December 20, 2022
South Africa: 2022's Health Budget Decisions in Review
Health budgets have the power to advance access to healthcare for millions of people in South Africa. This year, however, as the health sector and the economy recovered from the… Read more »
December 19, 2022
South Africa: Living With a Stoma in SA - We Deserve Better
In May 2016, I was diagnosed with colorectal cancer. I was lucky. Detecting the cancer early meant that I required no chemo or radiation therapy and just had surgery, which left me… Read more »
December 15, 2022
South Africa: SA to Receive Donation of New Child-Friendly DR-TB Medicines
South Africa's National Department of Health is set to receive a donation of child-friendly formulations of several medicines used to treat drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB). It… Read more »
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 »
December 14, 2022
South Africa: Pilot Programme Improving Access to Mental Health Services for Children in Khayelitsha
Earlier this year, the annual South African Child Gauge indicated that child and adolescent mental health services in South Africa are in crisis - mostly due to inadequate… Read more »
December 13, 2022
South Africa: How Well Did Sahpra Do in 2022?
Following the emergence of COVID-19 and the regular mention of the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) in the news - mostly in relation to what health… Read more »
December 12, 2022
South Africa: In-Depth - 'Access Not Excess' Key to Reducing Antibiotic Resistance in SA
Antibiotics play a vital role in the management of bacterial infections, reducing morbidity, and preventing mortality. A 2011 report from the United Kingdom estimated that they… Read more »
December 06, 2022
South Africa: Experts Call for Better Screening and Treatment of TB During Pregnancy
Busisiwe Beko, from Khayelitsha in the Western Cape, was diagnosed with drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB) while she was pregnant. She remembers it as a very difficult period in… Read more »
December 09, 2022
South Africa: An Open Letter to Us Girls Who Still Shoulder Much of the HIV Burden in South Africa
Dear Adolescent girl, Read more »
December 08, 2022
South Africa: In-Depth - the State of Asthma in SA
Asthma is a disease that can easily be controlled through the correct use of medications, yet in many low-and-middle-income countries like South Africa, many still die due to lack… Read more »
December 07, 2022
South Africa: Testing Stool Can Help Detect TB in Children
Most tuberculosis (TB) testing today relies on sputum samples coughed up from the lungs. This makes intuitive sense since pulmonary (or lung) TB is the most common form of TB and… Read more »
December 05, 2022
South Africa: Some in Free State Only Given ARVs for Two Weeks At a Time
Both health minister Dr Joe Phaahla and health authorities in the Free State last week denied claims from activists that there are shortages of antiretroviral medicines at health… Read more »
December 02, 2022
South Africa: World Aids Day 2022 - Choice, Convenience, and Respect Should Be the Cornerstone of SA's HIV Response
In Spotlight's analysis of South Africa's HIV response in recent years, two issues have stood out consistently. Read more »
November 28, 2022
South Africa: Keep an Eye On Quality As We Rush to Test People for HIV
As we approach World AIDS Day on 1 December, healthcare providers will be offering HIV screening and testing as part of a comprehensive health service. Read more »
November 24, 2022
South Africa: New Resistance Tests Set to Improve TB Treatment
Some strains of the tuberculosis (TB) bacterium have mutated to become resistant to some of the drugs commonly used to treat TB. Accordingly, one of the first questions to ask when… Read more »
November 23, 2022
South Africa: Kwazulu-Natal Doing Well Compared to Other Provinces but Some Health Services Still a Challenge
KwaZulu-Natal clinics are outperforming facilities monitored in other provinces on various indicators and health services in the province have improved year-on-year, but some… Read more »
November 22, 2022
South Africa: Pilot Projects Set to Inform Rollout of HIV Prevention Shot
South Africa is expected to begin piloting the HIV prevention injection early next year as one of several projects that experts hope will reveal the answers to some of the biggest… Read more »
November 21, 2022
South Africa: Face to Face - Prof Helen Rees On SAHPRA, Women's Rights, and Her Appetite for Justice
As a rebellious teenager growing up in the British town of Harpenden, Helen Rees would sneak out to attend anti-apartheid talks. "That was the stop-the-Boks tour," she recalls.… Read more »
November 18, 2022
South Africa: Mental Health Screening for People With TB Will Change Lives and Boost SA's TB Response
After two years of COVID-19 and disruption of normal healthcare services such as those for tuberculosis (TB), welcome-back initiatives were started across provinces to get people… Read more »
November 16, 2022
South Africa: Decaying Infrastructure At Tambo Hospital Still Putting Patients and Health Workers At Risk
In 2017 an assessment commissioned by Tambo Memorial Hospital in Boksburg in Gauteng reportedly found that the hospital building was "unfit for human habitation" and was considered… 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 15, 2022
Africa: TB Treatment Can Be Cut to Two Months for Some, Finds Landmark Study
Some cases of tuberculosis (TB) can be successfully treated in as little as two months - a third of the current standard of six months in South Africa and most other countries.… Read more »
November 14, 2022
South Africa: Face to Face - 'Everything About Health Is About Behaviour', Says Professor Mosa Moshabela
Speaking on Zoom from New York City, Professor Mosa Moshabela quietly notes the junctures and dilemmas that shaped his journey from a Limpopo village to the global health stage. Read more »
November 11, 2022
South Africa: How Can We Make Surgical Care Accessible By Drawing On Lessons From the Aids Movement?
One out of every three people in South Africa will need surgical care during their lifetime. Surgical care is essential to achieving health and well-being, but access to it is… 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 »