Long Form

Long Form Journalism by the Bhekisisa Team

Despite concerns about the drug

Why science could finally be close to solving this birth control riddle

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We could be just months away from knowing whether Depo-Provera use is linked to a higher risk of HIV infection in women.
From the informal market to booming business: Could this be the future of water?

Water in Ghana from pipe to packet: Is there a hidden cost to this...

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In a country where pipes can stop short of reaching home, cheap sachets of water sold on the street could be an unlikely solution, but at what cost?
What’s behind mysterious cancer hot spots popping up all over the world?

Could this finally solve the Eastern Cape’s cancer mystery?

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The substances that cause cancer leave their fingerprints behind. Now, the world may be closer than ever to unravelling the clues hidden in our DNA.
Undercover: Bhekisisa reporter Pontsho Pilane posed as a pregnant woman considering an abortion at the Amato Centre in Pretoria to learn about the pregnancy counselling it offers.

Pregnant? Need an abortion? Here’s where not to go

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Are faith-based NGOs breaking the law when they refuse to give women information on where to terminate their pregnancies?
​Acid victim Hanifa Nakiryowa founded the Center for Rehabilitation of Survivors of Acid and Burns Violence.

Acid attacks: ‘I didn’t have the money to buy justice, but I had brains...

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In the wake of acid attacks, victims — often women — can feel hopeless. Now, women around the world are fighting back.
A woman watches from her window as police look for evidence after 20-year-old Carlos Barron was shot and killed in Chicago. The city is still very racially segregated and has high rates of violence.

This slashed rates of violence by 70% in some areas. Could it work in...

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In many ways, violence is like cholera, passing from person to person and treating it in similar ways is working to reduce it.
Are you a good fit for a high-stress job? Take a look at the biology of making it in a fast-paced world of work.

If you possess these 10 qualities, you might be a good fit for a...

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Scientists studied soldiers with PTSD and even children who'd witnessed a great tragedy. Did they unlock the secrets of resilience?
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.
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.
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?
Autistic children in Lesotho don't have a school of their own. Most of them

Not a school in sight: Autistic children travel 500 km to learn

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A mother's love led her to South Africa to find a school for her son with autism.
Naloxone is cheap

Saved: How drug users gained the power to reverse overdoses

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Find out how drug users banded together to use a simple injection to save thousands of lives.
Ebola has flared up again in the Democratic Republic of Congo

After Ebola: What happens when the virus fades and the NGOs — and money...

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Ebola wiped out nearly 10% of Liberia’s doctors and nurses. Take a look at life for those it left behind.
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.
Being bilingual is better for your brain. Now

Speak more than one language? This is what it does to your brain.

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Speaking more than one language could lead to better tests scores and even being a more empathetic person.
End of the road: Ntombizodwa Matthews was wheeled put of Mafikeng Provincial Hospital in April because the facility had no staff to care for her. A month later she was buried.

Who killed Ntombizodwa Matthews? Politics, protest & corruption in the North West

A month after she was wheeled out of a North West hospital in a barrow, Ntombizodwa Matthews met her end. Her family blames politics for her death.