Long Form

Long Form Journalism by the Bhekisisa Team

Refugees are at risk of developing mental disorders

‘The baby fell, but I just kept running’

Refugees can flee their countries, but they can't escape the trauma of war.
Nigeria’s maternal mortality is high. But if mothers such as Oluwakemi Junaid won’t go to hospital

Old birth rites, new ways

When bringing a new life into the world risks taking another, even old traditions have to adopt new ways.
Tools of the trade: Evidence of Sam Maseko's addiction. His mother Audrey at least knows where Sam is now; he used to wander around and steal.

We need to talk about caving in to nyaope

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Ivory Park's Operation Thiba Nyaope provides support for addicts and their affected families.
In 2013 the psychology’s bible

When the sorrow doesn’t end: Could chronic grief be a medical condition?

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The pain of bereavement is supposed to ease with time. When it doesn't, psychiatrists call it 'complicated grief' and it can be treated.
High-priced technology puts a price tag on life.

This disposable piece of technology might save your life – if you can afford...

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Many diabetics are dependent on expensive blood sugar testing strips to stay alive. Most in South Africa can't afford it.
Tholakele Memela sought help when she realised the symptoms for HIV and a sangoma’s calling were similar.

Sangomas learn to meld muti with conventional medicine

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Traditional and Western healers team up to treat patients with HIV and tuberculosis because many people consult more than one health system.
Lifestyle: Tim Noakes’s book recommends that carbs should be limited to between 25g and 50g a day.

[From our archives] Binge-beating Banting: Why Tim’s take is hard to stomach

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Can the banting diet cure binge-eating disorder? Mia Malan follows one person's journey.
A smoky Port Harcourt street. Doctors have warned of the health-related consequences of the city’s poisonous black soot.

Poisonous haze: Why the air we breathe could kill us

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Climate change and air pollution could be conspiring against the continent, and fuelling new levels of death and disease.
For centuries

A new loo: Gaze into the toilet bowl of the future

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Despite our complicated relationship with it, our poo could one day power our cell phones, tablets and laptops.
Yvette Mbayo-Ndaya has high blood pressure

Refugees ripped off at state hospitals

Poor people who have fled their countries are expected to pay steep rates for treatment at government hospitals in Gauteng.
Two decades and three South African Human Rights Commission investigations later

Does South Africa need a Human Rights Commission?

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History repeats as old health emergencies emerge anew. Is the health ombud the person to lead fights the Human Rights Commission started?
Many school learners can’t afford sanitary pads. But an organisation in Rwanda is working with the country’s banana farmers to change this.

What do your period and bananas have in common? Find out

In Rwanda, schoolgirls can now buy locally produced, cheaper sanitary towels
Find out what women go through in India and the United States to access abortion and contraception.

Tales from Trumpland: Health workers will be forced to bury aborted fetal tissue

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In the war on women's bodies, the casualties stretch far beyond US' 50 states.
Female genital mutilation is banned in Agamsaha village

Female genital mutilation: Hope blooms in Somaliland

Women in Somaliland are working together with an NGO to eliminate one of the most ancient and extreme practices of female genital mutilation.
This is Simon Antindi

Meet the doctors: Take a look at this country’s first crop of homegrown physicians

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Finally capping its own medics, the country must now retain them and coax them into rural areas.
The Finnish baby box was introduced in the 1930s when the country was poor

Would you put your baby in a cardboard box? Check out this parenting trend

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The Finns’ cardboard box prompts an African graduate to develop a life-saving device for babies.