News and analysis

The global rise in tuberculosis cases is showing no signs of slowing down. The need for a new vaccine is as urgent as ever, and now a local pharmaceutical company is joining the race to find one. Find out more about the work they did to propel themselves into this position.

The health department says ViiV Healthcare’s non-profit price for their anti-HIV jab, CAB-LA, is four times what it can pay. In 2022, just over 164 200 people in South Africa became newly infected with HIV. Can we afford to go without the shot?

In Paris today, experts on lung health from across the globe are coming together at The Union’s World Conference on Lung Health to talk about how TB research can help to thwart one of the planet’s top killers. We’ve put together a collection of our most recent coverage on TB to help you be part of the conversation

A seven-year study across 12 000 people in two Indian cities shows that breathing in dirty city air for as little as one month can raise blood sugar levels. After a year of this, people have a higher chance of getting type 2 diabetes.

To help South Africa wipe out HIV by 2030, the country focuses on getting people who have a big chance of getting or spreading HIV access to testing and treatment. Researchers say that people with serious mental illnesses should be added to the list of these key populations in South Africa. Learn more.

From kissing to final base, people have to say yes before you can go on. We asked people in South Africa what consent means to them, and what influences their decisions.

Over 5 000 Palestinians have died since October 7, when an attack by the armed group Hamas killed around 1 400 Israelis, and led to heavy retaliation. A 35-year-old civilian in Gaza details life under siege.

More than a million public healthcare users in South Africa had started to use the HIV prevention pill by the end of May, with over half doing so in the past two years, health department data shows. But what must we do to make the pill — and a two-monthly HIV prevention injection — easier to get?

People with HIV have a big chance of battling with mental health problems. At the moment though, only doctors can prescribe psychiatric medicines. Could getting nurses to do this too help people with HIV to stay on their treatment, and so get infection rates down? Mia Malan finds out from a doctor who’s lived through HIV with his patients for the past 20 years.

In South Africa, the demand for donor organs far outstrips the supply — not because people aren’t signing up for donation, but rather because there aren’t policies in place to manage the transplant chain. Spain, though, has managed to fix the problem in their country. Can we learn from them?

To help keep kids safe from drug overdoses, lawmakers in the US state of Colorado say schools can have an anti-overdose medicine in their emergency kit — and are making it available cheaply or even for free. But not all schools are signing up. Here’s why.

Left untreated, an HIV infection can cause inflammation in someone’s brain and lead to mental health problems. But antiretrovirals can stop it from happening. Mia Malan finds out how it works in this Health Beat interview.

Nepalese men who go abroad for better jobs, often find that they struggle to build a family when they get back home. Fertility experts weigh in on the link between migration labour and infertility.

The world is far behind its TB targets. Hoping to reduce TB deaths by 75% by 2025, world leaders have only managed to bring it down by 5.6% so far. Climate change, however, can derail these targets even more. The changing climate increases poverty, overcrowding, and malnutrition, the primary drivers of TB.

A dying baby’s kidneys could save an adult’s life. But it’s a tough decision — and one few grieving parents are willing to make. Would you?

Last week, at the United Nations General Assembly, African leaders warned that the world faces a “malaria emergency” because mosquitoes are getting smarter, drugs are getting weaker, funds are getting less and the climate is changing.