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Health Beat shorts

Watch and read these short videos and articles from Health Beat

[WATCH] How a youth centre is fighting Westbury’s drugs and gangs 

In Westbury, Johannesburg, drugs and gangs overshadow daily life, trapping new generations in addiction and crime. While police crackdowns bring short-lived relief, the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime tells Health Beat that affordable rehabilitation and medical treatment for drug dependents are better investments.

[WATCH] How this Soweto project rolls out its own NHI

For the past decade, the Chiawelo Community Practice (CCP) in Soweto has tested how primary healthcare that starts within communities through things like exercise...

[WATCH] A change of heart: Why this patient’s opinion of state hospitals changed after...

Will patients be able to get quality healthcare from public hospitals once the National Health Insurance is in place — whether for lifesaving operations like heart surgery or routine check-ups for things like blood pressure or diabetes? Bhekisisa’s Health Beat team talks to a patient and his doctor at Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital about their experiences — and what state hospitals can offer if run well.

[WATCH] This centre is a home to special needs kids — but it ends...

The Boikanyo Mentally and Disabled Children Centre in Temba in northern Gauteng is home to kids with cerebral palsy, autism and Down’s syndrome. But when they turn 18, many have nowhere to go.

The power of media: How this drug rehab centre got back its subsidy

Four days after our TV show, Health Beat, was broadcast on eNCA — the Freedom Recovery Centre, which helps drug users sober up, got confirmation from the Gauteng government that they would receive the subsidy they had been waiting for for months. Without it, they would have had to close their doors.

[WATCH] Kya Sand: Where dumpers set fire to waste every night

Kya Sand, a neighbourhood northwest of Johannesburg, is one of several suburbs overrun with illegal dumping sites. Health Beat speaks to residents whose health and wellbeing have been affected; and finds out how community activists are trying to get the City of Joburg to take responsibility.

#SAElections2024: Which party offers the best healthcare? The answer lies in your vote

The ANC has National Health Insurance, the DA thinks the answer to better healthcare lies in the private sector working with the public sector, and the EFF says we need a clinic in each municipal ward. So who is right? It’s for you to decide with your vote.

[WATCH] Why living with TB and HIV is getting easier

Geneveve Heinse, is one of an estimated 7.8-million South Africans infected with HIV. Over the years, treatment — and the stigma attached to HIV — have changed; yet each day, about 400 people in the country still get infected with HIV. Travel to Masiphumelele in the Western Cape with our Health Beat team to find out what treatment is available for free at government clinics today.

Makgoba: Politics and science don’t mix

Malegapuru Makgoba, South Africa’s former health ombud, has seen the country’s health system grow, change and sometimes falter under six health ministers over the last 30 years. Mia Malan asks him what lessons we have learnt in this Health Beat show, Bhekisisa’s monthly TV programme.

Corruption trap: Why healthcare fraud is costing you money

When South Africa’s medical schemes lose R28-billion a year, it puts a dent in your pocket. What could private medical aid funds’ teams who work to get back that money teach the National Health Insurance? Mia Malan talks to Botho Mhozya of Discovery Health in the March edition of Bhekisisa’s monthly TV programme Health Beat.

[VIDEO] When politicians steal, patients suffer

The National Health Insurance scheme is supposed to provide all South Africans with the healthcare many have fought and died for. But citizens are wary of trusting politicians with the public purse and point to Tembisa Hospital on the East Rand as an example of how money set aside for health, has been used for anything but.

What’s 95% safer than tobacco? Not vapes, say experts

More and more studies are showing that vaping is not harmless and that electronic smokes should be regulated the same way as traditional cigarettes — and governments are getting on board. A lung health expert from the University of Cape Town tells Mia Malan why in the February edition of Health Beat, Bhekisisa’s monthly TV programme.

Wake up: Sleeplessness is a public health crisis

When you’re not feeling rested and refreshed after a night’s sleep, your thinking is fuzzy, your reaction time drops and you feel sluggish at work. But more and more research shows that sleeping poorly is a big public health worry. Today, on World Sleep Day, two experts explain why.

[VIDEO] Here’s how e-cigarettes turn juice into clouds

When e-cigarettes were first tested by cigarette smokers, there were complaints about them being too smooth. So propylene glycol was added to give users that harsh hit at the back of the throat they were used to. A lung doctor explains why the clouds of smoke that accompany vapes aren’t clean steam, but chemicals.

[WATCH] Why some parents are led to think e-cigarettes are healthy (they’re not)

“We are not saying tobacco should be banned,” says Tshweu Mosedi, an anti-tobacco activist who wants to keep e-cigarettes away from kids. He supports the new Tobacco Bill that will restrict vape marketing and sales. The Health Beat team meets Mosedi in Katlehong on Joburg’s East Rand, where fruity flavours and flashy adverts have tricked youngsters and parents into believing that e-cigarettes are healthy.

[WATCH] Is snoring a sign of a sleep disorder?

Sleep apnoea means you stop breathing for some time while asleep. Your brain then tells your body to wake up so that you can get much-needed oxygen. Picture this happening 42 times an hour every night. That’s what Juanita Herholdt used to go through before getting tested and treated for this sleep disorder.