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News and analysis

Crisis: there is a shortage of over 80 000 healthcare professionals and

Public private partnerships may answer doctor shortage

Politicians and industry experts say that partnerships between the public and private sectors may solve the doctor and nurse shortages in SA.
Claims about South Africans’ sugar intake unlikely to be correct

Diets of mice, men oft do gang up on glaze

Diets come and go like fashion - new research shows that to cut the weight you should cut the sugar.
There have been a? litany of complaints against Allick Msebe Dube

Dodgy doctor gets back top job

Despite an ongoing probe into alleged misconduct, he's back at Messina Hospital – as chief executive.
National health director general Precious Matsoso raised fears this week that the burden created by non-communicable diseases may pose a threat to the future National Health Insurance system.

Lifestyle diseases threaten NHI

Government has raised concerns that the health system may buckle under the pressure of both HIV and non-communicable diseases - a dual epidemic.
In studies

There’s a new HIV drug – but Africa will have to wait

A new drug, Tivicay, that could be vital in the struggle against HIV, might not be available to those who need it the most.
David Sanders.

NHI a tonic for extreme inequality

Experts say the National Health Insurance scheme could benefit rich and poor, with positive broader outcomes.
Promising Ebola vaccines languished for years in research and development for more than a decade without funding.

Motsoaledi: Chronic disease on the rise in SA

Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi says a recent survey is proof that SA should be concerned with the prevalence of chronic conditions in the country.
Added stress: many patients with multidrug-resistant TB have to travel long distances to hospitals to get their medicine because Mpumalanga does not provide it at local clinics.

Mpumalanga loses ground in war on HIV

The province has fallen far behind in the drive to deliver key infrastructure essential for treatment.
At least three traditional surgeons have since been arrested for unlawful circumcisions.

Murder charges for botched circumcisions in Eastern Cape

Autopsy reports show that some of the 30 initiates who died last month in the Eastern Cape were assaulted by traditional surgeons.
Reading is believing: A copyright waiver will make material for the visually impaired much more accessible.

Landmark treaty breaks down book barriers for the blind

Last week the World Intellectual Property Organisation announced copyright exceptions on materials for visually impaired people.
Pravin Gordhan's 'careful control of the wage bill' and expenditure on goods and services will impact negatively on health service delivery

Anger over drug access in TB trial

A new combination treatment has been tested in Southern Africa, but it is not available locally.
Women who experience intimate partner violence have a 50% increased risk for HIV than women who don't.

Decrease in women abuse = decrease in HIV infections, say researchers

Women who experience gender-based violence have a higher risk of contracting HIV: this should be considered in South Africa's prevention strategy.
An Eastern Cape patient collects ARVs. Advocacy organisations say many clinics have run out of drugs.

Eastern Cape drug depot in extremis

A report released by health activists details mismanagement and shortages in Mthatha.
Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has launched an HPV vaccine programme for grade four girls in all government schools.

HIV, ARVs and the cervical cancer vaccine

How SA women will benefit from an HPV vaccine, which the government will introduce next year, will strongly depend on the virus's link with HIV.
Scientists say the current tests designed to detect even very low levels of HIV present in the body are simply not sensitive enough.

Household survey: HIV prevalence increases

Antiretroviral treatment has given HIV-infected people a longer life, thus increasing the proportion of people living with HIV.

Social grants decrease teenage girls’ risk of contracting HIV

Child support grants can protect teenage girls from sugar daddies.