Home Opinion Page 10

Opinion

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.

A recent survey says that Kenyans and Ugandans must start eating healthily to avoid getting sick from lifestyle diseases.

Kenyans and Ugandans need to change their ways to arrest lifestyle diseases

Two surveys paint a shocking picture of how East Africans are exposing themselves to the mounting risks of non-communicable diseases.
Doctors and nurses were held at gunpoint to stop giving patients treatment.

What to do about South Africa’s unemployed doctors

It’s official. Austerity budgets may be here to stay. Here’s how South Africa should be working with what it’s got to provide healthcare.

Why medical aids are so expensive

Greater collaboration and sharing of information between stakeholders will lead to reductions in costs.
Faux facts are travelling at lightning speed across the internet and they're bad for your health.

The rise of anti-vaxxer bots: Fake news is going viral — it’s bad for...

How do you outrun a lie when science shows misinformation spreads faster than fact?
McCord Hospital served black people from a 'white area' during apartheid and survived all attempts to remove it.

McCord Hospital: Defending a legacy of healthcare integrity

For 100 years Durban's non-profit McCord Hospital has been a beacon of hope for the poor. Now it has to rely on the state to survive.
New life: Will the NHI bring a glimmer of hope for rural patients?

Take care over the next hill

What, if anything, does the private healthcare sector have to offer the rural poor?

From Oscar to Diepsloot: Why do men become violent?

Bhekisisa and Media Hack Collective's 2021 #SayHerName project, researched what gender-based violence stories make it onto the news.The data backed up what we...

Rape, time & place: How to understand SA’s geography of violence

Simply identifying hotspots doesn’t explain why some places report more gender-based violence than others. This limits our understanding of the problem, and our ability to find a solution.
There is no vaccine for hand

Explainer: Why children are at risk of hand, foot and mouth disease

Hand, foot and mouth disease is a viral infection that can affect infants and young children.
Bhekisisa's first fellowship is coming to end and fellow

Bhekisisa journalism fellowships

Bhekisisa's first fellowship is coming to end and fellow, Sydney Masinga, speaks about his experience. If you're an interested journalist apply now.

Eating to survive: How to know if your party is taking hunger seriously

David Harrison breaks down five ways in which hunger among children can be decreased and explains why it’s important to hold the party you plan to vote for accountable to do something about food insecurity.
Nine-year-old Tumelo shows antiretrovirals.

Free ARVs are not enough: The hidden costs of treating HIV in Nigeria

Financial risk-protection mechanisms could alleviate the high food and transport costs incurred by rural people seeking to access treatment for HIV.
An estimated 6.8 million people in South Africa are HIV positive.

HIV fight requires wisdom

The health minister and UNAids are jumping the gun by not consulting activists.
Mediators could stem the tide of medico-legal litigation in SA but doing so will mean spreading the word about the alternative to litigation.

Mediation could ease SA’s medico-legal woes but it’s no quick fix

South Africa is now home to more than 90 trained medical mediators, but there’s not much work to go around - yet.
Zambia Kabwe

Lead in the blood: The poisoning of a generation

By 1927, Anglo American had obtained a controlling interest in a decades’ old lead mine north of Lusaka. Today, the mine may be closed, but its legacy lives on in the tiny bodies of the children that grow up in its shadow and who carry traces of its ore in their blood. Their poisoning is just the latest in a cycle that will leave lasting intellectual and physical burdens on them and their children for generations to come.
||||||

How do you stop a hospital heist? Appoint a plunder-proof board

The way South Africa’s health sector is governed leaves hospitals exposed to corruption. Hospital chief executive officers are political appointments, and so are the people at the accountability bodies and regulators such as the Office of Health Standards Compliance that are set up to hold the executives responsible. Independent hospital boards must play this role instead, writes this expert.