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Policy and Law
Doctors in new turf war with pharmacists over ‘unlawful and unfair’ competition
Proposed changes to the Pharmacy Guidelines are “unlawful, unfair and not in the patients’ best interests”, says the SA Medical Association , while the...
Discovery’s move on staff vaccination adds impetus to ‘proof of vaccination’ policies
Health giant Discovery is the first JSE-listed company to mandate COVID-19 vaccinations for staff, in response to “a strong moral imperative”, writes MedicalBrief. It’s...
Discovery’s move on staff vaccination adds impetus to ‘proof of vaccination’ policies
Health giant Discovery is the first JSE-listed company to mandate COVID-19 vaccinations for staff, in response to “a strong moral imperative”, writes MedicalBrief. It’s...
The debate over a mandatory vaccine policy for South Africa
Last week Stellenbosch University bioethicist Prof Keymanthri Moodley argued in MedicalBrief the case for mandatory vaccines in South Africa. Two academics from the University...
Governments’ quest for ‘zero COVID’ faces increasing public resistance
Following the arrival of the Delta variant, the quest for “zero COVID” by means of lockdown is faltering, with the medical evidence ambivalent and...
COVID-19 vaccinations should be mandatory in South Africa
In recent months, the question of mandatory COVID-19 vaccination or limitations on those who choose not to be vaccinated has become a hot topic,...
Why Uganda's Human Sacrifice legislation was necessary
A major difficulty in stamping it out “human sacrifice” cases is finding and prosecuting the shadowy people in the background who pay for or...
Report recommends occupational health and safety plan for SA
A report commissioned by the Department of Employment & Labour and the UN’s International Labour Organisation has recommended that SA develops a national policy...
Ivermectin: ‘Pitting frontline doctors against bureaucrat academic clinicians’
Given the safety profile of Ivermectin, there is nothing to lose and there is a good possibility of saving many lives and slowing the...
Diverging national vaccination policies fuel public mistrust and hesitancy
National divergences in vaccination policies may cause public trust in COVID-19 vaccines to wane and exacerbate existing hesitancy, write researchers from the London School...
Vaccine passports are about stopgap practicalities, not human rights
Privacy advocates have undercut tracing apps, while anti-maskers claiming a rights invasion have damaged an effective protection mechanism. Now, writes Prof Peter Baldwin on...
Unborn baby case offers dignity but not to all — Cause for Justice
The judgment by the Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) in The Voice of the Unborn Baby case – that most parents who lose a child...
SA decision on AstraZeneca vaccine a 'potentially historical mistake'
South Africa's decision not deploy the AstraZeneca vaccine is financially expensive, poor in science, and goes against the government's own assurances that it would...
SA's COVID-19 failures: 'It's ideology as much as customary incompetence'
There is more than just the government's customary incompetence behind it's failures during the COVID-19 pandemic, writes Anthea Jeffreys of the Institute of Race...
Soft drink taxation, advertising and labelling laws significantly impact behaviour
Laws affecting the labelling, marketing and taxation of sugary soft drinks impact the behaviour of both consumers and manufacturers, according to separate studies from...
'Belated' circulation to Parliament of NHI district pilot evaluation report
The 2019 NHI district pilot evaluation report was circulated somewhat belatedly last week to Parliament as an addendum to Health Minister Zweli Mkhize’s written...
Advancing tobacco regulation for public health – New FDA initiatives
Over the past year, the US Food and Drug Administration has taken important steps towards achieving its overarching goal – a world where cigarettes...