June 24
South Africa: From Spider-Man to Mandela, the Many Influences in Professor Salim Abdool Karim's Remarkable Scientific Career
To Professor Salim Abdool Karim, excellence should be the only standard. In science, he says he is inspired by imaginative thinking such as that of American comic publisher Stan… Read more »
June 11
South Africa: Inside the Box With Dr Andy Gray | How Should the Compounding of Medicines Be Regulated?
The South African Health Products Regulatory Authority, with the South African Pharmacy Council, recently announced what was described as a crackdown on a compounding pharmacy.… Read more »
June 10
South Africa: Did US Aid Cuts Break Precisely the Things We Need Most for the Lenacapavir Rollout?
With a new six-monthly injection, South Africa last week launched the most promising new HIV prevention tool in years, but much of the infrastructure that made HIV prevention… Read more »
June 08
Africa: Abba Mallum - the Nigerian Oncologist Helping to Fight Cancer in KZN and Across Africa
Propelled by an early vision to help others, Dr Abba Mallum tells Spotlight about his roots in Borno State, about opportunities in Stellenbosch and Durban, and about his pioneering… Read more »
June 03
South Africa: All You Need to Know About the Jab That Could Dramatically Reduce New HIV Infections in SA
On June 5, 2026, an HIV prevention injection will for the first time become available at some of South Africa's public sector clinics. In this Spotlight special briefing, we pull… Read more »
June 02
South Africa: Why Pharmacists Still Can't Prescribe Arvs, Months After Court Gave the Green Light
A Supreme Court of Appeal ruling in October 2025 cleared the way for specially trained and permitted pharmacists to dispense antiretroviral medicines without a doctor's script.… Read more »
June 01
South Africa: The Evolution of HIV Treatment - From Multi-Pill Regimens to Better, Single Pill Combos
HIV treatment has been improved and simplified significantly over the years yet a small fraction of people living with HIV still take complex multi-pill regimens. Spotlight reports… Read more »
May 29
South Africa: SA Cannot End TB While Tobacco and Nicotine Addiction Go Unchecked
If South Africa is serious about ending TB, protecting people living with HIV, and safeguarding the next generation from nicotine addiction, Parliament must finally pass the… Read more »
May 28
South Africa: The Children's Beachfront Hospital the Apartheid Govt Tried to Kill Is Reclaiming Its Heartbeat
Shut down by the apartheid government for providing care to child patients of all races, Durban's Addington Children's Hospital is well on its way from a ghostly ruin into a… Read more »
May 27
South Africa: Switch to Six-Month ARV Supplies Running Behind Schedule
By March 2027, the health department aims to have 1.5 million people living with HIV on a new programme where they can get a six-month supply of antiretroviral medicines at a time.… Read more »
May 25
South Africa: 'Small Things, Great Love' - the Durban Safe House Where Babies Wait for a Home
Spotlight meets the team assisting despairing mums in Durban, while raising babies and toddlers in a happy temporary home, complete with excursions to Spur. Read more »
May 22
South Africa: South Africa's Dangerous Mix of Fake Medicines and Bogus Doctors
Fake and substandard medicines, along with bogus healthcare practitioners, pose a growing threat to patient safety in South Africa. Read more »
May 20
South Africa: Fake Medicines - How Regulators Are Trying to Fix the Problem in SA
From unregulated weight loss injections to unsafe pain tablets, substandard and falsified medical products pose a threat to the health of people. Spotlight reports on how… Read more »
May 19
South Africa: The Thursday Evening Clinics Changing Lives in Nkqubela
Seasonal workers in Robertson often struggle to get to the clinic to access basic healthcare during the day, so community health workers in Langeberg have set up mobile clinics to… Read more »
May 15
South Africa: South Africa's ARV Programme Hardly Grew in 2025, According to Latest Estimates
The number of people in South Africa on antiretroviral treatment remained roughly unchanged from 2024 to 2025, according to just-published estimates from the leading mathematical… Read more »
May 11
South Africa: Along Dusty Roads in KZN, a Push for a Groundbreaking HIV Prevention Jab Takes Shape
Along dusty roads in northern KwaZulu-Natal, Spotlight speaks to youth leaders, community mentors and leading scientists who are collaborating to bring a groundbreaking HIV… Read more »
May 05
South Africa: Cape Town's Unique Kidney Clinic Is Keeping Youngsters Alive
Young people with kidney disease in South Africa often fall into the gap between the paediatric and adult healthcare systems. One innovative clinic in Cape Town is offering a… Read more »
April 30
South Africa: It Is Time for South Africa to Get Serious About the Link Between Substance Abuse and Mental Health
Substance abuse is both a symptom and a consequence of untreated mental illness, and government needs to urgently step in to confront this dangerous overlap, argues Gauta Mashego… Read more »
April 29
South Africa: Where Children Die | the Bells Know That Loving Comes With Loss and They Open Their Hearts Again and Again
Fifteen years ago, when Christoff and Tarryn Bell fell in love with a severely ill baby in a KwaZulu-Natal orphanage, they had no idea this would kickstart a journey which would… Read more »
April 28
South Africa: Where Children Die - The Long Search for Care in Rural KZN
When Thokozile Ndlovu found out that her baby had a life-limiting illness, she went from pillar to post looking for medical help. Her journey took her to one of the only places… Read more »
April 23
South Africa: Participatory Democracy - What Will Be On the Line When the Country's Highest Court Turns to NHI in May?
From 5-7 May, the Constitutional Court will hear two of the multiple challenges to the NHI Act. Sasha Stevenson, Executive Director of SECTION27, considers what will be on the line… Read more »
April 21
South Africa: How Far Will 800 New Posts Take Western Cape Health?
The Western Cape health department is ramping up its workforce with 800 new frontline posts. After years of austerity and with long lists of vacancies, questions now turn to how… Read more »
April 16
South Africa: 'I'm Serving My People' - the Pastor Running a Rural Clinic That Treats More Than Illness
Growing up as the son of a single mother in the rural community of Ensingweni in KwaZulu-Natal, Bukhosi Mdletshe encountered the warm embrace of his community, including some key… Read more »
April 15
South Africa: SAMRC Rolls Out Rescue Grants - What Next for Research Projects Hit By Us Funding Cuts?
Cuts in United States funding for global health research over the past year dealt a heavy blow to South Africa's health research ecosystem, which has historically been heavily… Read more »
April 13
South Africa: 'When Other Kids Were Playing With Dolls, I Was Playing Being a Doctor', Says SA's New HIV and TB Czar
Spotlight meets South Africa's recently appointed Deputy Director-General for HIV, AIDS, TB and sexually transmitted infections, discussing the latest HIV prevention medicines, her… Read more »
