News and analysis

The race for a COVID vaccine has four candidates nearing the finish line — with some getting ready to roll out before the end of the year. But what do the reported efficacy results actually mean and how much will doses cost? We break it down.

A new study shows that female rape survivors are 60% more likely to contract HIV within a year or two after their rape than women who have not been raped.

Four COVID jabs’ efficacy results have been released within less than a year after the trials had started. But this is far from the norm. Researchers have been working on HIV vaccines for over three decades — and we still don’t have one. Here’s why.

Mathematicians are exploring models to figure out how COVID vaccines should be distributed to have the biggest impact. Should they give it to older people to prevent deaths or to young adults - the main spreaders - to slow down infection rates? 

It’s been almost 40 years since a new class of antibiotics was discovered. Do governments need to incentivise drug companies differently to get them to develop antibiotics to turn the tide against drug-resistant superbugs?

America’s president-elect, Joe Biden, has a herculean task ahead of him: He will have to repair the harm done by his predecessor’s perceived political interference with the registration of COVID-19 vaccines. That’s easier said than done. How well he confronts this battle will influence how willing his compatriots — and also some South Africans — are to take the shots. Here’s why.

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.

Autopsies offer detail that cannot be found in the living. The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a resurgence in these procedures — but not without fear.

There’s more to life than just a happy ending, a new brain imaging experiment shows. It turns out the key to enjoying things is to focus on the overall experience and the journey along the way. Find out more.

In the absence of action from the health department, South Africa’s community health workers are once again having to fight for their rights.

Sanitiser stockouts left governments to turn to more unconventional suppliers at the beginning of the year. Here’s why a lack of regulations in South Africa opened the market up to potentially toxic substitutes.

Even if a jab is shown to work, there won’t be enough doses for everyone. Countries such as South Africa would need to make tough decisions about who it would give the vaccine to — and more importantly how to create a system to get it to them.

COVID-19 brought the public and private health sectors together. But while the estranged bedfellows were making amends in the Western Cape, looting of COVID-19 relief money may have further eroded the trust of a vital third party — the public — in the government’s ability to protect the National Health Insurance Fund.

Over seven million people are believed to be living with HIV in South Africa. When COVID-19 reached our shores, there was great concern about what it would mean for our vulnerable populations. But the country’s fatality rates have been lower than initially expected. Here’s why.

With hundreds of potential COVID vaccine candidates being tested around the world, here’s a quick guide to which ones you should keep an eye on — and when we could see results.

One of South Africa’s three COVID-19 vaccine trials was recently put on hold after a participant in the United Kingdom developed an unexplained illness. After an independent review, AstraZeneca’s candidate, which was considered to be a frontrunner in the field, is expected to resume locally this week. But results are still a long shot for this year, says the trial’s lead investigator.