Talking Points
UCT professor warns about Africa's science brain drain
December 12th, 2018 Not only are many science graduates in Africa unemployed but the situation is getting worse, fuelling a brain drain to Europe, the UK and North America, warned Professor Kelly Chibale of the University of Cape Town at a ceremony awarding him...
Overcoming the perceived and real barriers to HIV testing
December 5th, 2018 There was a time when HIV was untreatable, heavily stigmatised, and the benefits of testing weren’t as clear as they are now. But, writes Linda-Gail Bekker, professor of medicine and deputy director of the Desmond Tutu HIV Centre at the Institute...
Decrease in malaria deaths flatlining
November 28th, 2018 Despite a few bright spots, the recently released World Malaria Report paints a gloomy picture of stagnating progress and increasing concentration of the burden of one of the world’s most lethal diseases, says a Financial Times report. Paraguay...
FDA's 'deceptive' system allowed implant complaints to escape notice
November 28th, 2018 Because of the way that the US Food and Drug Administration allowed the manufacturers of breast implants to report complaints, thousands of adverse events, including deaths, escaped public notice, reports AP News. To all the world, it looked...
Duty of care is also for non-medically qualified administrative staff
November 28th, 2018 It is not only medical practitioners but also administrative staff who owe a duty of care to their patients, in conducting themselves with reasonable skill and care, writes Donald Dinnie of Natmed Medical Defence. Dinnie, the CEO of Natmed,...
The Bottom Line – the costs and risks of the butt-lift
November 21st, 2018 Butt lift injections and buttock implants were the fastest-growing plastic surgery in the US, up 58% from 2012, but the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS) warns the butt-lift is the most dangerous cosmetic procedure to...
Africa bears the brunt of the counterfeit medicine curse
November 21st, 2018 Almost half the fake and low-quality medicines reported to the World Health Organisation between 2013 and 2017 were found to be in sub-Saharan Africa, found an EU-funded report. Moustapha Dieng came down with stomach pains one day last month he...
As China's health system falters, the desperate smuggle drugs or make their own
November 14th, 2018 Out of a desperation born of necessity, ordinary Chinese are buying drug ingredients online and making them up at home, reports The New York Times. For some , this is the only solution when they require expensive drugs that China’s ambitious but...
Egg providers changing the way SA thinks about assisted reproduction
November 14th, 2018 There is limited literature addressing assisted reproduction in Africa, yet the continent’s societies are pronatalist, with immense social, economic and religious imperatives to reproduce, writes Amrita Pande, a lecturer in sociology at the...
UK-trained forensic pathologist's alleged role in murder
November 7th, 2018 Medical associations have condemned the alleged role of the top UK-trained Saudi forensic pathologist had in the killing of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi, reports The Lancet. The former Glasgow University student, Dr Salah al-Tubaigy, is...
The rise and rise of the cholesterol deniers
November 7th, 2018 Butter is back. Saturated fat is good for you. Cholesterol is not the cause of heart disease. By far the greatest threat to our hearts and vascular systems comes from sugar. The Guardian's Sarah Boseley writes that there is a battle going on for...
SA pharmacies 'knowingly stock dangerous and ineffective products'
November 7th, 2018 The US Food and Drug Administration's Tainted Products Marketed as Dietary Supplements database lists hundreds of products with hidden active ingredients that are unsafe or unstudied. Some are sold in South African pharmacies, even under the same...
There should be no barriers of access to life-saving medicines — ConCourt judge
October 31st, 2018 The intellectual property system remains wildly skewed, favouring the pharmaceutical industry over the public interest, writes Constitutional Court Judge Edwin Cameron in Daily Maverick. Eighteen years after the Durban conference,...
MTBPS gives no concrete commitment to address crisis in health
October 31st, 2018 With elections looming in 2019, the Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) was always going to be a case of “flattering to deceive” with no concrete commitment to addressing the crisis in health, write Russell Rensburg and Samantha...
Has the SA Heart Foundation's stamp of approval become blurred?
October 24th, 2018 The Heart and Stroke Foundation in SA continues to endorse foods shown to have questionable health benefits, writes the Sunday Times. Critics say it's a sales gimmick and diet guru Professor Tim Noakes says its ‘false information’ is deserving...