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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...
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...