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News Update
Pakistan reports first known drug-resistant typhoid epidemic
The first known epidemic of drug-resistant typhoid is spreading in Pakistan, raising fears that more diseases worldwide are heading towards being untreatable. The typhoid...
Tissue-destroying ulcer cases at epidemic proportions in Australia
A severe tissue-destroying ulcer once rare in Australia is rapidly spreading and is now at epidemic proportions in regions of Victoria, prompting infectious diseases...
Prem babies born to HIV-positive mothers on the increase in SA
Deaths of premature babies born to HIV-positive mothers are on the increase in South Africa, reports the Cape Argus. According to University of Cape Town researcher...
SA drug manufacturers face significant regulator fees increases
Drug manufacturers will soon face a significant increase in the fees charged by South Africa’s new medicines regulator, as it moves to end an...
Unions combine to hobble North West Health over corruption
Powerful unions have pledged to combine their strengths and bring North West Health to a grinding halt, reports The Citizen. The reason is perceived corruption in the...
Gauteng Health announces that it will pay doctors' overtime
Gauteng Health has announced that it will begin the process of paying overtime claims for hundreds of doctors in the province, The Citizen writes.
This was after...
Limpopo suspends NGO services over health worker non-payment outcry
Limpopo Health has suspended the services of at least 300 NGOs after an outcry over the non-payment of home-based care workers who were in the...
SAHRC acts on 'racist' Limpopo doctor
A Limpopo doctor accused of racially segregating his patients and staff, and charging different rates according to race, has released a general public apology,...
SAHRC investigates medical surgery over ethics breaches
A medical surgery in Mokopane, Limpopo, has come under fire from the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) for alleged racism, breaching a number...
UK doctors working 'unmanageable' hours — Royal College of GPs
GPs across Britain are working above safe levels because of relentless and unmanageable workloads, The Guardian reports leading doctors have warned. Professor Helen Stokes-Lampard,...
AfroCentric Health MD suspended after alleged assaults
The MD of AfroCentric Health has been suspended after allegedly assaulting a close female relative and two friends in the early hours of last...
Gauteng Health is running out of furniture…
Gauteng Health has had more of its furniture seized to settle debts owed to companies, with Gauteng Health MEC Gwen Ramokgopa admitting that the department owes...
Better vetting of qualifications needed — call
A fake doctor worked at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital for more than five years before being detected, leading to opposition party calls for more rigorous controls.
Poor nursing training blamed for severe reactions
Poor nurse training may have led to severe reactions to a new contraceptive device, leading to it being discontinued in Mpumalanga.
SA healthcare workers at high TB risk
Researchers have called for an urgent response to high levels of tuberculosis (TB) infection in South African health workers.
New Alzheimer’s drug enters trial stage
A new drug developed at Lancaster University that may help to prevent the early stages of Alzheimer's disease is to enter clinical trials.
California law against 'anti-vaxxers'
California parents who do not vaccinate their children would have to home-school them under a Bill passed by the state Senate, the latest move in a battle between public health officials and 'anti-vaxxers' who fear vaccines are dangerous.
Legal drug addiction does the most harm
The Global Statistics on Addictive Behaviours: 2014 Status Report shows that almost 5% of the world's adult population (240m people) have an alcohol use disorder and more than 20% (1bn people) smoke tobacco.
Countries 'must collaborate' on antibiotics
Countries must club together to pay for and control the international supply of new antibiotics, according to radical new proposals for combatting the global threat of drug resistant superbugs.
SA’s drug supply shortages dire
Dire shortages of medicines at South Africa's public hospitals and clinics are giving rise to fears of increased drug resistance among patients.
SA scientists trial XDR-TB drugs
South Africa spearheads first trial into shorter and better treatment for extensively drug resistant TB (XDR-TB).
Conservative agenda worsens Aids epidemic
Russia's top Aids expert has lambasted the Kremlin's increasingly conservative agenda, saying the HIV-Aids epidemic is worsening and at least 2m Russians are likely to be infected in about five years.
