News and analysis

Many tuberculosis vaccines are in the works — but only one is showing real promise. Here’s why it’s worth getting excited.

Not only does South Africa have one of the highest rates of tuberculosis in the world, the disease is also the country’s number one killer. With the country’s new national guidelines, more people will be able to get pills to prevent TB, which is part of the government’s plan to curb infections.

When things get heated at hospitals or clinics, security guards often need to step in. But they’re not always trained to handle situations the right way. A new training programme can help.

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.

The appointments for the heads of two more of the five directorates of the National Health Insurance (NHI) were approved on Monday. These two positions will oversee user and service provider management and healthcare benefits and provider payment design. In the latest episode of Bhekisisa’s monthly TV show, Health Beat, Mia Malan asked the health department’s Nicholas Crisp and Sasha Stevenson from Section27 how the NHI will play out.

Need to know more about PrEP? Mia Malan talks to Dr Kevin Rebe to answer your questions.

The United Nations Programme on HIV and Aids, UNAids, has released its latest HIV figures. Fewer people got infected with HIV in 2022 than...

The normalisation of gender discrimination is blamed as the crucial factor that makes women and girls vulnerable to human traffickers.

The government is currently looking at giving community health workers a minimum wage and setting working conditions. While unions have rejected this process, Nicholas Crisp, head of the NHI, says it may be a better solution to these workers’ employment problems than having permanent government positions.

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?

Johnson & Johnson won’t be allowed to extend its patent on a life-saving TB drug in India, opening the door to cheaper generics for governments that buy the medicine from companies in that country.

Between April 2020 and September 2022, 988 women were killed by their intimate partners, police data shows. In about the same time, the government achieved just 1 in 5 of the targets in its action plan to fight gender-based violence and femicide.

Head injuries from sport could be linked with someone developing brain disease later, says new guidance from experts. They’re calling for more time during games for players to be checked thoroughly — which could mean rules of play may have to change.

A plagiarism scandal has rocked the sports world and cast fresh doubt over the influence of the industry in research on head injuries. It also stirred up old allegations that sporting bodies have underplayed the risk of an incurable disease called chronic traumatic encephalopathy.

Countries in central and sub-Saharan Africa will be hit the hardest by heat waves as climate change ramps up. What can Africans do to survive?

Tests done on water taken downstream of a manhole from which sewage leaks into the Vaal River came back positive for cholera.South Africa’s drinking...