Focus
Suicide prevention: A 10-year systematic review
A major international review of suicide prevention has confirmed that some methods do work in reducing suicides, whereas others currently in use still have little proven effectiveness. Worldwide, there are more than 800,000 suicides every year,...
African Health Volunteers Corps joins raft of continental health actions
June 15th, 2016 The African Union is creating an African Health Volunteers Corps that will fight epidemics and other emergencies, based on the team of volunteers that helped to thwart the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. The corps is one of a raft of...
US medical school scandal over donated cadavers
June 15th, 2016 Donating one’s body to medical research is arguably the ultimate act of generosity, Medical schools, including in South Africa, ceremonially honour the donors, while students are taught to respect the mortal remains that underpin their education....
Significant immunotherapy advances in head and neck cancer
June 15th, 2016 Immunotherapy doubles overall survival and improves quality of life, with fewer side effects, in recurrent or metastic form of head and neck carcinoma, reports a large, randomised international trial, which was so successful that it was stopped...
Depression risks and HIV – A major problem largely ignored
June 8th, 2016 Depression is a major issue in South Africa among people living with HIV, but has received little attention. New studies have highlighted strong links between HIV-AIDS and mental illness including depression, heightened risks of violence faced by...
Eat fibre to avoid disease and disability in old age
June 8th, 2016 A large US study found that those with the highest intake of fibre had an almost 80% greater likelihood of living a long and healthy life over a 10-year follow-up, in that they were less likely to suffer from hypertension, diabetes, dementia,...
Experimental treatment restores motor function after stroke
June 8th, 2016 Injecting modified, human, adult stem cells directly into the brains of chronic stroke patients proved not only safe but effective in restoring motor function, according to a small clinical trial. 'This wasn’t just, "They couldn’t move their...
'Revolutionary' surgical option for some pancreatic cancer
June 1st, 2016 The Mayo Clinic has developed a protocol to treat pancreatic cancer patients where the tumours have encompassed critical blood vessels and, in two studies, found survival stretching into years rather than months....
Death and despair in Limpopo’s hospitals
June 1st, 2016 In a situation described by Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi as ‘madness’, junior doctors in Limpopo are performing neurosurgery, newborns are sharing incubators mothers are having to nurse on the floor because of the shortage of beds....
Immediate aspirin slashes risk of early stroke recurrence
May 25th, 2016 A University of Oxford study found that immediate treatment with aspirin after a minor stroke can substantially reduce the risk and severity of early recurrence by about 70%-80%. 'This has implications for doctors, who should give aspirin...
Community service rankles with some but SA’s young doctors are here to stay — UCT study
May 25th, 2016 According to a University of Cape Town study, a worrying number of doctors are not showing up for compulsory community service, reports MedicalBrief. But more positively, the proportion of medical graduates intending to emigrate has plummeted and...
SA's nurses: Devils or Angels?
May 18th, 2016 Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi has incurred the wrath of the nursing union by stating on International Nurses Day that patients deserved better than the 'devils in white' of SA's public health care facilities. Although the minister also praised...
Pfizer shuts off death penalty drugs
May 18th, 2016 Pfizer Inc has taken steps to ensure that none of its products are used in lethal injections, shutting off the last remaining open market source of drugs ued in executions....Physical activity associated with substantially lower cancer risk
A large National Cancer Institute analysis, drawing on US and European cohorts, found that higher levels of physical activity are associated with reduced risk of 13 cancer types (including three of the top four leading cancers among men and women...Healthcare providers must publish clinical data - former Discovery Health executive
Patients using private healthcare have no idea whether they are getting value for money as publicly available data reflects only price and not quality, former Discovery Health executive Brian Ruff told the Competition Commission's Health Market...