Video on HIV treatment myths
Stellenbosch University is launching an educational video that aims to teach communities about the disease and start conversations about so-called HIV 'cures'.
US surgeons get pointers from SA
The US is following in the footsteps of South Africa as surgeons are preparing to perform a penile transplant, with the University of Stellenbosch providing advice.
WHO finds mixed results on health goals
This year's World Health Statistics – published by the World Health Organisation – assesses progress towards the health-related goals in each of the 194 countries for which data are available.
SA's successful vaccine roll out
South Africa's expensive pneumococcal vaccine roll out has cut childhood hospitalisations due to meningitis, pneumonia and rotavirus by about 70% in just five years
WHO slammed for weak Ebola response
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has received harsh criticism for its weak response to Ebola. Professor Peter Piot, former head of UNAIDS, said that while the world needed a WHO, 'it cannot continue the way it has been'.
SA paying millions for 'not getting it right'
Multimillion-rand negligence claims against the Department of Health have increased nine-fold since 2013, according to Stellenbosch University Professor Ethelwynn Stellenberg.
Liberia Ebola-free but vigilance urged
Liberia has been declared free from Ebola after 42 days without a new case of the virus, which killed more than 4,700 people there during a year-long epidemic.
WHO wants socially acceptable disease names
New human diseases should be given socially acceptable names which do not offend people and countries or mention animals, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has said.
SA doctors face ruin as Fund falters
Financial ruin threatens some medical practitioners as the largest company handling Compensation Fund claims has suspended its pre-funding services because of the fund’s failure to make payments. Business Day reports that CompSol's temporary withdrawal of its prepayment services means the medical practitioners including doctors, radiographers and occupational therapists who are among its clients, will have to wait a long time for payment for their services provided to injured or ill workers. CompSol handles 40%-60% of all medical claims against the fund.
Noakes article removed, then reinstated
Diet guru Prof Tim Noakes failed to declare conflict of interest in British Journal of Sport Medicine editorial, causing an 'expression of concern' followed by the article being removed. It has now been reinstated with a notice outlining competing interests by the authors.
SA surgeons saving lives in Nepal
South African surgeons have conducted 68 life-saving operations since they touched down in earthquake-struck Nepal last week
WHO fight against antimicrobial resistance
Only a quarter of countries that responded to a World Health Organisation (WHO) survey have national plans to preserve antimicrobial medicines like antibiotics.
Office of Health Standards waits for teeth
The Office of Health Standards Compliance (OHSC) will only get its teeth once national norms and standards for facilities have been adopted. A draft was published in February and people have until 18 May to submit comments.
New staff after man dies waiting for a bed
Following media coverage of coverage of a man who died after waiting 12 hours for a bed, 27 new health workers have been appointed to the Natalspruit Hospital east of Johannesburg.
FDA double take on double chins
The US Food and Drug Administration has for the first time approved a treatment for double-chins.
A fifth of world's children not vaccinated
One fifth of the world's children still do not receive routine vaccinations that could prevent 1.5m deaths a year from preventable diseases, the World Health Organisation says.
Billions have no access to surgery
Two-thirds of the world's population have no access to safe and affordable surgery, according to a study – more than double the number in previous estimates.
Warning on BMPEA diet supplements
The US Food and Drug Administration has warned five companies to stop selling dietary supplements containing an unapproved stimulant known as beta-methylphenylethylamine, (BMPEA). An investigation found nine out of 21 supplements containing Acacia rigidula also contained BMPEA, even though the plant itself does not contain the substance.
Dr Pieter Cohen, an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School said the warnings do not go far enough since they cover only those products that explicitly list BMPEA on the label. Many products use Acacia rigidula as code and do not mention BMPEA, which is an amphetamine-like substance that has been shown to raise blood pressure and heart rate in animals and is classified as a doping agent by the World Anti-Doping Agency.