Public Health
latest news & developments
Before & After: Children Draw Gaza
Through art and psychosocial sessions run by Doctors Without Borders, children in Gaza share moving drawings depicting their lives before and after prolonged conflict and…
Climate change puts SA’s young and old at greater risk from extreme heat
The 2026 Lancet Countdown report warns that escalating climate change poses an immediate threat to human survival, with extreme heat and drought hitting vulnerable populations in…
No safe water, no other choice in Bronkhorstspruit
Over 800 people have fallen ill in Bronkhorstspruit after the local water treatment plant supplied unchlorinated water for three weeks, forcing desperate residents to collect…
Water is a basic right – vote to defend it
Failing municipal infrastructure and contaminated taps are turning South Africa's water crisis into a violation of basic human rights. As local elections approach, voters must…
Meet the ‘matriarch of pain’ who wants to change how SA treats patients
Pain is the leading reason people seek medical care, yet chronic pain remains widely misunderstood and mistreated. Physiotherapist and researcher Professor Romy Parker has spent…
Desmond D’Sa, fearless champion of environmental justice, dies in crash
Acclaimed environmental justice activist and Goldman Environmental Prize winner Desmond D’Sa has died in a car crash alongside his son and sister-in-law, sparking widespread…
Without floods, a quarter fewer Africans in this study would have mental health problems
Living through natural disasters like floods leaves deep psychological scars that can last for years. A study across four African countries reveals the neglected mental health…
Thirty years later: The struggle for intersex children’s bodily autonomy continues
Decades after activists first protested against medically unnecessary cosmetic surgeries on infants, the South African Human Rights Commission is championing bodily autonomy and…
Period poverty is keeping South African girls out of the classroom
Lack of access to sanitary products forces many South African girls to miss school out of fear and embarrassment. In Hammanskraal, the TS Pad a Girl Foundation is stepping up to…
Bronkhorstspruit crisis highlights SA’s water service failures
The SAHRC and Wits have launched the Water Rights Tracker, revealing that 107 of South Africa's 144 water services authorities are in a poor or critical state as infrastructure…
Leadership lessons from an NGO working with seriously ill children
Reach For A Dream CEO Julia Sotirianakos reflects on how working with seriously ill children reshaped her understanding of courage, resilience, and true leadership.
Botswana nominates Armenian doctor to lead WHO
Botswana has officially entered the race for the leadership of the World Health Organisation by nominating Armenian paediatric oncologist Dr Gevorg Tamamyan to succeed Dr Tedros…
Toxic taps expose Tshwane’s deadly water failures
More than 400 people, mostly young children, fell ill after the City of Tshwane supplied unchlorinated tap water to Bronkhorstspruit for three weeks without alerting residents,…
Municipalities must pay for water failures
After supplying unchlorinated tap water for weeks in Bronkhorstspruit, leading to hundreds of gastrointestinal illness cases, the City of Tshwane must face accountability for its…
Black market weight-loss drug sellers are moving fast. SA’s regulators are struggling to keep up
As the demand for weight-loss injections surges, compounded copycats and unlicensed drugs like retatrutide are flooding South Africa's market. Regulators are racing to introduce…