, the members of Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Health this week started the… Read more »
May 20, 2022
South Africa: Opinion - Policy Graveyard - Where Policies Go to Die
Few would argue with an assertion of South Africa as being simultaneously policy rich and implementation poor. Read more »
May 13, 2022
South Africa: What the Law Says About Medical Xenophobia in South Africa
The South African Constitution says the most basic forms of healthcare should be made accessible to all who reside in South Africa. However, this is not the lived experience of so… Read more »