Health

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

Bringing it home: SA is leading the charge to make anti-HIV jab for Africa 

Bringing it home: SA is leading the charge to make anti-HIV jab for Africa 

South Africa’s National Aids Council, Sanac, has asked local drug companies to submit applications by April 7 to make generic versions of an anti-HIV jab that could end Aids by 2043 in the country. The original version of the once-every-six-months shot, known as lenacapavir, is produced by the US pharmaceutical company, Gilead Sciences. Sanac will submit a shortlist of successful applicants, who met the requirements of the Council’s expression of interest call, to Gilead by July.

No need for pad panic, experts say

No need for pad panic, experts say

Together with sanitary pad and pantyliner manufacturers, specialists say there is no evidence of a health risk even though a UFS study has found they contain hormone-disrupting chemicals