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Wednesday, 2 July, 2025

FOCUS: HIV

Appeal for cost of generic long-acting HIV drug to be lowered

Venilla Yoganathan - 0
Health activists have urged pharmaceutical manufacturer Gilead Sciences to lower the price of its twice-yearly, long-acting injection for HIV prevention, saying the jab – which was recently approved by the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) – will not live up to its potential if it remains unaffordable for the governments and people who need it most. The FDA approval paves the way for regulators in other countries to follow suit, reports BusinessLIVE. Lenacapavir, branded Yetzugo, has been hailed a potential...
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NEWS UPDATE

Early cancer deaths cost British economy billions every year – UK study

Cancer Research UK (CRUK) reports that early deaths from cancer are pummelling the British economy to the tune of £10.3bn a year – lung cancer being the worst – the findings coming as ministers wrestle with how a record 2.8m people countrywide are too sick to work amid a sluggish economy. CRU) said the £10.3bn is the total cost of the 350 000 years of lost productivity recorded annually because of adults dying prematurely from the disease. Each early death costs the economy an average of £61 000, according to the charity’s first research into how much the country loses as...

Contaminated water detected in most SA school storage tanks

A national water testing campaign has found that most water storage tanks at South African schools are contaminated, and unfit for human consumption, while tap water and river water samples also showed high levels of bacteria, reports Mail & Guardian. Of 19 tank water samples tested in eight provinces, 14 contained bacterial contamination, including E coli, rendering the water unfit for human consumption. Of the 53 schools that upload valid data, 23 returned results showing water that was unsafe to drink. In total, 43% of the 53 samples tested showed bacterial contamination – this included 23% of tap water sources and...

Fake Covid interview with Prof Karim slammed by Health Department

A video falsely portraying Professor Salim Abdool Karim criticising Covid-19 vaccines has been denounced as disinformation, according to the Centre for the Aids Programme of Research in South Africa (Caprisa) and the Department of Health, which told News24 the “fabricated and harmful” video forms part of a broader misinformation campaign. Epidemiologist Karim, now Caprisa’s director, was chairperson of the Ministerial Advisory Committee during the pandemic, but in the AI-generated video, circulated widely on social media, he is falsely shown in an interview with SABC news anchor Oliver Dickson. During the fabricated exchange, the professor appears to claim that Covid-19 vaccines are...

KZN Health MEC accused of cadre deployment

Several appointments in KwaZulu-Natal have come under scrutiny amid allegations of cadre deployment levelled against Health MEC Nomagugu Simelane, with accusations that she and close associates have influenced the appointment of hospital board members linked to the ANC, reports IOL. Sources says recent appointments lack transparency and merit – the controversy escalating after a formal complaint was lodged with the department, and prompting questions about the integrity of the appointment process. The catalyst was a letter by Ndunankulu Dlamini in Richmond, traditional leader of Esiphahleni under the Esiphahleni Traditional Council, who had applied to serve as a board member at Richmond...

New charges for Harvard scientist in frog embryo smuggling case

A Russian-born scientist from Harvard Medical School who was accused of smuggling frog embryos into the United States was indicted last Wednesday on additional charges nearly two weeks after her lawyers secured her release from US custody. Boston prosecutors said a grand jury returned an indictment charging Kseniia Petrova (30), with one count of concealment of a material fact, one count of false statement and one count of smuggling goods into the United States. In May, she had been charged only with smuggling – she had first denied carrying biological material in her luggage – and the new charges were filed after her...

Gauteng Health denies ‘bodies piling up’ at hospital morgue

There are no unclaimed bodies piling up at Helen Joseph Hospital, Gauteng Health has said after claims of multiple unclaimed bodies left in limbo due to a lack of printer cartridges required to process post-mortem documentation, and amid calls by the DA for more accountability, SowetanLIVE reports. The denial follows concerns raised by both the DA and the Funeral Industry Reformed Association about administrative failures they say are preventing the transfer of corpses from the hospital’s mortuary for autopsies. Department spokesperson Motalatale Modiba admitted the hospital had experienced printing service issues between 17 June and 23, but he said contingency plans...

Political battle over Discovery Medical Scheme trustee election

There was such a flurry of electioneering by nominees vying for three trustee positions becoming vacant this year at Discovery Health Medical Scheme that the AGM was changed to an online only event (last week), “due to operational considerations and circumstances” beyond the company’s control, the company said. The DHMS AGM, which usually attracts around 200 attendees, was moved online during the pandemic, but as this eased, the board of trustees continued with a hybrid approach, in which the AGM was hosted virtually as well as in-person, reports News24. However, this year, DHMS told members it was again hosting its AGM...

