August 23, 2023
South Africa: Sr Wattie - the Midwife From District Six Who Heeded the Call to Nurse and Deliver
For decades, most stories from Cape Town's District Six started with - "I was born at Peninsula Maternity Hospital!" The Peninsula Maternity Hospital was established in 1921 as a… Read more »
August 21, 2023
South Africa: The Good Doctor - Mark Blaylock On Finding Meaning Back At Manguzi
There was a time, about 20 years ago, when, at the Manguzi district hospital in Northern KwaZulu-Natal, (and, of course, at hospitals throughout South Africa too) mothers and their… Read more »
August 17, 2023
South Africa: Surgeries Delayed At Charlotte Maxeke As Key Machine Decommissioned Before Replacements Are Ready
What appears to be a poorly planned decommissioning process of a specialised angiogram machine has led to a three-month delay before patients will be able to access potentially… 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 »
August 16, 2023
South Africa: TB Contact Tracing Helps Save Lives - This Is How It Works in SA
Globally an estimated 850 000 lives could be saved by 2035 if short-course tuberculosis (TB) preventive therapy is provided to people living with HIV and contacts of individuals… Read more »
August 14, 2023
South Africa: Incentives Seem to Work in Private Healthcare, Why Not in Public?
Doing 'the right thing' for one's health, be it eating well, exercising, or going for an annual HIV test or blood pressure check, is easier said than done. One way to nudge people… Read more »
August 11, 2023
South Africa: Women in Health - 'No One Taught Me How to Treat a Sick System,' Says Leading Young Professor
In high school, a guidance councillor told Salome Maswime that she would never be accepted at medical school. Undeterred, in 2001, Maswime successfully enrolled for an MBChB… Read more »
August 03, 2023
South Africa: SA's New Mental Health Plan and the Problem of Stigma
Before being diagnosed with bipolar disorder Type 1, Sifiso Mkhasibe says he was often labelled as the "black sheep" of the family and he did not know where to go for help. He was… Read more »
August 02, 2023
South Africa: There Are Paths to Quality Universal Healthcare Besides NHI
One of the most damaging aspects of our public discourse on National Health Insurance (NHI) is the mistaken notion that the only two options are NHI and the status quo. Often… Read more »
July 31, 2023
South Africa: Growing the Beta Variant - Young Scientist Remembers the Day They Danced in the Lab
In a Durban laboratory in 2020, there was dancing and scientists jumping with joy when Dr Sandile Cele realised they had finally successfully "grown" the SARS-CoV-2 Beta variant.… 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 »
August 01, 2023
South Africa: Mixed Responses to Gauteng Health's Latest Security Plans
Following reports of healthcare workers who have been bitten, punched, hit in the face, robbed, assaulted, or even killed in healthcare facilities in Gauteng, the province's health… Read more »
July 26, 2023
Africa: Statin Lowers Cardio Risk in People Living With HIV, Large Study Finds
HIV increases a person's risk of developing cardiovascular disease (CVD), but there are unanswered questions on how to best manage this elevated risk. One such question is whether… Read more »
July 25, 2023
South Africa: HIV Investments Remain No-Brainers, but Some Things Need to Change
Making the case for governments and donors to pump money into the HIV response has become more difficult over the last decade. This is partly a result of the notable successes… 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 »
July 19, 2023
South Africa: In-Depth - How Big a Problem Is TB in SA's Schools?
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 304 000 people in South Africa fell ill with tuberculosis (TB) in 2021. Since only a fraction of people who breathe in TB… Read more »
July 18, 2023
South Africa: In-Depth - a Tale of Two Make-Do Clinics in the Rural Eastern Cape
In 2007 during a two-day imbizo in the Eastern Cape, then-President Thabo Mbeki told the community of Ugie and surrounds in the Joe Gqabi District, "to not wait for the government… Read more »
July 12, 2023
South Africa: In-Depth - Children Are Still Dying of Malnutrition in the Free State
Even in 2023, infants under five years in the Free State are still dying from a lack of healthy food. From April to June this year, 21 children in the province died from severe… Read more »
July 20, 2023
South Africa: Going Viral - Dr Chivaugn Gordon On Medical School With a Difference
With humour and wearing an occasional wig, Dr Chivaugn Gordon teaches medical students about serious women's health issues. During hard lockdown she delighted students at the… Read more »
July 06, 2023
South Africa: Concerns Over Treatment and Care for People With Schizophrenia Not Limited to Public Sector
In response to a question posed in parliament, Minister of Health Dr Joe Phaahla last year disclosed that at the time, South Africa had only 451 public sector psychiatrists and… Read more »
July 04, 2023
South Africa: SA Aids 2023 - New Treatments and Guidelines to Benefit Children, With More Advances On the Horizon
Several sessions at the 11th SA AIDS conference, recently held in Durban, highlighted the worrying fact that key HIV numbers such as treatment coverage are much lower in children… Read more »
July 03, 2023
Africa: Face to Face - 'Fail Your Way to Success', Says Prof Behind Pioneering Drug Discovery Group At UCT
Inside Professor Kelly Chibale's office the bookshelves are packed with awards. On the walls, framed photographs include his class photo at Cambridge University in the United… Read more »
June 30, 2023
South Africa: With the Right Interventions We Can Help Many More Men Start and Stay On HIV Treatment
June is Men's Health Month and while the focus is mostly on men's attitudes about their health, it is also worth reflecting on the health sector's attitudes toward men. Read more »
June 28, 2023
South Africa: HIV Prevention Shots and Vaginal Rings - This Is Why SA Pilots Have Not Yet Started
Last year Spotlight reported that pilot projects testing out a new HIV prevention injection and a vaginal ring in South Africa would start early in 2023. Yet, as delegates gathered… Read more »
June 27, 2023
South Africa: Mpumalanga Health Department Responds to Latest Clinic Monitoring Findings
According to the latest report from community-based clinic monitoring group Ritshidze, users of public sector health facilities in Mpumalanga are experiencing shorter waiting… Read more »