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Medical Analysis
Mental health still last in line seven years after Life Esidimeni
The 2016 Life Esidimeni tragedy was a watershed moment for mental healthcare – and should have been a wake-up call. Why it wasn’t is...
SA makes strides with HPV vaccine campaign, but not fast enough
The human papillomavirus (HPV) is estimated to cause more than 90% of cervical and anal cancers, 70% of vaginal and vulvar cancers, and more than 60%...
The rights and wrongs of the South African health system
The contribution of non-communicable disease (NCDs) to the overall burden of disease in South Africa now starkly outstrips the contribution of communicable diseases, and...
Why bivalent Covid vaccine is not a priority for SA
The SA Department of Health is not planning to buy the new Covid-19 bivalent booster vaccines, specifically tailored to target Omicron variants, anytime soon,...
Concern as suspended senior Northern Cape Health staff return to work
It may be business as usual in the Northern Cape Department of Health for former acting head of health and the chief financial officer,...
Non-nutritive sweeteners linked to heart disease and cancer
Results of recent studies on non-sugar sweeteners are a dramatic departure from decades of received public health wisdom advocating replacing sugar with sugar substitutes.
Nutritionists...
Evidence grows of air pollution link to neurodegenerative disease
The air in Mexico City was once so toxic that people watched as dead birds fell out of the sky. In 1992, the United...
Can you die of a broken heart?
On 26 May, Joe Garcia died suddenly of a heart attack just two days after his wife, Irma, was killed in a Texas school...
Environmental factors worsen neurologic health – US review of 30 years’ research
Climate change, airborne pollution and temperature extremes are all playing major roles in changing infectious disease conditions, while increasing risks of serious illnesses, a...
Never ignore pain, say experts
More than 4% of people live with chronic pain – identified as pain that lasts longer than expected – yet ignore it, or don’t...
Mental health patients languish in prison because of policy gap
There is no rehabilitation or policy for the nearly 150 mentally ill state patients currently being held in South African prisons, neglected and abused,...
Certificate of Need 'legal mess' threatens NHI
The government has made a mess of the legal processes around implementing the Certificate of Need (CON) provisions, writes Gary Moore, a senior consultant...
Bubonic plague may be shaping modern-day immune responses, say scientists
Scientist have suggested that genes that perhaps helped our forefathers survive the Black Death may make us more susceptible to certain diseases today, in...
Rwanda could become first country to eliminate cervical cancer
Although cervical cancer is the most common cancer among women in Rwanda, killing 940 in 2019, the country has made great strides in raising...
Lead poisoning still a serious threat but no plans to address problem in SA
Children who are exposed to lead – found in certain paints and batteries – can face various problems later on, and while researchers found...
Obese, overweight South Africans costing the country billions of rands
Globally, it is widely acknowledged that obesity-related conditions and their complications add hugely to healthcare costs and productivity losses, adding a large burden to...
Balancing act between pain relief and addiction in codeine regulation
Whether a pharmacist suggests it for treating headaches or whether a doctor prescribes it for post-surgical pain, chances are that at some point you’ve...
Colostomy bag shortage at Gauteng hospital ‘violates human rights’
Stockouts and shortages in government hospitals have become the norm in South Africa, with critical supplies of everything, from ARVs to morphine to even...
SA's new DR-TB recovery plan will save countless lives
Most of South Africa’s long suffering, 8 000 newly detected TB-drug-resistant patients every year are in for a potentially life-saving New Year’s gift, writes...
How close are scientists in developing an mRNA cancer vaccine?
As mRNA vaccines have been pushed into the spotlight thanks to the pandemic, researchers are using this as a base to design personalised treatments...
Contraception shortages are failing South African women – Stop Stockout Report
Clinics and hospitals are experiencing fewer medication stockouts than in previous years but contraception shortages remain the most reported medical shortage in the country,...
How the overturning of Roe v Wade ruling will affect Africa
The US Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the longstanding Roe v Wade abortion ruling will have a ripple effect on reproductive healthcare provision in...
What needs to be done to reduce rising medico-legal claims
Medico-legal claims based on medical negligence or malpractice have skyrocketed in South Africa. Recent figures indicate a growth rate of 23% for these claims...
Peer comparison among doctors can backfire, increase burnout – UCLA study
Burnout rates among physicians are rising, often resulting in mental health problems, job turnover, and higher healthcare costs. Meanwhile, health system leaders and policymakers...
Exodus of doctors, nurses pushes up healthcare costs, says expert
The exodus of skilled medical professionals from South Africa has left the country with a dearth of critical healthcare workers, and currently, the skills...
Why you’ll need COVID boosters repeatedly, like flu jabs – Yale experts
As the effectiveness of a primary series of mRNA vaccines, shown to have high efficacy rates, to prevent hospitalisation and death is also being...
Child and adolescent mental health services in crisis, report finds
Plans are under way for a study to determine South Africa’s public mental health system’s ability to cater for children and adolescents with mental...
Monkeypox: forecasters predict the global outlook for 2022
After two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, a new infectious disease appears to be spreading worldwide.
The Swift Centre reports that cases of the viral...
The critical role of clinical research
Worldwide, research helps find the root cause of the health challenges or diseases in our society, identifies ways to improve behaviours of the affected...
South Africa's strides in tackling post-partum depression
Women in low- and middle-income countries experience high levels of common mental disorders (anxiety and depression) during pregnancy and the first year after birth....
Cancer screening – the good, the bad and the ugly
‘In clinical practice, to say a person has cancer gives as little information about the possible course of his disease as to say that...
Should race be a factor in medical treatment?
While scientists widely agree race is a social construct, it is often conflated with biology, implying that race governs how the body functions, and...