Juta MedicalBrief

The chances of the world ending Aids as a public health threat by 2030 are looking increasingly remote, according to concerned global health experts at the 26th International Aids Conference in Brazil this week, who cited steep cuts in US funding as a major setback, reports News24. International HIV funding plunged in 2025, almost entirely due to the drastic reductions in US support, with Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation CEO Professor Linda-Gail Bekker saying it is “very unlikely” HIV would be eradicated as a pandemic by 2030 because new infections were not falling fast enough and alternative funding had yet to...

Novo Nordisk has announced that it will be launching a cheaper, registered version of its diabetes treatment Ozempic in South Africa at a discount of 15%, but medical aids are unlikely to expand their coverage to include this, reports Business Day. Although it will be the first registered alternative to Ozempic in this country – only one generic rival has so far been approved by the regulator, and is not yet available – Discovery Health, which typically leads the industry on decisions about coverage for costly new treatments, said there are no plans to change the eligibility criteria for Discovery...

DignitySA’s Constitutional Court challenge to decriminalise medically assisted dying will not be opposed by the National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP), it said in a notice last week, leaving only the Health Minister and the Health Professions Council of SA (HPCSA) to contest the case, reports Business Day. The NDPP was the last of the four respondents cited in DignitySA’s case to state its position, with the Justice & Constitutional Development Minister having previously indicated that the department would abide by the court’s decision. In April, DignitySA launched its bid in the Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) to legalise medically assisted dying,...

A Boschkop man (47) has appeared in the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court on an attempted murder charge after allegedly concealing his HIV status and intentionally infecting his girlfriend, reports The Citizen. The two had been in a relationship between October 2025 and June 2026, but she said he had lied about his HIV status, telling her he was HIV negative. On 26 June 2026, she had discovered antiretroviral (ARV) medication in his bag and confronted him. National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Lumka Mahanjana said the man then allegedly admitted to being HIV positive, telling her he had intentionally infected her because he did...

A KwaZulu-Natal High Court (Durban) High Court Judge has authorised a court order for a black Ballito couple to proceed with a DNA test on the nine-year-old boy they believe is biologically theirs and that their embryo was allegedly given to an Indian woman at a fertility clinic a decade ago, reports the Sunday Times. The application had initially been opposed by the boy’s birth mother, who had argued that the matter should first be dealt with by the office of the Family Advocate. However, Judge Nomfundo Sipunzi granted the order based on the opinions of a legal expert and a...

A Judicial Conduct Tribunal is considering whether a Free State Judge may remain on the Bench after a lengthy eight years of sick leave on full benefits – without doing a day’s work – while expecting to miraculously regain his sight. Additionally, reports GroundUp, the taxpayer has been coughing up more than R500 000 a year for his state-subsidised Mercedes Benz, its services, fuel and toll fees, and he’s even managed to swop the vehicle for a newer model while he’s been too ill to work – and rack up considerable mileage, despite being diagnosed as legally blind. A Judicial Conduct...

Gauteng Health has denied accusations that patients at Tambo Memorial Hospital have had their elective surgeries postponed until June 2027, amid claims by the DA that the delays are linked to maintenance at the operating theatre complex that began this year and was supposed to be completed already, reports The Citizen. The party’s spokesperson for health in the province, Madeleine Hicklin, said the department had failed to honour its earlier timeline – after assuring the public on 25 March this year that the refurbishment would be completed within two months. “Now patients have been told that all elective, non-emergency surgeries will...

A private hospital in Bloemfontein has partnered with the Free State Department of Health to address the backlog of more than 4 000 cases, including cataract removal and urology procedures, reports SABC News. Through the initiative, EmoyaMed Bloemfontein has already conducted six high-cost surgeries as part of its Mandela Month contribution: another 10 patients who needed cataract removal and urology-related surgeries were also identified. Health MEC Monyatso Mahlatsi said they had approached EmoyaMed, as well as other private facilities in the province, for help because of the huge backlog, staff shortage and infrastructure limitations linked to government theatres – and were...

