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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.

It’s time to take back the tax — by upping the tobacco tax.

Mboweni, take a chance and take back the tax — it’s time to hike...

In his speech, Finance Minister Tito Mboweni reprioritised millions for new health workers and hospital upgrades. Here’s what he needs to do next.
Research shows that drug-resistant TB accounts for a quarter of the 10-million deaths that might be associated with antimicrobial resistance by 2020.

This kills more than 700 of us each day. Now, the UN wants to...

In a historic first, the UN just held a high-level meeting on TB. There was one on lifestyle diseases too. But did these sittings achieve anything?
The 2013 Control of Marketing of Alcohol Beverages Bill of 2013 has not been made public for no apparent reason

Is this the Bill the alcohol industry doesn’t want you to see?

South Africa is one of the hardest drinking countries in the world, but legislation to stop it been under wraps for over five years.
South Africa's Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi played a leading role in convening government heads at a United Nations meeting this week.

How South Africa convinced the world to take TB seriously

Heads of state discussed one of the world's biggest killers in New York this week — and it was Aaron Motsoaledi who got them together.
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.
Methadone is used in countries around the world including Indonesia

‘I thought drug users just made bad choices. Then this happened’

Until two years ago, it was Sibonelo Gumede’s job to help developers get rid of people who used drugs in neighbourhoods. Then his life changed.
Pneumonia kills more than 1.3-million children a year. But with this vaccine two out of every three children under five are immunised against pneumonia.

When it comes to vaccines, there really is safety in numbers. Here’s why

Turns out it takes a village to raise a child but also to protect them.
Magic or malignancy: History has painted menstrual blood with many brushes and in many lights.

Why linking pads to sex may speak volumes about how we stigmatise menstruation

Anna Dahlqvist reflects on a short history of a messy 'problem', or how the world taught you to fear your period.
Why end-of-life care is more than just making mere health decisions.

Dying with dignity is priceless. Oddly enough, it may also be more cost-effective.

Letting doctors know what type of end-of-life care you’re comfortable with results in a more dignified death and lower hospital costs.
Read an excerpt from Helena Dolny's book on death

How a better death starts long before we’re dying

When one man was on his deathbed, his family knew how he wanted to die and could respect that.
Malegapuru William Makgoba's scathing investigation helped blow the lid of the Life Esidimeni tragedy. Read what it taught him.

This man blew the lid off the #LifeEsidimeni tragedy. Read what it taught him.

When we got our independence, we did not ask ourselves what kind of ethics this new country needed. SA’s health ombud reflects on his first big case.
In rural areas

Bureaucracy, power and grants: When a pen may be as mighty as the scalpel

Go inside this unspoken ethical dilemma South African doctors face every day.
To uphold Nelson Mandela’s legacy

Nelson Mandela’s words about SA’s twin epidemics as true today as in 2004

SA has a chance to lead the world in realising Madiba’s dream this September as the United Nations convenes its first high level meeting on TB.
Draft national health department guidelines will look to balance a doctor or nurse's right recuse themselves from performing abortions with a person's right to choose.

Unconscionable: Health workers’ right to refuse abortions vs women’s right to choose

When religion trumps science in medicine, women's bodies and Constitutional rights may be caught in the crossfire.
Newborn deaths would drop from a staggering 2.7-million a year to 538 000 if the world invested in women's health

Why it could cost less than R120 per year to save a life

Maternal deaths in developing regions would fall by 73% if all women had access to contraception and maternal healthcare, shows new research.
The North West is out of medicine. And worse may be yet to come.

Missing medicines and missing money: Why a bigger crisis looms in North West

Provincial medicine shortages may be just the beginning.