Public Health
Almost two decades later, 9/11 is still claiming victims
September 12th, 2018 Tens of thousands of people who lived or worked in the neighbourhood of New York's World Trade Centre after the 9/11 terror attack found themselves breathing in air thick with toxic fumes and particles. More than 43,000 have since been certified...
Wider benefits of alcohol outweigh health benefits of teetotalism — a rebuttal
September 5th, 2018 ‘No safe level of alcohol’ screamed headlines last week. They were inspired by the publication of a massive study, part of the ‘Global Burden of Disease’ series in The Lancet, which used data from 694 previous studies to estimate how common...
A properly implemented NHI could help bring together a divided society
September 5th, 2018 Whatever the current failures of the proposed National Health Insurance scheme, it has the potential "to move the country towards socio-economic equality by prioritising a vision where the health system itself is a re-distributive...
Cigarette market is soaring in Africa – UCT study
September 3rd, 2018 Tobacco companies are thriving in Africa due to weak anti-tobacco and tax laws. A study by the University of Cape Town’s Economics of Tobacco Control Project found that tobacco use rose by 44% between 1990 and 2012, writes Amy Green for...
Supporters of South Africa’s Tobacco Bill speak out
September 3rd, 2018 Following a cacophony of criticism of South Africa’s Tobacco Bill, supporters the legislation are having their say. An article in Daily Maverick outlines a campaign by the tobacco industry to thwart planned moves to control smoking and...
Urgent strategies needed to tackle US opioid crisis – Doctors have a role
September 3rd, 2018 There are many ways to tackle America’s growing opioid addiction crisis. In articles in USA Today, a behavioural economist and a chief medical examiner propose letting doctors know when patients overdose and die, in order to reduce opioid...Social media bots and Russian trolls promoting discord over vaccines
Social media bots and Russian trolls spread false information about vaccines on Twitter, seemingly using vaccination as a wedge issue, to promote discord, according to US research. Using tactics similar to those at work during the 2016 US...
How SA's 'collusive' private healthcare sector can be fixed
August 29th, 2018 South Africa's private healthcare sector, dominated by a few players, allows non-competitive behaviour such as collusion and excessive pricing tends to thrive, writes Professor Frederik Booysen of the University of the Witwatersrand, in The...
Plastic surgery on YouTube is mostly 'misleading marketing'
August 29th, 2018 In the first study to evaluate YouTube videos on facial plastic surgery procedures, which draw millions of viewers, Rutgers University researchers found that most are misleading marketing campaigns posted by non-qualified medical...
No safe level of alcohol consumption — 195-nation study
August 29th, 2018 Giving up drinking completely is the only way to avoid the health risks associated with alcohol, according to a major study covering 195 countries over 26 years and drawing from hundreds of other studies. Not all are convinced that this is a...
Almost a fifth of medicines in Africa sub-standard or falsified
August 22nd, 2018 A study from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill found that sub-standard and falsified medicines, including medicines to treat malaria, are a serious problem in much of the world. In low- and middle-income countries, more than 13% of the...
Proposed Bills are not the cure for the current health sector crisis
August 22nd, 2018 Will the proposed provisions and processes in the National Health Insurance Bill and the Medical Schemes Amendment Bill strengthen the public health system? Professor Lucy Gilson of the University of Cape Town, Professor Jane Goudge of...
SA 'needs divestiture' to free up the private healthcare market
August 22nd, 2018 The preliminary findings of the inquiry into South Africa’s private health care sector shows worrying trends, writes Phumudzo S Munyai, associate professor at the University of Pretoria in The Conversation. And key among the inquiry’s...
Tobacco industry finds unlikely allies in fight against regulation
August 22nd, 2018 In recent weeks, health experts and journalists have spoken out against the government’s proposed Control of Tobacco Products and Electronic Delivery Systems Bill. It's all part of a "massive" tobacco industry campaign, writes Health-e...
An 'important contribution' to understanding global health interventions in Africa
August 15th, 2018 Amy Patterson's Africa and Global Health Governance: Domestic Politics and International Structures is important because it is one of few books to show that African governments are 'far from powerless' in designing and implementing global health...