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News Update
Zimbabwe declares state of emergency over cholera outbreak
Zimbabwe has declared a state of emergency in Harare over a cholera outbreak that has killed dozens of people, with more than 7 000...
Global measles cases and deaths rising, warns WHO
After years of declines in measles vaccination coverage, measles cases in 2022 increased by 18%, and deaths by 43% globally (compared with 2021), according...
Eswatini on track to end Aids by 2030
In 2020, Eswatini became the first African country to achieve the 95-95-95 target, well ahead of 2025, and since then, seems on track to...
Cervical cancer can be eliminated by 2040: UK health boss
Cervical cancer can be eliminated in England by 2040, saving thousands of women’s lives, the head of NHS England said last week, the first...
Fake Ozempic sends users to hospitals
The US Food & Drug Administration has launched a probe after at least three people were admitted to hospitals after using suspected counterfeit semaglutide...
SA snakebite anti-venom shortage resolved
Stakeholders say South Africa’s health facilities now have sufficient supplies of snake anti-venom, after a drastic shortage earlier this year caused panic countrywide.
In April,...
Cable theft affects three Kimberley hospitals
The theft of hundreds of thousands of rands worth of cables and other electrical equipment in the Sol Plaatje Municipality in Kimberley last week...
Netcare CEO delays retirement for six months
Hospital group Netcare said CEO Richard Friedland will remain at the helm of the business for a further six months beyond his original September...
More allegations of Mediclinic billing irregularities
A second, former Mediclinic employee, has accused the hospital group of manipulating patient bills, sharing correspondence with News24 that reflects billing changes apparently made...
SAHRC gives government deadline to address Eastern Cape malnutrition crisis
The South African Human Rights Commission has recommended a State of Disaster be declared in the Eastern Cape, where more than 100 children have...
Gauteng Health cancer tender raises red flag
The narrow window of an “abrupt” Gauteng Health tender for oncology radiation services has raised concerns, with Cancer Alliance saying many private sector radiation therapy companies...
Northern Cape surgery backlog grows by the day
Waiting lists for surgery in the Northern Cape have ballooned to nearly 6 500, up from the just under 4 000 recorded in May...
Increase in stroke cases in KZN
An emergency medical services company in KwaZulu-Natal says it has seen a significant increase in the number of stroke cases in the past two...
Red tape hampers research for vulnerable groups treatment
There is an urgent need to develop a clear risk standard in law that is consistent with national and global ethics guidelines – or...
Diphtheria prison outbreak contained
The Western Cape Department of Correctional Services has contained the diphtheria outbreak at Pollsmoor Prison after a 19-year-old prisoner died and eight others tested positive...
Artificial pancreas hope for thousands of UK diabetics
In a breakthrough for Britain’s NHS, more than 150 000 adults and children with type 1 diabetes will be eligible for “life changing” technology that will...
AGs urge action from FDA on biased pulse oximeter technology
Attorneys-General representing half of the US and Washington are calling on the FDA to step up its ongoing efforts to eliminate racial biases from...
Hundreds of operations cancelled because of Gauteng water shortages
Water shortages led to nearly 400 operations being cancelled in 16 hospitals across Gauteng in the first six months of this year – most...
EMS crews beaten, shot and robbed
Stoning, shooting and hijacking are an occupation hazard for South Africa’s emergency medical services (EMS), with parts of the Eastern Cape having been declared...
Dumped medical waste probed by Gauteng Health
Used syringes and old medical files were found dumped in a Johannesburg field this past weekend, with the Gauteng Health Department saying it would...
Australian Government apologises for thalidomide tragedy
The Australian Government is to issue a formal apology to people affected by thalidomide, the morning sickness drug that caused significant birth defects in...
US sets price for (costly) new postpartum depression pill
Pharma giant Sage Therapeutics has priced the oral postpartum depression (PPD) pill it developed with partner Biogen at $15 900 for a full 14-day course of...
Auditor-General again flags medico-legal claims risk for health sector
The Auditor-General of South Africa (AGSA) has again raised concern about mounting medical-legal claims against state hospital, saying they have identified such expenditure as...
UK green-lights drug that could slash breast cancer risk
Britain’s Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has confirmed authorisation of the hormone treatment anastrozol as a preventative treatment for post-menopausal women at...
North West Health HoD gets bail in alleged corrupt tender case
The North West Health Department’s HoD has been given a leave of absence, pending an investigation into the corrupt awarding of a R470m hospital...
Eastern Cape patient stabs nurse over a cigarette
A Bhisho Hospital patient suffering from psychosis stabbed a nurse who refused to share a cigarette with him, using an Okapi knife stolen from...
70 malaria deaths and 7 400 cases in SA this year
South Africans are warned to be vigilant as malaria season approaches, with the Department of Health saying 66 infected people have already died between...
Rural Limpopo hospital records first robotic knee surgery
In the first surgery of its kind in the mainly rural province of Limpopo, a team led by Professor Steve Matshidze recently performed a...
Updated US guidelines urge more lung cancer screening
Updated guidelines from the American Cancer Society (ACS) recommend that around 5m additional people should be screened for lung cancer, including older adults who...
Only 15% of South Africans on medical aid
Countless working-class South Africans can no longer afford medical aid, according to general secretary of the Public Service Co-ordinating Bargaining Council Frikkie de Bruin,...
African countries warned of polio outbreak risks
With 300 confirmed polio cases having already been confirmed in Africa so far this year – and almost 250 detections in wastewater samples –...
Listeriosis victims still awaiting justice
Five years since a listeriosis outbreak in SA killed more than 200 people and caused severe illness in many others, human rights lawyers are...
‘Martha’s Rule’ included in new NHS warning system
Hospitals in England have introduced a new procedure to ensure doctors and nurses act immediately if parents say their child’s health has deteriorated further,...
Alarm at spiralling number of US babies born with syphilis
The rise in sexually transmitted infections in the United States has taken a particularly tragic turn: more than 3 700 cases of congenital syphilis...
FDA advisers debate sickle cell gene therapy safety
Whether the investigational sickle cell disease therapy exagamglogene autotemcel (exa-cel) has adequately proven it won’t produce off-target genetic changes was questioned by FDA reviewers...
FDA mulls ban on harmful additive in cold drinks
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) wants to revoke its regulation authorising the use of brominated vegetable oil (BVO) as an additive in...
Records from notorious US Tuskegee syphilis study now online
A cache of documents related to America’s Tuskegee syphilis study – a 40-year experiment that tracked infected black men without treating them – has...
Belgium wants temporary Ozempic ban
The Health Ministry in Belgium is considering a short-term ban on Novo Nordisk’s diabetes drug Ozempic as a weight loss treatment amid a shortage...
TikTok ‘doctor’ a free man after charges dropped
Charges were withdrawn this week against the man known on Tiktok as “Dr Matthew Lani”, who was arrested on Sunday night at Helen Joseph...
Gauteng free healthcare policy amended after court pressure
The Gauteng Health Department has amended its policy – but only after the pressure of a court order – to clarify that all pregnant...