Healthcare
latest news & developments
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…
‘When do I live?’ What caring for a relative with schizophrenia costs families
A study in the Eastern Cape reveals the immense financial, social, and emotional toll faced by families caring for relatives with schizophrenia, highlighting the urgent need for…
Editorial: We’re a sick society
Hospitals in the Free State are on the verge of collapse as criminal syndicates strip plumbing bare for scrap copper, cutting off critical water supply and leaving vulnerable…
Criminals target Free State hospitals
Free State healthcare facilities are under siege as criminal syndicates repeatedly strip hospitals of copper pipes, taps, and toilet flush mechanisms, costing millions of rands…
Crackdown on illegal weight loss drugs
Pharmaceutical industry leaders and South African regulators have demanded urgent crackdowns, seizures, and arrests to curb the dangerous open sale of unregistered weight loss…
South Africa’s supplement crackdown risks R22bn health industry
South Africa's push to regulate natural health and wellness products under a strict pharmaceutical regime threatens an R22 billion industry, placing thousands of jobs, small…
LEN won’t sell itself: 6 lessons from HIV prevention pills
Lenacapavir offers game-changing, twice-yearly protection against HIV, but South Africa's experience with prevention pills proves an effective medicine won't sell itself. Here…
Older persons, social grants and the politics of election promises
Politicians are promising to double the Older Persons Grant, but higher payouts alone cannot fix South Africa's deep-rooted elder care crisis without investment in community care…
Would homegrown LEN cost more? Why SA should still make the HIV prevention jab
South Africa aims to manufacture the revolutionary six-monthly HIV prevention injection lenacapavir locally. Experts weigh the need for rapid, affordable access against building…
Raslouw Private Hospital Achieves Landmark Medical Milestone with First Successful Living Donor Liver Transplants
Raslouw Private Hospital has marked a major medical milestone by successfully performing its first two living donor liver transplantations in Centurion.
For 20 years, Kwanele Asante told health systems to listen to patients. Then the UN gave her the mic
South African lawyer and bioethicist Kwanele Asante transformed her personal health challenges with breast cancer and chronic illness into decades of fierce advocacy for people…
Outdated staffing model may understate Gauteng nurse shortage
Gauteng's official shortfall of 15,820 nurses may severely understate the true gap because public hospital staffing structures haven't been updated since 2006, the provincial…
Cost blocks public access to RSV protection for babies
High costs are preventing newly approved maternal vaccines and antibody treatments for RSV from entering South Africa's public healthcare system, leaving vulnerable infants…
From Backyard Remedies to Hospital Wards: Why Science and African Medicine Must Work Together
As South Africa observes Heritage Month, bridging the gap between traditional healing and scientific research is essential to ensure indigenous medicinal plants are safe,…
Want the six-monthly HIV jab? Here’s your nine-step clinic cheat sheet
A step-by-step guide to what really happens at the clinic when you go for lenacapavir, the new six-monthly HIV prevention jab, from initial testing to injection day.