Mail & Guardian
Mail & Guardian
Linda Pretorius

Creator

Linda Pretorius

Linda Pretorius is a freelance science writer and editor, focusing on health and science education.

Findings from the survey on obstetric violence show that out of the estimated 1.79-million women who were mistreated, only 34% knew that how they were treated was wrong — and just 7% reported it. Photo: Hannah Barata/Pexels

Childbirth abuse is rife. Why don’t we see it?

A landmark survey reveals that nearly 1.8 million women in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal experienced obstetric violence over the past decade. In response, South Africa's health…

#Aids2026: Bhekisisa analysed SA’s first LEN roll-out data. Here's what it found

South Africa accounts for over half of all lenacapavir (LEN) users in Africa, with health department data revealing 31,297 of the continent's roughly 60,000 users are in the…

#Aids2026: Daily pill. Monthly pill. Six-monthly jab. Why choice matters

For the first time, Merck has granted generic manufacturers, including three African companies, permission to produce an investigational monthly HIV prevention pill, alimatravir,…

Researchers agree that global warming caused by the release of large amounts of greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels like coal and oil can be clearly linked to intense downpours and heavy storms happening more often. (Pexels)

Why storms that used to happen every 50 years are hitting more often

Climate scientists agree that intense downpours and heavy storms will probably happen more often and become more unpredictable. But can every extreme weather event be pinned on…

Experts predict that climate change will lead to extreme weather events like floods, storms, droughts and heatwaves becoming more intense and unpredictable. Photo: Andre Penner/Associated Press)

Is SA making good on its climate promises? Our sums say ‘yes’ — at least so far

With a R3.8 billion boost to help South Africa move away from fossil fuels like oil and coal for producing energy, how well is the country doing on keeping its promise to help…

What’s the best way to spend the HIV prevention budget so that the country can drive infections down as fast as possible? We take a look at what modelling data shows. (Pexels, kaboompics)

180 000 infections in 2024, 47 000 by 2045 — if SA rolls out the twice-a-year HIV prevention jab fast enough

The HIV prevention shot, lenacapavir, will be rolled out at South African clinics within the next couple of months and from 2027, the health department will also buy generics.…

South Africa’s first consignment of lenacapavir (LEN), the twice-yearly anti-HIV injection, arrived at OR Tambo International Airport last week. Photo: Mufid Majnun/Unsplash

SA’s first batch of LEN jabs will arrive in February. Use Bhekisisa’s dashboard to find out who should get them

Who should get what slice of the pie once the medicine is available in public clinics? And are numbers alone what would drive decisions?

Research from the University of the Witwatersrand shows that more than half of the deaths in newborns and about a third in infants were caused by just two types of bacteria. (Aditya Romansa/Unsplash)

Two superbugs causing over half of infections that kill newborns in Soweto and outsmarting treatment

Over the past 10 years, researchers from the University of the Witwatersrand’s vaccines and infectious diseases analytics unit analysed small tissue samples of 1 586 children…

‘Unsupervised, unstructured, non-standardised, unsafe and altogether substandard.’ This is what was said about the care at two public hospitals in the Northern Cape last year. But is the way quality is measured a fair test? (Delwyn Verasamy)

Unsafe and substandard. Is that what public healthcare in SA looks like?

Claims of poor standards at South Africa’s government health facilities are often bandied about — and get hackles raised when the National Health Insurance is mentioned, to boot

How can data help the health department make the most of the R622 million extra it received for South Africa’s HIV treatment programme? (Flickr)

Most people on ARVs stay on them. Does our health system know that?

The health department has R622 million extra to prop up South Africa’s HIV treatment programme in the wake of foreign aid cuts, but it’s only about a fifth of the total gap

How close is South Africa to meeting its HIV treatment goals? We look at the numbers. (NIAID/Wikimedia)

Motsoaledi’s big HIV treatment jump: Is it true?

Last month, the health minister said more than half a million previously diagnosed people with HIV have been started on treatment since the end of February

HIV prevention services have been heavily affected by the pause on the US President’s Emergency Plan for Aids in the country, with remote mobile clinics that served hard-to-reach people now closed. (File photo)
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The proportion of people 50+ with HIV has doubled in 10 years

Today, people over 50 make up the second largest group of South Africa’s HIV-positive population — 20 years ago, they were the smallest proportion

If all of its National Institutes of Health funding falls away, the country could lose 70% of its medical research capacity

The US’s NIH funds R6.65 billion of research in South Africa

If all of its National Institutes of Health funding falls away, the country could lose 70% of its medical research capacity

Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi says medical aids cost too much. Will tax alone be enough to pay for NHI? We look at the numbers. (GCIS)

Is tax alone enough to pay for the National Health Insurance?

The NHI Act says funding healthcare for all should come from tax but economic growth is in a vice and many people are without jobs

Cop29 conference participants are reflected in a puddle as they arrive on day nine at the UNFCCC COP29 Climate Conference on November 20, 2024 in Baku, Azerbaijan. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

How much does public transport save on carbon emissions? We worked it out at COP29

Bhekisisa had a team of four reporters at the climate conference. On average, our journalists walked eight to nine kilometres a day