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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.

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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.
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.
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.
Thousands of desperately ill people in Nigeria choose to be healed by TB Joshua

Spreading false hope and endangering people’s lives: Why do so many believe in quacks?

Faith healers, psychics, celebrities and others sell their holy water, prayers, bracelets, vitamins and other gimmicks to vulnerable people.
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.

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.
|||shot hole borer||

Bugs, borers & heatwaves: Life and mental health in a hotter Joburg

Joburg may have avoided a total “treepocolypse”, but the city is continuing to battle the invasive beetle killing off its trees. In the war against the shot hole borer, there may be more at stake than just the city’s iconic tree-lined avenues.
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.

Body politics: The invisible women of global HIV response

In sub-Saharan Africa, four out of five new infections among adolescents are among girls. But when it comes to the global HIV response, African women and girls are rarely at the fore and the international community often treats the phrase “African” as if it referred to some homogenous community.
South Africa legalised abortion decades ago but a lack of information on where to get one and health workers willing to terminate pregnancies still stand between people and safe abortions.

Medical conscientious objectors who scupper abortions deny women their rights

Conscientious objectors who refuse to perform abortions or related services for moral reasons may have become a law unto themselves.
Where are the black experts? The few we have in the health sector are rarely quoted in the media.

Black experts in the health sector: Where are they?

It's not right that only black voices in health stories are those patients. Black medical researchers must also be heard in the media space.
This disease is a leading cause of death in SA but preventing it could be as simple as taking a single pill — if the government agrees.

This kills more South Africans than any other disease. There’s a new way to...

One in four people carry this potentially deadly bug? Now a new shorter treatment can prevent it from making you sick.
More than 60% of the world’s cobalt comes from the south-eastern provinces of DRC.

Is your phone tainted by the misery of the 35 000 children in Congo’s...

Our computers and phones keep us connected but a key ingredient in them keeps children as young as six locked in a vicious cycle for about R26 a day.
An estimated 6.8 million people in South Africa are HIV positive.

HIV researchers, citizens must be part of decisions

If the progress we see today is anything to go by, it means we are closer than ever to having an HIV vaccine.
The SA government needs to make a back-up plan for spending on HIV/Aids

#AIDS2016: As donor funding falls, SA must come up with a plan to stretch...

It will cost the country R30-billion a year to treat and prevent HIV by 2020, so the state has to lower costs and be clever with its health spending.
Mark Heywood's

Memoirs of an activist: ‘The real heroes of the HIV struggle are still unknown’

In a new book, Mark Heywood reflects on love, justice and haunting lessons from the past.