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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.

Pharmacy expert Andy Gray is the “insider’s insider” in South Africa’s public health sphere. Get to know him better here.

State health workers will remain cash strapped as the South African government battles to rein in its massive public sector wage bill, which makes up 15% of the goods and services produced in the country.

The health department plans to train professional nurses to prescribe pills for common mental health disorders, according to the final version of South Africa’s new five-year (2023 - 2028) action plan for HIV, tuberculosis (TB) and sexually transmitted infections (STIs).

South Africa’s anti-smoking policies rely on increased sin taxes to cut smoking rates in the country. Experts say this is no longer enough, but people who use government facilities have very few other tools available to help them stop.

There’s no sign that South Africa’s intellectual property laws will change anytime soon, public health experts say. That means pharmaceutical companies will keep abusing the country’s weak system — and keep the profits rolling in.

A plagiarism scandal has rocked the sports world and cast fresh doubt over the influence of the industry in research on head injuries. It also stirred up old allegations that sporting bodies have underplayed the risk of an incurable disease called chronic traumatic encephalopathy.

Morphine was first introduced to Uganda 30 years ago, but as the burden of cancer increases, thousands of people still lack access to even basic treatment for pain relief.

In 2019, diseases linked to air pollution killed 1.1-million people in Africa. Could electric motorcycles save lives with cleaner air?

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (Sahpra) was forced to speed up its review of new medicines such as vaccines, while still ensuring that they were safe and effective.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (Sahpra) was forced to speed up its review of new medicines such as vaccines, while still ensuring that they were safe and effective.

Mainstream methods of burial need to be left in the past as they take a toll on climate change. According to researchers, leaving the body to naturally break down its organic matter until a heap of soil is all that’s left, should be more accessible.

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.

Tens of thousands of community health workers in Rwanda are driving a powerful vaccination programme in the country that could make the East African nation the first country in the world to eliminate cervical cancer.

The Foundation for Professional Development, one of South Africa’s oldest nonprofits and the main sponsor of the TB conference in Durban, accepted a R2-million research grant from an organisation that’s widely regarded as a front group for Philip Morris International.

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.