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SA’s under-fives hungry, neglected and dying – Child Gauge 2024
One out of every 25 babies born in South Africa dies before turning five, with most under-fives facing hunger, neglect and developmental issues, according...
Three major hospital projects in pipeline for Cape Town
The Western Cape Department of Health says it is going full steam ahead with its plans for new facilities and three major projects that...
Measles closes Northern Cape schools
Four schools were closed in the Northern Cape on Thursday last week after an outbreak of measles, with cases having rapidly escalated from 16...
New Wits burns unit opens at Bara
Wits University has opened its new Roy McAlpine Burns Unit at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital – which has the only public burns...
Eastern Cape women's lives at risk in maternity wards, commission finds
The conditions in Eastern Cape maternity wards are so dire that they are contributing to patients’ and infants’ deaths, says a report from the...
Time to force Big Pharma's hand on insulin production?
When Novo Nordisk announced a deal last year with local drug manufacturer Aspen to produce human insulin in vials on its behalf for Africa, human rights...
SA’s diabetes crisis needs urgent response
According to the recently released Diabetes Summit report, around 4.2m South Africans are estimated to be diabetic, while Percept, a Cape Town-based consulting firm,...
Unequal eye health services calls for urgent state intervention
Despite South Africa producing a substantial number of trained optometrists, most of them work in the private sector and in urban areas, an imbalance...
How the provinces stack up in state oncology treatment
Depending upon where you live, the wait for cancer treatment at a public facility can be more of a death sentence than the disease...
Global call for more pathogen research to prepare for next pandemic
The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) have urged scientists and political leaders to bolster global research to...
Routine hernia op leads to seven more surgeries for pastor
A Johannesburg pastor has launched an official complaint saying she endured an agonising series of complications after a routine hernia repair at a government...
Gauteng Health fails to spend budget millions – again
Underspending of budgets has critical implications, and Gauteng Health’s failure to spend more than R1.1bn of its 23/24 budget, when there are so many...
Trust in US doctors plunged in pandemic – and still low, finds survey
A recent survey of more than 400 000 American adults found that during the pandemic, trust in physicians and hospitals decreased sharply, and higher...
Almost 120 000 girls give birth in one year
The number of young girls and teenagers having babies remains constant in South Africa, with more than 2 700 girls aged 10 to 14...
Relief as Rolene Wagner returns to hot seat
Former head of the Eastern Cape Department of Health Dr Rolene Wagner returned to the position this week after intervention from the Office of...
US to buy African-made ARVs for Pepfar programme
America is throwing its weight behind African production of antiretrovirals, with the US President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief programme (Pepfar) committing to buying...
Zero HIV infections for high-risk women with bi-annual jab – SA trial
The long-acting injectable antiretroviral drug lenacapavir (Sunlenca) was highly effective in preventing HIV infection in cisgender women in high-risk countries, according to an interim...
Call to resolve acting CEO crisis in KZN hospitals
KZN provincial hospitals are having a leadership crisis and intervention is urgently needed, according to the Public Servants Association of South Africa (PSA), which...
Health costs force TB patients deeper into poverty
More than half of South Africa’s tuberculosis patients are struggling to cope with the costs related to their illnesses, with thousands of them sinking...
‘Teflon flu’ sending Americans to hospital
Toxic fumes from burning non-stick frying pans sent a record number of Americans to hospital last year, with data showing that more than 250...
Gauteng Health event targets improved primary healthcare
A two-day summit was recently hosted by the Gauteng Department of Health at which various experts shared ideas on how best to reconfigure service...
Gauteng Health sued over unspent cancer millions
The Cancer Alliance, represented by SECTION27, has filed a court application against the Gauteng Department of Health (GDoH) after it failed to spend the...
Growing number of SA children hungry and dying – report
The condition of children in South Africa, particularly those under six, is worsening, according to a new report, with nearly 40% of them being...
Vosloorus hospital under fire for shoddy service
After the suspension several months ago of nurses who allegedly left a sick child in a bed with soiled linen, another parent has complained...
WHO prequalifies self-test for Hep C virus
The first hepatitis C virus (HCV) self-test has been pre-qualified by the World Health Organisation (WHO), providing critical support in expanding access to testing...
FDA bans harmful beverage additive
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has banned the use of brominated vegetable oil (BVO) in food products as from 2 August, but...
TikTok main source of health info for Gen Z, finds survey
A recent survey found that most young Americans under 26 (Generation Z) get their health and wellness advice from TikTok, yet at least one...
Ending childhood stunting vital for South Africa's future prosperity
A key indicator to measure progress by government, writes Dr Edzani Mphaphuli in Mail & Guardian, is by closely monitoring stunting rates in children....
NHLS system still faltering as cyberattacks hit global healthcare
The National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS), which had expected to restore its systems by 15 July after hackers forced it to revert to paper...
NHLS cyber hack continues to cause chaos in hospitals
Doctors and other medical staff have expressed frustration and alarm at the devastating impact the cyber attack on South Africa’s National Health Laboratory Service...
No health qualifications for SA’s nine MECs
The appointments for the country’s nine Health MECs include five new ones while four have been reappointed, reports Spotlight – and with none of...
Vital for SA’s HIV+ babies to be tested, as infections rise
The SA National Aids Council (Sanac) has reiterated the importance of at least 95% of children infected with HIV being tested and “linked to...
South African nurses lured to well-paying Canada
Nurses from South Africa – which already has a chronic shortage of them – are among the thousands of local medical professionals being lured...
Draft codeine guideline now out for comment
The South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) has released its new draft guideline it hopes will help stem the misuse of codeine, and...
New Eastern Cape Health MEC vows to fix distressed hospitals
East London’s Frere Hospital has a drastic shortage not just of 18 midwives and nurses but also of beds in its maternity section, which...
WHO suggests therapeutic HPV jabs to scale up vaccination
While a vaccine already exists to prevent human papillomavirus (HPV), the main cause of cervical cancer, more than 20 therapeutic HPV vaccine candidates are...
Pandemic treaty talks extended for a year
Talks to finalise a global pandemic agreement have been extended, with the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB) picking up discussions again from 16 July at...
Rise in global deaths from physical inactivity – WHO report
Deaths resulting from low physical activity in South Africa almost tripled over 30 years, according to a new WHO report, which warns that a...
NHI tug-o'-war for GNU and new Minister
The National Health Insurance (NHI) poses one of the biggest challenges for the new Health Minister and the government of national unity (GNU), whose...
Spike in smoking during lockdown, local analysis finds
South Africans puffed away frantically during lockdown, according to a recent local analysis, which also noted an associated increase in waterpipe/hubbly-bubbly use during 2021...