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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)
AFRICA CDC

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’

  • Umamah Bakharia
4 min read
Mpox has been declared a public health emergency by the ACDC. (Photo via Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images)
AFRICA CDC

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

  • Umamah Bakharia
4 min read
A sign announcing monkeypox informations is setup in International Airport Treviso A. Canova, in Treviso, Italy, on November 30, 2022. (Photo by Manuel Romano/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
CDC

Mpox outbreak: Five cases confirmed, one death reported in South Africa

The health department said it is investigating the local transmission of the disease after the infected patients were found to have no travel history

  • Umamah Bakharia
2 min read
Data governance provides evidence-based decision-making that improves the quality of service delivery
CHOLERA

Health department reports decrease in cholera cases

But the public has been warned to remain vigilant

  • Umamah Bakharia
2 min read
The government is planning to roll out home kits and rapid tests for people who are most at risk. (Photo by Jörg Carstensen/picture alliance via Getty Images)
GENEXPERT MACHINE

Home tests for sexually transmitted infections could be coming to SA’s free medicine pick-up points

The government is planning to roll out home kits and rapid tests for people who are most at risk

  • Zano Kunene
9 min read
As part of a catch-up vaccination campaign because of South Africa’s five-month-long measles outbreak, all children between the ages of six months and 15 years can get a free vaccine in the public sector. (Eduardo Munoz/Reuters)
MEASLES

Parents, here are 8 measles outbreak questions — answered

We clarify issues surrounding the measles outbreak and explain who is eligible to get an extra vaccination

  • Zano Kunene
  • Joan Van Dyk
11 min read
Powerful duo: Anne von Gottberg and Cheryl Cohen are two of South Africa’s foremost scientists. But they’re also a family and married in 2007. (Delwyn Verasamy, Bhekisisa)
ANNE VON GOTTBERG

A mezuzah, a Christmas wreath and rooibos with milk: getting to know this NICD couple at home

Anne von Gottberg and Cheryl Cohen are two of SA’s foremost scientists on Covid-19. The powerful duo also love family time with their three kids

  • Sean Christie
11 min read
South Africa has recorded its fifth case of monkeypox. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
HEALTH MINISTER

Fifth case of monkeypox confirmed in South Africa

The rising number of cases has become a cause for concern, says health minister

  • Bongeka Gumede
3 min read
The Botswana Network on Ethics, Law and HIV/Aids says the crisis is not an isolated supply-chain issue but a ‘systemic failure’ that demands urgent government intervention
COVID 19

People living with HIV are at high risk of non-communicable diseases

Keeping them healthy necessitates an revolution in health systems and how they are financed, especially in poorer communities

  • Linda-Gail Bekker
  • Katie Dain
6 min read
A medical laboratory technician picks up from a fridge a reactive to test suspected monkeypox samples at the microbiology laboratory of La Paz Hospital on June 06, 2022 in Madrid, Spain. Europe is at the centre of the monkeypox virus outbreak, the World Health Organisation reported 780 confirmed cases with Britain, Spain and Portugal reporting the largest numbers of patients. (Photo by Pablo Blazquez Dominguez/Getty Images)
COVID 19

First case of monkeypox confirmed in South Africa

Disease detected in a 30 year old male who had no history of travel, contact tracing underway to identify any additional linked cases

  • Bongeka Gumede
3 min read
A health worker conducts a coronavirus rapid antigen test at a Testaro Covid-19 testing site in the Goodwood district of Cape Town, South Africa, on Thursday, Dec. 2, 2021. South Africa announced the discovery of a new variant, later christened omicron, on Nov. 25 as cases began to spike and the strain spread across the globe. (Dwayne Senior/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
COVID 19

Meet the scientists tracking Covid-19’s crappy future

Water in the country’s drains can pick up a spike in Covid-19 cases or a threatening new variant in time for clinics to prepare for an influx of patients

  • Zano Kunene
10 min read
AFRICA HEALTH RESEARCH INSTITUTE
Video

How your body can protect you from getting sick with Omicron

Omicron’s many mutations allow it to duck our body’s natural defence, but the immune system has a some tricks to prevent you from getting severely ill

  • Aisha Abdool Karim
17 min read
South Africa’s first paediatric vaccine trial participant received the first shot of the Sinovac Covid-19 vaccine (Photo by Darren Stewart/Gallo Images via Getty Images)
CHILDREN FROM 6 MONTHS TO 17 YEARS

South African adolescent receives first shot in Sinovac trial

The youth is the first of 2 000 South African children taking part in the global trial to test the CoronaVac vaccine

  • Marcia Zali
4 min read
Hospital admissions in Africa have increased by 67% during the period but the bed occupancy rate for intensive care units remains low at 7.5%, with 14% of the patients receiving supplemental oxygen. (Photo by Sergei SavostyanovTASS via Getty Images)
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH

Data shows there’s a higher risk of landing up in ICU or dying if you’re not vaccinated

The effectiveness of Covid-19 vaccines is becoming clear from the difference in the number of people admitted to hospital between those who have received at least one vaccine…

  • Marcia Zali
4 min read
Since mid-July, the number of vaccines administered has consistently hit more than 200 000 jabs a day. By 31 August more than 12-million jabs had been administered. (Photo by LUCA SOLA / AFP)
C 1 2 VARIANT

What we know about the C.1.2 Covid variant, so far

Experts studying the new variant, C.1.2, are surprised by its substantial mutations but are confident current vaccines will be effective against it

  • Marcia Zali
  • M&G Data Desk
4 min read
Experts surprised by C.1.2 mutations but say it might not be different from other variants. (Photo by Morris MacMatzen/Getty Images)
COVID 19

No need to panic over new Covid-19 variant C.1.2

Experts studying the new variant are surprised by its substantial and unexpected mutations but are confident that current vaccines will be effective against it

  • Marcia Zali
3 min read
ANTI VAXXERS

Vaccine hesitancy is a real problem we need real answers to. Muzzling debate is not one of them

Vaccines save lives. But why don’t we want to hear why people do not want to get the Covid-19 vaccine? It is important we get the right messaging across for us to achieve herd…

  • Ron Derby
3 min read
Research also shows that violent conflict drops by up to 37% when girls and boys have equal access to education. (Photo by Matthias Balk/picture alliance via Getty Images)
CORONAVIRUS

As the Covid-19 third-wave hits, how many South Africans have had the virus already?

Increasing seroprevalence in South Africa could help curb the disastrous effects a third wave could have on communities. But no one is out of the woods yet

  • Chris Bateman
5 min read
CORONAVIRUS

New Covid-19 variant in South Africa ‘of concern at a global level’ — WHO

The Covid-19 B.1.617 variant, first detected in India, is now listed as one of concern, but the World Health Organisation says it does not doubt the efficacy of global vaccines

  • Eunice Masson
2 min read
ASPEN

First batch of Pfizer vaccines has landed in South Africa

The first shipment of Pfizer vaccines has reached the country after tense negotiations between manufacturers and the government

  • Eunice Masson
2 min read