21 April marks World Creativity and Innovation Day — a day recognised by the UN to celebrate creation. In light of this, Sara Grobbelaar highlights a recurring pattern in the healthcare system. South Africa spends billions on imported health technology while broken equipment sits idle in public wards. The cycle is not inevitable but breaking it will take more than good intentions
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
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
A review of 37 studies found that when people stop taking weight-loss drugs like Ozempic, the weight comes back
The safety and track record of the CircumQ devices has been questioned
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 sustainable health systems
With US President Donald Trump blithely brushing aside the United Nations’ many achievements, it is worth revisiting the organization’s successes and failures over the years. While it is obvious that the world’s premier multilateral body must reform, it is equally obvious that we would all be worse off without 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 such diabetes, cancer and heart disease around the world
Human Rights Watch has found that the lead-contaminated waste in Kabwe, Zambia, puts residents health at risk
The World Health Organisation must recommit to the democratic principles in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Some provisions of the World Health Organisation’s International Health Regulations and draft Pandemic Agreement impinge on the sanctity of the doctor-patient relationship and centralise medical care
Business interests and intellectual property laws privilege the wealthy and leave the rest scrabbling for life-saving medicine
On World Health Day, let’s not lose sight of hope, of taking action to make sure we create societies in which our children can not only survive but thrive
South Africa has laid a solid foundation as G20 chair, undeterred by the US’s disruptions
If we do not speak out against the erosion of rights by authoritarian leaders, anti-rights movements will be emboldened everywhere
Africa is the World Health Organisation’s biggest beneficiary in terms of road safety projects
About 4 000 people are bitten by snakes annually but only a quarter of those being admitted to hospital and only 10% require antivenom
Interventions such as immediate food relief and raising awareness are needed to address undernutrition and obesity
Cancer accounted for about 32.3% of all insurer Liberty’s claims for 2023
Under the proposed changes, control over important public health procedures will be ceded to the WHO and director general
A proposed treaty and law changes would compromise national and health sovereignty
The American presidential hopeful’s world policies make him a bull in a china shop
By 2030, the planet is likely to be warmer, undermining the fight against tuberculosis
South Africa had its last cholera outbreak more than a decade ago with about 12 000 cases, following an outbreak in neighbouring Zimbabwe
Treatment Action Campaign and other civil society groups forced a reluctant Mbeki government to change its stance and roll out ARVs
The therapy model is now being exported to the football World Cup in Qatar, where 32 benches, each representing a team competing in the Fifa tournament, will be set up to cast the spotlight on global mental health
The World Health Organisation recommended opioid substitution drug treatment but because of the cost this therapy is not offered in the public health service
Researchers struggle to understand how teenagers experience tuberculosis treatment, and they haven’t done enough to ask, experts at last week’s seventh South African TB conference argued
About 1000 babies are born with the disease every day on the continent
New Covid-19 infections and related deaths have tapered off
Germs are outsmarting medicine faster than South Africa’s overburdened facilities can keep up with them
The World Health Organisation dismisses the “five second rule” as part of drive to prevent illness and death from bad food