Features

At 23 years old, Emma Theofelus is one of Africa's youngest Cabinent members. And taking office during the coronavirus epidemic has been a trial by fire.

The Nigerian government wants to stop medical professionals from leaving to countries including the United Kingdom and the United States by making it mandatory for doctors to work in state hospitals for five years.

Three people have been arrested after a Pondoland initiate who lost his penis and spoke out about it in public was beaten for "shaming the custom".

Since the country’s rollout, less than a quarter of people who’ve started taking the HIV prevention pill are young women — despite high HIV rates.

Driven by a more infectious new COVID variant, the second wave of South Africa’s coronavirus pandemic has seen considerably more infections than the first wave. This meant health workers have had to deal with more hospitalisations and deaths — and pressure. Bhekisisa visited George Mukhari Academic Hospital north of Tshwane to document the second wave realities experienced by doctors and nurses.

In this province, the agricultural and mining sectors draw thousands of workers each year – and then they disappear. Here’s why we need to find them.

Abortion services only got a national “how to” document for doctors 23 years after termination of pregnancy was legalised in South Africa. And while the new rules go a long way to remove barriers to ending a pregnancy, non-profits say crucial information such as a simple list of telephone numbers is still lacking.

Laura Salm-Reifferscheidt takes a look at the global sensation — the tramadol dance — that’s topping the charts in Africa’s effort to curb drug abuse.

One in four Zimbabweans suffers from mental illness, but untrained female health workers are setting a new benchmark for the treatment of patients.

A pill dispenser with an electronic cap monitors daily adherence to a regimen that may curb HIV among sex workers – and in broader society.

Meandering rivers and lush forests offered rich pickings for generations of farming and fishing communities. Then came the oil companies.

This province reported skyrocketing rates of teen pregnancy but behind the figures lies a story about sex, knowledge and data.

In the small rural town of Chivhu, Zimbabwe, 10-year-old Grace Zvarebwa is training for a pan-African schools chess tournament in Liberia. Chess is an activity normally reserved for the country’s elite schools, but the sport has transformed the lives of rural school girls like Zvarebwa.

South Africa’s top public health experts sat down to discuss the safety of e-cigarettes. The verdict? Stay away.

From how to spice up your sex life to the more mundane, “does this look weird to you”, there are some questions you just don’t want to ask your friends and family. Relax. Now, there’s an app for that.

In 2017, Lesotho became the first African country to legalise cannabis. Nearly six years later, the industry is yet to change the country’s fortunes.