Health

The HIV prevention jab scientists hoped for is finally here. Now comes the hard part

The HIV prevention jab scientists hoped for is finally here. Now comes the hard part

On 5 June, South Africa is about to begin one of its most important HIV prevention drives in decades. The country will start to roll out an HIV prevention injection that has to be taken only twice a year. Will the launch become more than a symbolic event that shows what serious HIV prevention leadership looks like at a time when donor funding is shrinking and global uncertainty is growing?

Somebody call Hasina

Amid the mostly depressing HIV headlines of recent times, concerned as they mainly are with the deadly impacts of donor defunding, South Africa’s imminent roll-out of a twice-yearly HIV prevention injection called lenacapavir (LEN) has been a spot of bright light.  Staff in 360 healthcare facilities spread across the country stand trained and ready to […]

Hantavirus strain confirmed

Hantavirus strain confirmed

The outbreak has entered a more serious phase after authorities confirmed that two cases detected in SA involve the Andes variant

Nine lessons to make SA’s anti-HIV jab rollout work  

Nine lessons to make SA’s anti-HIV jab rollout work  

In less than a month, South Africa will start rolling out the most potent HIV prevention medication the world has seen. But that alone doesn’t guarantee that HIV-negative people who need this twice-a-year injection — called lenacapavir — will use it

Our anti-HIV jab will be rolled out in six weeks. But funding cuts hollowed out the system needed to deliver it

Our anti-HIV jab will be rolled out in six weeks. But funding cuts hollowed out the system needed to deliver it

The uptake of the once-every-six-month HIV prevention jab lenacapavir (LEN) in South Africa will be heavily affected by the Trump administration’s funding cuts to the country, a new report has found. Researchers conducted in-depth interviews with doctors, nurses, peer counsellors, transgender and young people, sex workers, gay and bisexual men and government health workers with personal experience of the funding cuts in Cape Town and Johannesburg

Our LEN is here; Now for quality checks in Ireland

Our LEN is here; Now for quality checks in Ireland

SA’s first consignment of the twice-a-year anti-HIV injection, lenacapavir — 37 920 doses — arrived last week at OR Tambo Airport via two shipments from Dublin. The batches reached the country six weeks later than expected. The delay of the shipment meant the health department couldn’t start its roll-out on April 1, as it had originally planned, and had to postpone it to mid to late May

Can talks save South Africa’s NHI from a courtroom war?

Can talks save South Africa’s NHI from a courtroom war?

Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has met the South African Medical Association — one of the organisations taking him to court about the National Health Insurance Act — to talk about “things we have in common”. President Cyril Ramaphosa is planning to meet Business Unity South Africa again after an initial meeting in 2024, during which they discussed alternatives to the NHI