Bhekisisa TV

People with HIV get depressed more often than those without the virus. This can make it hard to take their daily, lifelong medication correctly. In this Health Beat episode, we visit someone who has been taking ARVs for 22 years and ask experts if allowing nurses to prescribe antidepressants would help.

Since fewer people are using condoms, we need more ways to prevent HIV. HIV prevention pills are free at government clinics, but the catch is that you have to take them every day. A two-monthly jab and monthly vaginal ring could change the game, but can the state afford them? Watch this Health Beat episode to find out.

Do you start your days feeling exhausted after going to bed early? You may have sleep apnoea, a condition where breathing stops for periods during sleep. This Health Beat episode shows how sleep disorders can affect your state of mind as well as your physical health, and experts tell us what can be done without expensive treatment.

Are e-cigarettes healthier than traditional smokes? The vaping and tobacco industries would have us believe that they are, but doctors and researchers are sceptical. We find out why young people are getting hooked on nicotine-enhanced fruity flavours — and break down the potentially deadly consequences.

About two in five wastewater systems in South Africa are falling apart. Their dysfunction has disastrous effects. It exposes people to dirty water that can carry diseases like cholera. This episode of our monthly television show, Health Beat, looks at water safety and explores how climate change makes disease-causing germs spread faster.

Charlotte Maxeke Academic Hospital’s radiation waiting list gets longer each year because of too few staff to operate life-saving cancer equipment. This episode of our monthly television show, Health Beat, puts these problems to the health department. Mia Malan asks if the National Health Insurance scheme can fix the country’s broken health system.

In theory, the National Health Insurance (NHI) could transform our failing healthcare system. But, many South Africans have little faith in the politicians who are supposed to look after the public purse. We take a look at how the residents of Tembisa cope with the results of corruption at their hospital, the systems that private medical aid schemes have in place to curb fraud, and how the planned NHI could benefit from being more transparent.

When health workers discriminate against people with a higher chance of getting HIV, the virus spreads like wildfire because such groups become less likely to use health facilities. Our Health Beat team asked transgender people about the service they get at government clinics and the health department about what happens to a doctor or nurse who refuses to help patients.

South Africa saw 200 000 new HIV infections in 2021, according to UNAids. A new injection called CAB-LA could be a game changer. It works better than a daily pill to prevent HIV infection — and only has to be taken once every two months.

South Africa’s justice department plans to scrap old laws that make it a crime to sell or buy sex. This could make life safer for workers because they should be able to report crimes to the police — in theory.

There have been 422 days of rolling black-outs since 2020 and it’s taken a toll on South Africans’ mental health. A survey by the South African Depression and Anxiety Group reveals that people are dealing with anxiety, more family conflict and thoughts of self death.

Losing weight is hard. For many people, diets and exercise don't work in the long term. Genetics can also play a role in people’s body weight (and their ability to lose it). In this month’s episode of our television show, Health Beat, we speak to two people who've used the weight loss drug, semaglutide.

Mia and Ayoade Alakija discuss the 2022 International Aids conference and how institutional racism in the global health system affects who gets to have a say in the fight against HIV/AIDS. A South African NGO is helping teen moms to stay in school, we bring you their stories. Finally we unpack how the South African government is going to hire experts to implement universal healthcare policy.

Doctors trained specifically to work in rural areas are struggling to find work in far-flung areas because provincial health departments don’t have the money to pay them. Find out what could change this in this episode of Health Beat.

Forty-four new National Health Insurance (NHI) positions, based at the national health department head office in Tshwane, will be advertised in the coming weeks and filled by January 2023.

Now that the Pfizer vaccine has been registered for teenagers, when can parents and those 12 years and older expect to get the jab? And trans rights activist and filmmaker Zoey Black shares her story.