Curbside counselling? These ‘friendship benches’ bring mental health closer to home
One in four Zimbabweans suffers from mental illness, but untrained female health workers are setting a new benchmark for the treatment of patients.
Paying for change? Trial offers cash to parents willing to vaccinate babies
Researchers have shown that monetary incentives lead to infants being immunised on time.
Solar power, text messages fight maternal deaths in rural Cameroon
Solar power, solar electricity and mobile technology are helping to reduce the rate of maternal mortality in Cameroon.
How one project is finally helping reduce the risk of suicide among teens
When kids at risk of suicide can talk to trained friends & family, they're seven times less likely to die, says one...
‘No bed for people like me’: When the old are left to die
Despite clear evidence they are most at risk, older people are seen as dispensable as younger patients are prioritised in the...
A roundup of fake AIDS ‘cures’: Angel Zapper, Garani MW1, Topvein, SF 2000
Fake AIDS "cures" have been the bane of activists fighting for treatment. We discovered a new one and checked in on some we've debunked before.
Unearthing the salt hidden in your diet
Some of your favourite comfort food could be concealing a killer.
Skeletons and closets: How one university reburied the dead
In the 1920s, a Northern Cape farmer dug up some of the remains of previous workers — some of whom had...
Nursing the hungry: How one Catholic nun has taken Malawi’s prisoners under her wing
As humanitarian organisations sound the alarm over high malnutrition rates among Malawi's prisoners, one woman is trying to help keep inmates alive.
2018: The best, the worst and the weird
You made it through the year. Kick back, relax and take a read through the 2018 that was.
‘I was kicked out of our house by his parents’, say widows
If a man dies in the Central African Republic, his wife is at risk of being evicted from their home by his relatives.
When there was no list of free abortion clinics, we made our own. Here’s...
How we found the country's 'missing' abortion providers – and mapped contraception services too.
Finding South Africa’s missing TB patients
For many tuberculosis (TB) patients, the road to a cure begins with a simple test.
Crickets, beetles and moths. Eating them could help save the planet. But would you...
Farming insects requires less water than cattle rearing and they emit fewer greenhouse gases. Here’s why you should make them part...
Nine factors that make a man more likely to rape or beat a woman
Men who abuse women have often been victims of maltreatment themselves resulting to the intergenerational cycling of abuse.
Silky strawberry is the best condom fit for South Africans
After three years of deliberation and research, the South African health department launches flavoured condoms.