Talking Points
Vaccines and the 'complacency factor’ — Wellcome survey
June 26th, 2019 Developed countries, like France, have the lowest levels of trust in vaccines, while poorer countries - where people see the human cost of not vaccinating - have the highest levels of trust, found a large Wellcome survey survey of 144...
PREDICT is in search of the Holy Grail of personalised nutrition
June 26th, 2019 PREDICT, a collaboration between King's College London, Harvard and Stanford in the US – is a study to measure thousands of people’s responses to different foods and discover why, when it comes to health, different diets suit different...
'I'm having a Caesarean and you're all invited'
June 19th, 2019 For the women of Brazil's elite, Caesarean sections have long been a status symbol, reports The Washington Post. Now, the phenomenon has inspired an entire industry focused on turning these highly orchestrated operations into wedding-like...
Master athletes demonstrate what is physically possible in later life
June 19th, 2019 A growing band of of "master athletes" demonstrate that "we often confuse the effects of inactivity with the ageing process itself", write Stephen Harridge and Norman Lazarus, both of King's College London, in a BBC News report. While many...
Three studies nudging the frontiers of HIV prevention
June 19th, 2019 There are an estimated 5,000 new HIV transmissions every day. About 70% of the 37m people living with HIV globally are in sub-Saharan Africa. Of the 1.8m new HIV transmissions worldwide in 2017, 800,000 occurred in eastern and southern Africa. New,...
Brazil finds it difficult to replace Cuban doctors
June 12th, 2019 Six months after Brazil's new president, Jair Bolsonaro, triggered Cuba's withdrawal of more than 8,000 medical doctors it had deployed to that country, Brazil is struggling to replace the departed doctors. The small Brazilian city of...
NHI — a funding model masquerading as a delivery system
June 5th, 2019 National Health Insurance (NHI) is one of the most misunderstood terms in healthcare in South Africa. Professor Manie de Klerk, head of the University of Stellenbosch Business School MBA in healthcare leadership writes in Business Day that its real...
Motsoaledi era: HIV/Aids success but public healthcare failures
June 5th, 2019 The Motsoaledi years can broadly be judged on two fronts, the response to the HIV epidemic and the functioning of the public healthcare system and its related institutions. The verdicts in these two instances are quite different, writes Marcus...
Crowdfunding treatment — when survival is a popularity contest
May 29th, 2019 It's increasingly popular to try to fund expensive medical treatments — or alternative therapies — by appealing online for donations. It can be a heartbreaking process, reports The Guardian. It writes that Heather Bellamy’s March...
Sean Davison: 'A victim of a failure of SA's legal process'
May 29th, 2019 Professor Sean Davison, charged on three counts of premeditated murder for allegedly assisting three people with debilitating physical conditions but mentally competent, and at their request, to end their lives, is a victim of a failure of South...
The 'unprofessional conduct' implications of poor administration
May 22nd, 2019 Law partner Raizel Davidow, writing for Medicalbrief, asks whether the poor handling of the administrative side of the practice lead a medical practitioner to a Health Professions Council of SA finding of unprofessional conduct? Davidow,...
The thorny issue of pregnancy and medical scheme waiting periods
May 22nd, 2019 The practice of medical schemes excluding pre-existing conditions like pregnancy comes under fire from Fatima Hassan, executive director of the Open Society Foundation SA, in Bhekisisa. Jonathan Bloomberg, CEO of Discovery Health,...
'I’m afraid I have some bad news...'
May 15th, 2019 Both researchers and medical schools have tried to figure out how doctors should communicate with patients to deliver hard-to-swallow information. There is little evidence that they are getting it right. “I’m afraid I have some bad...
Anti-vaxxers target doctors on social media and rating websites
May 15th, 2019 More doctors are being attacked online for recommending parents vaccinate their children as part of a coordinated effort by anti-vaccine groups. Fictitious patient reviews are just one tactic. Dr Monique Tello was attending a medical conference...
Africa's donkeys being slaughtered for traditional Chinese medicine
May 8th, 2019 Ejiao is the name of a traditional Chinese medicine that supposedly treats anaemia, reproductive issues and insomnia – though the alleged medicinal properties are unproven. Nonetheless, it's an ingredient in tonics and face creams. Sales of the...