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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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It is too much insulin – a hormone the body produces in response to eating carbohydrates – that packs on the kilograms and makes us fat.

Comment: Obese SA has to get a move on

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There is a simple way to combat chronic lifestyle diseases, and that is to eat properly and exercise.
Unequal: Only 16% of the population have medical schemes and private healthcare. The rest must make do with public hospitals when they fall ill.

Comment: Restore medical aids to good health

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Private healthcare is meant to support public health, but it must be kept in check.
Saving lives: Circumcision clinics help men to take responsibility for their sexual health

Comment: Safer, due to unforeskinned circumstances

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Voluntary male circumcision has made huge strides in reducing the rate of HIV infections.
Critical care: A local clinic is being built in Mvezo

Comment: Too much stick, not enough carrot

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The state’s proposed certificate of need will not address inequities in rural healthcare.
Abandoned: The closure of the GF Jooste hospital has left the community in the lurch

The helpless have lost a lifeline

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GF Jooste Hospital was a beacon of hope. It should have been renovated, not closed.
An open letter to ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe

We should be allies, not enemies, Gwede Mantashe

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An open letter to ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe
Educated girls have children later in life and are less likely to die during childbirth.

Education is the foundation for young girls’ future

Along with better access to health services and reducing child marriage, education can save many lives.

Why medical aids are so expensive

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Greater collaboration and sharing of information between stakeholders will lead to reductions in costs.
Where will newly qualified doctors go if provinces are being told to scale back staff under budget pressures?

Exhausted doctors endanger health

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Medical interns are leading the battle to reduce the dangerously overlong working hours that compromise the safety of patients.
Outspoken advocate: In 2007 Galip Asvat

Men are also ‘corrective rape’ victims

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Many men, thanks to social stigmas, are ashamed to report sexual hate crimes – but they are almost as common as they are against lesbians.
French scientists have singled out a mechanism that spontaneously 'cured' two people of HIV

Can we end Aids in Africa?

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While much has been done to end Aids in Africa, more work by governments is necessary to move forward, particularly in SA.
“We did not identify any source of funding. We have just identified several methods of financing the NHI

NHI: Let’s talk about this revolution

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Minister, please sit down with the private health sector before the NHI has us paying more but getting less, writes Dr Chris Archer.
Would you betray your partner in crime if it meant you could avoid jail? Here's how this mentality can push up the price of medicines.

Physician, don’t fool yourself – Motsoaledi replies to NHI criticism

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Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi describes Dr Chris Archer's criticism of the national health insurance as ignorant at best.
The country's largest HIV lobby group

Comment: Rape, murder and indifference

The government must stop paying mere lip service to rooting out gender-based violence.
Mammography is still the gold standard of breast screening.

Comment: Mammograms still the gold standard of breast screening

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Breast cancer expert, Justus Apffelstaedt, explains the complexities around the issue of screening for this disease.
Family planning is not a luxury to everyone. Melinda Gates talks about why she has dedicated so much of her time to helping women plan their families.

Melinda Gates on what’s best for children

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Family planning is not a luxury to everyone. Melinda Gates talks about why she has dedicated so much of her time to helping women plan their families.