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Weekly Roundup
Tanzania denies withholding info from WHO on Ebola cases
Tanzania has denied it was withholding information from the World Health Organisation (WHO) on suspected cases of Ebola, saying it was not hiding any...
FDA approves new PrEP drug from Gilead Scienes
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Gilead Sciences Inc’s Descovy to reduce the risk of sexually acquired HIV infection in men...
SA Health Department delays dolutegravir rollout
The national Health Department has been forced to postpone a nationwide rollout of the latest blockbuster HIV treatment amid persistent concerns about what may...
Crackdown in antibiotic prescribing blamed for increase in UTIs in the UK
Thousands of women in the UK were taken to hospital with chronic urinary tract infections in the past year, according to National Health Service...
R36m Groote Schuur radiotherapy machine to improve patient treatment times
Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town has unveiled a new radiotherapy machine worth R36m that can treat up to 40 patients a day. Groundup...
Dangerously decrepit facilities put UK mental health patients at risk
Mental patients in the UK are at risk of suicide because so many of the units they are treated in are dangerously decrepit. The...
Urgent boost and reality check needed for HIV and tuberculosis funding
The goal of ending HIV and TB is still far from being achieved: together the diseases still kill upwards of 2m people each year....
PATA Johannesburg summit to address HIV-SRHR integration
The Paediatric-Adolescent Treatment Africa (PATA) will on the 16-18 October, host over participants in an effort to address HIV-SRHR integration in the frontline HIV...
Management scrambling to cope with 'procurement challenges' at Charlotte Maxeke
Management of goods and services in the Gauteng public health sector came into question in September 2019 when Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital was...
SA bows to US muscle on universal health declaration
The US steamrolled a coalition of more than 50 countries – including South Africa – to remove key phrasing about sexual and reproductive rights...
SA's main medical schemes increase contributions well above inflation rate
South Africa’s three largest medical schemes, Discovery, Bonitas, and Momentum, have all announced contribution increases well above inflation or 2020, says a Business Insider...
Ramaphosa's presidential health compact now electronically available
A presidential health compact signed in July by government and its social partners but only recently made electronically available is expected to go some...
KZN Health appoints new HOD
The KwaZulu-Natal Health has appointed a new head of department (HOD), in a move that could bring stability to the department. It has been...
Squabbles in KZN Red Cross negatively affects services
Divisions within the SA Red Cross Society have negatively affected services meant for the poor in KwaZulu-Natal. City Press reports that the effect of...
98% of rare diseases estimated to go undiagnosed in SA — advocacy group
Owing to healthcare constraints, up to 98% of congenital and rare diseases go underdiagnosed in South Africa. City Press reports that this is according...
R20m grant to facilitate saliva-based malaria test from SA-based startup
The eradication of malaria has been given a boost this week following a grant of more than $1.29m (R19.7m) from Japan’s Global Health Innovative...
French IVF law change may result in shortage of frozen sperm
France risks a shortage of frozen sperm if lawmakers approve new legislation that allows single women and lesbian couples access to in-vitro fertilisation (IVF)...
J&J announces $20.4M settlement in Ohio opioid case
Johnson & Johnson have announced it will pay $20.4m to settle claims by two Ohio counties, allowing the US healthcare giant to avoid an...
More countries and companies recall heartburn drug Zantac
US retailer CVS has become the latest to suspend the sale of a heartburn drug being investigated for links to cancer. BBC News reports...
Health Department 'taking steps' over shortage of antidepressants and antipsychotics
The Health Department is taking steps to address the shortage of certain antidepressant and antipsychotic medicine, reports The South African.
South Africa is experiencing shortages...
Parliament releases initial NHI hearing dates
With public hearings on the National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill set to begin in October, the chair of the portfolio committee on health, Dr...
Criticism mounts over 'shockingly' short time given to nominate people to NHI committee
Industry players in SA have bemoaned the fact that only two working days were given to nominate people for the committee that will determine...
SA regulator joins worldwide investigation into heartburn medication
The SA Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) is investigating if ranitidine, a common heartburn medicine, has a chemical contamination which could cause cancer. The...
Former DRC health minister arrested for alleged misuse of $4.3m in Ebola funds
Police in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have arrested the former health minister, Oly Ilunga Kalenga, for allegedly mismanaging $4.3m in Ebola...
UK asylum seeker denied treatment by the NHS has died
An Ethiopian woman who was denied potentially life-saving cancer treatment for six weeks amid confusion about whether she should be charged by the UK’s...
35 Gauteng healthcare facilities are 'crime hotspots'
Gauteng has 35 healthcare facilities that are crime hotspots.
Health-e News reports that this is according to Gauteng Health and the South African Police...
UK national infection control campaign sees 80% drop in ICU bloodstream infections
Bloodstream infections acquired in UK Intensive Care Units (ICUs) reduced by 80% between 2007 and 2012, according to research funded by the NIHR Guy's...
Edenvale Hospital pregnant women sleeping on floor ‘a space issue, not negligence'
Space issues – not medical negligence – was the reason that pregnant women ended up sleeping on the floor. News24 reports that this was...
Third year of Gauteng Health irregularly extending R675m in contracts
Gauteng Health has irregularly extended 12 contracts worth more than R1bn a year, most of them security contracts for hospitals and clinics, says a...
Discovery's medical aid increases for 2020
Discovery Health Medical Scheme (DHMS) has announced a weighted average annual contribution increase of 9.5% for 2020 for main members.
Moneyweb reports that the increases...
UCT scientists track rising pollen counts across South Africa
Hayfever sufferers in South Africa are in for a tough summer, according to scientists – but the good news is that they will now be...
SASOG introduces guidelines for routine screening for GBV
In the wake of the tragic loss of Uyinene Mrwetyana, Leighandre Jegels, Meghan Cremer and Ayakha Jiyane and her three siblings to Gender Based...
Policy: Health Act amendments to address provincial powers
Proposed amendments to the 2003 National Health Act in anticipation of national health insurance (NHI) implementation were spelled out last week in a written...
Kenya rolls out GSK's malaria vaccine
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has announced that Kenya is introducing the world’s first malaria vaccine into the country. Kenya is the third African...
Chinese Medicine institute launched at University of the Western Cape
The Confucius Institute for Chinese Medicine launched at the University of Western Cape will open a new window for South Africans to understand Chinese...
Michael Schumacher reported 'conscious' after supposed stem-cell treatment
Medical staff say Michael Schumacher is "conscious" after undergoing stem-cell treatment in Paris. The Daily Telegraph reports that according to a French newspaper, Le...
Vaping risks heart damage, not safe substitute for cigarettes — scientists
E-cigarettes could damage the heart, scientists have concluded, and they have urged authorities to stop recommending vaping, reports the Irish Independent.
Researchers looked at 38...
Latest African healthcare facilities' accreditations by COHSASA
Latest accreditations awarded to healthcare facilities by The Council for Health Service Accreditation of Southern Africa COHSASA (NPC)
The healthcare facilities listed below have been...
MPs briefed by CMS on corruption, constrained budget
An industry-wide probe into allegations of fraud and corruption, as well as a constrained budget, are just two of the challenges the Council for...
Adcock CEO upbeat about increased drug sales with NHI
The CEO of South Africa’s second-largest generic drug manufacturer, Adcock Ingram's Andy Hall, has sought to allay fears that the government’s drive for universal health...