R6.65-billion — or $350-million. That’s how much South Africa receives in annual funding from the US government’s National Institutes of Health. If the country loses all of its NIH funding, the country could lose 70% of its medical research capacity, Bhekisisa’s data team’s sums reveal.

Instead of the Aids denialism of decades past, it’s US funding cuts that could lead to up to 300 000 more HIV infections in the next four years. Activists like Sisonke Msimang say the past has some answers for the current fight.

The health department is convinced that all US government funding for HIV and TB projects in SA will end by September 30. The department has calculated that it needs R2.82-billion to plug the gap for the rest of the financial year after the Trump administration cut more than half of such support to the country in February. But these funds have yet to be raised, and the stakes are high.

Up to 16% of school-aged children and 4% of adults have attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, show international studies. But in South Africa, the proportion of people with ADHD who use government health facilities is as low as 2% because the public sector doesn’t have enough of the right health workers to diagnose people.

In her nearly 30 years in public healthcare, Rolene Wagner has risen to lead an institution that many had given up on: the debt-wracked, conflict-ridden Eastern Cape department of health. Her upbringing has custom-suited her to the task.

A modelling study shows the six-monthly anti-HIV jab, lenacapavir, could end Aids in SA by 2032 — but only if between two and four million HIV-negative people in the country would need to use the jab every year over the next eight years. How much should we pay for it?

What’s wrong about blaming teenage pregnancy on bad girls, bad families and bad men? It ignores the system that got them there in the first place.

Every year, hundreds of newborns and foetuses are found dumped in the open veld, dumps and public toilets. Abandonment is often because of a lack of options. When mothers feel desperate, they may choose to dispose of their newborns. While it’s difficul …

A leaked memo for grant management staff of the US government’s National Institutes of Health (NIH), dated March 25, instructs officers to hold “all [research] awards to entities located in South Africa”.

As climate change intensifies, a toxic legacy grows more dangerous in Soweto. Residents living beside an old mine dump face health problems as more floods and heatwaves worsen the dangers of mining pollution.