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The refusal to allow the cruise ship to dock in Cape Verde is an expression of the post-Covid-19 post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) from which the world suffers. Photo: Cruisemapper

A cruise ship, hantavirus and global PTSD

The memory of the Covid-19 shock shapes how governments and publics react to any new outbreak with even a hint of international spread

Norbert Ndjeka was born on World TB Day. Decades later, he would reshape how South Africa treats the deadliest forms of the disease. (Supplied)

How a boy born on World TB Day helped turn the tide on SA’s deadliest TB

Norbert Ndjeka was born on World TB Day. Decades later, he would reshape how South Africa treats the deadliest forms of the disease

Superbugs are a big public health issue. So is climate change. Put the two together and the problem becomes even bigger. (Dylan Bush)
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Superbugs plus climate change equals double trouble. Here’s why

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

Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Blade Nzimande, speaking at the 4th International Conference on Public Health in Africa (CPHIA 2025), hailed a new pan-African plan to boost regional manufacturing of vaccines and other drugs as a “truly historic development”.
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‘Turn crisis into opportunity,’ say African health leaders

Calls mount for African solutions to respond to the vaccine cuts and the need for a broad system-wide approach to vaccine production in Africa, and for innovative financing for…

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (on screen), director general of the World Health Organisation, delivers a message to the multi-stakeholders hearing on the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases and the promotion of mental health and wellbeing. Photo: UN/Loey Felipe

The UN had a plan to fight deadly lifestyle diseases. Industry pressure killed most of it

At the UN General Assembly high-level meeting in New York next week, South Africa is expected to join other countries in signing a watered down declaration meant to curb diseases…

A throat ulcer. Bloody urine. A sick baby. That’s what smokers in other countries see. In South Africa? For now, it’s a tiny black box. Photo: Canva

If a cigarette box isn’t disgusting, it’s not doing its job

A throat ulcer. Bloody urine. A sick baby. That’s what smokers in other countries see. In South Africa? For now, it’s a tiny black box

From the hospital to the lab: How we reported the snakebite scandal

You might think of snakebite as a niche issue rather than a devastating one. But it is thought to kill somewhere between 80,000 and 140,000 people a year.

The African Snakebite Institution estimates that more than 4 000 people are bitten by snakes annually although only a quarter of them are admitted to hospital. Only 10% of those require antivenom treatment.
 (Photo by Kemal Karagoz/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

SA Vaccine Producers face delays in snakebite antivenom production

About 4 000 people are bitten by snakes annually but only a quarter of those being admitted to hospital and only 10% require antivenom

South African healthcare workers say the country’s regulations stop them from finding alternative, more climate-friendly ways of running hospitals and dealing with waste. (Canva)

Waste, food and power: How hospitals fuel climate change

Almost 5% of the world’s carbon emissions come from the healthcare sector. Rethinking how hospitals run can get this down. But healthcare workers say regulations stop them from…

Practitioners will have to pay registration fees to the council every year and show proof of being appropriately trained for the type of service they offer. (Photo supplied)

By 2025, sangomas will have to be registered to practise

The health department says new regulations likely to come into force early next year are a step towards getting Western and traditional medicine to work together

A new proposal that aims to get more women to breastfeed says this could cut back the greenhouse gas emissions and get countries that produce the bulk of emissions to pay for it

How breast milk can help fight climate change

A new proposal that aims to get more women to breastfeed says this could cut back the greenhouse gas emissions and get countries that produce the bulk of emissions to pay for it

By 9 September, South Africa had 25 laboratory-confirmed mpox cases in three provinces (Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape), with three people dying from the virus. (Berkay Ataseven, iStock)
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No mpox jabs for SA yet — but WHO and Africa CDC will help to fight the outbreak

Health authorities say vaccines will mostly be donated, or, when available, be bought via negotiated deals with drugmakers, but with different budgets

Indiscriminate: A technician in Madrid with monkeypox samples. Anybody can acquire the virus if they have had close contact with an infected person. Photo: Pedro Blazquez Dominguez/Getty Images

Mpox declaration marks a key shift in power for Africa

The continent asked for more say in global health decisions after Covid. It now has that. The mpox declaration is a test of this new power

The health department says the country still has has enough vaccines based on the number of active cases. (Photo by: NIH-NIAID/IMAGE POINT FR/BSIP/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Government says mpox is under control but cites Covid-19 pandemic in urging caution

President Cyril Ramaphosa said it was about the rapid spread of the disease across the continent, which reflected a ‘concerning shift in the epidemiological pattern’

Mpox has been declared a public health emergency by the ACDC. (Photo via Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images)

South Africa’s health department urges vigilance as mpox is declared a continental public health emergency

The African Centres for Disease Control said so far in 2024, 13 countries had confirmed 2 863 cases and 517 deaths from the viral disease

Protesters get arrested for refusing to wear face masks  at the Worldwide Rally For Freedom at Muizenberg Surfers Corner on November 20, 2021 in Cape Town, South Africa.(Photo by Brenton Geach/Gallo Images via Getty Images)

Pandemic preparations are unhealthy

A proposed treaty and law changes would compromise national and health sovereignty

South Africa promised to make laws that will clamp down on advertising of tobacco products to stop people from picking up smoking. Now the tobacco industry has new tactics to get around ad bans. (Photo by Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Does South Africa’s new tobacco bill have enough teeth to thwart F1 sprints on TV?

Tobacco ads have been banned in many countries for years, but Big Tobacco is finding ways to get around the rules — like partnering with Formula 1 to punt their new products to a…

A doctor draws blood from a patient’s finger at a hospital emergency department in Shanghai, China, on November 14, 2023. There has been a spike in  influenza and mycoplasma pneumonia. (Photo:  Costfoto/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

WHO asks China for more data on latest respiratory illnesses outbreak

China’s National Health Commission said last week that the spread was due to the lifting of Covid-19 restrictions and the circulation of known pathogens

To figure out how to make an mRNA vaccine, the team at Afrigen Biologics had to “start reading and learning”. (Jay Caboz)

From start to finish: Five lessons for making mRNA jabs for TB

The need for a new tuberculosis vaccine is as urgent as ever, and now a local pharmaceutical company is joining the race to find one

Will Earth’s changing climate make TB spread faster?

By 2030, the planet is likely to be warmer, undermining the fight against tuberculosis