#SliceOfLife: I took on Big Pharma and won
Around the time Phumeza Tisile was receiving treatment for extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB), the cure rate for patients with that form of the disease was 15%. Tisile beat XDR-TB despite the odds, but not without a cost: she lost her hearing.
#SliceOfLife: I survived the most deadly type of TB, but it cost me a...
Goodman Makanda survived the most drug-resistant form of tuberculosis that scientists know of, but he lost a lung to the disease in the process. Now, he says he would “rather die” than take handfuls of TB medicine again.
‘It’s every man for himself’: Why this farmer says he needs mental health help
Bayanda Maseko lost 2 000 chickens and more than R100 000 he invested in his farm in 2022, all because of loadshedding. Maseko says psychological support is needed in an industry where “it's every man for himself”. He speaks about the impact of these losses on his mental health in the March episode of Bhekisisa’s television show Health Beat.
#SliceofLife: I uncovered a child sex trafficking ring in my grade one class
When a primary school teacher in the Western Cape suspected that one of her pupils was being sexually abused, she did everything she could to help. Here’s what happened next.
#SliceOfLife: ‘Let’s pray you’ll be okay. My escape from a backyard drug rehab
South Africa plans to roll out treatment for opioid addiction to all government health facilities by 2028, according to a draft of the country’s sixth HIV action plan. Read one person’s story of recovery here.
Lesotho’s cannabis boom isn’t giving locals the high life they were promised. Here’s why
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.
Could electric bikes clean the air in the country of a quarter-million motorcycles?
In 2019, diseases linked to air pollution killed 1.1-million people in Africa. Could electric motorcycles save lives with cleaner air?
What reduces child marriage and poverty? Ask Zimbabwe’s young chess queens
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.
‘I punched him on his potatoes’: Meet the grannies fighting back against GBV
Korogocho is one of Nairobi’s most dangerous slums, where rape and robbery are common. Beatrice Nyariara is helping women aged 55 to 90 to fight back.
This country used to chain psychiatric patients to their beds. Here’s what happened when...
A psychiatric facility in Freetown has stepped away from its colonial past and removed these ‘shackles’ from their patients.
She had a miscarriage. Now she’s facing life in prison
Scores of women in Argentina could be facing life in prison for what health experts say are obstetric emergencies such as miscarriages.
Blood on the floor, drips in the dark: Johannesburg is crumbling. Here’s how it...
A combination of failures by the municipal, provincial and national government left a hospital in the south of Johannesburg without water or electricity for parts of November. Find out what’s behind the chaos.
What’s pleasure got to do with sex ed? This project shows it can increase...
The International Planned Parenthood Federation’s digital campaign Treasure Your Pleasure is using an evidence-based sex-positive approach to educate young Africans about safe sex.
You could be buying poisonous lead paint – and no one would be charged...
The government is investing in monitoring lead levels in paint, but experts and industry groups say that there’s no plan for dealing with offenders.
‘They will buy me a meal for my children’: Why SA women turned to...
Many women in South Africa resorted to sex work in order to survive the COVID recession. Male “blessers” were happy to pay, contributing to the spread of HIV.
#COP27: These KZN flood victims’ fates were sealed years ago
Nokwazi Mbambo watched her life wash away in April, and little has changed 6 months later. Read more on how the climate change induced floods that destroyed her home.