The disease we know as Malaria was thought to be caused by breathing “bad air” (mal aria) that emanates from swamps. This was not “fake news” but a lack of understanding and evidence at the time. As you probably know, swamps and stagnant water are excellent breeding sites for mosquitoes that transmit the Plasmodium parasites that cause the disease
Israel chose targets at the heart of domestic survival because its planners know that fuel in a capital powers ambulances, clinics, refrigeration, generators, pumping systems, buses, food distribution and the hidden routines through which a city keeps people alive
As wars disrupt fuel supplies and health systems, more women are being forced to give birth without timely access to skilled care
Norbert Ndjeka was born on World TB Day. Decades later, he would reshape how South Africa treats the deadliest forms of the disease
Violence against women has become one of the most pervasive public health emergencies in modern history
South Africa has also taken a leading role in global health financing and pandemic preparedness
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
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 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
Health authorities say vaccines will mostly be donated, or, when available, be bought via negotiated deals with drugmakers, but with different budgets
The development and implementation of new, hospital-based birthing centres with team-based maternity care models offer a promising solution
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
Wastewater-based epidemiology can play a vital role in pandemic preparedness
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’
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
Not all claims result in awards, and litigation is often a personally and professionally devastating experience
The Clade Ib strain has already jumped borders, with cases being reported in Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda and Kenya in the last two weeks
French economic presence in South Africa is solid, with nearly 500 companies representing more than 65 000 direct jobs
The under-representation of women goes beyond policy-making and into practice, despite evidence that when they lead, things tend to work better
When Hamas attacked Israel from the Gaza Strip on 7 October, I was nine months pregnant … what if I had been there?
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 global audience
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
Survivors find themselves in a “state of acute stress with symptoms, often physical at first”,
Big industries and governments are not acting fast enough to prevent climate change, with disastrous consequences
Five years of progress in the fight against TB have been eliminated because of the pandemic
Ivorian health workers had previously said that vaccinations of “targeted groups” had already begun on Sunday
The continent’s public health agency said the latest figures showed that 6.5-million cases of Covid-19 had been reported in Africa, out of which some 867 000 people had died
What might Africa look like in the wake of the pandemic? There’s enough change happening to keep both optimists happy and pessimists glum
The department of health noted in its statement on March 19 that recoveries in previously reported cases were beginning to emerge. (John McCann/M&G)
More than 74 000 people have now been infected by the virus in China, with hundreds more cases in some 25 countries
Examples from Rwanda and Sierra Leone can be incorporated into transitional justice frameworks
After calling on South Africa to cut down on coal, the environmental activist organisation has been criticised as anti-worker