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Is one of Africa’s most important lakes really shrinking?
Our two-year study shows the lake has been stable since the 1990s. Costly ‘solutions’ shift focus from the complex causes of the region’s deadly crisis.
Superfood for babies
It's World Breastfeeding Week and government and Save the Children have joined forces to promote breastfeeding to save children's lives.
Women can wait up to two months to find out if their babies have...
The world has more than halved the number of babies who contract HIV from their mothers in the last two decades. But in some places, rates of mother-to-child transmission of HIV are rising again and we don’t have a moment to lose when it comes to diagnosing — and treating — babies born with the virus.
Why medical aids are putting the price of a safe delivery on some women’s...
When medical schemes and the law count conceiving as a pre-existing condition, pregnant women lose.
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.
‘Add human rights defender to your resume’: How Tlaleng Mofokeng uses medicine to treat...
When doctors treat women as people, rather than a collection of organs and ailments, the practice of medicine can be a powerful tool to restore people’s dignity.
![[WATCH] Busted: Three myths about drug addiction](https://bhekisisa.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/c1bb5976-00-bluetooth-the-myth-that-fooled-a-nation-218x150.jpeg "A safe retreat from the war on drugs")
A safe retreat from the war on drugs
The threat of punishment and discrimination doesn’t drive people to quit or avoid drugs, but rather to hide their use, including from their doctors. There is a better way, and jurisdictions like the US state of Oregon may have found it.
‘HIV testing was compulsory. If you didn’t test, they wouldn’t treat you’
The struggle to survive pregnancy and death in a land of plenty and poverty hasn’t changed much in the past five years — there are lives to prove it.
Take care over the next hill
What, if anything, does the private healthcare sector have to offer the rural poor?
Vaccine misinformation: What to do when it’s coming from leaders
Refuting lies about vaccines peddled by those in leadership positions may be less about trying to change their minds and more about protecting those who might be listening.
Curing a sick system: Doctors and nurses must speak out for patients and themselves
Medicine shouldn’t be the only thing on the books at our medical schools. Here are some tips for healthcare workers to handle abuse.
COVID-19 is killing private medical practices. Here’s how to save them
As cases of COVID-19 mount, people are steering clear of clinics and doctors are forced to postpone surgeries to free up beds. If something isn’t done now, there’s slim chance private doctors will have the ability to volunteer for the national response because their jobs — and those of their staff – won’t survive the pandemic.
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?
A slow death: Are Israeli forces instituting a deliberate campaign to maim in Gaza?
There’s something distinctly cynical about Israel’s targeting of people’s legs in Palestine’s march for freedom.
Will the food industry sacrifice its fat profits for health?
South Africa’s growing obesity epidemic won’t be reversed by preaching healthier eating habits and exercise alone; there’s a growing realisation that the food industry needs to change, write David Harrison and Liezel Engelbrecht.
‘She can’t discern jam from Vaseline’: Advice for the children of Alzheimer’s patients
In South Africa, a gene test that will tell you if you’re at risk for Alzheimer’s disease costs R3 600. But major organisations warn people against using these home kits without also getting counselling to help them work through the results — regardless of the outcome.