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Talking Points
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...
Age as a litmus test for choosing the next US president
With three Democrats in their 70s vying to challenge the 73-year old Donal Trump, the oldest first-term president in US history, age’s importance will...
Ok, I'll have just a quick glass of red, if you insist…
The King's College London authors of a new three-cohort international study on gut microbiota, explain in The Conversation why — despite all the documented...
Why doctors are fleeing the public service — and SA
Sometimes small events illuminate big issues. Western Cape Health's bizarre hounding of three registrars explains why doctors are leaving the public service and South...
SA's individual taxpayers will bear the brunt of the NHI
There has been a sharp decline in individual taxpayers over the past few years, while their tax burden has increased substantially. The National Health...
Little of the criticism of the NHI Bill is 'constructive'
There is a lot of criticism of the NHI Bill, but little of it is constructive, writes Professor Shabir Moosa, a family physician and...
Tiresome use of 'transformation' to hide NHI's potential for patronage
Introduce the word “transformation” into any policy discussion and you don’t need to rely on actual evidence or rational argument, writes Alex van den...
Controversy over NHI must be seen against the backdrop of SA in crisis
Louis Reynolds, associate professor affiliated to the paediatric department at the University of Cape Town and David Saunders, emeritus professor at the School of...
Should doctors should accept unvaccinated children as patients?
Four in 10 parents say they are very or somewhat likely to move their child to a different provider if their doctor sees families...
A tale of two hospitals — AfriForum's oversight visit to Limpopo
Two hospitals in Limpopo, part of an AfriForum watchdog visit, were not only widely disparate in physical condition, but in the attitude displayed.
Dr Eugene...
The NHI must be fought not only on the detail, but on the principle
The problem with the typical response to the proposed National Health Insurance system is that s to say “we agree with the principle, but...
WHO withdraws UK's 'measles free' status; PM blames social media
The UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said social media firms must share the responsibility for the rising spread of measles in the UK...
Health Compact 'waters down' access to affordable medicine
In May 2018, the Trade and Industry Department finally unveiled a new policy that would help to rein in pharmaceutical industry profiteering, but the...
Business Day blows away Mkhize's 'noble pipe dream'
Responding to last week’s report evaluating the National Health Insurance’s 10 pilot projects, Business Day writes in in a strongly worded editorial that it...
NHS patients increasingly opt to pay more for private GP visits
Complaints about UK National Health Service primary care are on the rise, with many patients opting for private GP consultations, reports The Daily Telegraph....
Patients are bearing the brunt of SA's inadequate health services
Patients continue to bear the brunt of inadequate health services, as some provinces reveal their health plans over the next financial year, says a...
Revised NHI Bill raises more questions than gives answers
Government is pushing through a revised National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill, which is leaving analysts and medical professionals with more questions than answers –...
DRC Ebola outbreak is 'nothing short of a perfect storm’ — Brookings
The latest Ebola outbreak – which began in August 2018 in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) – is nothing short of a perfect...
It's time to provide better healthcare to LGBT+ people
It’s time for healthcare to be a better LGBT+ ally, writes Duncan Jarvies, multimedia editor at The BMJ.
Jarvies writes:
Women who go on to identify...
High levels of premium inflation 'unavoidable', says Discovery CEO
High premium inflation is unavoidable given ageing membership, a rise in chronic diseases, new medical technology and a government-imposed anti-selection policy, says Dr Jonathan Broomberg,...
SA's big public hospitals should be freed of provincial health depts
SA's public hospitals should be independent entities, removed from the control of under-skilled, understaffed and under-resourced provincial health departments, writes William Gumede of Wits University,...
Popular misconceptions about 'good bacteria' and 'good hygiene'
The Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH) said incorrect theories which became popular in the 1990s were fuelling confusion and unhygienic habits among subsequent...
Medical school exam-rigging ended, women outperform men
Women have performed better than men in entrance exams to a medical school in Japan since it dropped its policy of tampering with results...
Vaccines and the 'complacency factor’ — Wellcome survey
Developed countries, like France, have the lowest levels of trust in vaccines, while poorer countries - where people see the human cost of not...
PREDICT is in search of the Holy Grail of personalised nutrition
PREDICT, a collaboration between King's College London, Harvard and Stanford in the US – is a study to measure thousands of people’s responses to...
'I'm having a Caesarean and you're all invited'
For the women of Brazil's elite, Caesarean sections have long been a status symbol, reports The Washington Post. Now, the phenomenon has inspired an...
Master athletes demonstrate what is physically possible in later life
A growing band of of "master athletes" demonstrate that "we often confuse the effects of inactivity with the ageing process itself", write Stephen Harridge and Norman...
Three studies nudging the frontiers of HIV prevention
There are an estimated 5,000 new HIV transmissions every day. About 70% of the 37m people living with HIV globally are in sub-Saharan Africa....
Brazil finds it difficult to replace Cuban doctors
Six months after Brazil's new president, Jair Bolsonaro, triggered Cuba's withdrawal of more than 8,000 medical doctors it had deployed to that country, Brazil...
NHI — a funding model masquerading as a delivery system
National Health Insurance (NHI) is one of the most misunderstood terms in healthcare in South Africa. Professor Manie de Klerk, head of the University...
Motsoaledi era: HIV/Aids success but public healthcare failures
The Motsoaledi years can broadly be judged on two fronts, the response to the HIV epidemic and the functioning of the public healthcare system...
Crowdfunding treatment — when survival is a popularity contest
It's increasingly popular to try to fund expensive medical treatments — or alternative therapies — by appealing online for donations. It can be a...