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Western Cape Health to ramp up its workforce with 800 new frontline posts
Western Cape Health is ramping up its workforce with 800 new frontline posts, but after years of austerity and with long lists of vacancies,...
Massive eye drop recall in US raises questions
A California company has recalled more than 3.1m bottles of lubricating eye drops because it had not properly tested, and thus could not prove,...
Fluoride in water has no impact on IQ or brain function – US study
Contrary to the Trump administration’s suggestions that fluoride in drinking water will affect children’s IQ or decrease cognitive abilities, a large-scale study appears to...
Africa’s health worker brain drain tracks colonial patterns
Africa has a challenge to retain the health staff it needs – with the WHO estimating a global shortfall of 11m health workers by...
Why every South African needs a digital health wallet
All South Africans, whether on the public or private healthcare system, should carry a digital health wallet with their full medical/health records on their...
Supplier still selling expired medicines to Malawi state facilities
Despite a recommendation to revoke its licence, one of Malawi’s largest pharmaceutical suppliers that was shut down for supplying state hospitals with faulty antibiotics...
HPV jab halves men’s cancer risk – Japanese cohort study
Cancers caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV) affect both men and women in large numbers, but prevention efforts initially focused on women, reports CIDRP...
Data investment key to effective delivery of NHI
Investing in data is arguably the most cost-effective investment South Africa can make to ensure that the NHI delivers equitable, efficient and sustainable healthcare,...
Patient deaths to be probed as Dora Nginza strike ends
The Eastern Cape Department of Health is to investigate allegations that several deaths occurred when nurses and porters abandoned their posts for an illegal...
No cardiologists at Livingstone after contracts blunder
For nine critical days – from 1-9 April – Livingstone Hospital in Nelson Mandela Bay had no cardiologists on duty due to an administrative blunder,...
Transgender patients in SA face 10-year state surgery clinic backlog
South Africa’s only state gender-affirming clinic provides surgery to just four patients a year, while receiving up to 10 new referrals a month –...
Hundreds of mental health patients stuck in South African prisons
More than 300 declared state patients are sitting in prisons awaiting placement in health institutions, with the Portfolio Committee on Correctional Services warning that...
Call for probe after woman gives birth outside hospital
Community leaders from the Bluff, outside Durban, are demanding a full investigation into staff at Wentworth Hospital after a woman gave birth on the...
‘Service with a song and a smile’ at Pholosong Hospital
While Pholosong Regional Hospital in Tsakane, Ekurhuleni, is often in the news for all the wrong reasons – poor service delivery, long queues, and...
Surge in TB research heralds hope for centuries-old epidemic
After decades of stagnation, a renewed push in tuberculosis research is expanding the drug and vaccine pipeline to bring one of humanity’s oldest and...
Danish study provides further assurance about Tylenol and autism
A large study by researchers from Denmark has again confirmed that taking acetaminophen – known in the US as Tylenol and paracetamol in South...
Choice of new Health boss will test Ramaphosa’s commitment
When push comes to shove, President Cyril Ramaphosa’s talk of building a more capable state hasn’t always been backed up by the appointment of...
How the SAMRC weathered the funding storm
Cuts in United States funding for global health research have dealt a heavy blow to South Africa’s health research ecosystem, which has historically been...
MASLD to affect almost 2bn people by 2050 – Lancet
A global burden of disease study has estimated that metabolic liver disease will affect 1.8bn people worldwide – more men than women – by...
Delayed anti-HIV doses of LEN land in SA
South Africa’s first consignment of LEN, the twice-a-year anti-HIV injection lenacapavir – 37 920 doses – landed last week at OR Tambo Airport via...
Emergency Bangladesh vaccination campaign as deaths rise
A fast-spreading measles outbreak infecting thousands of people across Bangladesh – and which has already led to 17 confirmed deaths – has prompted an...
KZN Health MEC slams group's anti-ARV ‘genocide’ teachings
A religious community in KwaZulu-Natal that is encouraging members to abandon modern medicine – including antiretroviral (ARV) treatment – in favour of faith healing,...
Kenyan president slams healthcare scheme critics
President William Ruto has dismissed criticism of the government’s Social Health Authority (SHA), saying opponents lack the capacity to understand or interpret the scale...
Public sector moonlighting headed towards a major crisis
In hospitals and clinics already hollowed out by corruption, shortages and managerial decay, large numbers of nurses and doctors rely on private-sector moonlighting and...
Africa’s deadly legacy – one stillbirth every 30 seconds
A major report has revealed that a baby is stillborn every 30 seconds in Africa, exposing major cracks in the continent’s healthcare systems. Most...
DA flags cardiac patient deaths at Charlotte Maxeke Hospital
Cardiac outcomes at Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital require an urgent investigation by the Health Ombud, according to DA Gauteng Shadow Health MEC Jack...
Surgical crisis at Grey’s Hospital as aircon upgrade drags on
Staff and patients at Pietermaritzburg’s Grey’s Hospital are battling with ongoing surgical crises due to a malfunctioning HVAC system, with operations cancelled – and...
Court lashes department over non-compliance in vigilante case
The Department of Health and other government respondents have failed to comply with a court order to stop anti-immigrant vigilantes from screening patients, and...
Only 3% of South Africans using condoms as STIs rise
Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are on the rise in South Africa, and while exact numbers are difficult to pinpoint, regional data paint a worrying...
Deepening crisis in healthcare affordability: Stats SA survey
With barely 14% of the country’s population covered by medical aid, new data reveal a deepening crisis in healthcare affordability, where race, geography and...
Half of all badly injured patients don’t reach medical care – UK-Stellenbosch study
Many seriously injured patients in Global South countries fail to reach medical care within the lifesaving “golden hour”, with ambulances often associated with these...
No link between vaccines and sudden cardiac death – Canadian study
The worldwide roll-out of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) vaccines was controversial, with many claiming it took more lives than the infection itself. However, a recent...
Weight-loss treatment on brink of another dramatic shift
Just 10 weeks after approval from the US Food and Drug Administration, the Wegovy weight-loss pill is now estimated to be part of the daily...
KZN’s emergency medical services in dire straits
Life support is urgently needed for the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) in KwaZulu-Natal, according to a recent report, which found that more than half...
Landmark South African study shows efficacy of HPV vaccination
A national HPV vaccination programme can be extremely effective in a high HIV-prevalence setting, a Wits-led research published in The Lancet Global Health shows...
Tackling the threat of asymptomatic TB in South Africa
Tuberculosis (TB) continues to spread in South Africa at alarming rates, possibly because some people may have the disease without TB symptoms and may...
Overdue patient fees climb to billions in Gauteng
Overdue patient fees have climbed to a staggering R4.6bn at Gauteng provincial hospitals and, in the case of a private hospital, led to a...
World’s longest study on happiness thrives
Money does not buy happiness, or even health, it has been confirmed, with a decades-long study suggesting that good friendships and relationships, instead, are...
Lessons learnt in the anti-HIV drug race as CAB-LA falls behind LEN
The two-monthly HIV prevention injection, cabotegravir (CAB-LA), was approved more than three years ago but never reached government clinics. Now, as the new and...
National Health Lab Service IT system down – again
The National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS), which provides laboratory services to every single public sector health provider countrywide, reported a major disruption to its...