Mail & Guardian
Mail & Guardian
Tian Johnson

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Tian Johnson

Biography coming soon. Search for author on Twitter

AIDS

Dangerous fantasy: US ambassador Dybul said SA was ready to transition off Pepfar. It wasn’t

Weeks later, thousands of health workers are unemployed, HIV services are collapsing and the government hasn’t filled the gap. This isn’t transition, it’s unraveling in real time

  • Tian Johnson
4 min read
When courts dismiss violence on the basis of occupation, the message is clear: sex workers’ lives matter less.
COURTS

Amid all the talk about preventing gender-based violence, sex workers are ignored

Blurb online What makes sex work dangerous are the laws, policies and attitudes that surround it

  • Tian Johnson
5 min read
Vaccines are not just medicine. They are mirrors. They show us who we are, what we value and whose lives we’re willing to protect.
AFRICAN VACCINATION

Vaccines: The US is endangering children while Africa leads the way

Countries on the continent are not waiting to be saved, they are paving the way with community-led, astute, innovative and independent immunisation programmes

  • Tian Johnson
11 min read
HIV treatment has, for the first time, been made in Africa.
AFRICAN ECONOMY

The Global Fund has just made history – now it must start a revolution

Africa’s first locally made HIV treatment is more than a milestone, it’s a political, economic and moral turning point in the fight for health sovereignty

  • Tian Johnson
6 min read
Health workers in Africa warn of communities pushed to the edge by the intersection of collapsing ecosystems and under-resourced health systems. Photo: Reuters
AFRICA

Indigenous knowledge is crucial in Africa’s climate and health fight

The climate crisis is fuelling illnesses such as malaria, cholera and dengue, causing food insecurity, malnutrition, miscarriages, heart ailments and mental health problems

  • Tian Johnson
6 min read
African health systems have long been undermined by debt and political neglect.
ABUJA DECLARATION

The cost of neglect: Debt’s toll on African health systems

The US withdrawal will reveal the underlying truth: African health systems have long been undermined by debt and political neglect.

  • Tian Johnson
6 min read
Health Minister Aaron Motsoaldi. (Gallo)
AARON MOTSOALDI

Does Motsoaledi know austerity doesn’t absolve him of delivering health care?

Tight public purse strings inevitably causes greater overall inequality

  • Tian Johnson
5 min read
The Botswana Network on Ethics, Law and HIV/Aids says the crisis is not an isolated supply-chain issue but a ‘systemic failure’ that demands urgent government intervention
AIDS

What researchers learnt from five baby boys in KwaZulu-Natal about an HIV cure

A groundbreaking study published in Nature Medicine gives insight into what an HIV cure could look like during infancy

  • Tian Johnson
10 min read
Six generic drug companies have signed voluntary licensing deals to make the HIV prevention injection lenacapavir, royalty free, for 120 low-income countries where the burden is high. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
OPINION

Why Gilead’s ‘generosity’ on HIV jab belies a betrayal

The old trick shows that Big Pharma has more interest in making money than in saving lives

  • Tian Johnson
3 min read
Peking: A woman in a blue coat takes a throat swab from a woman for a Covid-19 test. Before the People’s Congress in China, participating media representatives had to have a Covid test. (Photo by Johannes Neudecker/picture alliance via Getty Images)
CHINESE VACCINES

Global health equity undermined by US propaganda against Chinese Covid-19 vaccines

Six months before the first jabs arrived, an online survey in January of 2021 showed that nearly 60% of the 7 193 respondents were confident in a Covid-19 vaccine made in the US…

  • Tian Johnson
6 min read
The Global North sent vaccines to Africa last. (Photo by RAJESH JANTILAL/AFP via Getty Images)
PANDEMIC ACCORD

Africa can’t let rich countries forget what they did to us in Covid

There is some reason to celebrate the latest version of the draft Pandemic Accord, a deal drawn up to prevent a repeat of Covid’s worst effects. But it’s still too soon to look…

  • Tian Johnson
4 min read
Internal condoms not only offer protection, they increase the user’s control and the rings tickle the clitoris and penis.
EXTERNAL CONDOM

A female condom can take sexual pleasure to new heights

Internal condoms not only offer protection, they increase the user’s control and the rings tickle the clitoris and penis

  • Tian Johnson
  • Pontsho Pilane
  • Anna Matendawafa
  • Mamello Sejake
7 min read
A protester holds an anti-vaccination placard outside Downing Street during the anti-lockdown rally in London. Anti-lockdown, anti-vaccine and anti-mask protesters gathered outside the Houses of Parliament and Downing Street as the government announced that lifting further COVID-19 restrictions will be delayed until July 19th. (Photo by Vuk Valcic/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
COVID 19

Vaccine hesitancy or systemic racism

Minority communities and developing-country populations may approach health services cautiously – and with good reason, given the medical profession’s history of inhumanity. But,…

  • Tian Johnson
  • Stephaun E Wallace
  • Maaza Seyoum
4 min read
Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng.
ANTIVAXXERS

What to do about leaders spouting vaccine misinformation

Refuting lies about vaccines from people in leadership positions may be less about changing their minds and more about protecting those listening

  • Tian Johnson
7 min read
Winnie Madikizela-Mandela was a lifelong revolutionary and dedicated member of the ANC
FEMALE CONDOMS

Did government waste R127-million on a condom no one wanted?

Activists warn new data shows government may have invested millions into the wrong female condom and may be on the verge of doing it again.

  • Tian Johnson
9 min read