News and analysis

EMS students train at Nelson Mandela University. About 50% of EMS positions are vacant in Limpopo.

Almost three out of four specialist medical posts are vacant in this province

And about half of its ambulances are standing idle.
Foreign spaza shop owners told the press last week they blamed recent violent looting in Soweto on allegations of fake food in the township.

No evidence of ‘fake food’, but tap water is sold as spring water, Motsoaledi...

But inspectors uncover counterfeit bottled water and spices.
Many people still don’t know their rights under the law and when they can get an abortion.

How readers like you are helping flip the script on illegal abortion providers

We teamed up with readers and translators to create some of the first graphics ever on abortion in all South Africa's official languages.
The strategy marks the first time that provinces have been tasked with developing and implementing parallel local HIV and TB plans.

Read South Africa’s national HIV and TB plan 2017-2022

The strategy aims to, for instance, slash new HIV infections by more than 60%.
This was no Life Esidimeni

Ombud slams doctor, media over allegations of abuse at mental health hospital

Makgoba says a statistical error led doctor to greatly overestimate patient deaths.
#LifeEsidimeni: What will arbitration mean for the families?

Read the health ombud’s full report into alleged abuse at Tower Psychiatric Hospital

The Eastern Cape's Tower Hospital was billed as the country's next "Life Esidimeni".
Students who participated in the “Let us protect our future” course were significantly less likely to report having raped someone even five years after the programme had ended.

Could this protect hundreds of children from being raped?

Life Orientation 2.0? Why it may be time for a new take on an old subject.
Inside 'bluetoothing's' fake high

SA needs R4-billion to fight this killer virus you may never have heard of

Newer, lifesaving drugs for South Africa's "silent" killer aren't yet available in the country.
Traditional cigarettes and their electronic counterparts face stiff regulation in the Bill

Read: South Africa’s controversial #TobaccoBill

South Africa could become one of a growing number of countries that require plain packaging for cigarettes.
An NGO in the Eastern Cape allegedly tested primary school students for HIV without parents' consent and revealed two students' statuses in front of classmates.

Are provinces ready to take the wheel of South Africa’s HIV response?

It’s been a steep learning curve for districts that sometimes don’t have the know-how — or the data — to write and track local plans.
Sexual violence is rife in Khayelitsha primary schools

Almost half of Khayelitsha primary school learners have experienced sexual violence

The youngest children are the ones most at risk — and less likely to report it.
An organisation in Mozambique had to close down half of its youth clinics after it lost two-thirds of its funding because it refused to sign onto Trump’s global gag rule policy.

‘Gag Rule will slow down the fight against Aids’

The damage caused by the controversial US policy will only start showing when it’s too late to reverse it, activists and researchers argue.
Former head of the Gauteng department of health Barney Selebano

How many doctors and nurses will lose their licenses over #LifeEsidimeni?

The nation's nursing body says one official has been hauled before it.
Two doses of PrEP before sex and one tablet every day for 48 hours works just as well as everyday use in gay men and other men who have sex with men.

Why two pills before and after sex could help to save you from HIV

Men who have sex with men can now take on-demand pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, safely.
A new report references Life Esidimeni as an example of what not to do with mental healthcare users.

​READ: #LifeEsidimeni families shocked and outraged at the re-election of Mahlangu

Former Health MEC ​Qedani Mahlangu is implicated in deadly mismanagement but still survives to be elected into the Provincial Executive Committee.