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How Botswana eliminated paediatric HIV
Political will, free maternity care and digital health tools have helped Botswana achieve high standards for ending mother-to-child transmission, the first African nation to...
US cities abandon strategies to make drug use safer
Various cities in the United States are retreating from “harm reduction” strategies that have helped reduce deaths but which critics, including President Donald Trump,...
Game-changing Lenacapavir to be rolled out from next year
More than 300 government clinics are in line for the first roll-out of the widely-hailed twice-yearly anti-HIV jab lenacapavir within the next two years...
Legal suit on the cards against anti-migrant groups
Civil society groups, with the help of Lawyers for Human Rights, are preparing legal action in a bid to force authorities to act against...
NHLS targets dented by 2024 cyber attack
The National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS) is still suffering from the cyber attack last June that annihilated its ICT systems and infrastructure, and resulted in it...
Plans on track for new Western Cape hospitals
The Western Cape Department of Health & Wellness (DHW) plans to complete three hospital projects by 2033, with the new Klipfontein and Belhar regional...
Life Esidimeni officials to be prosecuted for just two of the deaths
Families of those who died in appalling circumstances in the Life Esidimeni tragedy are furious that the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has decided former...
Innovative project sees Groote Schuur interns tackle GBV
Cape Town’s Groote Schuur Hospital has provided 50 medical interns with specialised training on how to sensitively screen for intimate partner violence (IPV) and...
Child vapers three times likelier to become smokers – global study
A large global review has suggested links between youth vaping and pneumonia, bronchitis, lower total sperm counts, headaches and migraines, while the researchers also...
Hospital marked for NHI has 200 vacancies
An Eastern Cape hospital selected for NHI implementation has been found to be in dire straits with more than 200 vacancies.
During an oversight visit...
Why lung cancer is a ‘hidden epidemic’ in sub-Saharan Africa
It’s the deadliest cancer in the world, killing 1.8m people each year – more than any other cancer. But the official statistics suggest that isn’t...
Where will millions from Treasury to fill US funding void go?
In response to US funding cuts for South African health services and research projects, National Treasury has provided the National Department of Health with...
Arrests as anti-migrant thugs ratchet up their campaign
Police have made several arrests of militant anti-migrant group members recently, but seemingly with little effect as the organisations continue to terrorise foreigners seeking...
Healthcare staff under siege from crime
Public healthcare workers are living in fear as criminals wage a war of robbery and assault on them, with attacks escalating – and even...
Patients say clinic nurses force them to have HIV tests
Residents in at least three provinces say they have been coerced into undergoing HIV testing at various government health facilities, and that in some...
Mthatha EMS crew forced to sleep in Khayelitsha shack
Two Eastern Cape EMS drivers recently transporting a child from Mthatha had to spend two nights in an informal settlement in Khayelitsha, Cape Town,...
Fire-damaged Free State hospital wards back in service
The National District Hospital in the Free State re-opened wards and sections of the Bloemfontein facility that had been gutted by a fire in...
State can be sued for failing foreign nationals, lawyers group says
Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) has warned that the government can be taken to court if it fails to intervene in the public health...
Poor record-keeping adds to Eastern Cape medico-legal cases
A major driver of successful medical negligence cases against the Eastern Cape Health Department is its poor record-keeping, making it impossible for it to...
Most liver cancer preventable, Lancet Commission finds
As many as three in five liver cancer cases could be prevented, according to a report from The Lancet Commission on liver cancer, which...
Heads to roll after mental patients froze to death in Northern Cape hospitals
An investigation into the treatment, complications and deaths of psychiatric patients at the Northern Cape Mental Health Hospital (NCMHH) and the Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe...
Health Budget: new hospitals, upgrades and millions for HIV projects
Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has said a new central hospital is under construction, that there are also plans to develop another three academic hospitals...
KZN Health MEC demands probe into corruption claims
KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Health Nomagugu Simelane has called for Premier Thami Ntuli to investigate the allegations of corruption levelled against her, making the remarks...
Companies linked to Mashatile's sons scoop R49m Gauteng hospital tender
Two companies with links to Deputy President Paul Mashatile’s sons were paid R36.4m – and are owed a further R12.6m – for a Gauteng...
Call for action as SA loses 6 000 doctors and nurses annually
Experts warn that urgent intervention is needed to deal with the staffing crisis in the healthcare sector, which has seen almost 6 000 doctors...
Nurses allegedly ignored patient who miscarried at KZN hospital
Hospital staff allegedly left a young patient ignored and unattended during and after her miscarriage, with the woman being forced to sit with the...
Africa braces for spike in mosquito-borne diseases after US cuts
The withdrawal of US funding could see a worsening of mosquito-borne diseases and a reversal in the progress made in beating the spread, with...
Study flags high colistin-resistant Klebsiella rates in Africa
Researchers have expressed alarm over Africa’s high levels of resistance to a last-resort antibiotic in an already multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacterial pathogen, according to their...
Anti-foreigner group ups ante at healthcare facilities
Despite warnings against vigilantism, the controversial March on March movement is extending its campaign to several other hospitals and clinics in KwaZulu-Natal, and elsewhere,...
Penicillin jab recall jeopardises syphilis gains in the United States
Pfizer has warned of a possible shortage of Bicillin L-A, a long-acting injection of the antibiotic penicillin used for treating syphilis during pregnancy, after...
Dire handwashing habits of hospital loo users – UK-Danish study
British researchers – in a 19-week study in partnership with Bispebjerg Hospital in Denmark – have found that almost one of every two people...
SA study highlights need to monitor IV antibiotic use in hospitals
The findings of a study analysing intravenous (IV) antibiotic usage in a private mining hospital in North West Province have emphasised the need for...
NDoH considers vaccine to protect infants from RSV
A respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine to protect infants from severe illness is available in the private sector although not yet in public clinics,...
Childhood obesity tied to early, serious health issues – SA study
A study by the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) and Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital (IALCH) has linked childhood obesity to an escalation...
Task team probes staff crisis at Livingstone Hospital
A task team from the Eastern Cape Department of Health is to present a report shortly on the staffing haemorrhage from Gqeberha’s Livingstone Hospital and...
WHO punts 50% global tax hike for alcohol, tobacco and sugary drinks
The World Health Organisation wants health taxes hiked worldwide to slow down the epidemic of non-communicable diseases, pointing to a recent report suggesting that...
Low screening, weak referrals, drive SA’s high cervical cancer rates
Compared with other countries, South Africa has a much higher global cervical cancer rate – between 22.8 and 27 per 100 000 women, with...
Mpox can leave lasting brain damage – Swiss study
Research by University of Bern scientists suggests that the mpox virus can also infect the human brain and damage brain cells, findings they say...
Jobless Cuban-trained doctors desperate for posts
Two dozen young doctors are sitting at home unemployed after completing their training – funded by the Free State government through the Nelson Mandela-Fidel Castro...
Gauteng Health denies ‘bodies piling up’ at hospital morgue
There are no unclaimed bodies piling up at Helen Joseph Hospital, Gauteng Health has said after claims of multiple unclaimed bodies left in limbo...