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First obesity guideline for SA as experts flag growing burden
Obesity is reaching alarming proportions in South Africa, experts write, warning that apart from the potential health risks – heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes...
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...
Eastern Cape chemo patients left in the lurch after bungle
There appears to be no end to the problems affecting the Eastern Cape Department of Health, the latest mess coming after its account with...
Premier urged to probe lax contractor paid millions for hospital project
Five years after a multimillion-rand hospital project began in Ulundi, KwaZulu-Natal, the job is still incomplete, with the provincial Public Works & Infrastructure Department...
Eastern Cape hospital without water for three weeks
An Eastern Cape hospital has been without water for more than three weeks, forcing doctors and nurses, and even patients, to haul 20-litre buckets...
Cancer victim dies after alleged wrong diagnosis of TB
A 20-year-old woman from Bizana in the Eastern Cape who was apparently treated treated for tuberculosis (TB) for two years instead of cancer as...
Tshwane alert after typhoid spike
Officials in the City of Tshwane say they have stepped up investigations into a rise in typhoid fever cases in Hammanskraal and Bronkhorstspruit amid...
EMA latest to warn on tranexamic acid use
Fatal mix-ups between tranexamic acid and spinal anaesthetics have prompted a strong safety warning by the European Medicines Agency (EMA), urging healthcare professionals to...
SA first to register anti-HIV jab
South Africa is the first African country – and SAHPRA the third regulator worldwide – to register the twice-yearly anti-HIV jab, lenacapavir (LEN), inking...
TB caucus relaunched by Motsoaledi
Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has relaunched the SA Tuberculosis Caucus, a platform for political leaders to advance the response to the disease, as the...
Ritshidze forced to shrink after US aid cuts
Ritshidze, the world’s largest community-led monitoring system, is in jeopardy after the cuts to US development aid announced in January, writes Chris Gilili for...
World class Groote Schuur scoops global recognition
Flagship Cape Town hospital Groote Schuur has been awarded European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) accreditation for its world-class oncology and palliative care teams.
The...
Justice sought for teen who died after clinic turned her away
A Free State community is up in arms and demanding justice after the death of a young woman who was refused care at Bophelong...
African self-reliance punted at key public health conference
The “Durban Promise”, the ambitious outcome document of the Conference of Public Health in Africa 2025 (CPHIA), will be on the menu when world leaders gather...
Late teens, early 20s, crucial times for lifelong heart health
Emerging adulthood – around 18-25 – is full of major transitions, but also a stage where behaviours that diminish heart health become more common....
Plunge in public healthcare services after Pepfar cuts
Nearly half of hundreds of public health facilities surveyed by the community-led monitoring group Ritshidze have been operating at a reduced capacity since the...
SA firms lose out on lenacapavir production
South African companies were excluded from Gilead Science’s voluntary licensing for the anti-HIV drug lenacapavir because those that were evaluated in 2024 did not...
Neurologist shortage not unique to South Africa – Motsoaledi
Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has defended his department against accusations of healthcare system collapse, saying the global shortage of specialists was partly to blame...
Gauteng Health spends R20m on new clinic wall as old facility crumbles
Spending R20m on building only a wall at a yet-to-be-constructed clinic is “a reckless waste of taxpayers’ money by the Gauteng Department of Health,...
Gqeberha's Livingstone Hospital still without CEO – seven years later
The Eastern Cape Department of Health says it is advertising the CEO post for Livingstone Tertiary Hospital for the third time – seven years...
Infant immunisations drop in Western Cape
The Western Cape Department of Health & Wellness has sounded an urgent alarm over a steep decline in infant vaccination coverage across the province,...
WHO, EU to advance digital health in sub-Saharan Africa
A new agreement has been inked by the World Health Organisation and the European Union (EU) to support the digital transformation of health systems...
Africa must stop relying on imported medicines and ingredients
Africa imports more than 70% of its medicine, but this could be changed if the continent made its own active ingredients locally – slashing...
FDA, Merck accused of ‘covering up’ hair-loss pill’s suicide link
Hair-loss drug Finasteride has long been tied to depression and suicide, but researchers say regulators have ignored the warnings, with a recent analysis by...
Toxic BPA found in breast milk, but no SA law to stop exposure
In South Africa, there is no law preventing toxic chemicals like bisphenol A (BPA) from being used in most food packaging, even though research...
Children’s peanut allergies plummet after new guidelines – US study
Food allergies in children dropped sharply in the years after new guidelines encouraged parents to introduce infants to peanuts, a newly-published study has said.
For...
Pharmacists allowed to dispense ARVs, appeal court rules
The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) has dismissed, with costs, an appeal by a doctor’s organisation, the IPA Foundation, aimed at stopping specially trained...
Lifestyle diseases bring down SA life expectancy
Non-communicable diseases are reversing decades of progress in HIV/Aids treatment in South Africa, with statistics released this weekend showing that contrary to global trends,...
Questions after NHLS audit procurement flaws flagged
Weak controls, expired contracts and irregular expenditure have yet again been linked to the Department of Health and its entities, according to the Auditor-General...
Limpopo mother wins damages after surgery on son’s wrong leg
A Limpopo mother has successfully sued the provincial Health MEC for damages after an orthopaedic surgeon operated on her eight-year-old son – but on...
Reimagining mental healthcare amid growing burden – SA Health Review
Mental health has become one of the most pressing public health challenges in South Africa and worldwide. Within our national context, entrenched socio-economic disparities,...
Quitting smoking stubs out dementia risk – London study
British researchers have found that giving up smoking in middle age not only halves the rate of decline in verbal fluency and slows memory...
Urgent need for national kidney health strategy to address glaring gaps
Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is an escalating public health crisis in South Africa, and urgent reforms are vital, writes a group of concerned specialists...
‘Alarming’ rise of superbugs in newborn babies – Australian study
The war against drug-resistant microbes is not going very well, warned scientists after a recent study on escalating antibiotic resistance and “superbugs” affecting newborn...
Untapped potential of state-private sector collaboration
Government and the private sector could work together much more effectively to improve healthcare services in South Africa, but the potential of such a...
Public outrage over Eastern Cape hospital's fees for file-opening
A government hospital in the Eastern Cape has ignited widespread outrage after reminding the public on its Facebook page that patients have to pay...
Free State Health confirms malaria death and cases
A Free State man has died and two other people are receiving treatment after three laboratory-confirmed malaria cases were identified in a single household...
Steve Biko staff confirm system collapse after GDoH denial
The Gauteng Department of Health (GDoH) has denied that patient safety was compromised after a maintenance shutdown affected critical departments at the Steven Biko...
NICD urges vaccinations as measles cases continue to rise
The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) has reported a continued rise in measles cases across South Africa, with Gauteng leading in the number...
Mental health patient tries to set bed alight
A fire was contained in the female psychiatry ward at Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital on Monday, Gauteng Health said, when a mental health...