South Africa: MTN Temporarily Pulled Plug On Eastern Cape Health Due to Non-Payment

In August, telecommunications company MTN joined the list of service providers who have temporarily withdrawn services because the Eastern Cape Department of Health failed to pay… Read more »

Africa: Women in Health - Vaccine Safety Prof On Her Passion for Making a Difference

Professor Johanna Catharina Meyer, a pharmacist turned academic and then vaccine expert and advocate, lives her life with many mottos - her main one being - "life is an echo, what… Read more »

South Africa: Breastfeeding While Hungry - Is Enough Being Done to Support Mothers in the Free State?

Earlier this month, from 1 to 7 August, the world celebrated breastfeeding week under the theme - "Enabling breastfeeding: making a difference for working parents". This global… Read more »

South Africa: Mental Health Needs of GBV Survivors Are Not Being Met - What to Do?

A year or so ago, a young woman arrived at the St Anne's Homes Women's Shelter in Woodstock, Cape Town, so traumatised after a brutal sexual assault that she wept, alone, in her… Read more »

South Africa: Calls Mount to Act Against Senior Northern Cape Health Officials Implicated in Alleged PPE Corruption

The head of health in the Northern Cape  Dr Dion Theys - appeared in the Kimberly Magistrate’s Court on Monday. Read more »

South Africa: We Are Short-Changing Women With Budget Cuts, Corruption, and Underspending in Health

It is often said that when you educate a girl; you educate a nation. The same rings true for investing in women's health, which ultimately benefits our entire country. The World… Read more »

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 »

Africa: A New African HIV Control Working Group to Propel African Voices in the Global HIV Response

The response to the HIV epidemic is more than 40 years old. The African continent has been the most affected with millions of people over the years having battled HIV-associated… Read more »

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 »

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 »

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 »

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 »

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 »

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 »

South Africa: What Climate Change Might Mean for Malaria in South Africa

Malaria-carrying mosquitoes will, and are already moving to new habitats as the earth warms up due to climate change. They are expected to breed faster and bite more often. As a… Read more »

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 »

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 »

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 »

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 »

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 »

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 »

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 »

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 »

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 »

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 »