The University of Cape Town’s two pro-Gaza resolutions adopted in 2024 resulted in the loss of donor funding worth R250m, including R15m for student bursaries reports News24. Exacerbating these financial blows, R113.9m for health- and science-related research projects was still outstanding after US federal funding was frozen in 2025, with the Desmond Tutu Health Centre and the Centre for Integrated Data and Epidemiological Research being the worst affected units, according to vice-chancellor Professor Mosa Moshabela, who disclosed the information to the Portfolio Committee on Higher Education during a briefing on governance matters last month. A total of R200m, pledged to the...

A damning human rights probe exposing broken plumbing, chronic hot water shortages, and doorless toilets at an Mbombela hospital has prompted the Mpumalanga Department of Health to spring into (belated) action to effect some urgent repairs, reports Lowvelder. The department has now deployed full-time artisans to Rob Ferreira Hospital to fix plumbing failures and restore hot water – a month after the state of the facility was formally documented during the Human Rights Commission (HRC) oversight inspection on 15 June. Detailing the conditions, HRC provincial manager Eric Mokonyama said investigators found broken toilets with no doors, continuously running taps, wards completely...

In what is expected to be an important weapon in the fight against tuberculosis, Stellenbosch University is leading AddiCAD, a R46m international project to improve diagnosis by combining AI-powered chest X-ray analysis with a simple fingerstick blood test – the blend of cutting-edge science and real-world usability expected to make accurate diagnosis more accessible where it is needed most. The project, to speed up detection in settings with limited healthcare access, is being co-ordinated by the university and funded by the Global Health European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership 3 (Global Health EDCTP3). One of the major challenges in the...

At least 45 000 tonnes of healthcare waste are produced annually in this country, much of it being disposable plastic products, and while a percentage of these are actually suitable for recycling if they’re uncontaminated, setting up recycling programmes in a hospital presents several challenges, reports BusinessTech. This is according to a recent report from A-Thermal, a local company that specialises in the treatment of healthcare risk waste, which showed that in Gauteng, 79% of surveyed healthcare facilities have formal waste management plans, but only only 20.5% of these facilities have active strategies in place to minimise waste at the...

Venezuela officials confirmed last week that three people had died of hantavirus infections, but stressed there was no evidence of human-to-human transmission in the South American country, which has rarely reported cases of the rodent-borne disease in humans, reports The Associated Press. The Health Ministry said hantavirus was also suspected in the deaths of two health workers in the southwestern state of Barinas, but that those cases remain under investigation and were not linked to the three fatalities in the eastern state of Anzoátegui, about 655km away. The deaths in both regions were described as isolated incidents that “do not represent a risk...

A lengthy legal tussle is expected after Novo Nordisk launched a lawsuit against Eli Lilly last week, alleging that its advertising campaigns for its obesity and diabetes drugs are designed to deliberately mislead consumers, reports CNBC. Novo is specifically taking issue with ads that cite what it called “outdated” clinical trials to compare the highest doses of Lilly’s medicines to lower doses of Novo’s drugs. For example, those campaigns don’t include new evidence about Novo’s recently approved high-dose version of its obesity injection, Wegovy, which entered the market in March and brings weight loss that’s more comparable to Lilly’s products. “That leaves them with the...

As thousands of Zimbabweans return home from South Africa in a wave of deportations and anti-immigrant sentiment, health experts warn that disruptions to HIV treatment could leave many at risk unless returnees are quickly reconnected to care, reports SciDev.Net According to Statistics South Africa, Zimbabweans constituted one of the country’s largest migrant communities, with an estimated 1m living here. Research in Gauteng has found HIV prevalence among international migrants to be around 10%, and for many migrants who are infected, sudden displacement presents immediate risks: medication may be left behind, treatment records lost, and patients may struggle to navigate health systems...

In efforts to maximise profits, Zimbabwean chicken farmers regularly buy antiretroviral drugs (ARVs), intended for HIV patients in the country – on the black market – to mix into their chicken feed. They believe the drugs protect their stock from diseases and act as growth stimulants. However, experts warn that the practice is unlawful and harmful to the health of unsuspecting human consumers of the meat. In a report published in Daily Maverick, the Southern Africa Accountability Journalism Project (SA AJP) spoke to two people who do broiler chicken farming in Harare, both of whom admitted to the practice. Zimbabwe has a...

