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Public Health
World short of one million midwives, warns global report
Africa has only 40% of the midwives it needs, while globally, there’s a massive shortage of nearly 1m midwives, leaving pregnant women without the...
US to probe health links from cellphone radiation
A study on cellphone radiation will be undertaken by the US Department of Health and Human Services, building on Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr’s...
Smokeless tobacco a growing oral cancer burden
Clinical interventions are vital to slash the burden of disease associated with smokeless tobacco, and providing cessation treatment in clinical settings is critical, say...
State obliged to remove barriers to health services
For months, militant vigilantes have unlawfully prevented people they deemed to be foreign nationals from public healthcare services. SECTION27 health activists Benni Mudau, Khuselwa Dyantyi,...
Experts call for SA lens on contraceptive link to meningioma
Increasing evidence has shown an association between the popular contraceptive injection depot medroxyprogesterone acetate (dMPA) – known as depo provera – and meningioma, leading...
Major Lancet review debunks paracetamol, autism claims
Taking paracetamol while pregnant is safe and there is no evidence it increases the risk of autism, ADHD and developmental issues in children, say...
SAHPRA alert on paediatric supplements
The South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) has issued a health warning to parents about children’s supplements containing zinc picolinate and seleniumn –...
KZN Health reverses pharmacy intern freeze after outcry
The financially-stricken KwaZulu-Natal Health Department has done an about-turn on its controversial decision to freeze pharmacy internship posts – announced this past weekend –...
KZN barges ahead with untested circumcision device
KwaZulu-Natal Health has procured 96 000 CircumQ circumcision devices through a controversial tender currently being challenged in court by CircumQ’s competitor, Unicirc, which alleges...
Public Works severs dodgy hospital lease tied to Matlala
An internal investigation is being launched after the cancellation of a lease agreement between the Department of Public Works & Infrastructure and Medicare 24...
Three-hour wait for ambulances in rural KZN emergencies
Rural dwellers in the villages around Nkandla, KwaZulu-Natal, say they have to wait hours for ambulances, because the vehicles have to travel more than...
‘Stuffy nose’ nasal spray warning in UK
Britain’s Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) has issued a warning to the public about using nasal sprays for blocked noses beyond a week, reminding users...
Pepfar fund debacle should be wake-up call, say MPs
Opposition parties say the government should do more to hire unemployed medical graduates to improve healthcare services and prevent any reduction in HIV/Aids testing,...
Controversial study will delay life-saving vaccine for Guinea-Bissau babies
This week saw the start of a $1.6m trial in Guinea-Bissau, funded by the United States Government, on the timing of hepatitis B vaccinations,...
Novel cholera vaccine shows promise in phase 1 trial
Oral cholera vaccines have played a critical role in efforts to prevent and control the severe and potentially life-threatening diarrhoeal disease. But experts agree...
What’s on the 2026 public health agenda
South Africa is a study in contrasts, and the 2026 public health agenda is no exception. Breakthrough HIV prevention medicine has arrived alongside US...
Concern as NCDs rise in young South Africans – Limpopo study
In a small mining town in Limpopo, young people are showing worrying signs of diseases that were once thought to affect only older adults,...
US drops long-standing advice on alcohol limits
For the first time in more than four decades, US Government guidelines on alcohol consumption do not recommend clear limits.
Ever since the US Government...
Common food additives linked to cancer – French study
A recent study, published in The BMJ, has suggested that greater consumption of food preservatives widely used in processed foods and beverages was associated...
Hidden market fuels fake script industry
The illegal prescription business is flourishing in South Africa, posing increasing public health and economic risks, warn experts, who urge greater effort to combat...
Western Cape surgery backlog climbs to 100 000
Almost 100 000 patients are awaiting surgery in the Western Cape – more than 5 000 at Groote Schuur Hospital alone – thanks to...
Gauteng 'crisis' warning as specialists resign from hospitals
A rash of resignations from public hospitals in Gauteng should have set off alarm bells within the Department of Health – but it denies...
FDA approves second antibiotic for gonorrhoea
The US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has given the green light to zoliflodacin (Nuzolvence) as an oral treatment for gonorrhoea, a day after...
Millions lost to dangerous fake drugs, warns Motsoaledi
Sales of counterfeit and illicit medicines are thriving in South Africa, with SAHPRA having recorded 507 suspected cases in 2024/25, of which 110 were...
First organ donation at pioneering Tygerberg Life Pod
The Life Pod at Tygerberg Hospital recently housed its first organ donor – the first posthumous multi-organ donation in more than two years facilitated...
Australia issues new restrictions on vitamin B6
A rise in B6 toxicity cases in Australia has led to the the country’s regulator, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), strengthening safety controls for...
Global study flags disparities in child cancer deaths
Concerned experts are urging faster action to help reduce childhood cancer rates and boost survival, while calling for investment in registries as well as...
Stroke, lasting damage, after eight energy drinks daily
A British man (54) who was a non-smoking, non-drinking avid runner, was left with permanent damage after a stroke, a result of consuming numerous...
Medical schemes barrier to SA’s costly obesity crisis
A huge chunk of healthcare spending in South Africa goes towards obesity, yet most medical schemes still limit cover for effective treatments – while...
HIV stigma still a major challenge, new report finds
Discrimination and stigma remain a major challenge for HIV+ people in South Africa, according to the 2024 HIV Stigma Index 2.0 report, which found...
UK hospital where no one washes their hands – for health reasons
With a move that flies contrary to conventional wisdom, NHS England staff have pulled the plug on handwashing as part of the fight against...
Woman dies after striking nurses turn away patients
An ongoing pay dispute between the Northern Cape Health Department and nursing staff came to a tragic head this week when a woman died...
Judge orders government, police to block anti-migrant vigilantes
A Gauteng High Court (Johannesburg) judge ruled last week that the City of Johannesburg, the Gauteng and national Health Departments – as well as...
Clinic staff extort money from migrants
Immigrants say clinic staff at several ciinics in Gauteng are now demanding money for them in exchange for ARVs, other chronic medications, and baby...
US to end recommendations for newborns’ hepatitis B jabs
A federal vaccine committee in the US has voted to end a decades-long recommendation that all newborns be immunised at birth against hepatitis B,...
Nurse wins 'unjust dismissal' case over alleged ARV theft
A Free State nurse who was dismissed in 2021 for allegedly stealing anti-HIV medication from the MUCPP Community Health Centre in Bloemfontein has been...
Millions more to be spent on abandoned Kopanong hospital
A R146m Covid-19 project at Kopanong Hospital in Vereeniging remains incomplete and abandoned four years after construction began, with the government now scrambling to...
UK health services alarmed by drop in international nurse numbers
Experts have sounded the alarm over the sharp decline in the numbers of international nurses and midwives arriving in Britain, predicting that stricter immigration...
Malaria tools saved 1m lives last year, but drug resistance rises – WHO
Wider use of new tools against malaria, including dual-ingredient nets and WHO-recommended vaccines, helped to prevent an estimated 170m cases and 1m deaths in...
Court overturns Gauteng Health cancer order
The Cancer Alliance says it is disappointed by the High Court’s overturning of a previous ruling that a March judgment ordering Gauteng Health to...