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Health Beat #23 | What the NHI could be — if run well

  • Chiawelo Community Practice in Soweto is a National Health Insurance (NHI)-like project that was started in 2014.
  • It was started by family physician Shabir Moosa and could potentially become a model for the NHI.
  • Housed in the local government community health centre, the project uses community health workers to gather and write up health information for 30 000 residents they’re assigned to and regularly visit. They even run exercise groups.
  • A decade later, patients fall ill less frequently and visit health facilities less often with medical emergencies.
  • It’s not the only example of solid-state healthcare: success stories abound, from Charlotte Maxeke Academic Hospital in the heart of Johannesburg — to isolated Manguzi Hospital in northern KwaZulu-Natal.

In today’s newsletter, our Health Beat team takes you on a tour of some of Gauteng’s hospital success stories. Sign up for our newsletter now.

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.

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.

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.

Yolanda Mdzeke is a multimedia reporter at Bhekisisa.

Thatego Mashabela is a multimedia producer at Bhekisisa.

Katleho Morabe is a cinematographer and editor in film, television and advertising with credits on local (Carte Blanche) and international productions (Walt Disney).

Ruan Visser is a South African-based freelance director of photography, crafting visual narratives with a keen eye for detail and a love for cinematic storytelling.

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