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News and analysis

How do you fix South Africa's sexual and reproductive health wrongs? Well

This bracelet could one day help keep you safe from rape, assaults

How do you fix South Africa’s sexual and reproductive health wrongs? Help people access their rights.
Do almost half of South African men really smoke?

Should you believe the latest smoking figures from this tobacco-funded non-profit?

Claim: 49% of men and 34.1% of women in South Africa smoke tobacco. Is this true? Africa Check investigates.
South Africa has the eighth highest rate of suicide in the world

Concern over rate of teen depression and suicide

One in four South African teens have attempted suicide and one in three hospital admissions for suicide involve youth.
Life-saving HIV drugs were allegedly diverted from Southern Africa's public health system to be sold in Europe

The investigation that unravelled an international syndicate dealing in stolen ARVs

How undercover police infiltrated a criminal network that spent years hiding behind a curtain of shelf companies, Swiss bank accounts and pseudonyms.
Remembering the dead: Mental health activists protesting outside the Life Esidimeni arbitration hearings in Johannesburg.

Why aren’t government officials losing sleep over #Listeriosis and #LifeEsidimeni?

Both Life Esidimeni and Listeriosis exposed leadership cracks in our public health system. Are political leaders held accountable for their actions?
||medical workers

Four ways the Competition Commission’s latest investigation will change the National Health Insurance

What does a nearly 300-page technical report mean for the move to the new health financing model — and your pocket? Find out in the latest in our series, Compass: Charting a course to the National Health Insurance.

Eastern Cape health workers wait up to one month for COVID-19 test results

South Africa's COVID-19 testing backlog is making healthcare workers wait weeks for their own results, leading them to fear for themselves and patients.
|Health MEC: 'Esidimeni wasn't my responsibility'

[EXCLUSIVE] Qedani Mahlangu is not a registered student at alleged London school

Bhekisisa can reveal Mahlangu is not a student at the London School of Economics and Political Science after lodging a Freedom of Information request.
Tim Noakes

Controversial banting advocate Tim Noakes found not guilty

Professor Tim Noakes was charged with giving unconventional medical advice via Twitter.
The International Partnership for Microbicides' dapivirine vaginal ring

One step closer to protecting yourself from HIV with a vaginal ring

A monthly vaginal ring loaded with antiretroviral medication ould reduce women’s risk of contracting HIV, becoming the first long-acting form of PrEP.
Reverend Joseph Maboe's son Billy died after being transferred from Life Esidimeni. Billy had dreams of leaving hospital

#LifeEsidimeni: NGOs ‘chose patients like cattle at an auction’

The department moved people to save money and NGOs were happy to take them in for cash.

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.
#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".
Junior doctors lives stand still as they wait to be paid after the human resource staff failed to capture their details to the payroll system on time.

Gauteng health department misses deadline to pay junior doctors

With no money for petrol, many doctors have applied for authorised special leave. But some hospitals have warned there will be consequences.
Tomisin Adebanji is about to graduate medical school. What happens next

Motsoaledi to provinces: ‘Fund junior doctor internships, or I might sue you.’

The health minister warns finding the money for junior doctor placements is not voluntary, it's what the law prescribes.
Could birth control injections come out of the clinic and into homes? A new study could pave the way for easier

Women can now inject themselves with ‘the shot’ at home

Could do-it-yourself birth control injections take off in South Africa?