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Talking Points
SA Health Review: Too many benefit options 'confusing' for med scheme members
Market segmentation analyses suggest that medical scheme beneficiaries in South Africa are confused by too many benefit options; that choice sets facing different beneficiaries...
Inflammation's possible role in psychiatric disorders
Unlikely as it may seem, #inflammation has become a hashtag. Rather than simply being on our side, fighting infections and healing wounds, it turns...
A strategy for the millions of HIV-exposed but uninfected children
In 2018, 90% of the almost 15m children worldwide who were HIV-exposed and uninfected were from sub-Saharan Africa. Strikingly, half come just five African...
The 8 issues that will define SA healthcare in 2020
2020 will be a critically important year for healthcare in South Africa, writes Spotlight. It has formulated eight questions to set out what is...
CMS CEO defends 'rogue' outlawing of low-cost medical scheme plans
The outlawing of low-cost benefit options, intended to increase the affordability of schemes, by the Council for Medical Schemes was not a “rogue” action,...
Rwanda's cheap, generic morphine production model
By putting morphine production and distribution under government control a, Rwanda has become a model for Africa.
As thousands die from addiction in rich countries...
Public fixation on cancer 'cure' masks dramatic progress
The strong public focus on a “cure for cancer” is masking dramatic progress made in extending the lives of patients with advanced cancer and...
The complex story of 'medical xenophobia' in SA
The dominant narrative of "medical xenophobia" by SA health professionals against refugees and migrants is misleading, writes Kudakwashe Vanyoro of the University of the...
SA can afford health coverage for all — UK expert
It is "patently false" that SA cannot afford the reforms contemplated in the NHI Bill, writes Robert Yates, head of the Centre of Global...
Foundation calls for withdrawal of 'grossly inadequate' NHI Bill
It is not the principle of universal health coverage which is the problem, but the manner in which government is trying to implement it,...
Anglo American's extraordinary success in combating HIV/Aids
Mining giant Anglo American has done what much of the country, NGOs and the government cannot – persuade men to test for HIV and...
Trial places humans in suspended animation for the first time
Doctors have placed humans in suspended animation for the first time, as part of a trial in the US that aims to make it...
Discovery Health outlines its 'unequivocal' position on NHI
Much debate has taken place around the proposed National Health Insurance Bill (NHI), writes Discovery Health online. Our overall position on NHI is unequivocal.
We...
UK scientist with MND converts himself into a cyborg
A 61-year-old British scientist suffering from a life-threatening muscle wasting disease – motor neurone disease (MND) – has managed to convert himself fully into...
Medical sector in SA also touched by xenophobia
With sporadic and violent xenophobic attacks in South Africa making global and local headlines, the medical sector is also experiencing this worrying phenomenon, writes...
UCT med school has a culture of 'vicious victimhood', says academic
Racial friction in the third-year MBChB class at the University of Cape Town's medical school has spilled into public. David Benatar writes on Politicsweb...
US Health department sues Gilead Sciences over Truvada patent rights
It's set to be intellectual property rights battle of the century, writes MedicalBrief. The US government is suing Gilead Sciences over the patent rights...
Furore over Australian obstetrician who wants consent forms for vaginal births
An eminent Australian obstetrician and gynaecologist has caused a furore with his views that women should have to sign a consent form confirming that...
'Ignore the advice about not getting close to your patients'
Ignoring my mentors' warnings against getting close to my patients was not just me bucking against authority, but a more humanistic way to...
Battle looms over migrant rights to access NHI services
Everyone living in South Africa is constitutionally guaranteed the right to access healthcare services, an analysis in Spotlight notes. However, according to the NHI...
Law reform sought to stem exodus of specialists
The SA Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (Sasog) is contemplating seeking a law reform to have medical litigation risk lowered, spokesperson Heidi Kruger told City...
UK crackdown on beauty clinics: '1 in 5 put clients at risk'
The UK’s health regulator is threatening to shut down beauty clinics that perform unsafe facelifts, nose jobs and breast enlargements after finding that one...
Unaffordable breast cancer medicines are killing SA women
Breast cancer remains the leading cancer affecting South Africa women. It is not only under-diagnosed but many will die needlessly because the most...
900 children die in HIV outbreak that has sowed panic
A small Pakistani city is the epicentre of an HIV outbreak that overwhelmingly has affected children. Many cases were traced to a single doctor,...
Crisp answers to tough questions: How NHI system might – or might not – function
Commentators have in recent months raised many questions about how South Africa’s proposed National Health Insurance (NHI) system might function – or not function....
Big Tobacco and the controversy over research and influencing policy
News that the South African universities accepted tobacco industry sourced funding has reignited the controversy over the industry's attempts to influence public debate on...
NMU's medical school gears up for first intake in 2021
The Nelson Mandela University Medical School is gearing up to open in 2021. It is the culmination of a journey that started in 1946.
Nelson...
The sums on mental health care in SA are 'not pretty'
Fewer than 1 in 10 people living with a mental health condition in South Africa receive the care they need and there are...
Contracting NHI services to private sector may weaken public health
Contracting out health services to the private sector may be a short-term solution to the problem of human resources and infrastructure in the public...
Turkish academic jailed over study linking toxic pollution and cancer
A Turkish food safety engineer has been jailed after releasing to a newspaper details of a study that he had done for the health...
R4.3 bn wasted on pilot projects shows NHI is a 'fantasy plan'
Since 2012, the ANC government has spent R4.3bn on NHI pilot projects to test their readiness, and every single one of them has failed,...
HIV/Aids: "Not the moment for complacency and triumphalism"
Now is not the time to get stuck in complacency and triumphalism over the gains made in the global HIV/Aids response, former president of...
Corruption and organised crime worsen Africa's looming drugs crisis
A looming drugs crisis in Africa is being made worse by ineffective drug policy, fuelled by corruption and organised crime, says the ENACT transnational...
Lessons from Africa on how trust can repair a broken health care system
Agnes Binagwaho, vice chancellor, University of Global Health Equity and Miriam Frisch, research associate to the vice chancellor, University of Global Health Equity write...
The rights to NHI access by migrants are not absolute — HSRC director
The rights of migrants to healthcare are not absolute, writes Prof Narnia Bohle-Muller, in Daily Maverick. There are exceptions and international human rights law...
Now a 'tsunami' of teens seeking treatment for 'eco anxiety'
Parents are being warned not to "terrify" their children with doomsday climate change warnings amid a surge of young people seeking treatment for "eco...
Most of Africa's leaders seek their medical treatment abroad
Confronted with failing, under-resourced and understaffed healthcare systems at home, most African leaders seek treatment abroad, writes Dr Chipo Dendere of Wellesley College writes...
SA can rebuild its health systems from the bottom up
The bottom-up process strengthening health systems is already happening and provides valuable lessons for the reforms contemplated in the NHI Bill, writes Prof Helen...
Could Ghana's NHI experience be a template for SA?
Ghana is one of the few countries in Africa to have implemented a form of social insurance healthcare, which is being punted as a...
NHI not a moral debate — it’s a maths problem
The NHI is not a moral problem, it's simply a maths problem, according to an analysis in BizNews. And the bottom line is that...