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News Update
Bara opens R26m children’s burns unit
The NPO Surgeons for Little Lives unveiled a state-of-the-art children’s burns unit at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital last week, with staff saying not even...
State turns to mining firms, Discovery to plug HIV and TB funding gaps
Mining companies that have, traditionally, provided drugs and treatment to combat HIV and TB in their workforces, are being asked to consider rolling out...
Motsoaledi not giving up on regulating cannabis edibles
Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi is sticking to his guns about the need for regulations relating to food containing cannabis, despite President Cyril Ramaphosa’s decision...
New antibiotic approved to treat UTIs
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the first new antibiotic to treat UTIs in 30 years. The medication, gepotidacin, targets E. coli bacteria,...
Now Trump pulls plug on childhood vaccines
The Trump administration is to halt its funding for Gavi, which helps buy vaccines for children in poor countries, and reduce its efforts to...
Top FDA boss resigns over RFK Jr’s ‘misinformation’
A senior American health official, who was seen as a guardrail against any future politicisation of the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of life-saving...
Unvaccinated US measles patients display vitamin A toxicity
Several children admitted to hospital with measles in Texas and New Mexico are displaying symptoms of vitamin A toxicity, doctors have said, adding that...
WHO to cut jobs, slash budget by a fifth
The US funding cuts have created havoc at the World Health Organisation (WHO), which is being forced to reduce staff numbers and the scale...
Malaria caused DRC ‘mystery deaths’
Malaria has been confirmed as the mystery illness that killed 52 people in the DRC earlier this year and affected nearly 1 000 others,...
Chinese team reports xenotransplant and first-step liver experiment
A Chinese patient is the third person in world known to be living with a gene-edited pig kidney, with the research team also reporting...
Eastern Cape official’s fraud trial delayed
The trial of Eastern Cape Department of Health spokesperson Sizwe Kupelo, accused of working in provincial government for more than 20 years allegedly without...
FDA approves drug for rare Prader-Willi syndrome
The US Food and Drug Administration has given the green light to Soleno Therapeutics’ medication for a rare genetic disorder, making it the first...
US patient dies from rabies after transplant
A Michigan resident who received a transplant in December died after having been infected with rabies from the new organ, US health authorities have...
MPS Foundation opens grant applications for patient well-being research projects
The MPS Foundation, a global not-for-profit research initiative that aims to shape the future of patient safety and well-being, is inviting applications for its...
Minister rethinks state doctors’ private jobs
Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi’s proposal to review remunerative work outside the public service (RWOPS) could bring both benefits and challenges to the sector, says...
Trump formally ends SA’s HIV and TB research grants
Cancellation letters, ending billions of rands of South African universities’ US Government-funded HIV and TB research grants with immediate effect, started to roll in...
Aspen SA in hot water with FDA over sterilisation concerns
Aspen Pharmacare has been rapped over the knuckles by the US Food and Drug Administration and issued with a warning letter for failing to...
TB drug shortage hits provinces
The Eastern Cape is reaching crisis point with TB drug stockouts three months after reports of a global shortage of the medicines first emerged,...
Motsoaledi urges ‘renewed action’ towards universal healthcare
Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi yesterday called on G20 member states to “prioritise public health over competing interests”, with the goal of accelerating progress towards...
Health Department owes millions to medical equipment suppliers
The Department of Health’s tardiness in settling its bills to hospital equipment suppliers is leading to a massive rise in small companies’ overdrafts and...
‘Dangerous’ online censure of women’s health terminology
Content with words like abortion, breast and vagina or that deal with menstrual or sexual health is being flagged as sexually explicit and removed...
Motsoaledi retracts controversial cannabis, hemp food product ban
Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi is to withdraw the gazetted regulations prohibiting the sale, importation and manufacture of food products containing cannabis and hemp,...
Petition urges improved care for SA’s diabetic children
A new petition launched by SA Diabetes Advocacy, in partnership with several national diabetes organisations, is calling on the National Department of Health (NDoH)...
Young patient dies after new Duchenne gene therapy
A young person with Duchenne muscular dystrophy died after treatment with the recently approved gene therapy delandistrogene moxeparvovec (Elevidys), Sarepta Therapeutics said last week, adding...
Cutting-edge surgical robotics system for Free State
The launch of a first-of-its kind surgical robotics system at a Free State hospital has catapulted the province – and the country – into...
NHLS must hand over cyber attack info, says regulator
The National Information Regulator has demanded details on the protection of personal information that was in place when a cyber attack knocked out the...
Autopsy backlogs delay Free State burials
The Pheko family in the Free State finally buried their son and brother last week after waiting three months for an autopsy to be...
Dissolving NHS England will ‘benefit patients’ – Prime Minister
NHS England will be abolished to “cut bureaucracy” and bring management of the health service “back into democratic control”, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer...
Three new mpox cases in Gauteng
Three more laboratory-confirmed cases of mpox have been detected in Ekurhuleni, Gauteng, where three other cases were detected at the end of February, including...
Gauteng Health denies disease outbreak tied to maggots
The Gauteng Health Department has denied accusations of a disease outbreak in Pretoria North linked to maggots and staphylococcus infection – and claims on...
Trump plans to dump CDC’s HIV prevention division
The Trump administration is considering eliminating the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention’s division focused on HIV prevention and shifting its responsibilities to another...
New WHO guidance for global mental health policies
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has issued new guidance to help all countries reform and strengthen mental health policies and systems – most of...
Minister says SA will reach HIV treatment goals despite aid cuts
US President Donald Trump’s aid cuts will not derail SA’s goal of providing treatment to an additional 1.1m HIV patients by December, Health Minister...
Bid committee member joins firm awarded top SAPS health tender
A former decorated police brigadier who resigned three weeks before a R360m SAPS health services tender was awarded to Medicare24 Tswane – a little-known...
Waning immunity, low jab rate, trigger SA diphtheria cases
Over the past 14 months, South Africa has experienced its highest rise in diphtheria cases in 30 years, with doctors attributing this to waning...
Hand, foot and mouth disease cases surge in Eastern Cape
Cases of hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) have risen to 78 in the Eastern Cape, with the provincial Department of Health saying most...
Limpopo family hires private investigator after son dies in hospital attack
A Limpopo family has employed a private detective to investigate the death of a man killed by a psychiatric patient at Philadelphia Hospital in...
Health Department says cannabis edibles ban will protect consumers
The National Department of Health has defended its decision this month to ban foodstuffs containing cannabis and hemp products, saying this was aimed at...
Global measles cases spread among the unvaccinated
The number of measles cases linked to an outbreak in Texas has grown to more than 300, with around 40 cases reported over the...
Nigeria Lassa fever death toll now 100
Nigeria has recorded 29 new Lassa fever infections and five deaths in one week, bringing the total fatalities recorded in 2025 to 100, according...