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News Update
Trio convicted in major UK online illegal medicines bust
A major online syndicate involving a multimillion-pound criminal network supplying controlled drugs and unauthorised medicines has been bust wide open by British authorities.
Three people...
UK trials to test puberty blockers in children, young people
Two studies will investigate the impact of puberty blockers in young people with gender incongruence after researchers said an expert view had suggested gender...
Nestlé urged to ban sugar in baby foods
A group of 20 African civil society organisations, including three from South Africa, have written an open letter to Nestlé, demanding the company stop...
G20 leaders pledge $11bn to tackle deadly diseases
Several nations have raised $11.34bn for the Global Fund to fight Aids, TB and Malaria, with President Cyril Ramaphosa saying that $36m would be...
Measles outbreaks escalate in Western Cape
The Western Cape Department of Health & Wellness has escalated its vaccination campaigns, warning of an increase in measles outbreaks in areas like Khayelitsha,...
Rising levels of drug-resistant gonorrhoea worldwide, warns WHO
Gonorrhoea is becoming increasingly resistant to antibiotics, warns WHO, citing new data from its Enhanced Gonococcal Antimicrobial Surveillance Programme (EGASP), which monitors the spread...
Mediclinic’s pro bono cataract ops slash public facility waiting lists
Cataracts remain one of the leading causes of preventable blindness in South Africa. Without treatment, these can quietly rob people of their independence.
Restoring sight...
Rise in adverse events in Gauteng cause for alarm
Concerned experts have flagged the rising numbers of patients coming to harm in Gauteng’s public hospitals – injuries, permanent disability and deaths – because...
HIV drugs roll-out under threat in court tender row
The National Department of Health has come under legal fire from the SA subsidiary of Indian generic pharmaceutical manufacturer Hetero, which alleges that the...
Push to declare diabetes a public health emergency
Civil society organisations are intensifying calls for President Cyril Ramaphosa to declare diabetes a public health emergency, citing the need for urgent government intervention...
US seeks Africa data access in new aid agreements
The US Government is planning to secure memorandums of understanding (MOU) with African countries that offer limited health aid for five years in exchange...
Budget shortfall may affect KZN medicine supply – DA
The DA has warned that the continual financial slide of the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health is likely to increase the risk of medicine shortages...
Gauteng Health HoD suspension ruled valid
The Labour Court has found that the suspension of Gauteng Health HoD Lesiba Arnold Malotana – who had then accused Premier Panyaza Lesufi of...
Court clarifies law on disclosing someone’s HIV status
Disclosing someone’s HIV status publicly constitutes either defamation or breach of privacy, with a Bloemfontein court recently declaring they are independent and distinct actions that must...
Parliament flags dire state of Northern Cape facilities
Chronic conditions in Northern Cape health clinics and hospitals were exposed and highlighted during a three-day parliamentary oversight visit – from crumbling infrastructure and...
Man dies from meat allergy triggered by tick bites
Last year, a previously healthy 47-year-old father collapsed and died in the bathroom of his home, with an autopsy providing no answers. CNN reports...
US-bought birth control for sub-Saharan Africa rots in Belgium
There’s a new twist in the saga of the American-purchased contraceptives intended for sub-Saharan Africa and stuck in Belgium since the Trump administration scaled...
WHO to shed 2 000 jobs
The shock withdrawal of US funding – its main donor – will see the World Health Organisation slashing its staff numbers by nearly a quarter, or...
Woman born without most of her brain turns 20
Doctors told her parents she wasn’t expected to survive past the age of four, but a Nebraska, USA, woman born without cerebral hemispheres celebrated...
TB rates fall for the first time since Covid – WHO report
Global tuberculosis rates fell about 2% in 2024 from the previous year, shows a World Health Organisation report, after rising for three consecutive years...
Beware fake weight-loss products – SAHPRA warning
The South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) has issued a warning regarding GLP-1 (glucagon-like peptide-1) products being promoted and sold on social media...
Suppliers linked to Tembisa scandal still not blacklisted
Incredibly, none of the 207 suppliers implicated in the Tembisa Hospital looting sprees has yet been blacklisted, although the National Department of Health has...
US mulls plans to reject obese visitors’ visas
Overweight people applying for visas to America will need to rethink their plans in future, as US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has instructed...
SA starts ground-breaking clinical trials for oral cholera vaccine
Clinical trials testing the efficacy of the first locally manufactured oral cholera vaccine, developed by Biovac, were officially launched on Tuesday, reports TimesLIVE – which...
Godongwana concerned about plan to dump medical tax credits
Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana has expressed caution about proposals to phase out medical scheme tax credits to help fund National Health Insurance (NHI), saying...
Outrage as Gauteng Health still uses ‘blacklisted’ firms
Gauteng Health has admitted it lacks the power to blacklist suppliers linked to the R2bn Tembisa Hospital scandal, who continue to do business with...
UKZN medical school admissions graft case back in court
Seven years after being struck off the roll, a corruption case involving a Durban couple, their co-accused, and the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) medical...
Defiant Operation Dudula to appeal ruling
Operation Dudula will abide by a High Court ruling barring it from its xenophobic actions, and from denying access to public health facilities by...
Backlash after HPCSA fines UN health envoy
The Health Professions Council of SA (HPCSA) has been accused of political interference after it found Tlaleng Mofokeng – the UN Special Rapporteur on...
Transgender prisoner wins right to hormone therapy
A transgender prisoner, serving life at Johannesburg Correction Centre, has won the legal right for state-provided hormonal therapy. The Equality Court ruled that “adequate...
Special budget allocation for HIV projects not enough, warn critics
Despite Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana having tabled a special appropriation Bill providing an extra, emergency R754.5m to the Health budget in the financial year,...
Outcry over regulations for wellness, beauty industry
Opponents have slammed a proposal by the Allied Health Professions Council of South Africa (AHPCSA) to classify somatology and sports massage therapy as regulated...
Treasury's plan to feed the Eastern Cape’s starving children
The Treasury has proposed alternatives to fight hunger and reduce malnutrition statistics in the Eastern Cape after the Human Rights Commission (HRC), two years...
FDA recalls 600 000 bottles of BP drug over cancer risk
The FDA said drugmakers have recalled more than 580 000 bottles of a blood pressure medication over concerns it may include a cancer-causing chemical,...
Child Gauge flags maternal violence and neglect in SA
The country’s maternal health system is in crisis, and domestic violence is making it worse, experts say, warning that with just 11 maternal and...
Motsoaledi urges commitment to UHC at G20 meeting
At the recent G20 Health Ministers’ gathering in Polokwane, Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi called for a renewed commitment to Universal Health Coverage (UHC), ...
FDA clears costly rare disease drug despite objections
An expensive rare disease drug was approved by the US Food & Drug Administration in September despite findings by eight data reviewers that the...
Poverty, poor living conditions, drive pandemics – UNAIDS report
Poor people are likelier to fall ill, and take longer to recover, according to a newly released report by the Global Council on Inequality,...
Court orders Operation Dudula to stop targeting migrants
Members of Operation Dudula have been interdicted from “taking the law into their own hands” and uttering hate speech in their “xenophobic” campaign against...
Specialist family physicians take on big funders
Specialist Family Physicians (SFPs) – highly trained doctors devoted to whole-person care – are banding together to challenge the might of private medical funders...