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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.

What makes a good op-ed? What can I expect from the editing process? Who do I pitch a possible opinion piece to? Get the answers to all these questions along with some handy writing tips here before you make a submission.

TB: This pee test could save your life

What if diagnosing South Africa’s deadliest disease was as simple as taking a drug store pregnancy test? That day might be closer than you think.
Man holds three silver condoms.

The business of love: Why condom factories and job creation could go hand-in-hand

Every year, the continent falls 3-billion condoms short of what it needs. Could investing in condom factories be the answer — and create jobs to boot?
People say Depro-Provera is popular. Walking into a clinic and getting the only birth control available isn't a choice, it isn't about popularity. it’s a sign of a problem with the choices offered to women.

After Echo: ‘Life for young women navigating puberty is gruesome’

We've proven Depo Provera doesn't make it easier to contract HIV. But African women are still left with too few contraceptive choices.

How do we reduce new HIV infections by 60% in a mere three and...

Today, SA boasts the world's largest HIV treatment programme, but 3.2-million people who need ARVs still aren't on them. Here’s how to fix that.
(Baz Ratner

This country has upheld its ban on gay sex. Here’s why it could be...

“The failure to decriminalise consensual same-sex relations will undermine Kenya’s aim of reaching universal health coverage,” UNAids says.
(Jessica Bordeau)

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.
Discovery Health CEO Jonathan Broomberg responds to allegations that the scheme could have made arrangements to waive a waiting period to cover a returning member's pregnancy.

‘Without waiting periods, medical aids couldn’t survive,’ Discovery says

Would you join a medical aid if you were perfectly healthy? Most won’t. That’s why we need waiting periods, says Discovery CEO Jonathan Broomberg.
The bad news doctor: Why scientists are trying to find better ways to talk to patients.

What your doctor is thinking when they say, ‘I’m afraid I have some bad...

Doctors have turned to scientific studies for guidance on talking with patients, but the results have largely left them guessing.
What to ask politicians as a mother

It’s time to get tough on crime … in our maternity wards?

Women – many of them mothers – constitute more than half of the population. What should moms think of before casting their vote?
Sniper bullets

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.
This disease is a leading cause of death in SA but preventing it could be as simple as taking a single pill — if the government agrees.

This kills more South Africans than any other disease. There’s a new way to...

One in four people carry this potentially deadly bug? Now a new shorter treatment can prevent it from making you sick.
National guidelines say babies should get nothing but their mother’s milk for the first six months of life. But fewer than one in 10 women makes it to six months.

‘I thought I’d breastfeed my baby for a year. That dream was short-lived’

We tell moms to exclusively breastfeed. But we don’t tell them about all the things that get in the way of that, including depression.
A hotter earth will affect how we farm

When climate change & health collide: Will SA’s policy have the teeth — or...

Previously, the health department dedicated about R180 000 per year to respond to what is arguably the greatest threat humankind has ever faced.
People queue in makeshift camps following past threats of xenophobic attacks in South Africa. Today

Are foreigners really entitled to free healthcare in South Africa?

Recent national and Gauteng memos demanding all foreign patients pay in full for services likely fell foul of the law.
Could MDMA one day come of the rave scene and into mainstream psychology? Emerging research may be a step in that direction.

Could this drug one day come out of the club and onto your therapist’s...

Ecstasy users are more empathetic than those who take other drugs – even when not on it.
You can't treat what you can't count: No one knows how many people inject drugs in east and southern Africa.

Southern Africa’s missing drug users: We can’t treat what we don’t count

No one really knows how many people inject drugs in east and southern Africa and that's a bigger problem than you think.