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.
Sean Christie is a freelance journalist and author.
- Sean Christiehttps://bhekisisa.org/author/seanchristie/April 11, 2025
- Sean Christiehttps://bhekisisa.org/author/seanchristie/January 13, 2025
- Sean Christiehttps://bhekisisa.org/author/seanchristie/October 22, 2024
- Sean Christiehttps://bhekisisa.org/author/seanchristie/August 19, 2024
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.
Zano Kunene is a health journalist at Bhekisisa.
- Zano Kunenehttps://bhekisisa.org/author/zanokunene/July 8, 2025
- Zano Kunenehttps://bhekisisa.org/author/zanokunene/June 23, 2025
- Zano Kunenehttps://bhekisisa.org/author/zanokunene/May 26, 2025
- Zano Kunenehttps://bhekisisa.org/author/zanokunene/April 29, 2025
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.
Zano Kunene is a health journalist at Bhekisisa.
- Zano Kunenehttps://bhekisisa.org/author/zanokunene/July 8, 2025
- Zano Kunenehttps://bhekisisa.org/author/zanokunene/June 26, 2025
- Zano Kunenehttps://bhekisisa.org/author/zanokunene/May 26, 2025
- Zano Kunenehttps://bhekisisa.org/author/zanokunene/April 29, 2025
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?
- Bhekisisa Teamhttps://bhekisisa.org/author/bhekisisa-team/May 15, 2025
- Bhekisisa Teamhttps://bhekisisa.org/author/bhekisisa-team/May 5, 2025
- Bhekisisa Teamhttps://bhekisisa.org/author/bhekisisa-team/March 25, 2025
- Bhekisisa Teamhttps://bhekisisa.org/author/bhekisisa-team/March 12, 2025
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.
Linda Pretorius is a consultant for Bhekisisa’s data desk.
- Linda Pretoriushttps://bhekisisa.org/author/linda-pretorius/May 12, 2025
- Linda Pretoriushttps://bhekisisa.org/author/linda-pretorius/April 24, 2025
- Linda Pretoriushttps://bhekisisa.org/author/linda-pretorius/March 19, 2025
- Linda Pretoriushttps://bhekisisa.org/author/linda-pretorius/March 3, 2025
Jacques Verryn is a software developer and independent consultant, with special interest in data analysis and visualisation.
- Jacques Verrynhttps://bhekisisa.org/author/jacquesv/May 12, 2025
- Jacques Verrynhttps://bhekisisa.org/author/jacquesv/April 24, 2025
- Jacques Verrynhttps://bhekisisa.org/author/jacquesv/March 19, 2025
- Jacques Verrynhttps://bhekisisa.org/author/jacquesv/March 3, 2025
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.
Professor Renata Schoeman is a Cape Town-based psychiatrist and the co-author of South Africa’s ADHD management guidelines and chairs the SA Society of Psychiatrists special interest group for ADHD. She serves on the ministerial advisory committee for mental health and heads up the healthcare leadership MBA specialisation stream at Stellenbosch University.
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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.
Tanya Pampalone is Bhekisisa's consulting editor. Pampalone is the former managing editor of the Global Investigative Journalism Network, executive editor of the Mail & Guardian and head of partnerships and audience development for The Conversation Africa. Now a communications, strategy and fundraising consultant, she works with non-profit and mission-driven media groups in San Francisco and Johannesburg.
- Tanya Pampalonehttps://bhekisisa.org/author/tanya-pampalone/July 14, 2025
- Tanya Pampalonehttps://bhekisisa.org/author/tanya-pampalone/December 5, 2024
- Tanya Pampalonehttps://bhekisisa.org/author/tanya-pampalone/October 24, 2024
- Tanya Pampalonehttps://bhekisisa.org/author/tanya-pampalone/August 8, 2024
Mia Malan is the founder and editor-in-chief of Bhekisisa. She has worked in newsrooms in Johannesburg, Nairobi and Washington, DC, winning more than 30 awards for her radio, print and television work.
- Mia Malanhttps://bhekisisa.org/author/mia/July 2, 2025
- Mia Malanhttps://bhekisisa.org/author/mia/May 28, 2025
- Mia Malanhttps://bhekisisa.org/author/mia/May 21, 2025
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.