Cancer ‘the new HIV in South Africa’

Cancer cases in South Africa are rising, with projections that numbers could reach 120 000 within the next five years – double what was recorded in 2019, say concerned health experts, who also warn about the increased burden, financial and otherwise, on an already creaking public health sector. They also suggest that cases are, in fact, under-reported – possibly by as much as 40% – and that cancer is not regarded by authorities as a priority disease, despite killing thousands of people every year. A decade or so ago, cancers and tumours accounted for almost 10% of all deaths, but with...

HPCSA finds radiology firm guilty of unprofessional conduct

The Health Professions Council of SA (HPSCA) has found Netcare service provider Bergman Ross & Partners (BRP) guilty of unprofessional conduct. BusinessLIVE reports that the complaint was brought by Thapelo Motshudi, who partnered with BRP in 2015 to provide radiology services at Netcare’s Pinehaven facility through an outfit called Motshudi Bergman Ross Radiologists (MBR). Motshudi’s complaint to HPSCA was that BRP reneged on an oral agreement that they would own the practice on a 50:50 basis, with the latter now claiming a 74% stake in the practice because it provided banking guarantees upfront. Motshudi partnered with BRP in 2015 to provide radiology...

Health experts urge government to prioritise antimicrobial resistance

An open letter from more than 70 infectious disease and public health experts is urging the Department of Health and Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi to launch a national action plan to tackle antimicrobial resistance (AMR), describing it as a “pandemic which is wreaking havoc”. The group of doctors, scientists and public health advisers, which formally presented the letter to the department last week, warned that antibiotic resistance is becoming a “growing threat” and poses a threat to universal health coverage through the National Health Insurance, writes Liezl Human in GroundUp. More than 1m deaths a year worldwide are directly caused by...

New posts for jobless doctors after protests

KwaZulu-Natal Health MEC Nomagugu Simelane announced yesterday that the department would be opening up 20 posts for unemployed doctors and advertising them within the next seven days – this after a sit-in by protesting jobless medics outside the KZN premier’s office in Pietermaritzburg since Monday. The frustrated doctors had staged their third protest this year outside the Office of the Premier, demanding that provincial posts be advertised immediately, and an explanation for the delay in not doing so. Their two previous protests had failed to deliver any positive outcomes, members of the organising committee for the sit-in, Zakwe and Nosihle Hlophe,...

No money for fire compliance at Charlotte Maxeke – Gauteng Health

Repairs to Charlotte Maxeke Hospital after the devastating fire in April 2021 are progressing well – albeit slowly – but the Gauteng Department of Health admits there is no budget for the R1.7bn needed for fire compliance measures, which the DA has slammed as unacceptable. Department spokesperson Motalatale Modiba said the department “is actively exploring various funding options and private investments to support this critical phase”. Already, the initial feasibility report and the concept report have been approved, and a business case is being developed, he told City Press. The hospital was currently operating at a bed capacity exceeding pre-fire levels,...

Gauteng Health on vaccine drive as measles spreads

Measles cases are escalating in Gauteng, with the Health Department now launching an aggressive vaccination campaign in schools and at taxi ranks, in efforts to halt infections. Since the beginning of the year 181 cases have been reported – most of them in Johannesburg, Tshwane and Ekurhuleni – with 15 new cases being recorded in the past week alone. TimesLIVE reports that hotspots in Tshwane include Mamelodi with 35 cases and Winterveld with 10. The department has embarked on a targeted vaccination campaign in schools, with more than 18 000 pupils vaccinated in more than 15 schools in Mamelodi and 16 schools in...

SA drags heels on vape regulations, warns WHO

South Africa is among the last 60 countries that have yet to ban or regulate e-cigarettes, and has been tardy in making tobacco products more expensive in efforts to reduce smoking, according to a report from the World Health Organisation (WHO), released at the World Conference on Tobacco Control in Dublin recently. A total of 110 countries now insist that tobacco companies label their products with graphic health warnings, while 25 countries require plain packaging aimed at reducing the appeal of branded cigarettes – but South Africa is not yet among them. The “Global Tobacco Epidemic 2025” report, which reveals that...

NICD urges heightened awareness of rabies

The latest Public Health Bulletin South Africa (PHBSA) surveillance report has called for heightened awareness of rabies, with the country still recording cases among unvaccinated animals and which can lead to fatal consequences in humans. The study, “Epidemiological trends of animal bites and human rabies cases in Limpopo, South Africa, 2011–2023: A retrospective review”, underscores the importance of ongoing surveillance to monitor bite incidents and human rabies cases and to identify high-risk areas for targeted interventions. Most rabies cases are reported in the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Limpopo, but while exposure is almost 100% fatal, it is preventable through timely and...

