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The Bhekisisa Centre for Health Journalism is based in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Bhekisisa is one of only a few media outlets in the Global South specialising in solutions-based narrative features and analysis. We not only uncover problems but also critically evaluate the solutions meant to fix them. It’s an approach we also take with our opinion pieces.

What makes a good op-ed? What can I expect from the editing process? Who do I pitch a possible opinion piece to? Get the answers to all these questions along with some handy writing tips here before you make a submission.

Unhealthy situation: The Eastern Cape health department shocked the community by shutting down the village clinic in Lusikisiki

Comment: Clinic victory – A shot in the arm for people’s rights

If the community stays vigilant, lives will be improved for many years.
Drinking four glasses of wine a day can increase your chances of getting breast cancer by about 50%.

Cancer and heart disease: Can alcohol help you or hurt you?

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Drinking four glasses of wine a day can increase your chances of getting breast cancer by about 50%.
Betty Walakira was one of the scientists who pitched her innovation

From the judges’ seat: Three lessons for scientists

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Here are three tips to help keep your scientific presentations interesting, full of life and not sleep inducing.
What started as a bizarre press release touting a "potential HIV cure" has gone viral leading media houses all over the world to lash out over firm Zion Medical's latest claims.

Company with false HIV ‘cure’ admits trial was not registered with regulatory body

Zion Medical can't explain the poor treatment Ugandan patients got as part of its 'trial' and its recent announcement may have added to the harm.
“Whenever I heard about comics I thought of jokes. I never knew I could develop my own comics and use them to talk about important issues”

Antibiotic resistance: Three ways to stop the rise of the superbugs

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We are facing possibly the greatest health threat of our time: drug-resistant infections. But here's why there's hope the world can change course.
After a fake news story spreading myths about medical male circumcision went viral

​Zimbabwe mixes medicine and tradition for safer circumcision

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Zimbabwe has successfully won the support of chiefs and their people by combining a respect for tradition with safe, modern procedures.

‘Academic boys’ to ‘sex jaros’: What it means to be a Black boy in...

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Toxic masculinities help drive everything from HIV infection rates to gender-based violence. But before we ask, what does it mean to be a ‘man’ in South Africa, should we wonder what it’s like to be a boy?
Would you betray your partner in crime if it meant you could avoid jail? Here's how this mentality can push up the price of medicines.

Physician, don’t fool yourself – Motsoaledi replies to NHI criticism

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Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi describes Dr Chris Archer's criticism of the national health insurance as ignorant at best.

Vaccine denialism kills: Mail & Guardian has let down its readers

Those who dispute that the COVID vaccines used in South Africa are safe and effective are just wrong.
An open letter to ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe

We should be allies, not enemies, Gwede Mantashe

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An open letter to ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe

Abortion: Government to get tougher on doctors with moral objections

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Draft guidelines will look to balance a doctor or nurse's right recuse themselves from performing abortions with a person's right to choose.
Stand and deliver: James Francis takes a new approach to working. Standing and working has some health and productivity benefits.

Sitting could be the death of you

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Hemingway did it. Churchill did it. So let's do it. Let's all stand up while we work.
Abandoned: The closure of the GF Jooste hospital has left the community in the lurch

The helpless have lost a lifeline

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GF Jooste Hospital was a beacon of hope. It should have been renovated, not closed.

Karoo dust, diet & diabetes: Why ‘lifestyle disease’ is an unfair label 

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Diabetes is different from other non-communicable diseases, this author says. It can’t be spread in a literal sense — instead, it is often forced upon people by factors beyond their control. What happens when you have no say on your genetics or all you can afford is processed food?

An inconvenient truth: The real reason why Africa is not getting vaccinated

Pharmaceutical companies like Pfizer have said low vaccine uptake in Africa is due to increasing hesitancy on the continent. But the truth is inequitable distribution of COVID vaccines have left Africa as a vaccine desert.
In a world where historically unravelling the tobacco lobby’s intentions has been a game of smoke and mirrors

Show us the data: Bhekisisa responds to #BigTobacco

Dear Tisa, you have a point but we’ve got a reason to be wary.