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 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 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 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 17, 2023
South Africa: Over 4.7 Million People Placed On New HIV Medicine Over Four Years
In what is likely one of the largest treatment rollouts in South African history, well over four million people living with HIV have started taking the antiretroviral dolutegravir… Read more »
July 13, 2023
South Africa: Breakthrough Hepatitis C Cures Slowly Becoming More Widely Available
Almost a decade after they were first proven to be safe and highly effective, game-changing medicines to cure hepatitis C are finally becoming more widely available in South… 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 11, 2023
South Africa: Analysis - Will New Leadership Signal a New Dawn At the Health Professions Council?
Eleven registrars in 11 years with Dr Magome Masike becoming the latest to take up the hot seat at the troubled Health Professions Council. He does not shy away from this… Read more »
July 10, 2023
South Africa: Hospital Histories - Valkenberg Today... and 130 Years Ago
In Cape Town between the Liesbeek and Black Rivers, Valkenberg Psychiatric Hospital's original building - dating from around 1770 - cuts an imposing silhouette. One of the area's… 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 05, 2023
South Africa: #WhatItsLike - Top Forensic Pathologist On His Career At the Autopsy Table
Warning: This article contains references to suicide and graphic descriptions of dead bodies that some readers may find upsetting. 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 29, 2023
South Africa: Funding Secured for Massive TB Vaccine Trial
A massive and much-anticipated phase 3 trial of an experimental tuberculosis (TB) vaccine is set to proceed after funding for it has been secured from two large philanthropies.… 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 »
June 23, 2023
South Africa: Taking a Spoon to a Knife Fight - Is SA Ready for Rising Obesity Rates?
Experts describe rising obesity rates in South Africa as an "urgent crisis", "a tsunami" - even an "epidemic" - that is costing lives, not to mention billions of rands. Tackling… 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 »
June 21, 2023
South Africa: Sobering Moments At Opening of SA Aids Conference
Amid the festivities during the opening ceremony of the 11th SA AIDS Conference in Durban on Tuesday, there were also several sobering moments. Chief among these was when co-chair… Read more »
June 20, 2023
South Africa: In-Depth - Why Is the Northern Cape Missing Its TB Targets?
Albert Molutsi is a tuberculosis (TB) survivor who lives in Gasehunelo in the predominantly rural JT Gaetsewe District in the Northern Cape. He tells Spotlight he depends on a… Read more »
June 19, 2023
South Africa: Can South Africa Meet Diabetes Targets, and Would We Know If We Did?
South Africa has the highest prevalence of diabetes in Africa, according to the International Diabetes Federation (IDF). In 2021, an estimated one in nine adults in the country had… Read more »