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Talking Points
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...
How close are scientists to developing a dementia vaccine?
There are several clinical trials underway in the search for a vaccine to protect against dementia, which affects 55m people worldwide, with about 10m...
WHO's chief scientist regrets delay in declaring SARS-CoV-2 airborne
The World Health Organisation's chief scientist, Soumya Swaminathan, who is leaving her post, regrets not calling the SARS-Cov2 an airborne virus earlier. She spoke...
Risky and costly business of breaking patients' legs to make them taller
The procedure can cost £80 000 – but increasing numbers of people are putting themselves through painful leg lengthening surgery, with the demand for...
Large mental health study finds 21% of SA students have symptoms of PTSD
In one of the largest national student mental health surveys in the world and the first study of its kind in South Africa, researchers...
Selfless doctors should be rewarded, not punished, for doing their jobs
Administrators at public hospitals need to be taken to task for being the biggest obstacle to people accessing healthcare, but instead, it’s the healthcare...
After COVID: amnesty or accountability for pandemic policies?
God help us when, not if, there is another infectious disease outbreak on the scale of COVID-19, writes Jaundiced Eye columnist William Saunderson-Meyer in...
Cellphones and brain cancer – do we still need to worry?
While the flurry of anxiety and research related to cellphones and possible links to brain cancer, appears to have largely dissipated, with the COVID-19...
New Health MEC's plan to reclaim Gauteng public healthcare
The position of MEC for Health in Gauteng is one of the most important, and probably one of the toughest public sector health jobs...
Pre-authorisation ‘hassle factor’ throttles medical aid members
The laborious, time-consuming red-tape and bureaucracy that’s often involved in obtaining medical scheme permission to admit a patient to hospital can be frustrating and...
Obstetric violence must be recognised as endemic in SA
South African women are finally speaking out about abuse suffered at the hands of healthcare workers while giving birth, recounting horrific stories of appalling...
SA men’s mental health increasingly fragile
Some headlines stay etched into my mind long after reading them. Lately, two have been swimming around in my subconscious and, although they seem...
New MEC to tackle multiple crises, but lacks health credentials
Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko has been appointed as the new MEC for Health and Wellness in Gauteng as the department faces multiple crises, despite having no...
Add human rights to your resume – UN Special Rapporteur on right to health
When doctors treat women as people, rather than a collection of organs and ailments, the practice of medicine can be a powerful tool to...
Polio may never be eradicated, say experts
The global endgame for polio has long been eradication, but recent events worldwide have raised questions about whether that goal can be achieved, experts...
Do we need another COVID-19 booster vaccine?
Many countries are starting to roll out another booster of the COVID-19 vaccine but, with public interest waning and a sense of normalcy firmly...
Cost and uncertainty over uptake bedevil Africa’s uptake of injectable PrEp
PrEp – pre-exposure prophylaxis – is the most promising HIV prevention yet in the history of the Aids epidemic, writes Stephanie Nolan of The...
Battling insomnia? Stop trying so hard, says sleep expert
There are millions of people worldwide who have “tried everything” to get more sleep, but as sleep coach Camilla Stoddart advises in The Guardian,...
Multiple chemical sensitivity – a diagnosis of exclusion?
When I started medical school, the formaldehyde-based solutions used to embalm the cadavers in the human anatomy labs would cause my nose to burn...
Africa bears the brunt of antimicrobial-resistant bacterial infections
Nearly 1.3m people die annually because of antimicrobial-resistant (AMR) bacterial infections, with Africa bearing the greatest burden of deaths. Collectively, these numbers suggest that...
Time toxicity and its negative effect on cancer patients
Cancer care devours hours on the clock: travelling to the cancer centre, sitting in waiting rooms and dealing with adverse events and other problems,...
Destroying millions of COVID jabs proof of mistakes and mismanagement
The government’s plans to destroy 8.5m COVID-19 Pfizer vaccine doses at the end of October cast a damning spotlight on how the country’s vaccination...
Scientists warn of hidden crisis as suicides potentially linked to long COVID
Several scientists from organisations, including the US National Institutes of Health and Britain’s data-collection agency, are beginning to study a potential link following evidence...
Stone Age surgical find shows limb amputation from 31 000 years ago
In an extraordinary find, the earliest known evidence of a successful surgery was discovered in the skeletal remains of a young adult who lived...
‘Junk’ plant-based diets pose health risks
Plant-based diets are growing in popularity for their many health benefits, including lower risks of heart disease and type 2 diabetes – but some...
‘Doctors should tell people with terminal cancer that they are dying’ – US medic
I have worn many hats professionally, the most uncomfortable being “doctor friend”. At best, it’s a request for a recommendation for a gynaecologist or...
Cheap, over-the-counter codeine fuels SA schoolchildren’s addiction
South Africans youngsters have found a new high: it’s cheap and easily accessible over the counter, but is costing them dearly, write Zano Kunene,...
Cut link between political leaders and managers to save health service
The way South Africa’s health sector is governed leaves hospitals exposed to corruption. Hospital chief executive officers (CEOs) are political appointments, and so are...
Time to take the reins from politicians to fix SA’s health crisis
South Africa’s public health system is imploding, with stories of hospital failure so common they no longer evoke a public response. But that’s cold...
Growing pains: is there evidence that the medical condition exists, or is it folk medicine?
The catch-all phrase for random pains that children and teens have is so common that it even inspired the name of a 1980s sitcom....
What SA should use as a bargaining chip for drugs trialled in this country
If you test it here, it must be made available here at a reasonable price, write Claire Waterhouse and Lebohang Kobola for Bhekisisa Centre...