An Australian woman has given birth to identical quadruplet girls after a pregnancy doctors described as incredibly rare, reports The Associated Press. Jenitar Sau Na’amoana (34), who already had four children, delivered the babies at Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital in Queensland state. “We are very excited to be able to care for this amazing little family, a big family now,” said Dr Alexa Bendall, a maternal foetal medicine specialist who cared for Na’amoana. The babies were conceived naturally and came from one fertilised egg that split into four, “which was incredible”, Bendall said. “We think the figures are probably around one in...

Germany’s plans to tighten sick-note rules have been slammed by unions and doctors’ associations, which suggest that the rise in sick days, among the highest in the world, may be linked to mental health strains and deteriorating working conditions in sectors likes healthcare and education. Reuters reports that workers in Germany took an average of about 22 days of sick leave in 2024, among the highest levels internationally. That figure, from the association of company health insurers BKK, jumped sharply in 2022 after the introduction of electronic sick-note reporting, which improved the recording of short-term absences. But government proposals that may be...

A water leak that resulted in the flooding of a Khayelitsha clinic, damaging patient records, has reignited community concerns about file theft, reports News24. The Town Two Clinic said an unknown number of patient folders were affected, while healthcare services have also been disrupted. Apparently, there was a component failure in the water tank system on the weekend of 5 June, resulting in an overflow into the reception area, and flooding the room where files were stored. Patients, however, say they were not told about the extent of the damage until the clinic started having difficulties dispensing medication because records could not...

A clinical research team led by the Jikei University School of Medicine in Tokyo – in collaboration with Thai and German institutions – plans to temporarily transplant pig kidneys to a human foetus with severe kidney disease, reports The Japan Times. The start date is early 2027, and is expected to be the world’s first xenotransplantation to a human foetus – one which has Potter sequence, a condition in which kidneys do not develop and urine cannot be produced sufficiently as a result. After the transplant, it is hoped the foetus will be able to produce urine from birth. The therapeutic method...

The HPCSA will go ahead with its second disciplinary hearing of Dr Wouter Basson (‘Dr Death’), linked to four charges dating back to the 1980s, after Gauteng High Court Acting Judge Irene de Vos rejected all four grounds for appeal, reports News24. Three of the charges relate to his developing crowd-control substances intended to avoid lethal force, and the fourth involves Basson having provided cyanide suicide capsules to SADF operatives for use if captured. Basson (75), who had appealed to halt the HPCSA’s proceedings against him, was the former head of Project Coast, the apartheid government’s chemical and biological weapons programme...

A previous ruling that dismissed a medical negligence claim – brought by a teacher who suffered permanent brain damage after delays in emergency treatment for stab wounds at two provincial hospitals – has been dismissed by the North West High Court, which slammed the staff at both facilities for their failures to provide timely and adequate treatment, reports The Star. A full Bench comprising Judge Andre Reddy, Acting Judge JT Maodi and Acting Judge G Maree, found that Tebogo Joseph Koboyatau had proved that negligent treatment at Gelukspan District Hospital and Mafikeng Provincial Hospital caused the catastrophic injuries that left...

Pakistan has suspended 37 health officials, including doctors, after a mass HIV outbreak among children, reports The Lancet. At least 78 children contracted HIV at the government-run Kulsoom Bai Valika Hospital in Sindh province, amid allegations that contaminated syringes were reused. A government inquiry has since found widespread lapses in infection prevention and control at the hospital and suspended staff, including administrators, doctors, nurses, lab workers, and support personnel, over failures that included “inadequate supervision of sterilisation practices” and “negligence and violations of medical protocols”. The outbreak was first reported in October last year, when 16 children treated for different diseases...

Johnson & Johnson said on Monday it would pay an estimated $5.5bn to resolve tens of thousands of lawsuits alleging its baby powder and other talc products cause ovarian cancer, in a landmark deal that could end a contentious legal battle that has dogged the company for a decade, reports Reuters. The settlement covers about 76 000 claims, including those consolidated in federal court in New Jersey, and related cases in state court, representing nearly all of the remaining talc claims against the company. J&J previously settled most of the cases alleging that its talc contained asbestos and caused mesothelioma. The deal has...