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Public Health
Apology after women filmed carrying water buckets in wards
A video of mothers lugging buckets of water through an Eastern Cape Hospital ward has prompted an apology from the Department of Health after...
Kennedy stalls $600m in jabs for poor countries
US Health & Human Sciences Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr’s push to remake the US vaccination schedule is on hold after a federal judge’s...
Action urged for sickle cell disease in Nigeria, across Africa
The growing burden of sickle cell disease in Nigeria – and across sub-Saharan Africa – has prompted calls by health professionals and researchers for...
CDC flags rise in drug-resistant Shigella
Extensively drug-resistant Shigella – the mostly sexually-transmitted bacterium that causes infectious diarrhoea – is on the rise in the United States, reports Healio.
The latest...
Diabetes dashboard a step forward for SA
The establishment of South Africa’s national diabetes dashboard signals a major step forward in tackling one of the country’s leading causes of death, writes...
South Africa’s giant pain problem
Millions of South Africans suffer from chronic pain, but experts say the country is doing “a terrible job” of managing it, writes Sean Christie...
Southern Africa inches ahead in war against drug-resistant malaria
As malaria cases nudge their way upwards on the continent, and while the cunning parasite evolves to evade detection and conquer drugs used to...
Mystery illness in Burundi kills five
At least five people have died in Burundi, and another three dozen become ill from unexplained causes, reports CIDRAP News.
The case-fatality rate of 14%...
The down side of cheap sex pills
Seeking a quick boost to enhance sexual performance is not that uncommon, but experts warn that cheap unapproved black market products, taken without medical...
Alarm over drop in Gauteng’s childhood vaccination rate
More and more children are skipping their childhood immunisations, with the Gauteng Department of Health warning that the declining rates are reducing protection against preventable diseases,...
Why good hospital ventilation can’t always stop infection – Australian study
Clean, controlled airflow is critical in medical facilities, where infection and bacteria are a constant threat and where contamination can be the difference between...
Africa needs to reassess fight against malaria
As progress on malaria stalls, the case for local research in Africa is stronger than ever, write Edwine Barasa of the KEMRI-Wellcome Research Programme...
US cuts threaten SA’s LEN rollout – global report
The global Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) has warned that South Africa’s planned rollout of HIV prevention shot lenacapavir (LEN) is being jeopardised by...
Malaria outbreak alarms Gauteng officials
The Gauteng Department of Health has recorded 414 confirmed malaria cases and 11 deaths in the first three months of 2026, the fatalities overtaking...
Probe into Cape clinic staff accused of selling patient info
Cape Town police are investigating reports that some clinic staff are apparently selling patient folders to people wanting to fraudulently qualify for Sassa grants,...
Civil society unites to demand action on national diabetes crisis
Enough is enough, say 24 South African civil society organisations that have united to demand urgent, co-ordinated action on a disease that is now...
Stalled Grey’s Hospital repairs project moves up ‘priority list’
There’s hope yet for ailing Grey’s Hospital in Pietermaritzburg, with its non-existent aircon and inhumane operating theatre conditions, amid various delays and drawn out...
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...