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SA study highlights need to monitor IV antibiotic use in hospitals
The findings of a study analysing intravenous (IV) antibiotic usage in a private mining hospital in North West Province have emphasised the need for...
Treasury bails out HIV/Aids projects blindsided by Pepfar cuts
While Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi’s recent tabling of the 2025/26 Health Budget vote and the spending priorities showed efforts to plug some funding...
Procurement boost for physiotherapy sector
The South African physiotherapy industry has received approval from the Competition Commission for centralised procurement for the next five years, enabling the sector to...
Vaccinations urged as measles infections spread in Free State
Health authorities in the Free State have confirmed 64 cases of measles across the Lejweleputswa district in children aged between five and nine, reports...
EU funding boosts SA’s pandemic readiness with genomic research
South Africa is cementing its leadership role in global pandemic preparedness through a major expansion of its genomic surveillance partnership with Germany and the...
Gauteng Health on vaccine drive as measles spreads
Measles cases are escalating in Gauteng, with the Health Department now launching an aggressive vaccination campaign in schools and at taxi ranks, in efforts...
Cancer costs thwart treatment for SA patents
An Eastern Cape man with a rare cancer who was due to have his last immunotherapy session this week – after an expensive battle...
Rethinking how we look at obesity in South Africa
Health workers have long relied on body mass index (BMI) to measure whether people are within a healthy weight range, but leading researchers have...
The case for a state-owned pharmaceutical company
To haul itself out of its dependency on other nations for its pharmaceutical needs, the country needs to switch its focus from costly imported...
Despite lofty plans, 90% of mentally ill South Africans still without care
Around 30.3% of South Africans experience a mental disorder in their lifetime – and about 16% of them in any given year – but...
Donors commit emergency funding as 100 researchers lose jobs
The dire consequences of the US withdrawal of funding to South African health programmes continue, with Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi saying that more than...
SAMRC study finds HIV death stats worse than thought
It is widely acknowledged among health and demographic experts that relying solely on what is written on death certificates is not always an accurate...
Who is allowed to prescribe medicines in SA?
What medicines need prescriptions and who is authorised to write them is not a straightforward matter. In his latest #InsideTheBox column in Spotlight, Dr...
SAMRC joint report calls for coal-power phase out
The SA Medical Research Council (SAMRC) has called for coal-fired power stations to be phased out, after the release of a 10-year study finding...
More work vital for HIV campaign’s success, say experts
Amid major disruptions caused by aid cuts from the United States Government, the National Department of Health aims to enrol an additional 1.1m more...
Mpox cases rise to 28 in SA
The National Health Department has announced that three new cases of mpox have been confirmed in South Africa – all from Ekurhuleni.
The first case,...
Where we stand with the HIV epidemic
It’s 40 years since Aids was first identified. Major strides have been made since the spread of the virus reached epidemic proportions in 1995...
Health Department plans medical strategy to tackle heroin crisis
The government is preparing to trial a medically-assisted treatment programme to help heroin users who want to quit the drug – this after long...
Survey shows HIV rates soaring in Mpumalanga
Nearly 900 000 people in Mpumalanga (or 17.4% of the population) are HIV positive, giving it the dubious title of province with the highest infection in the country, according...
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...
SA data track shows how pathogens spread and superbugs evolve
For the first time, researchers have been able to precisely quantify the ability of different pneumococcal strains to survive and reproduce, an insight that...
SA children’s suffering in poor areas worse during pandemic
Certain categories of South African children were profoundly affected during the pandemic, research has shown, with six out of 10 being exposed to depressed...
Outrage over medical parole for Zuma by outgoing Commissioner
Without having spent a day in a cell, former president Jacob Zuma has been granted medical parole, approved by National Commissioner of Correctional Services...
1 Military Hospital loses UN and AU accreditation
The Joint Standing Committee on Defence is “extremely concerned” by the R1bn of never ending repair and maintenance programme (Ramp) at 1 Military Hospital...
SAHPRA: Russian and Chinese vaccine authorisations a rigorous process
In the wake of continued political pressure from the Economic Freedom Fighters on the issue, the SA Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) has stressed...
Health DG Crisp: Forced vaccinations the ‘wrong approach’
South Africa's national Health Department wants mandatory vaccination in certain industries. But while jabbing was important, acting DG Nicholas Crisp said forcing vaccination by...
Health Minister: Vaccination card is ‘an incentive’ not a compulsory passport
The vaccination card, which the government doesn’t want referred to as a vaccination passport, will not deprive people of their basic human rights, Health...
Ramaphosa backs Deputy-President seeking medical care in Russia
President Cyril Ramaphosa has come out in support of his deputy David Mabuzaʼs decision to seek medical care in Russia, telling MPs it was...
Phaahla defends security group accused of liability for Charlotte Maxeke thefts
Health Minister Joe Phaahla is adamant the security company contracted to guard Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Hospital could not be linked to the theft charges...
Concern about other serious diseases falling through the cracks in SA
WHILE South Africa grapples with high COVID infections, recording more than 83 000 deaths to date, deaths related to HIV/Aids, diabetes, and tuberculosis still...
M-Net documentary on the COVID frontline at Zuid-Afrikaans Hospital
A COVID-19 documentary being filmed at Zuid-Afrikaans Hospital, a non-profit hospital in Muckleneuk, Pretoria, will be broadcast on DStv's M-Net channel at 8.30pm on...
Noakes: The Wits dean of medicine ‘told a fib’ and ‘scored an own goal’
Following last week’s Twitter dispute between Wits University professor of vaccinology Dr Shabir Madhi and University of Cape Town emeritus professor Tim Noakes, the...
COVID linked to year’s 43% surge in policyholders' death claims
Mortality claims statistics from the insurance industry show that more than a million policyholders died in the most recent one-year measurement period, which the...
Minister says SANDF ‘heads will roll’ over illegal Cuban COVID drugs
Newly appointed Defence and Military Veterans Minister Thandi Modise has warned her army generals that “heads will roll” over the illegal purchase by the...
Make vaccinations mandatory, says retired ConCourt judge
Retired Constitutional Court justice Edwin Cameron, known for his gay rights and antiretroviral activism, told a webinar that “hard-core anti-vaxxers in South Africa are...
International call for South Africa to double its ‘sugar tax’
In what could be yet another blow to South Africaʼs struggling sugar industry and beverage companies, leading international scholars want SA to double its...
Gauteng Health whistleblower’s assassination was meticulously plotted
Seven men from KZN were arrested on Friday 27 August in connection with the meticulously plotted assassination of Gauteng Health whistleblower Babita Deokaran earlier...
Government uncertainty over mandatory vaccinations in SA
Mandatory COVID-19 jabs for specific groups are being discussed by the ministerial advisory committee on vaccines, says its chair, Prof Barry Schoub, reports Sunday...
'Second-guessing Zuma’s medical doctors unconstitutional’ — JGZ Foundation
The Jacob G Zuma Foundation has questioned the state’s decision to appoint a doctor to ascertain whether the former president is fit to stand...
Life Esidimeni: Search continues for 8 missing mental health patients
The Life Esidimeni saga has yet to be resolved, with Gauteng Health confirming that the search for eight missing patients is ongoing, reports News24.
The...