July 08, 2022
South Africa: Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services in Crisis, Report Finds
Plans are underway for a study to determine South Africa's public mental health system's ability to cater for the needs of children and adolescents with mental health problems.… Read more »
July 05, 2022
South Africa: Covid-19 Blamed for Shortcomings of 'Ideal Clinics' in Free State
On 23 June, the Free State Department of Health reportedly opened the "first municipal clinic in South Africa which solely operate on solar power and [that] has two 2500 litre each… Read more »
July 04, 2022
South Africa: Are Youth-Only Clinics the Answer to Better Healthcare for Young People?
Getting young people to access healthcare services in the public sector is often an uphill battle. One solution is to have special clinics catering just for the youth. Read more »
July 01, 2022
South Africa: Open Letter - Dr Mokgethi, You Must Act to Address Gauteng's Oncology Challenges
Below is an open letter by Warren Potter to Gauteng Health MEC Dr Nomathemba Mokgethi. Potter's partner has been affected by the ongoing challenges with radiation oncology in… Read more »
June 30, 2022
South Africa: Part 2 - How Can We Reduce Incidence of Cerebral Palsy in SA?
It is estimated that around half of medical negligence claims against the South African government are cerebral palsy-type claims. Apart from the direct impact on infants and… Read more »
June 29, 2022
South Africa: In-Depth - Cerebral Palsy in SA - Part 1
It is estimated that around half of medical negligence claims against government are for cerebral palsy-type claims. Apart from the direct impact on infants and families, cerebral… Read more »
June 28, 2022
South Africa: Report Finds Some Improvement At Mpumalanga Clinics, but Serious Challenges Remain
A year after the first clinic monitoring report highlighted several challenges in some Mpumalanga clinics, some patients still say they sometimes spend over four hours waiting to… Read more »
June 27, 2022
South Africa: Respiratory Virus That Threatens Infants Circulating Again in 2022
According to the United States National Institutes of Health, Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) is estimated to affect 64 million people around the world every year and claim… Read more »
June 24, 2022
South Africa: Monkeypox - Our Top 10 Questions Answered
On Thursday morning Minister of Health Dr Joe Phaahla announced that a 30-year-old man from Gauteng with no recent travel history had become the first person in South Africa to be… Read more »
June 22, 2022
South Africa: Shorter, Simpler Dr-TB Regimen Expected Later This Year
Work is underway in South Africa to amend the country's national guidelines for drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB) to provide a shorter, six-month, all-oral regimen as a new… Read more »
June 20, 2022
South Africa: Unacceptably Long Wait for Surgery in Free State, Healthcare Workers and Patients Say
Surgical waiting lists are not unexpected in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, but there are indications that the situation is particularly acute in the Free State, and… Read more »
June 15, 2022
South Africa: North West Health - the Hits and Misses of the Section 100 Intervention
It has been almost four years since the North West Department of Health was put under administration in 2018, but some healthcare users in North West say improvement in health… Read more »
June 14, 2022
South Africa: Covid-19 - What Role for Masks, Sanitising, and Ventilation in the New Normal?
South Africa's fifth wave of COVID-19 infections was comparatively small and is already abating. As with the fourth wave, infection was much less likely to result in… Read more »
June 13, 2022
South Africa: Covid-19 - Death Risk in SA Differed Depending On Where People Were Hospitalised
The risk of a hospitalised person dying from COVID-19 in the Eastern Cape was almost double (1.9 times) the risk of someone dying of the disease in the Western Cape. In the largely… Read more »
June 10, 2022
South Africa: NHI Lawmakers - Interview With FF Plus MP Philip Van Staden
Philip van Staden does not mince his words. As the Freedom Front Plus' lone MP in Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Health, he is known to be vocal, often pelting the health… Read more »
June 08, 2022
South Africa: Positive Signs for New TB Testing Strategy
Under a new tuberculosis (TB) diagnosis strategy, people considered to be at high risk of TB are offered molecular TB tests, even if they do not have any symptoms. A landmark study… 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 06, 2022
Africa: Interview - "Guys, I Think That's a New Variant" - De Oliveira Reflects On Two Years Chasing the Virus
South African bioinformatics expert Professor Tulio de Oliveira is still deciding whether to travel to New York City next month to accept his Time Magazine 100 most influential… 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 31, 2022
South Africa: Over 3 million People On New HIV Drug, but Not All Smooth Sailing
The introduction of the antiretroviral drug dolutegravir arguably represents the biggest advance in HIV treatment in the last decade. Dolutegravir is highly effective at… Read more »
May 30, 2022
South Africa: Lives Depend On SA Finding More Stem Cell Donors
Early in 2017, Unathi Mtengwane from Zeerust in the North West started experiencing severe fatigue. Initially, he thought it was just due to the daily pressures of life. Read more »
May 27, 2022
South Africa: Open Letter - Dear Minister Phaahla, the 'Medical Tourist Mom' Is Little More Than a Convenient Myth
Dear Health Minister Dr Joe Phaahla, Read more »
May 26, 2022
South Africa: Gauteng Health in Flames - Making It Through the Fires and Fumbles of SA's Richest Province
The below talk was delivered by Sasha Stevenson on 25 May 2022 as part of a lecture series hosted by the Steve Biko Centre for Bioethics at Wits University. Stevenson is the head… Read more »
May 25, 2022
South Africa: In-Depth - How and Why Pain Management for Children Is Falling Short in SA
When healthcare experts from the public and private sectors were asked in a survey how effective they thought infant and children's pain are assessed where they work, 84% answered… Read more »
May 24, 2022
South Africa: Gauteng Health - Has a Damning Public Protector Report Had Any Impact?
After a visit to several hospitals in Gauteng in 2020, the Public Protector (PP) concluded that the Gauteng health department has failed to ensure appropriate conditions for the… Read more »