News and analysis

A 10-year investigation finally fingers Southern African ARV thieves

You can’t transmit HIV if you take ARVs correctly and are virally suppressed

Researchers once again confirmed: It’s impossible for HIV-positive people on treatment to transmit the virus through sex — this time among gay men.
The former national director of mental health says his Gauteng counterpart Makgabo Manamela

Mahlangu, Hlongwa elected to top Gauteng ANC body

The pair continues to survive politically despite being implicated in deadly mismanagement and graft during their tenures as Gauteng health MECs.
Lulama Shongwe is a University of Pretoria student. Her usual contraceptive shot has been out of stock for months: “If I cannot get Nur-Isterate on campus

Are strong-armed tactics by Big Pharma behind the country’s birth control shortage?

An international drug maker may have intentionally muscled out local competition to win the bulk of a national birth control tender.
South Africa has the world's biggest HIV response

SA slashes new HIV cases by almost half

The country’s investments in HIV treatment and prevention are paying off, leading to huge reductions in new infections
The strategy marks the first time that provinces have been tasked with developing and implementing parallel local HIV and TB plans.

Read: The preliminary findings of South Africa’s latest HIV household survey

More than four-million people in the country are now on antiretroviral treatment.
Where have almost two dozen Life Esidimeni patients gone?

Gauteng health department unable to trace 20 #LifeEsidimeni patients

Three years later, almost a dozen patients are still missing.
South Africa's Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi played a leading role in convening government heads at a United Nations meeting this week.

Think you’re going to opt out of the #NHI when it comes? Think again.

In June, the health minister released the long-awaited National Health Insurance Bill. What does it mean to you and your medical aid? We tell you.
The cat's out of the bag: You're paying more for healthcare — and getting less bang for your buck.

Read: The Competition Commission’s findings on the private healthcare sector

South Africa's first inquiry into the private healthcare market blew the lid off where your medical aid premiums are really going.
Governments will have to snuggle up to private healthcare companies to plug the $300-billion gap they need for universal health coverage.

Too much of a good thing: SA’s epidemic of over-treatment is paying off for...

Is a lack of competition fuelling unnecessary care at your expense?
South African Police Services recorded almost 40 000 rape cases in 2016/17 alone.

Why rape counselling needs to hit the road and other ways to make services...

When people can't get to healthcare, healthcare needs get to them.
Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi will be met with court cases from the private healthcare sector while dealing with pressure from trade unions to speed up the process.

Will the National Health Insurance actually work?

Read what Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has up his sleeve for your medical aid.
The Council for Medical Schemes estimates that fraud

At a glance: What the National Health Insurance means for you & your pocket

Two Bills, almost 200 pages may change healthcare forever in SA. Haven't read them? We did the heavy lifting so you don't have to.
Brian Hlongwa: "The allegations in the NPA’s papers

Read Brian Hlongwa’s response to the SIU report

Allegations of graft during his tenure as Gauteng health MEC aren’t new, says ANC Gauteng chief whip. In fact, they’re talked about regularly.
Old news: The ANC Gauteng Chief Whip and former health MEC Brian Hlongwa says recent headline-grabbing allegations are not new. In fact

Hlongwa responds to SIU report: ‘I arranged to hand myself over to the Hawks’

The chief whip says recent media reports were first to alert him that the SIU had completed its investigation into alleged corruption under his watch.
The latest Bill related to the National Health Insurance

Read the Medical Scheme Amendments Bill

Find out what the big changes government may have in store for medical aids.
The controversial but now liquidated 3P Consultancy company allegedly paid more than a million rand for at least one home for the ANC's Gauteng Chief Whip Brian Hlongwa.

Five things the Gauteng health department spent your money on – SIU

Spa treatments, fancy homes and paperwork — and the list goes on.