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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.

Yumna Moosa says senior doctors threatened her and all the health professions council did was ask what she did to deserve it.

A cautionary tale to young doctors looking to take on medicine’s culture of abuse

In 2016, Yumna Moosa took to social media to rally young doctors against medicine's culture of bullying. Now, she's not sure she'd do it again.

TB: This pee test could save your life

What if diagnosing South Africa’s deadliest disease was as simple as taking a drug store pregnancy test? That day might be closer than you think.
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.

4 ways to make it easy to take the HIV prevention pill

The Aurum Institute is making it easier for people to access HIV prevention medication.Their project includes a screening tool and support groups, and has already reached over 100 000 people.
Betty Walakira was one of the scientists who pitched her innovation

From the judges’ seat: Three lessons for scientists

Here are three tips to help keep your scientific presentations interesting, full of life and not sleep inducing.
Saving lives: Circumcision clinics help men to take responsibility for their sexual health

Safer, due to unforeskinned circumstances

Voluntary male circumcision has made huge strides in reducing the rate of HIV infections.

The minister & the metaphor: A patient’s guide to legal medicine imports

Medicines for some cancers and rare diseases will never be considered an “essential medicine”, which means the health department will never buy it for state facilities. Many patients have burned their hands trying to save money by importing such drugs illegally.
Over the past decade

Teenage mothers are not ‘terrorists’ who need to be punished

But few will to listen to researchers who refute society’s accepted notion that teenage pregnancy is damaging to the child, mother and society.
Helen Zille has the right to her opinion

If HIV denialists don’t deserve a platform, why should Helen Zille?

Journalism does not begin or end with free speech, we have an ethical obligation not to give platform for abhorrent views in the name of free speech.
Early adopters: Malawi has already begun using HIV self-testing as part of some clinical trials.

The promise and peril of do-it-yourself HIV testing

One in two people living with HIV still aren’t on treatment, could DIY testing be the solution?
Birth control: Which one's best for you?

Could your favourite birth control put you at risk of HIV?

A Cape Town study could finally provide the answer to whether there is a link between the shot and HIV infection risk.
Unhealthy situation: The Eastern Cape health department shocked the community by shutting down the village clinic in Lusikisiki

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

If the community stays vigilant, lives will be improved for many years.
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A junior doctor’s battle to keep death at bay for state patients

One in four South African medical students show signs of depression, and most doctors are at risk of burning out. Read about one state doctor’s road to hell and back again.

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Will PrEP mean fewer new HIV infections in Sub-Saharan Africa in the near future? Not exactly

Is the HIV prevention pill a ‘magic bullet’?

PrEP is not a magic bullet. But we won’t end the HIV epidemic without it.