How tissue donations in KZN are helping to boost our understanding of TB

How tissue donations in KZN are helping to boost our understanding of TB

Some patients at KwaZulu-Natal hospitals are donating lung tissue for use in TB research. Sue Segar tracks what happens to these tissue samples and explores why these samples are so important to unlocking the mysteries of what the TB bacterium does inside the human body.

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56 000 TB deaths in SA in 2023, according to WHO

56 000 TB deaths in SA in 2023, according to WHO

An estimated 56 000 people in South Africa and 1.25 million around the world died of TB in 2023, according to just-published figures from the WHO. This means that in 2023 TB overtook COVID-19 as the top infectious disease killer on the planet. Marcus Low unpacks the new numbers.

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Why including pregnant women in a TB study in SA was a big deal

Why including pregnant women in a TB study in SA was a big deal

Pregnant women are typically excluded from clinical trials of new TB medicines. This has led to a lack of solid scientific evidence on how best to treat women who fall ill with TB while they are expecting. Tiyese Jeranji asked local TB experts about the problem and puts the spotlight on a recent study that broke the mould by opening its doors to pregnant women.

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NHI offers an opportunity to boost primary healthcare – we must seize it

NHI offers an opportunity to boost primary healthcare – we must seize it

To see National Health Insurance primarily as the setting up of a state-run medical aid scheme risks underplaying its massive potential to restructure how public healthcare services are organised and funded, and with that, its potential to boost the delivery of primary healthcare services in South Africa, argues Russell Rensburg.

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Accountability is critical at National AIDS Council, says new civil society leader

Accountability is critical at National AIDS Council, says new civil society leader

HIV activist Solly Nduku was recently elected to the top civil society position at SANAC. Thabo Molelekwa asked Nduku and his newly elected deputies about their plans and priorities for the council.

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Family physicians poised for bigger role in public healthcare – after years on the sidelines

Family physicians poised for bigger role in public healthcare – after years on the sidelines

Around twenty years ago, family physicians seemed set to take up roles as critical cogs across South Africa’s public healthcare system, but in the years since, doctors trained in this speciality have largely been underutilised. That is now finally set to change, according to the Department of Health, Chris Bateman reports.

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Highrises, hellholes and healthcare – Hillbrow’s heritage story

Highrises, hellholes and healthcare – Hillbrow’s heritage story

Hillbrow started out as Johannesburg’s first health hub in the late 1880s. It’s also been a suburb associated with pimps and prostitution, a middle finger to the Nationalist Party, and a key site of the HIV crisis. Today, it’s the forgotten flatlands of inner city decay … but in small pockets it stays true to its heritage of bringing healthcare to the city’s most overlooked.

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Efficacy of 6-monthly HIV prevention jab confirmed in second major study

Efficacy of 6-monthly HIV prevention jab confirmed in second major study

In June, we heard what could be this year’s biggest HIV breakthrough: a twice-yearly injection can prevent HIV infection. Findings from a second large study of the jab has now confirmed that it works. Elri Voigt goes over the new findings and unpacks the licenses that are expected to facilitate the availability of generic versions of the jab in over a hundred countries, including South Africa.

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NHI Act offers no answer to high medicines prices

NHI Act offers no answer to high medicines prices

The National Health Insurance Act does not deal with the systemic issues that cause high prices and inequity in medicine access, and government is not listening, argues Fatima Hassan.

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Nelson Mandela Bay clinics under siege as crime threatens healthcare

Nelson Mandela Bay clinics under siege as crime threatens healthcare

A series of robberies at healthcare facilities in the Eastern Cape has disrupted services, with patients sometimes left waiting outside while clinics limit the number of people allowed in. This follows the provincial health department spending over R700 million on security contracts in the past financial year, reports Luvuyo Mehlwana.

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Why people stop taking their HIV treatment and what we can do about it

Why people stop taking their HIV treatment and what we can do about it

Stopping antiretroviral treatment when you are living with HIV can result in increased HIV transmission, illness, hospitalisation, and eventually death. To combat such disengagement with HIV treatment, Professor Graeme Meintjes and colleagues argue we need smarter differentiated care and better education of healthcare workers, people living with HIV, and communities.

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SA has the third highest suicide rate in Africa – there are steps we can take to tackle it

SA has the third highest suicide rate in Africa – there are steps we can take to tackle it

South Africa has the third highest suicide rate in Africa and Africa has higher rates of suicide than any other continent. In the wake of World Suicide Prevention Day on September 10th, clinical psychologist Vincenzo Sinisi asks what can be done to bring down suicide rates.

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