Will the UK’s new prime minister cut funds to this malaria jab?
A malaria vaccine has passed the World Health Organisation’s efficacy rate of 75%. But if the United Kingdom’s new prime minister cuts foreign aid, the people who need the jab may never get it.
These gun laws saved 30 lives a month in two big cities. Here’s what...
A recent spate of massacres has reignited the conversation about firearm control. It’s an emotional debate, but what does the evidence say about the kind of policies that work to prevent gun violence?
Myths, migrants, and who benefits from medical xenophobia
Migrants are being blamed for South Africa’s struggling health system – again. But poor governance, and a shortage of staff and hospital beds are the real issue.
Could new abortion rules in the US affect the world’s biggest state HIV fund?
The United States government has appointed the first African head of its Aids fund, Pepfar. John Nkengasong, a Cameroonian virologist with US citizenship, will need to establish the potential impact of America’s change in abortion legislation on Pepfar funding rules.
One pill within three days of condomless sex could stop three STIs. Here’s how...
A cheap antibiotic (called doxycycline) used to treat skin infections and to stop people from getting malaria could also work to prevent chlamydia, gonorrhoea and syphilis, found a United States study in men who have sex with men and transgender women.
Why are Aids conferences still held in the Global North?
Researchers have found that 96% of global health conferences happen in high- or middle-income countries. Less than four in 10 attendees at these gatherings are from poorer nations that have the highest burden of disease.
44 experts to design details of NHI scheme from January 2023
Forty-four new National Health Insurance (NHI) positions, based at the national health department head office in Tshwane, will be advertised in the coming weeks and filled by January 2023.
Superbugs could cost you an arm or a leg: Why hospitals need more money...
Germs are outsmarting medicine faster than South Africa’s overburdened facilities can keep up with. There are ways to cut resistance, but such plans need more money for them to work.
Tipsy at breaktime: Do liquor ads increase underage drinking?
Young South Africans are exposed to lots of liquor advertising, but the two bills which were designed to change this remain stuck in the pipeline.
The secrets locked up in period blood
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.
Why SA women with postpartum depression go unhelped
The social and economic factors faced by women do not disappear once they become pregnant. Without additional support those problems get much worse and can be bad for their families too.
Meet the health workers saving lives – earning a measly R670 a month
What do you do when there aren’t enough rural doctors? In Zimbabwe, village healthcare workers, trained over three weeks, are plugging the gaps.
How to pick good doctors: Why race, language & where people come from must...
Opposition groups and others often argue that academic matric marks alone should determine whether someone gets into medical school – not factors such as race that people can’t control. But research finds that when it comes to making a good doctor, grades aren’t everything.
Modern-day oracles? Meet the scientists tracking COVID’s crappy future
Far fewer people are testing for COVID-19 than last year this time, but most people flush. Water in the country’s drains can pick up a spike in cases or can help to pick up a threatening new variant in time for clinics to prepare for an influx of patients.
Maize, malnutrition & martial arts: Inside the hidden food crisis driving hunger and obesity
Obesity is a growing worldwide trend. In Kenya, over a million five to 19-year-olds will be obese by 2030. At the same time, the East African nation is also stalked by hunger. More than three million people don’t have easy access to good nutritious food. These kiddies are fighting the problem – one taekwondo class at a time.
Could rural students solve SA’s doctor dilemma?
South Africa is training more doctors than ever but there isn’t enough money to employ them, leaving about 14% of hospital posts for doctors vacant while 20% of doctor positions at clinics were empty in 2021 as well.