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News Update
Nigeria launches mass meningitis vaccination campaign after 336 deaths
Nigeria is launching a mass vaccination campaign as part of its emergency response to an outbreak of meningitis in its north-western states, as the...
Bonitas claims 'price war' victory in dispute with hospital group
Bonitas, South Africa’s third largest medical scheme, is claiming victory in what it believes is the beginning of a competition and price war with...
Novartis leukaemia drug to get priority review from the FDA
A new leukaemia treatment from Novartis for children and young adults will get priority review from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), putting...
Drug-vitamin C combo may be breakthrough treatment for sepsis
A simple infusion of vitamin C combined with low-dose corticosteroids and thiamine may be the next breakthrough treatment for sepsis, according to a US...
Strategy to guide SA's fight against HIV for the next 6 years
South Africa is expected to release its new national HIV strategy later this month, according to a Bhekisisa report. In a country that continues...
EMA suspends drug approvals due to 'unreliable' tests in India
Europe's medicines regulator has recommended the suspension of more than 300 generic drug approvals and drug applications due to "unreliable" tests conducted by Indian...
Gilead faces fresh challenge in Europe over hepatitis C drug patent
International groups representing doctors and patients have launched a fresh challenge to the patent on Gilead Sciences' hepatitis C drug sofosbuvir at the European...
Some breast implants associated with rare cancer deaths
A rare cancer first linked to breast implants in 2011 has now been associated with nine deaths, reports The New York Times. This is according...
Tribunal finds doctor acted dishonestly over Ebola nurse's temp
A doctor acted dishonestly when she lied to investigators about the dangerously high temperature of a nurse who went on to develop Ebola, a...
FDA warns of risk of major adverse cardiac events with Absorb stent
Patients who received Abbott Laboratories' novel dissolving vascular stent had a significantly higher rate of serious adverse heart events than those treated with the...
Fentanyl chemicals added to controlled substance list
A UN body has added two chemicals used to make the drug fentanyl, which killed music star Prince, to an international list of controlled...
Doctor admits to misleading officials over Ebola nurses' temperature
A doctor has admitted that she misled other medics about the health of a colleague returning to the UK from West Africa with Ebola...
UK foods to miss stringent salt-reduction targets
Bread rolls are the only manufactured foodstuff likely to meet the UK’s stringent 2017 salt-reduction targets, research has revealed. The food industry will miss...
Australia looking at a ban on unvaccinated children
Unvaccinated children would be banned from childcare centres and preschools under an Australian government plan, reports BBC News. Some Australian states already have "no...
Kenyan public service doctors reject no-private-work clause
Public service doctors in Kenya have removed a contentious clause barring them from private practice in a document filed recently in court, says a...
Mozambique warns that cholera outbreak not slowing
Mozambique is battling a cholera outbreak that has infected 1,222 people and killed two, the country's health ministry said, warning that it has been...
SA is facing an incurable TB 'ticking time bomb'
The health risk posed by state hospitals discharging patients with totally drug resistant TB was a 'ticking time bomb', says Professor Keertan Dheeda of the...
Cover-up claims over NHS data breach affecting thousands
Thousands of patients are feared to have been harmed after the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) lost more than half a million pieces of...
Drug resistant malaria detected in Africa for the first time
For the first time in Africa, researchers said, they have detected a malaria parasite that is partially resistant to the top anti-malaria drug, artemisinin,...
Discovery wants Competition Commission to dismiss complaint
Discovery Health Medical Scheme has asked the Competition Commission to dismiss Afrocentric Health’s complaint that it is undercutting competitors, contending it lacked merit.
The dispute between Discovery and Afrocentric currently...
Footballers pledge brain donations following dementia research progress
Scores of retired UK footballers have come forward to pledge the donation of their brains to dementia research, amid signs that the campaign for...
Officials of Kenyan doctors' union jailed; Zim doctor's strike looms
A Kenyan court has jailed seven union officials over a doctors’ strike, while in Zimbabwe, government doctors are bracing for a crippling strike.
Business Day...
SA's obs-gynae crisis: Innovative risk solutions needed
The 'real crisis' of an imminent collapse of obs-gynae practices needs to be tackled with innovative, new sustainable solutions warns the SA Health Department.
The...
'Angry' Motsoaledi intervenes to stop EC move of patients to NGOs
SA Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi has intervened to halt the Eastern Cape's decision to move frail care patients from Life Esidimeni to NGOs,...
World Cancer Day: A cure is 5-10 years away – WHO expert
An effective cure for all types of cancer could be just five to 10 years away, according to Professor Karol Sikora, former head of...
Most Zimbabwean deaths in SA linked to HIV/Aids
Figures from Zimbabwe’s South African Consulate show that more than 300 Zimbabweans die in SA every month, with more than a third of deaths related to...
Trump's anti-abortion rule may endanger PEPFAR
Donald Trump’s recent signing of an anti-abortion rule could put $9.5bn in US aid funding at risk, including the PEPFAR (President’s Emergency Plan for...
FDA warns on vulnerability of pacemakers to hacking
Pacemakers are easy targets for hackers, the US Food and Drug Administration< has warned in a cybersecurity briefing.
The small devices have been saving lives...
Botch up means 26 women got wrong IVF sperm
A mistake at a Dutch IVF clinic means that up to 26 women may have accidentally had their eggs fertilised with the wrong sperm,...
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.
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'.
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.