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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...
SA HIV vaccine trial picks up again after funding setback
Everything had been leading to the meeting early last year in Zanzibar, where 100 researchers, clinicians and other experts on HIV from across Africa...
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 –...
Minister vows talks with GEMS over tariffs hike
The latest hikes by the Government Employees Medical Scheme (GEMS) have come under fire from Public Service & Administration Minister Mzamo Buthelezi, who told...
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,...
SIU probes vaccine research contracts
Four vaccine research procurement contracts will come under the SIU’s microscope as it investigates serious maladministration and improper conduct allegations in government departments, a...
Support grows for UN health envoy as inquiry deadline looms
The Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) will decide by the end of January on whether to proceed with a full inquiry into South...
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...
Premium hike slammed by GEMS members
The Government Employees Medical Scheme (GEMS) has defended the 9.8% contribution premium hike for its 2m members for next year, telling outraged unions that...
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...
Sleep-deprived South Africans may be costing economy billions
An exhausted formal employment sector could be losing more than R408bn per year due to employees’ sleep deprivation, according to a global sleep expert,...
Global human rights award for SA psychologists' LGBTQIA+ research
A group of nine psychologists became the first South Africans to receive global recognition for their human rights work – at an online ceremony...
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...
Long Covid’s hidden toll on South Africans
Four years after the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, South African doctors are still hearing patients complaining that they “feel better, but my mind...
How stargazing could transform mental health in South Africa
With South Africa’s increasing burden of mental health challenges, a transformative research project is unveiling novel ways in which local scientists hope the night...
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...
Highs and low in healthcare in 2025
The year’s biggest health story by far has been the cuts to US aid for health and US support for health research. But it’s...
Drinking habits in SA, Botswana, to be probed in long-term study
The University of Cape Town and the SA Medical Research Council have launched a five-year multidisciplinary project to address harmful alcohol use in South...
SA's critical care sector grossly under-resourced
With a shortage of subspecialists, specially trained nurses and ICU beds, critical care in South Africa falls far short in addressing the needs of...
Mothball poisoning a significant threat for children – SA study
Childhood poisoning is a significant health concern in South Africa – especially in densely populated informal housing settlements where children are frequently exposed to...
Testosterone helps restore South African women’s libido in midlife
Testosterone treatment is revolutionising the sexual health landscape for women by restoring libido post menopause, say experts, with interest in this rapidly increasing not...
SA regulators battle to stem tide of illicit weight loss jabs
The booming trade in black market weight loss drugs in South Africa is spiralling, with authorities seemingly unable to plug the sources or prevent...
WHO fast-track medical training plan unrealistic for SA – SAMA
A new competency-based curriculum promising to fast-track medical students into the workforce has been launched by the WHO Regional Office for Africa but red-flagged...
SA lines up plans to make its own six-monthly anti-HIV jab
The government says it could fill the potential gap in the number of doses of the HIV prevention jab Lenacapavir (LEN) needed to end...
Growing concern over drop in infant immunisations
The Western Cape Department of Health & Wellness recently flagged a concerning decline in infant immunisation rates, and is intensifying its campaign to step...
Profit-driven heathcare threatens NHI
South Africa’s National Health Insurance (NHI) aims to address healthcare inequities, but the rise of financialisation threatens its success. Treating health as an asset...
Lancet Labs fined for data breach
Numerous high-profile data breaches, leaks and other security incidents had been reported in South Africa in the past year, among them Lancet Laboratories, which...
Fewer HIV deaths but lifestyle disease risks worsen – Discovery
The effectiveness of sustained adherence to anti-retroviral treatment has led to a significant decline in mortality rates among people living with HIV, according to...
AMR in South Africa a 'silent pandemic'
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) remains one of the most critical global health threats, which could result in 169m people dying of AMR-related causes over the...
HIV drugs roll-out under threat in court tender row
The National Department of Health has come under legal fire from the SA subsidiary of Indian generic pharmaceutical manufacturer Hetero, which alleges that the...
Tygerberg team does pioneering limb reconstruction
A team of orthopaedic surgeons at Tygerberg Hospital has performed an innovative limb reconstruction procedure, which Stellenbosch University (SU) described as the first surgery...
SA’s cervical cancer crisis a wake-up call
Sixteen women die from cervical cancer every day in South Africa; a sobering reality which calls for authorities to take stock of its approach...
SA starts ground-breaking clinical trials for oral cholera vaccine
Clinical trials testing the efficacy of the first locally manufactured oral cholera vaccine, developed by Biovac, were officially launched on Tuesday, reports TimesLIVE – which...
Outrage as Gauteng Health still uses ‘blacklisted’ firms
Gauteng Health has admitted it lacks the power to blacklist suppliers linked to the R2bn Tembisa Hospital scandal, who continue to do business with...
Treasury's plan to feed the Eastern Cape’s starving children
The Treasury has proposed alternatives to fight hunger and reduce malnutrition statistics in the Eastern Cape after the Human Rights Commission (HRC), two years...
SA and Indonesia collaborate on asymptomatic TB study
Over the past decade, there’s been growing evidence that people can have TB without any symptoms. But there is still much uncertainty over how...
First obesity guideline for SA as experts flag growing burden
Obesity is reaching alarming proportions in South Africa, experts write, warning that apart from the potential health risks – heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes...
Watchdog deepens Bonitas investigation
The Council for Medical Schemes (CMS) is to launch a forensic investigation into allegedly improper procurement processes at Bonitas, zeroing in on a contract...
Doctor defends social media posts after HPCSA fine
UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health, Dr Tlaleng Mofokeng, who was fined R10 000 by the Health Professions Council of South Africa...