HomeSouth Africa
South Africa
How to kickstart stuck pharmacy ARV roll-out
Eight months after the Supreme Court of Appeal gave the green light for specially trained pharmacists to dispense antiretrovirals without a script from a...
Systemic barriers behind schizophrenia relapse – Stellenbosch study
About one in three people with schizophrenia in South Africa relapse within a year, with clinicians saying this is driven by multiple interacting factors,...
Nurses’ religious objections push SA teens to backstreet abortions
An 18-year-old from rural Limpopo said she had to resort to an illegal abortion from a traditional healer after a nurse at a public...
South Africans rush to receive LEN jab
More than 6 000 eligible people in Gauteng have already received the long-acting HIV prevention injection lenacapavir (LEN) since the phased rollout began on...
Public health threat as South Africa battles illegal weight loss drugs
Costly new generation weight loss drugs are unaffordable for most people, which has opened up a black market for cheaper, unregistered and untested versions...
Tobacco Bill lurches forward – with amendments possible
South Africa’s much stalled and controversial Bill that plans to enforce stringent regulations on tobacco use and the vaping industry is showing signs of...
UCT study finds major risks to unborn babies from indoor pollution, tobacco smoke
A recent study has suggested that pregnant women exposed to poor quality indoor air – including tobacco smoke – can place unborn babies at...
Crucial advance in MDR-TB treatment from South African team – NEJM
South African and American researchers have published the results of a practice-changing clinical trial in The New England Journal of Medicine, showing the effectiveness...
Gauteng Health ‘crippling forensic pathology services’
The DA has slammed Gauteng Health’s apparent disregard for the concerns recently highlighted by provincial forensic pathology labs. In a statement, the party said that...
US to end HIV funding for SA, but government unfazed
South African lives are at stake with the United States planning to phase out its HIV funding for Africa, say experts, but government says...
South Africa gets a big 'F' for palliative care
Palliative care is not a ‘nice to have’: it is essential in helping patients and families cope with the end of life. But, writes...
Conundrum of how compounding should be regulated
The recent court case in the Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) in which Novo Nordisk challenged local pharmacy iDexis has highlighted the complex issue of...
Healthcare workers and patients under siege as extortion gangs target clinics
Violence and extortion are targeting the poorest and the most vulnerable communities in South Africa, choking access to clinics and medical care, and terrorising...
Cyber hackers target South Africa’s healthcare system
Experts have called for stronger cyber-security measures to be implemented countrywide, warning that South Africa is the most targeted country in Africa by these...
SAMA warning as number of bogus doctors rises
Fake and unregistered doctors in South Africa are becoming harder to identify, according to the South African Medical Association (SAMA), which told The Citizen...
Call for action as diabetes now leading cause of natural deaths
Tens of thousands of South Africans are dying annually from diabetes-related illnesses, the Diabetes Alliance has revealed after its review of mortality data released...
Pregnancy fears after birth control pill shortages
A contraception shortage in some North West and Gauteng clinics for the past three or four months is increasing women’s concerns about unplanned pregnancies,...
Zulu folk music used to encourage heart health
Cardiovascular disease (CVD), the world’s leading cause of mortality, is becoming a major killer of Africans, killing more than 1m people in sub-Saharan Africa...
Major expansion for Umhlanga’s Gateway Private Hospital
New ICU and high-care beds as well as a seventh operating theatre at Busamed Gateway Private Hospital are indications of the growing healthcare demand...
Africa-first pioneering liver transplant machine at Wits
A new R2.7m liver perfusion machine that could save more lives has been introduced at the Wits University Donald Gordon Medical Centre, making it...
Why food alone won’t fix childhood stunting – SA study
South Africa has a paradox when it comes to food availability. Its supermarkets are overflowing, and yet it continues to record high levels of...
Corneal transplant by UFS experts restores student’s sight
A young student who had to drop out of university when his vision was severely affected by keratoconus has regained his sight, thanks to...
Minister promises SA-made generic as LEN rollout begins
South Africa launched the revolutionary anti-HIV Lencapavir with much fanfare last week, with the Health Department announcing plans to expedite the manufacture of the...
South Africa must slash its reliance on imported drugs – Pharmisa
The Health Department’s growing dependence on medicines from outside South Africa is jeopardising local jobs and the country’s security of supply, say pharmaceutical companies...
UCT clinches licence to manufacture medical devices
The South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) has granted a medical device manufacturing licence to the University of Cape Town’s (UCT) Biomedical Engineering...
Madhi receives leading global infectious diseases award
Professor Shabir Madhi, Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of the Witwatersrand, has been named the recipient of the 2026...
Father and daughter volunteer to change lives with cleft surgery
A Cape Town father and daughter recently joined a team of volunteers who helped deliver life-changing corrective surgery to children born with cleft palates...
New NICD chief hits the ground running
In his first month as new executive director of the National Institute of Communicable Diseases – he started on 1 May – Professor Nazir...
Indigenous shrub shows promise for cancer cure
A South African plant may hold the secret to treating cancers that no longer respond to conventional chemotherapy, suggest North-West University researchers, who are...
Life Healthcare boss flags perils of cost-over-quality options
Occupational health standards are waning due to “inexperienced” new players, Life Healthcare CEO Peter Wharton-Hood told Business Day last week, warning that companies are...
Pharmacy council tackles pharmacist shortage
The South African Pharmacy Council (SAPC) has started a process to review the Pharmacy Human Resources Plan for South Africa and tackle shortcomings, including...
HPCSA probes Wits medical programme
Wits University has defended a specialist training programme after a complaint from a trainee doctor, saying it meets national accreditation requirements but conceding that...
Call for justice after forced sterilisations
Government has been slammed for its prevarication and failure to assist the HIV-positive victims of forced and coerced sterilisation, reports The Citizen.
Local NGO Her...
South Africa forges ahead with tech-driven strategy to fight diseases
A new era of artificial intelligence (AI) and other technological and breakthrough innovations will help the country fight HIV, TB and cervical cancer, said...
Medical school bottleneck pushes students overseas
The competition to gain medical school acceptance in South Africa is so fierce that even top-performing matriculants won’t necessarily get in and are being...
Illegal sexual enhancement jabs flagged after organ failure
An alert has been issued by Gauteng Health about the increasing use of unregulated injectable substances marketed for body enhancement and sexual performance, after...
Biovac clinches R5.3bn state vaccine contract
The Biovac Institute has retained a critical three-year contract to supply South Africa with Hexaxim, the six-in-one shot provided to babies and toddlers in...
SA’s ARV programme stagnates in 2025 – new Thembisa estimates
The number of South Africans on antiretroviral treatment remained roughly unchanged from 2024 to 2025, according to new estimates, suggesting that the disruption of...
The woman behind the roll-out of LEN in South Africa
At 18, Pietermaritzburg-born Hasina Subedar was attacked by a man who tried to kill her, losing two fingers and very nearly her life. Afterwards,...
Health data warning for SA employers
South African employers have been warned to tighten up their management of staff health and medical records, in the light of new Protection of...