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Talking Points
Legislative reform of community service system long overdue
Despite the chronic shortage of medical practitioners in South Africa, every year hundreds of newly graduated doctors are not placed in internships and community...
Africa bears brunt of substandard cancer drugs with 20% fail rate
In a landmark study by researchers at the University of Notre Dame, Indiana, USA, who analysed 189 samples of various vital cancer drugs, about...
FDA failures in policing Indian manufacturers of generics
When an American man’s transplanted kidney failed far earlier than might reasonably be expected, it led ProPublica into the sometimes murky world of Indian...
Why SA needs both palliative care and assisted dying
In South Africa, where people die differently according to their bank balance, we urgently need the courage to acknowledge that true dignity requires both...
FDA global standing at risk with Covid vaccine deviations
Concerned public health experts suggest that if the US Food & Drug Administration’s recent overriding of standard regulatory processes regarding its review of the...
State doctors vulnerable to cyber-bullying
Videos like the recording widely distributed on social media last year by Thomas Alan Holmes (aka Tom London) about his treatment at the Helen...
Why women are beating men to the finish line
Across a variety of sports, women are not just catching up after generations of exclusion from athletics, they’re setting the pace and proving their...
Why costs transparency in TB – and all R&D – matters
Big Pharma cannot justify the exorbitant prices charged for lifesaving medications, which are often attributed to research and development expenses, points out MSF, calling...
Time to reframe healthcare leadership
The ongoing Human Resources for Health policy review, led by a Ministerial Advisory Committee appointed by Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, offers a crucial...
SA should dump ‘inequitable, expensive' US health model
The rest of the world has learnt how to overcome the failings of the US healthcare system by replacing private health financing with public...
Inclusive healthcare system possible for South Africa
The twin options of either public or private healthcare need not be the only alternatives open to South Africans, writes Andrew Schwulst for Business...
Lack of low-cost options stifles SA healthcare
Health policy continues to be a mess in South Africa, with disjointed and incoherent positions being taken or, often, a policy vacuum existing, leaving...
US report shows damning findings on paediatric gender transitions
The US Department of Health and Human Services has released a much-anticipated report on the “treatment for paediatric gender dysphoria”, concluding that in a review of...
African-made vaccines vital to help develop pandemic resilience
Vaccine self-sufficiency on the continent – African-made vaccines for African people – is a priority, needing critical investment and support as well as buy-in...
Trauma, and its links to mental health, gaining new insights
Experts are realising that trauma – if not managed properly – could be the trigger for doing whatever it takes to get acceptance and...
Gauteng Health’s ill-considered cost-cutting risks patient care and training
A group of senior healthcare professionals have warned that drastic austerity measures introduced by the Gauteng Department of Health (GDoH), including the unilateral downgrading...
Can inflammatory bowel disease be treated with diet?
There is an ongoing interest in the relationship between diet and health, and this is particularly contentious in diseases of the gut such as...
Covid 'cover-up' raises alarm about future pandemics
Scientific and government deception and cover-up were rife during Covid-19 and in relation to the Wuhan blame game – which, warns Zeynep Tufekci in The...
Five years’ post-pandemic, the world is ill-prepared for another one
In Europe, 10 people died from measles in 2024, and the US has had several major outbreaks, while bird flu has affected dairy herds...
Not guilty verdict ‘huge relief’ for entire profession – Peter Beale
Former paediatric surgeon Peter Beale (78) – recently found not guilty of murder, culpable homicide and fraud in the deaths of three children on...
No time to lose to address Pepfar crisis
The South African government – with civil society – has the potential to turn the Pepfar funding crisis into an opportunity to reassess urgent...
US stands to lose from funding cuts for top-notch SA research
There are severe criticisms to be made of US foreign aid. It is often wasteful and almost always very bureaucratic. It sometimes serves sinister...
Kennedy, the Manto Tshabalala-Msimang of the United States
The US Senate has confirmed as Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy, a science denialist who once said there is no vaccine that is safe...
Getting to the bottom of cancer rise among young people
The sharp increase in cancer diagnoses among young adults is alarming the medical profession, with scientists intensifying their efforts to determine what’s driving the...
SA should prepare for 'worst case scenario' after Trump cuts
South Africa’s National Department of Health is still to outline a contingency plan to deal with America’s 90-day funding freeze on foreign aid programmes....
Why I think weight loss drugs are not the answer – US obesity expert
While many of us saw the new weight loss drugs as a long-awaited medical breakthrough, obesity specialist Christopher McGowan is having second thoughts, believing...
The Lancet stands up for health in face of Trump onslaught
Withdrawal from WHO and the Paris Agreements. USAID shuttered and aid halted, ceasing health programmes globally. A freeze on $3trn worth of federal grants...
When is sex determined? Trump has no conception, say experts
Medical experts have branded President Donald Trump’s executive order claiming that a person’s sex is decided “at conception” as “strange” and “wrong”, saying that...
Time to rename some cancers?
Cancer terminology hasn't changed much over recent decades, but some experts say it's time for that to change, notes MedicalBrief.
In 2012, the US National...
Health warnings about alcohol give only half the story
Are alcohol harm warnings now becoming over-the-top? As the evidence of alcohol’s harms has piled up, the public-health messages have become starker. The WHO says flatly...
Proposed community service Bill a double-edged sword
The DA intends to propose legislation allowing healthcare professionals to do community service and internships in private hospitals. But such a legislative change risks...
Confronting ageism among healthcare professionals
With people now living longer and the number of older people projected to grow, attitudes about old people need to change, including among healthcare...
Laws should protect doctors who say sorry
An apology should never be seen as an admission of liability, writes Medical Protection’s South Africa lead Dr Graham Howarth.
In response to an article...
Lessons for SA from Sweden's path to a smoke-free society?
Sweden has become the first country in Europe to become smoke-free, writes Ivo Vegter in Daily Friend, who suggests South Africa should rather follow...
Study debunks theory of black babies' risks with white doctors
Black babies in America are more than twice as likely to die before their first birthday than white babies. This shocking statistic has barely changed...
Remembering the humanity of physicians
Physicians need to set up a system of care to support well-being, reduce burnout and help fellow physicians deal with the pressures, and create...
Medical influencers come with serious side effects
Gone are the days when most people instinctively trusted medical doctors – whom they looked up to as omniscient characters with power over life...
Troubling ethics and morals of medical schemes
In a scathing column in Politics Web, William Saunderson-Meyer slams some of the practices of private medical schemes and what he described as their...
Private sector not always better for quality healthcare
The strengths of both the private and the public sector need to be considered and a balanced approach to “care” adopted to help deliver...
Evergreen patents deny healthcare rights to South Africans
A Competition Commission probe recently resulted in a patent on an important TB medicine being dropped in South Africa. Twenty years ago, a similar...