News and analysis

Outbreaks such as coronavirus, Sars and Ebola have taught us communication is key, and that the world is only as strong as its weakest health system.

South Africa has become only the second country in the world to allow widespread access to groundbreaking HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis medication.

Endometriosis is a disease that causes the cells that line the uterus to start growing in other parts of the body. This can lead to excruciating pain for those affected but diagnosis can take more than a decade. These researchers are looking at period blood to learn about the disease and how to spot it faster.

Testing delays stoke fears that COVID-19 figures may be under-estimated.

Follow our live coverage of the second Presidential Health Summit, which is being held in Boksburg on 4 and 5 May.

Will Ramaphosa’s new health minister wield enough power to bring recalcitrant MECs to heel?

Follow the launch of a report of the Campaign for Free Expression that delves into the importance of freedom of speech for health workers to curb the collapse of South Africa’s public health system.

One year later and the new coronavirus is still posing new questions for researchers. The recent emergence of new COVID-19 variants across the world has left scientists searching for answers once again as they try to understand what these changes mean for the pandemic — and vaccine roll-outs.

Health workers in the province demand security cameras and personal panic buttons at hospitals because of crime and attacks on nurses and doctors.

Meanwhile, a lone specialist in the North West caters for 3.7-million people as four provinces are forced to send patients to Gauteng.

Africa’s reliance on companies outside the continent can be turned around in time for the next health crisis. A new World Health Organisation initiative will make this happen by helping nations make jabs without slogging through the trial and error of developing a new vaccine.

What goes into the scientific hamburger of a COVID vaccine? A lot of trust.

Doctors at Africa’s biggest hospital were left scrambling on Tuesday when they had to work without nurses, admin clerks or service staff. Find out how it played out at Chris Hani Baragwanath.

Getting a COVID-19 vaccine into the country is one thing, but making sure the jab gets to people who need it – and is effective once they get it – is a feat for which South Africa is ill-equipped, experts say.

Bhekisisa health reporter Jesse Copelyn is inside Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital, where nurses have downed tools as part of a national strike – the third labour action for 2022.

Johnson & Johnson plans to replace our two million unusable jabs by July. The vaccines are unsuitable for use and must be destroyed, while the country’s vaccination programme lags behind schedule.