David Harrison is a medical doctor and the chief executive officer at the DG Murray Trust, a public innovation fund based in Cape Town.
- David Harrisonhttps://bhekisisa.org/author/david-harrison/July 4, 2025
- David Harrisonhttps://bhekisisa.org/author/david-harrison/April 16, 2024
- David Harrisonhttps://bhekisisa.org/author/david-harrison/February 13, 2024
- David Harrisonhttps://bhekisisa.org/author/david-harrison/March 2, 2023
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.
Anna-Maria van Niekerk is Bhekisisa’s news editor. She joined the centre after six years as the managing editor of the investigative television show, Carte Blanche. Anna-Maria has an extensive career in in-depth health and human rights reporting and has been named both the Vodacom Journalist (2002) and Discovery Health Journalist of the Year (2010) for exposés on the selling of human body parts for muti in Limpopo and the devastating consequences of HIV denialism.
- Anna-Maria van Niekerkhttps://bhekisisa.org/author/anna-m/July 2, 2025
- Anna-Maria van Niekerkhttps://bhekisisa.org/author/anna-m/April 30, 2025
- Anna-Maria van Niekerkhttps://bhekisisa.org/author/anna-m/March 31, 2025
- Anna-Maria van Niekerkhttps://bhekisisa.org/author/anna-m/March 21, 2025
Mia Malan is the founder and editor-in-chief of Bhekisisa. She has worked in newsrooms in Johannesburg, Nairobi and Washington, DC, winning more than 30 awards for her radio, print and television work.
- Mia Malanhttps://bhekisisa.org/author/mia/July 2, 2025
- Mia Malanhttps://bhekisisa.org/author/mia/June 5, 2025
- Mia Malanhttps://bhekisisa.org/author/mia/May 21, 2025
Jessica Pitchford is Bhekisisa's TV and multimedia editor. She's been a journalist since the early nineties and has reported on some pivotal events in South Africa’s political history, such as the country’s transition to democracy and the work of the Truth & Reconciliation Commission.
- Jessica Pitchfordhttps://bhekisisa.org/author/jessica-pitchford/July 2, 2025
- Jessica Pitchfordhttps://bhekisisa.org/author/jessica-pitchford/April 30, 2025
- Jessica Pitchfordhttps://bhekisisa.org/author/jessica-pitchford/March 31, 2025
- Jessica Pitchfordhttps://bhekisisa.org/author/jessica-pitchford/March 21, 2025
Yolanda Mdzeke was a junior multimedia reporter and multimedia reporter at Bhekisisa between March 2021 and June 2025.
- Yolanda Mdzekehttps://bhekisisa.org/author/yolanda/July 2, 2025
- Yolanda Mdzekehttps://bhekisisa.org/author/yolanda/April 30, 2025
- Yolanda Mdzekehttps://bhekisisa.org/author/yolanda/March 31, 2025
- Yolanda Mdzekehttps://bhekisisa.org/author/yolanda/March 21, 2025
Thatego Mashabela is a multimedia producer at Bhekisisa.
- Thatego Mashabelahttps://bhekisisa.org/author/thategom/July 2, 2025
- Thatego Mashabelahttps://bhekisisa.org/author/thategom/April 30, 2025
- Thatego Mashabelahttps://bhekisisa.org/author/thategom/March 31, 2025
- Thatego Mashabelahttps://bhekisisa.org/author/thategom/March 21, 2025
Tim Wege is a documentary filmmaker and cameraman based in Cape Town, South Africa.
- Tim Wegehttps://bhekisisa.org/author/tim-wege/December 8, 2023
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.
Zano Kunene is a health journalist at Bhekisisa.
- Zano Kunenehttps://bhekisisa.org/author/zanokunene/July 8, 2025
- Zano Kunenehttps://bhekisisa.org/author/zanokunene/June 26, 2025
- Zano Kunenehttps://bhekisisa.org/author/zanokunene/June 23, 2025
- Zano Kunenehttps://bhekisisa.org/author/zanokunene/April 29, 2025