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Q&A Sessions: The accidental vaccinologist

Health Athandiwe Saba - 5 Sep 2020

Athandiwe Saba talks to Professor Shabir Madhi, the man at the helm of South Africa’s Covid vaccine trials

Covid-19 sets HIV treatment and testing back

Coronavirus Pontsho Pilane - 4 Sep 2020

Fewer people are getting tested for HIV than last year. People are also battling to access chronic medication. These are some of the lasting effects of the lockdown and the coronavirus pandemic

‘Jobs vs health’: What will shape public-health policies after Covid-19?

Coronavirus Yandisa Ngqangashe - 31 Aug 2020

Comorbidities, particularly noncommunicable diseases have been put into the spotlight during the Covid-19 pandemic. How we approach preventing NCDs in the future will depend on how the effects of the coronavirus are framed

Decide now whether you’d like life support

Coronavirus Simon Delaney - 25 Aug 2020

A living will — drawn up when you have your full wits about you — can speak when you cannot

Othering fatness: Medical professionals’ negative bias towards fat people jeopardises the quality of care

Health Pontsho Pilane - 21 Aug 2020

Pontsho Pilane speaks to three women who have found it difficult to access quality healthcare because of medical professionals’ weight bias

Covid-19 puts Sierra Leone’s expectant mothers at further risk

Africa Abdul S Brima - 20 Aug 2020

Almost 70% of the world’s maternal deaths happen in Africa. Now there’s coronavirus — and with poor prenatal and postnatal care on the continent, expectant mothers and children under five are even more vulnerable.

Behind the masks: Meet the people who keep Gauteng’s Covid-19 field hospital going

Coronavirus James Oatway & Joan Van Dyk - 19 Aug 2020

Get to know the cleaners, plumbers and therapists who work at the Nasrec field hospital. Plus, find out what happens to newspapers, food and medical equipment used at the Covid-19 facility

Pandemic profiteering: Activists sound the alarm over Big Pharma

Coronavirus Pontsho Pilane - 15 Aug 2020

Big Pharma is already showing signs of putting revenue ahead of saving lives in the race to find a Covid-19 vaccine, according to experts

Health workers afraid of passing Covid to family

Coronavirus Pontsho Pilane - 6 Aug 2020

While nurses bear the brunt of the most psychologically affected of health workers, most are concerned about access to protective supplies

Covid-19 positive health workers accused of ‘carelessness’

Coronavirus Sarah Smit - 1 Aug 2020

Mediclinic workers say the company is not taking responsibility for a Covid-19 outbreak at a Pretoria hospital

From ‘academic boys’ to ‘sex-jaros’: What it means to be a black boy in a South African township

Health Malose Langa - 28 Jul 2020

Toxic masculinities help drive everything from HIV infection rates to gender-based violence. But before we ask, what does it mean to be a ‘man’ in South Africa, should we wonder what it’s like to be a boy?

Unpacking the myths and misunderstandings in the Covid-19 vacuum

Health Philip Machanick - 12 Jul 2020

The basics of epidemiology will help explain why some of the believable but incorrect propositions about the pandemic are wrong.

Locally built ventilators ready in two weeks as Covid cases rise

Coronavirus Athandiwe Saba - 7 Jul 2020

The companies making the non-invasive devices, which will create jobs and are cheaper than other types, include car and diving manufacturers

Gauteng health MEC Bandile Masuku’s first rule: Don’t panic

Coronavirus Sarah Smit - 2 Jul 2020

As Gauteng braces for its Covid-19 peak, the province’s MEC for health, Bandile Masuku, is putting his training to the test as he leads efforts to tackle the impending public health crisis

This simple model shows the importance of wearing masks and social distancing

Coronavirus Jeyaraj Vadiveloo - 29 Jun 2020

This simple actuarial model uses general guidelines, rather than data and assumptions about Covid-19 specifically, to simulate the effect of safety protocols

Q&A: 9 things to know about Africa’s first Covid-19 vaccine trial

Coronavirus Mia Malan - 24 Jun 2020

In about a year we’re likely to know if a candidate vaccine we’re beginning to test this week is effective against a virus that has devastated our country

Transgender rights activists champion telemedicine

Coronavirus Carl Collison - 14 Jun 2020

Little or no access to certain health treatments is nothing new for trans people. But Covid-19 has made it worse, they say, and now is the ideal time to reconsider telemedicine

Why the public-private partnership to build Lesotho’s only specialist hospital floundered

Health Pascalinah Kabi - 13 May 2020

It was hailed as a revolution in private investment in healthcare in Africa, but almost a decade after it was opened, Lesotho’s only specialist hospital takes up almost a third of the country’s entire health budget. Now, we may finally know why

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