Francois Venter, a big rock climber, once drank tequila with the PhD-holding virologist rockstar Dexter Holland of The Offspring and, more recently, publicly excoriated both the president and the health minister for their inaction on the HIV funding crises. As Sean Christie quickly learned, that’s just how one of the country’s top HIV researchers rolls.

A World Health Organisation (WHO) report released this week has some ideas on how to fight Big Tobacco’s influence machine — just as an SA Bill regulating newer tobacco products finally has reached the health committee in Parliament. It’s about time, says Lekan Ayo-Yusuf, a University of Pretoria professor who is a member of the WHO study group on tobacco product regulation.

Fruit juice can have as much — or more — sugar than soda or energy drinks. But unlike those drinks, juices won’t come with a warning label under SA’s latest draft regulations for food labelling. We did the sums to show you why they should.

Elon Musk admitted to using it for depression, Friends actor Matthew Perry died from using too much of it and in South Africa, some ketamine healthcare providers are serving it up irresponsibly. So what’s ketamine all about?

More than half a million previously diagnosed people with HIV have been started on HIV treatment since the end of February, the health minister says. But can a big jump in 10 weeks really be? We look at the numbers.

Attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) affects between 5% and 7% of schoolgoing children. But because doctors can only prescribe treatment for a month at a time, many kids in South Africa, especially those who can’t afford monthly doctor’s visits, don’t access medication regularly. It’s time that we change that script, argues psychiatrist Renata Schoeman.

As politicians, activists and researchers duke it out from labs and clinics and press conferences, those who have the most to lose from the HIV funding cuts told Bhekisisa they have been left to fend for themselves. Which is bad news for all of us.

More than a quarter of South African children under the age of five are chronically malnourished. That’s bad for them, their families and the economy — but it isn’t expensive or difficult to fix.

In the latest episode of Health Beat, we unpack the growing use of the psychedelic drug, ketamine, to treat severe depression and chronic pain. Research shows it can work quickly to improve mood, but experts are concerned about the rise of unregulated clinics using ketamine in ways that aren’t backed by solid evidence or properly supervised.

The impact of the Trump administration’s slashing of over half of South Africa’s HIV and TB projects funded by the US government, transcends reduced access to HIV testing and HIV prevention and treatment drugs. Treatment for diabetes, high blood pressure, cervical cancer, depression and anxiety will become harder to come by too.