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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.

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Gold miners work the Cooke Shaft in Johannesburg. Thousands of gold miners and their families are now seeking compensation for the sector's failure to protect miners from silicosis

#MiningIndaba: Why the real mining investors won’t be in Cape Town this week

The most important people in mining will not be among the movers and shakers at the high-profile event this week.
Santie Pretorius lost more than 100kg after undergoing bariatric surgery

My controversial 100kg revolution

Santie Pretorius details her weight loss journey, which included surgery, in a new book.
After a fake news story spreading myths about medical male circumcision went viral

​Zimbabwe mixes medicine and tradition for safer circumcision

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

Bundle of jitters: How these community health workers are helping moms cope with the...

Pregnancy can be a time of joy - and sadness. Many pregnant women and mothers of infants in lower-income communities acknowledge feeling depressed during this time. Here’s how community health workers helped alleviate this.
One day of new

SA may hold key to curing world’s rising drug-resistant TB epidemic

New drug combinations tested in the country may be a lifeline to those with TB most unlikely to survive it.
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Ticket to ride: How the coronavirus outbreak could change air travel

When a pandemic strikes, scientists are left scrambling to find new vaccines to curb it. The latest coronavirus outbreak may become a testing ground for how to roll out new jabs quickly at the most unlikely of places.
CRISPR technology is a relatively new and powerful tool for editing genomes. It allows researchers to easily alter DNA sequences and modify gene function.

Man who created the first GMO babies is missing but his discovery could haunt...

Chinese scientist He Jiankui claims to have engineered the world’s first genetically-modified babies. Did he unleash one of science’s worst fears?
Previous strikes at the National Health Laboratory Services have delayed test results for people living with HIV and women awaiting pap smear results.

Could we mass-produce HIV immunity?

One tiny protein may hold the secret to ending the HIV pandemic.
Advocates for the partial decriminalisation of sex work overlook that the buying of sex in SA is already criminalised and this has not curbed demand

Sex, shrugs and policy holes: Why partially decriminalising sex work isn’t enough

After almost two decades, the South African Law Reform Commission chose fiction over facts.
HIV prevention needs to be targeted at women to ensure reduced infection rates.

#AIDS2016: New science may put the power to prevent HIV in women’s hands

Being able to take a pill discreetly, as women have done with contraceptives since the 1950s, is an HIV prevention revolution.
In many countries women allege they were sterilised without consent during or shortly after labour.

Forced sterilisations rob African women of more than just motherhood

The ability to bear children continues to decide many women's social standing and inheritance.

A false sense of safety? Why ending the COVID pandemic doesn’t stop with vaccines

The world was able to develop COVID-19 vaccines in just over a year. But much more needs to be done before we can end the pandemic.
The Indian government has been providing free antiretroviral drugs for HIV treatment since 2004

​South Africa must stand firm with India – the pharmacy of the developing world

As Indian PM Narendra Modi visits South Africa, we must push to ensure continued access to affordable medicines.
Former minister of the Eastern Cape health department

Free healthcare is a human right

Healthcare that is accessible to all is the foundation on which an equitable and efficient system must be built.
Solutions: A health technician analyses blood samples for tuberculosis in a high-tech TB lab in Lima

Is ‘all-in-one healthcare’ a dream?

Is getting all you need from one health team far fetched? Actually not. It's one field where the public health system beats the private one.
Money

Don’t believe the hype: Why increases to the health budget on paper don’t translate...

Legal claims against the department now amount to more than half of some provincial health budgets. Less money now will only mean more claims later.