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Talking Points
NHI pilots point to critical fault lines
Before plunging into its own concept of universal health care (UHC), and the implementation of the National Health Insurance (NHI) scheme, the government and...
Caution vital for combined herb-drug use
The WHO estimates that 60% to 80% of South Africans use herbal products to treat health problems, the statistic being attributed to the diversity...
How Africa can boost local health manufacturing, procurement
Supporting South Africa and Africa’s capacity to manufacture vaccines and other medical products is a complex and challenging task with real public health consequences,...
What's behind SA's nursing crisis?
Looming retirements, training amendments and provicial budget problems are all contributing to the critical nurse shortages in the country.
The dire situation, as well as...
SA's free methadone project to help whip heroin habit
Within the next five years, South Africa plans to make medicines like methadone, a safer fix for people who inject opioids like heroin, available...
Drug shortage fears as supply chain challenges persist
While Covid-19 had a serious impact on many countries’ healthcare supply chains, including in South Africa, the global industry was in trouble long before...
Fifty reasons why the NHI will not work
As the parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Health concluded its clause-by-clause deliberations on the National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill last week, Michele Clarke, DA Shadow...
Under-pressure medical schemes need innovative, affordable solutions
With private healthcare growing increasingly out of reach of anyone outside the top income brackets, it’s time for the industry to devise solutions that...
Will the Presidential Health Summit be a waste of time and money?
The Presidency and the Health Department will today and tomorrow host a second Presidential Health Summit (the first took place in 2018), at a...
Xenophobia or unsustainable burden on creaking health system?
The Gauteng High Court judgment that foreign nationals, for the most part, are entitled to free healthcare at provincial health facilities will place an...
Migrant health rights’ struggles not over yet
While seen as a significant milestone, the landmark Gauteng High Court judgment confirming the rights of all pregnant and lactating women and children under...
Balancing cheaper, cost-saving imports with support for local vaccine makers
SA's snubbing of a local vaccine producer in favour of cheap imports last week has brought into the spotlight the challenge of governments in...
Autoimmune disease patients' challenge to access medicines
Individually, autoimmune conditions do not attract as much attention from healthcare administrators or funders as infectious diseases like HIV and TB, and other non-communicable...
Concern as social media fuels global weight loss drug fad
The growing, widespread use of a new class of “miracle” weight-loss drugs – exacerbated by massive social media hype – is causing concern among doctors...
SA’s prescription rules unchanged in 30 years, leaving nurses disadvantaged
The list of medicines that South Africa’s professional nurses can prescribe to patients hasn’t changed since 1984, which means their permissions stop at schedule...
Urgent call for state to invest in more nurses to avoid catastrophe
The shortage of healthcare professionals in South Africa has reached crisis point. Not only is the country haemorrhaging specialists and doctors, but there’s an...
Should there be universal screening for the often ignored CMV in newborns?
A condition which affects at least 20 000 babies born in the US each year and leaves about 4 000 of them with serious...
Millions of lives sacrificed for corporate greed and profits – Lancet
Just four industries – alcohol, tobacco, ultra-processed foods and fossil fuels – are said to be responsible for at least one-third of all preventable...
The TB version of long Covid
Just as with Covid, there’s a long version of TB called post-TB lung disease, which can emerge even after people have finished their courses...
How safe is neck manipulation in chiropractic treatment?
Despite many people having chiropractic treatment without incident, the consequences of some neck manipulations can be devastating, because of the severity of the resulting...
Adverse effects of non-prescribed vitamins and supplements intake
While the surge in sales of complementary and alternative medicines, including multivitamin supplements, continues, experts have warned that their potential adverse effects are not...
Why MEC should be disciplined for Zimbabwean patient rant
Limpopo Health MEC Phophi Ramathuba was last month cautioned and reprimanded for unbecoming behaviour and unprofessional conduct after she reprimanded a Zimbabwean patient, but...
Lessons for SA from Rwanda's universal health insurance scheme
Rwanda is streaking ahead of South Africa in its universal health insurance plans, covering almost 90% of its population and with the World Health...
Africa needs to strengthen readiness for public health threats
Africa needs a strong and sustainable local manufacturing industry for medical supplies and tools to strengthen global health security and ensure access to life-saving...
What next for TB treatment after disappointing results for shortened regime?
With high hopes for a new, shortened regime to treat drug-susceptible tuberculosis (TB) in South Africa dashed recently after disappointing trial outcomes, have scientists...
Will bird flu spark the next pandemic?
Global scientists are concerned that a series of viral outbreaks among poultry, which have jumped to animals, including minks and grizzly bears, could culminate...
Current version of NHI Bill risks continuation of status quo
The NHI Bill in its current form lacks adequate provisions to safeguard against medicines access and other key elements and, if allowed to be...
Political action key to addressing alcohol-linked cancer
After tobacco, alcohol is the second biggest cause of cancer – before other risk factors like infections, physical inactivity, or sunlight. Worldwide, around 740...
The key to happiness, according to a world expert
For 84 years, the Harvard Study of Adult Development has tracked the lives of hundreds of Americans. The research, says its director Dr Robert...
Lessons – and mysteries – from fast-disappearing mpox
The US public health emergency declaration for mpox ended last week in America as the outbreak, which once seemed to be spiralling out of...
Sub-standard generic medicines killing children globally
Global attention has recently been drawn to the toxic consequences of sub-standard medications, emanating from inferior manufacturing plants and countries with sloppy regulatory processes...
Can skilled asylum seekers fill the gaps in SA healthcare?
Recognising refugees’ and asylum seekers’ skills could help tackle the critical skills shortage of healthcare professionals in South Africa with its alarming doctor-patient ratio...
What 2023 holds in store for the healthcare sector
This year is likely to be another tumultuous one for healthcare services, policy and governance in South Africa, with the National Health Insurance (NHI)...
Did Covid 'viral interference' keep common flu away?
The “tripledemic” currently unfolding is one of several odd trends among respiratory virus infections these past few years: viruses, it turns out, can block...
Cannabis for cancer-related symptoms – an unfulfilled promise?
Medical cannabis is currently too far removed from the standards of medical practice, and leaving the process of selecting, dosing and taking it, almost...
Drop in health funding threatens care for vulnerable
In 2022, as the health sector and economy recovered from the pandemic, the government missed opportunities to provide the financial resources to protect access...
Asthma management key to reducing SA's high childhood mortality – global report
Although asthma can easily be controlled with medications, in many low-and-middle-income countries like South Africa, many still die from the disease due to lack...
Experts punt stool testing for TB in children instead of sputum tests
These days, most tuberculosis (TB) testing relies on sputum samples coughed up from the lungs, which makes sense since pulmonary TB is the most...
Are the high risks of major surgery for older people worth it?
A recent study has found that nearly one out of every seven older people die within a year of undergoing major surgery, shedding much-needed...
Time to separate politics from evidenced-based medicine
As political campaigns have increasingly targeted medical practice issues, there has been a spate of articles and op-eds about the apparent corruption of medicine...