- For the past decade, the Chiawelo Community Practice (CCP) in Soweto has tested how primary healthcare that starts within communities through things like exercise groups can keep people healthy.
- The project was started by Wits University family physician Shabir Moosa who believes it can serve as a blueprint for the National Health Insurance.
- CCP uses community health workers to track the health of 30 000 residents through frequent home visits. These workers help run fitness groups and nudge patients to get regular check-ups instead of waiting until they get sick.
- Not only do people feel healthier, research shows they fall ill less often and need fewer emergency medical visits.
Anna-Maria van Niekerk is Bhekisisa’s news editor. She joined the centre after six years as the managing editor of the investigative television show, Carte Blanche. Anna-Maria has an extensive career in in-depth health and human rights reporting and has been named both the Vodacom Journalist (2002) and Discovery Health Journalist of the Year (2010) for exposés on the selling of human body parts for muti in Limpopo and the devastating consequences of HIV denialism.
Jessica Pitchford is Bhekisisa's TV and multimedia editor. She's been a journalist since the early nineties and has reported on some pivotal events in South Africa’s political history, such as the country’s transition to democracy and the work of the Truth & Reconciliation Commission.
Mia Malan is the founder and editor-in-chief of Bhekisisa. She has worked in newsrooms in Johannesburg, Nairobi and Washington, DC, winning more than 30 awards for her radio, print and television work.
Katleho Morabe is a cinematographer and editor in film, television and advertising with credits on local (Carte Blanche) and international productions (Walt Disney).
Ruan Visser is a South African-based freelance director of photography, crafting visual narratives with a keen eye for detail and a love for cinematic storytelling.
