With over 3 600 Western Cape users, lenacapavir is “cool”
From counselling about small nodules to overcoming people’s fears of needles, Biénne Huisman takes the pulse of a new HIV prevention injection’s rollout in the Western Cape.
Some pharmacists can now apply for permits to provide HIV prevention pills without a doctor’s script
Ten months after an enabling court judgment, some pharmacists in South Africa can finally start applying for permits that allows them to dispense HIV prevention pills without a script from a doctor. Catherine Tomlinson reports.
In The Spotlight | What are broadly neutralising antibodies and what do they mean for the fight against HIV?
HIV is known for its ability to outsmart our immune system’s normal defences. A small number of people living with HIV are however able to generate more effective immune responses to HIV. In this special briefing, Catherine Tomlinson zooms in on broadly neutralising antibodies, the secret sauce in these immune responses.
Inside The Box with Dr Andy Gray | Are complementary medicines effectively regulated in South Africa?
The regulation of complementary and alternative medicines in South Africa has been hotly contested in recent decades, including in court rooms. In his latest column for Spotlight, Dr Andy Gray unpacks the legal background and the current state of this still unfolding regulatory saga.
Closing the gap is not enough for children born with cleft lip or cleft palate
Every three minutes, a child with a cleft lip or cleft palate is born somewhere in the world. While surgery can repair this, Kholofelo Mphahlele argues that the real measure of success is a culmination of a very long journey that plays out in classrooms, on playgrounds, when photographs are taken, and within communities and workplaces.
Positive interim findings on new once-weekly HIV treatment pill
A new antiretroviral combination pill that is taken only once a week appears to work as well as daily pills at treating HIV. This is according to interim study findings to be presented next week at the AIDS 2026 conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
When medicines are made outside the factory: Why pharmacovigilance matters more than ever
A high-profile court case has thrust the legalities of compounding medicines in South Africa into the spotlight. Behind the immediate legal issues, hide a series of unresolved questions about how we should ensure that compounded medicines used in South Africa are safe, argue Professor Renier Coetzee and Lara van Niekerk.
“At the clinic … you can feel them staring” – How specialised services are helping trans people in George
An NGO offers safe, private HIV services to Men who Have Sex with Men and transgender people in George. Sue Segar met with some of the people using these services, and found the NGO, TB HIV Care are already providing relief from the hostile reactions trans people sometimes experience in government clinics.
From Spider-Man to Mandela, the many influences in Professor Salim Abdool Karim’s remarkable scientific career
To Professor Salim Abdool Karim, excellence should be the only standard. In science, he says he is inspired by imaginative thinking such as that of American comic publisher Stan Lee, co-creator of Spider-Man. Biénne Huisman sat down with him in his office in a glass-encased building on the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s medical campus.
Where children die | Kids with terminal illnesses mostly still dependent on NGOs
Though the available statistics are patchy, there is little doubt that too many children with life-threatening or life-limiting illnesses in South Africa are unable to access palliative care. With limited state investment, NGOs have stepped in, but the need for care still far exceeds what is available. In part 3 of a Spotlight special series on palliative care for kids, Sue Segar zooms out to look at the national picture.
Young people gave their time, their bodies, and their trust to help unlock breakthrough HIV prevention jab
As South Africa marks 50 years since the June 1976 youth uprising for a dream of freedom, a new generation of young people dreaming of an HIV-free future gave their time, trust, and participation to help deliver a breakthrough new HIV prevention product that was launched this June, writes Ntando Yola.
Inside The Box with Dr Andy Gray | How should the compounding of medicines be regulated?
The South African Health Products Regulatory Authority, with the South African Pharmacy Council, recently announced what was described as a crackdown on a compounding pharmacy. They allege “critical regulatory non-compliance” in relation to the compounding of unregistered medicines. In his latest Inside The Box column, Dr Andy Gray provides some background to the issues at stake, while recognising that some key elements remain contested.