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With a daily dose of medically supervised methadone, some drug dependents in the City of Tshwane are giving up their needles and heroin. Although the health department will launch pilot programmes at two clinics this year, most public clinics don’t offer methadone, and private medical aids won’t cover it. Could expanding this project save lives and cut the cost of healthcare?

Yogan Pillay has worked under every health minister since 1994, making him the ultimate healthcare insider. Now he’s an outsider, but one with tremendous influence. Sean Christie visited him at home in Pretoria to hear what he’s been up to.

At the height of Aids denialism in South Africa, little data was available on the proportion of people infected with HIV. But the Human Sciences Research Council’s first national survey in 2002 was a turning point, and since then data has driven decisions — with South Africa today having the biggest antiretroviral programme in the world. Here’s how the numbers paint SA’s HIV story.

In 25 years, new HIV infections in South Africa have dropped from around 1 463 each day to about 370. But HIV “is still an issue”, experts say. Follow our timeline to see how South Africa’s response to the epidemic has changed over the years — and read the Bhekisisa stories that made headlines.

On 20 January, Donald Trump will be inaugurated as the new US president — for the second time. An international HIV expert says a Trump administration will question South Africa’s decades-long partnership with the US government’s Aids fund, Pepfar.

People with HIV can live a long, healthy life — if they take their medication correctly. But too many don’t. A game might help to change that, research shows.

Antiretrovirals like dolutegravir help keep people healthy. But their use adds to global warming, which drives climate change. Switching to newer forms of medicines can help to lower the carbon emissions from these medicines. But we don’t have enough to make this a reality. Here’s what has to change.

New regulations likely to come into force early next year, will see South Africa’s roughly 200 000 healers having to register with a regulatory council who will oversee their practice. But opposing views between healers and the health department could scupper the plan.

Babies getting HIV from their infected mothers is rare in a cluster of 39 villages in the OR Tambo district in the Eastern Cape — despite more than a third of pregnant women in this rural part of the province being HIV positive. Find out how an NGO’s peer-support programme here helps.

Gilead Sciences, the maker of a twice-a year anti-HIV injection, has approached South Africa’s medicine regulator to discuss how to get the shot registered locally as fast as possible in the country. Sahpra will have to work with the European Medicines Agency on this, as it’s severely understaffed and unable to review medicines speedily.

By the end of August, 1.65-million HIV-negative people in South Africa had used the anti-HIV pill at least once, making the country’s HIV prevention pill programme the world’s largest. We break down South Africa’s latest anti-HIV pill numbers and explain how they fit into global targets.

By the end of October, Business Unity South Africa (Busa) will submit a proposal to President Cyril Rampahosa with solutions to their concerns about the National Health Insurance Act. This follows a September meeting with the president. But is there hope for change? In this podcast, Mia Malan asks Ramaphosa’s special advisor, Olive Shisana, and Busa CEO, Cas Coovadia, what to expect.

South Africa needs to get more than 550 000 HIV-positive men on antiretrovirals before the end of next year to help the country meet its targets for ending Aids by 2030. But in the past it’s been difficult to get men to take up — and stay — on HIV treatment. Could building an all-male sports-like team with a coach help solve it?

What’s a Pelebox and can it make medicine collection in the public health sector easy enough for people to fetch their meds each time? People in the Eastern Cape are desperate for such solutions — but can the provincial health department afford it?

Data from the latest District Health Barometer show that close to 365 teenagers give birth in South Africa every day. Ten of those daily teen births are to girls younger than 15. Experts say the numbers reveal deeper issues in society that lead to a vicious cycle — from school dropouts to unemployment and poverty across generations. We unpack the numbers.

Government clinics often run out of contraceptive medicines, which has been the case since 2015. The latest Stop Stockouts and Ritshidze report shows that...