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News and analysis

#LifeEsidimeni: Did Qedani Mahlangu send patients to their deaths for political gain?

The former Gauteng Health MEC is expected to take the stand on Monday when she will finally face irate families who are tired of waiting for answers.
Avoid packing cold and processed meats for lunch amid the world's biggest listeria outbreak.

Listeria outbreak: Why your back-to-school lunch box staples may be dangerous

Worried your child could be at risk of contracting the bug as they head back to school? You might have to leave polony off the menu.
Campaigners are calling on the global health community to take immediate action against medical detentions.

Women forced into sex to pay hospital bills, study says

Patients too poor to settle medical debts are chained to drain pipes, starved and abused in health centres across parts of Africa.
Ntombikhona Ndlovu had her implant removed just three weeks after insertion because of headaches. Many other women may have been put off from trying the birth control option after rumours exaggerated side-effects

Is the rumour mill standing between you and better birth control? Find out

This implant offers all the protection from unwanted pregnancies with almost none of the clinic visits. So why did many say, ‘thanks, but no thanks’?
National Treasury has argued that removing medical aid tax credits would hurt low income earners.

ANC looks to axe medical aid tax credits, expand National Health Insurance

The ruling party says it’s time to get serious about funding and rolling out South Africa's universal access to healthcare plan.
Under Ace Magashule's tenure

Ace Magashule’s wild Free State: Activists faced intimidation, whistle-blowers fled

Death threats and intimidation drove one man to leave the country after exposing crumbling conditions within the province’s health system.
Elated: ANC supporters welcome the news that higher education will be free for some but it may eat into the health budget.

What free education could cost us

Saturday’s surprise announcement could be the latest blow to the country’s bid for better healthcare.
Despite continued reports of abuse at Lindela

Did Bosasa illegally detain kids while working for the department of home affairs?

"The cost of this Bosasa looting has been paid by immigrants detained in inhumane and undignified conditions at Lindela", the DA says.
Read how almost two decades of research backs the assertion that when people are on effective HIV treatment and have undetectable viral loads they can't pass the virus onto others.

A short history of the big discovery that redefined safe sex for HIV-positive people

How science discovered that ARVs can bring the levels of HIV in the blood to levels so low it’s virtually undetectable – and impossible to transmit.

#LifeEsidimeni: ‘The media was out to tarnish the image of the department’

Makgabo Manamela is one of three officials implicated by the health ombud in the tragedy. Here’s a snapshot of her testimony during arbitration.
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.
Families hold vigil for the 143 mental health patients who died in the Life Esidimeni tragedy. Now

#LifeEsidimeni: This official may have just thrown Mahlangu under the bus

Suspended head of Gauteng health Barney Selebano's court bid to avoid testifying at the ongoing arbitration could keep him off the stand for months.
Trump’s global ‘gag rule’ may mean increased unintended pregnancies

Loophole could protect South African organisations from US gag rule on abortions

Experts say confusion over the rights of local healthcare workers to provide the service while receiving US funds only benefits Trump administration.
Police may have actively targeted those providing medical care to students and the places they provided care in during #FeesMustFall – including the neighbouring Holy Trinity Church.

#WitsHungerStrike: Wits wasn’t prepared during #FeesMustFall. Has anything changed?

Following #FeesMustFall, this report echoed warnings of the Marikana Commission of Inquiry & said schools must plan for protests. Has it happened?
|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.
While Mahlangu's status as a student at LSE has not been confirmed

#LifeEsidimeni: Mahlangu’s alleged school confirms no exams scheduled

Meanwhile, the London School of Economics and Political Science says it cannot confirm Qedani Mahlangu is a student.