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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.
44 experts to design details of NHI scheme from January 2023
Forty-four new National Health Insurance (NHI) positions, based at the national health department head office in Tshwane, will be advertised in the coming weeks and filled by January 2023.
Three ways Africa can gear up for heat waves
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?
How rape survivors’ long-term risk of HIV infection can lead to heavier sentences for...
A new study shows that female rape survivors are 60% more likely to contract HIV within a year or two after their rape than women who have not been raped.
A rehydration robot, a pinch test & more: Tips to help health workers spot...
Follow our live coverage of the health department’s 23 May briefing on South Africa’s cholera outbreak.
One year on: Relive SA’s historic Life Esidimeni arbitration
The deaths of at least 144 mental health patients shook SA to its core and led to a historic arbitration that lasted more than 40 days.
What’s behind the Big Tobacco job cuts? A guide to SA’s illegal tobacco trade...
British American Tobacco in South Africa says 200 of its workers will be out of a job soon, but public health researchers argue they’re using misleading figures to back the retrenchments.
HIV prevention should be like fast food. This data shows why
KwaZulu-Natal’s state facilities are in the lead when it comes to stocking HIV prevention medicines (97% of them do), and the Western Cape is last in line at 8%. But, the home of the Mother City is the only province in which men use HIV prevention medicine more than women.
Burn them — Here’s what happens to expired COVID vaccines
Vaccines don’t last forever. When they reach their expiration date, the jabs need to be disposed of in a way that ensures they aren’t retrievable. A waste management company explains how this is done.
Digging through the data: Did COVID-19 lead to more teen pregnancies in SA?
It’s too soon to tell what effect the COVID-19 pandemic had on teen pregnancies. But here’s what the data shows so far.
STI home tests could be coming to SA’s free medicine pick-up points
Big changes are coming to South Africa’s fight against sexually transmitted infections, according to a draft of the country’s fifth HIV action plan.
Ozempic: A hashtag & a helpful effect collide & drain global stocks of a...
Medicine shortages are common. But what happens when a shortage of an effective medication happens because people who the medicine isn’t intended for are drying its stocks? We explain here.
Safe, not seedy: How sex work changed after two decades of decrim in New...
In South Africa, 70% of female sex workers in a countrywide survey conducted in 2019 said they’d experienced violence from clients in the previous year. Find out how things change when sex work isn’t illegal from workers in New Zealand.
One pill within three days of condomless sex could stop three STIs. Here’s how...
A cheap antibiotic (called doxycycline) used to treat skin infections and to stop people from getting malaria could also work to prevent chlamydia, gonorrhoea and syphilis, found a United States study in men who have sex with men and transgender women.
Five steps in five years. A to-do list to help SA kick its heroin...
South Africa plans to make opioid substitutes such as methadone available at all state clinics and hospitals over the next five years. Methadone helps wean people off drugs such as heroin. Here are the five things the government needs to do to get this right.
Q&A: State patients in private hospitals — what’s the deal?
Government hospitals are likely to run out of beds before the end of July. The health department is in the process of signing deals with the private healthcare sector for additional beds at set prices. But how does this work in practise? We’ve asked Nicholas Crisp, one of the health department’s chief negotiators.