Where children die | Kids with terminal illnesses mostly still dependent on NGOs

Where children die | Kids with terminal illnesses mostly still dependent on NGOs

By Sue Segar,
Posted in: Access to Medicines, Child health, Focus, Healthcare system, InFocus, Latest, Spotlight

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.

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Young people gave their time, their bodies, and their trust to help unlock breakthrough HIV prevention jab

Young people gave their time, their bodies, and their trust to help unlock breakthrough HIV prevention jab

By Ntando Yola,
Posted in: Access to Medicines, Focus, Healthcare system, HIV/AIDS, InFocus, Latest, Opinions, Spotlight

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.

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Inside The Box with Dr Andy Gray | How should the compounding of medicines be regulated?

Inside The Box with Dr Andy Gray | How should the compounding of medicines be regulated?

By Andy Gray,
Posted in: #InsideTheBox, Access to Medicines, Focus, Healthcare system, InFocus, Latest, Special Investigations, Spotlight

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.

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Did US aid cuts break precisely the things we need most for the lenacapavir rollout?

Did US aid cuts break precisely the things we need most for the lenacapavir rollout?

By Amy Green,
Posted in: Access to Medicines, Focus, Healthcare system, HIV/AIDS, InFocus, Latest, Spotlight

With a new six-monthly injection, South Africa last week launched the most promising new HIV prevention tool in years, but much of the infrastructure that made HIV prevention services accessible to high-risk groups has been dismantled over the last year. Amy Green asks whether we can successfully deliver this breakthrough technology without the trusted pathways that were decimated by cuts to aid from the United States.

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Abba Mallum – the Nigerian oncologist helping to fight cancer in KZN and across Africa

Abba Mallum – the Nigerian oncologist helping to fight cancer in KZN and across Africa

By Biénne Huisman,
Posted in: Access to Medicines, Focus, Healthcare system, Healthcare Workers, InFocus, Latest, NCDs, Spotlight

Propelled by an early vision to help others, Dr Abba Mallum tells Biénne Huisman about his roots in Borno State, about opportunities in Stellenbosch and Durban, and about his pioneering PhD in radiotherapy and oncology.

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In The Spotlight | All you need to know about the jab that could dramatically reduce new HIV infections in SA

In The Spotlight | All you need to know about the jab that could dramatically reduce new HIV infections in SA

By Marcus Low and Elri Voigt,
Posted in: #InTheSpotlight, Access to Medicines, Focus, Healthcare system, Healthcare Workers, HIV/AIDS, InFocus, Latest, Spotlight

On June 5 2026, an HIV prevention injection will for the first time become available at some of South Africa’s public sector clinics. In this Spotlight special briefing, Marcus Low and Elri Voigt pull together all you need to know about this “breakthrough” jab.

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Why pharmacists still can’t prescribe ARVs, months after court gave the green light

Why pharmacists still can’t prescribe ARVs, months after court gave the green light

By Catherine Tomlinson,
Posted in: Access to Medicines, Focus, Healthcare system, Healthcare Workers, HIV/AIDS, InFocus, Latest, Spotlight

A Supreme Court of Appeal ruling in October 2025 cleared the way for specially trained and permitted pharmacists to dispense antiretroviral medicines without a doctor’s script. Seven months later, no pharmacists are yet providing these services. Catherine Tomlinson explores the reasons for the delay.

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The evolution of HIV treatment: From multi-pill regimens to better, single pill combos

The evolution of HIV treatment: From multi-pill regimens to better, single pill combos

By Elri Voigt,
Posted in: Access to Medicines, Focus, HIV/AIDS, InFocus, Latest, Spotlight

HIV treatment has been improved and simplified significantly over the years yet a small fraction of people living with HIV still take complex multi-pill regimens. Elri Voigt reports on a new combination pill that could make life easier for some in this group. But as two leading experts point out, the development comes against a backdrop where the traditional categorisation of HIV medicines is dissolving.

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SA cannot end TB while tobacco and nicotine addiction go unchecked

SA cannot end TB while tobacco and nicotine addiction go unchecked

By Lekan Ayo-Yusuf,
Posted in: Focus, Healthcare system, InFocus, Latest, Opinions, Perspectives, Spotlight, TB

If South Africa is serious about ending TB, protecting people living with HIV, and safeguarding the next generation from nicotine addiction, Parliament must finally pass the Tobacco Products and Electronic Delivery Systems Control Bill, argues Professor Lekan Ayo-Yusuf, as we mark World No Tobacco Day on May 31.

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The children’s beachfront hospital the Apartheid govt tried to kill is reclaiming its heartbeat

The children’s beachfront hospital the Apartheid govt tried to kill is reclaiming its heartbeat

By Biénne Huisman,
Posted in: Access to Medicines, Child health, Focus, Healthcare system, InFocus, KwaZulu-Natal, Latest, Provinces, Spotlight, TB

Shut down by the apartheid government for providing care to child patients of all races, Durban’s Addington Children’s Hospital is well on its way from a ghostly ruin into a lifeline for a new generation thanks to visionaries like Professor Hoosen Coovadia. Biénne Huisman spent time inside the historic KwaZulu-Natal Children’s Hospital with its striking artworks and wards named after birds.

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Switch to six-month ARV supplies running behind schedule

Switch to six-month ARV supplies running behind schedule

By Christina Pitt,
Posted in: Access to Medicines, Focus, Healthcare system, HIV/AIDS, InFocus, Latest, Spotlight

By March 2027, the health department aims to have 1.5 million people living with HIV on a new programme where they can get a six-month supply of antiretroviral medicines at a time. Early indications suggest that implementation of the programme is slow and uneven, reports Christina Pitt.

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“Small things, great love”: The Durban safe house where babies wait for a home

“Small things, great love”: The Durban safe house where babies wait for a home

By Biénne Huisman,
Posted in: Child health, Focus, Healthcare system, InFocus, KwaZulu-Natal, Latest, Provinces, Spotlight

Biénne Huisman meets the team assisting despairing mums in Durban, while raising babies and toddlers in a happy temporary home, complete with excursions to Spur.

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