The Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria will start to cut its grant support to South Africa in just two years, with its final grant ending in eight years. Some experts are worried the government isn’t doing enough to plan for it
New research shows a steep decline in adolescent pregnancy rates across all nine provinces from 2021 to 2025, reversing course from previous years. It’s good news, even if it’s not clear why it’s happening
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
In Burkina Faso, more than 70 languages are spoken, armed conflict continues to escalate and half the country’s psychiatrists have left. With few mental health services available, families and traditional healers absorb what the system cannot
Experts say South Africa’s contradictory approach to drugs — treating addiction as both a disease and a crime — is fuelling a worsening crisis in places like Westbury, where illicit drugs plague the community
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
As wars disrupt fuel supplies and health systems, more women are being forced to give birth without timely access to skilled care
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
Norbert Ndjeka was born on World TB Day. Decades later, he would reshape how South Africa treats the deadliest forms of the disease
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. But how best to spend the HIV prevention budget so that the country can drive infections down as fast as possible? We take a look at what the modelling data shows
Six years after Cyclone Idai ripped through Beira, the city’s wounds — physical and psychological — are still raw. As a new storm gathered in the Indian Ocean in February, journalist Sean Christie found a city caught in a permanent state of waiting for the next disaster to hit.
This year on 4th March, the global health community will unite to raise awareness about the fact that there are numerous root causes for obesity. In particular this year, the Foundation wishes to highlight the fact that obesity is also classified as a medical condition. Guided by the World Obesity Federation, using the theme: “8 billion […]
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.
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
As the Earth becomes hotter, we’re seeing more floods and droughts. Flooding can make superbugs spread faster and further. And heat helps germs adapt faster
Manufacturers and industry groups argue that endocrine-disrupting chemicals in menstrual products are present at extremely low levels and do not compromise safety
A pending court complaint alleges bias after the regulator voted to block radio advertisements about the dangers of sugar
Chemicals linked to fertility problems and cancer were detected in all sanitary pads and pantyliners tested
At 33, the retired Constitutional Court justice thought he had, maybe, seven years left. His story traces the arc from certain death because of Aids to a chronic, manageable condition at 73. He asks what happens when the generation who fought for life finally get to grow old
A review of 37 studies found that when people stop taking weight-loss drugs like Ozempic, the weight comes back
After a year of US funding cuts across global public health, including South Africa’s hard-hit HIV programmes, new realities are settling in
A growing body of evidence suggests that unpredictable weather linked to climate change has the potential to injure people’s minds, leading to an increase in the development of common mental disorders such as depression and anxiety
In To Health With It!, Tebogo ‘ProVerb’ Thekisho combines relatable stories with expert guidance on health and wellness
Female migrants cite barriers to accessing local healthcare facilities
We talked to experts in obesity, tobacco, artificial intelligence, HIV, TB and the NHI to find out what we can expect — and what we can’t — this year
The safety and track record of the CircumQ devices has been questioned
The judgment complements a November ruling meant to stop groups such as Operation Dudula from blocking foreign nationals from entering government hospitals and clinics and denying their constitutional right to healthcare
Who should get what slice of the pie once the medicine is available in public clinics? And are numbers alone what would drive decisions?
None of the companies that will be involved have a licence from the inventor of Lenacapavir, Gilead Sciences, to make the jab
The national education policy stresses the need to ensure educators have the training and skills to support kids with disabilities, such as hearing loss. But a 2024 study found teachers did not feel prepared
From porters to engineers, hospital staff navigate chronic underfunding and staffing shortages while maintaining world-class care at one of South Africa’s most storied medical institutions
When first introduced, strict rules on tobacco advertising in South Africa helped cut smoking from 32% to 24% over a decade. But 20 years later, adult smoking prevalence has stagnated at around 20%