Brain dead woman taken off life support after birth of baby

An American nurse who had been declared brain dead but had been kept alive since February because she was pregnant was taken off life support on Tuesday, after her baby was delivered prematurely last Friday. Her mother, April Newkirk, said 31-year-old Adriana Smith’s baby was born by an emergency Caesarean section. She was about six months into her pregnancy, reports The Associated Press. The baby, named Chance, weighed less than 1kg at birth and is in the neonatal intensive care unit. “He’s expected to be okay,” Newkirk said. “He’s just fighting.” Newkirk said her daughter had suffered from sudden and intense headaches...

New research unit at Steve Biko Hospital impresses President

The newly-established Nuclear Medicine Research Infrastructure (NuMeRI) facility at Steve Biko Hospital in Pretoria has impressed President Cyril Ramaphosa, who visited the facility this week and acknowledged the number of women in key senior positions. The facility, made possible by the Department of Science & Innovation, the Department of Health, and the University of Pretoria, was lauded by the President for its diversity, which he described as “impressive”. It aims to advance drug development and clinical research, and provide cutting-edge diagnostics and treatment in cancer, TB and other major diseases burdening public health. Minister of Higher Education, Science & Innovation, Professor...

MEDICO-LEGAL

Prison warden fired for refusal to take inmate to hospital

A former Department of Correctional Services (DCS) employee has been dismissed for insubordination after refusing to escort an ill inmate to hospital, the order coming after the DCS successfully appealed a previous ruling made by the Labour Court in Johannesburg. The court heard that when he had initially refused to carry out the instruction, he had said he was leaving work early because it was his birthday; then when he was confronted with dishonesty, said it was his wife’s birthday, and then the third time, flatly refused, saying he was going to lunch. Sanction IOL reports that the Labour Court had set...

Tembisa Hospital ‘kingpin’ nailed by SARS on tax charges

The South African Revenue Service (SARS) has swooped on Tembisa Hospital “syndicate kingpin” Stefan Govindraju – linked to more than 56 shell companies that raked in some R450m through dodgy tenders in two years – and hauled him to court on criminal tax charges. He appeared in the Roodepoort Magistrate’s Court last week charged with failure to submit tax returns for Fuligenix, a little-known business he controls. Govindraju was first linked to the Tembisa Hospital scandal after the murder of Gauteng Health’s chief accountant Babita Deokaran in 2021, who had uncovered irregularities in the East Rand hospital’s procurement section three weeks before...

Ambulance driver wins, lawyer found negligent, in RAF case

A Cape Town law firm – W Van Der Schyff Attorneys – has been found to have been negligent in dealing with a Road Accident Fund (RAF) damages claim by its client, an ambulance driver involved in a collision in 2011. William van der Schyff, who was responsible for pursuing the claim against the RAF, was also found to have breached the mandate due to the negligence, reports the Cape Times. Donovan Moose claimed that because of the lawyer’s breach of the agreement – or the breach of its legal duty to him – his RAF claim had prescribed as the lawyer had...

SOME RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS IN THE PAST WEEK

CARDIOLOGY

Breast implants linked to cardiac risks – US study

Women with breast implants had a significantly higher rate of abnormal cardiac functional test results than those without implants, a recent retrospective analysis has found. They also had an...

DIABETES

Severe diabetics ‘cured’ after new treatment – small US trial

A single infusion of a stem cell-based treatment may have cured 10 out of 12 people with the most severe form of type 1 diabetes, say scientists. One year...

ENDOCRINOLOGY

New drug for extreme hunger offers clues to obesity’s complexity

Scientists hope that the research behind a recently launched drug for a rare disease that triggers insatiable hunger – and which is changing the lives of sufferers – will...

HEALTH AND FITNESS

Simple fitness test might predict how long you’ll live – Rio cohort study

A large-scale study of mobility and mortality suggests that a simple test of your balance, strength and flexibility, known as the sitting-rising test, could be an early indicator of...

ONCOLOGY

Critically-ill patients' faeces may predict imminent death – US cohort study

The contents of a patient’s entrails could be key to assessing how close they are to death, according a team of doctors who created an index of markers in...

ONCOLOGY

Blood test IDs cancer three years before symptoms – US study

Fragments of tumour DNA can appear in the bloodstream up to three years before a cancer diagnosis, offering a potentially revolutionary window for early detection and treatment, researchers have...

Testicular cancer not an old man’s problem, despite perceptions – US survey

Despite the common misconception that it is an older man's disease, testicular cancer is most prevalent among men aged between 20 and 40. A survey, commissioned by The Ohio State...

WOMEN’S HEALTH

Long-term contraceptive pill use tied to tumour risk – French study

Recent research has suggested that the contraceptive pill desogestrel is linked to a small increase in the risk of developing an intracranial meningioma brain tumour, although the risk is...

ABOUT US

MedicalBrief is Africa’s authoritative weekly digest of medical matters, both on the continent and around the world. It brings you a succinct summary of the latest developments, both in news and research, with links to the original material. Contact us: info@medicalbrief.co.za

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