Five health policy priorities for the new administration
In its HIV policies government has mostly done good work over the last decade. In other key areas, important policies were never replaced or never finalised.
Regulatory barriers to life-saving and affordable HCV medicines can be overcome
A new class of medicines called direct- acting antivirals have revolutionised the treatment of hepatitis C, but access in South Africa remains limited.
Hepatitis C in South Africa: A primer for civil society on the need for action
OPINION: When the topic of Hepatitis comes up in conversation amongst people involved in the HIV response, people often confess they know very little about the illness. And yet, globally, viral hepatitis currently causes more deaths than HIV; and while the number of HIV-related deaths are falling, those associated with hepatitis are increasing yearly.
The TB in the air we breathe
Ground-breaking research being done in Masiphumelele outside Cape Town aims to answer important questions about how tuberculosis is transmitted.
#FootSoldiers: The biggest and happiest family In Limpopo
Sally Duigan is never alone, with every move she makes there is a posse of happy, smiling children clinging to her arms, grabbing whatever bit of her clothing is within their reach. Nomatter Ndebele and Thom Pierce went to visit Limpopo’s biggest and happiest family.
#FootSoldiers: It’s a bloody affair, but we are all human.
Ten years ago, Cape Town nurse Judy Ranape made the decision to become an abortion nurse. It was not easy. It still is not easy. The Catholic nurse told Nomatter Ndebele why she does what she does.
Donor shift threatens adherence clubs in the Free State
A shift in donor funding for HIV has endangered the continued existence of successful and effective antiretroviral adherence clubs in the Free State.
#Vote4Health: No road to health in the Northern Cape
By Anso Thom, Marcus Low, Nomatter Ndebele and Thom Pierce (photographs) Calvinia, Sutherland, Fraserburg, De Aar, Keimoes, Kakamas. Join Spotlight on a disturbing road-trip through the Northern Cape public healthcare…
#FootSoldiers: Do the work that nobody wants to do
At the start of the nineties, very few doctors were willing to take up the fight against TB. Faced with the option of Oncology or TB, Van Rensburg opted for TB. She is still at the coal face of the TB fight in Klerksdorp. Nomatter Ndebele and Thom Pierce went to meet her.
#FootSoldiers: The Environment is everything
There is mostly agreement that our environment is in a dire state and that it is closely linked to the health of communities. SECTION27’s Nomatter Ndebele and photojournalist Thom Pierce went to meet Mpumalanga activist Thomas Mnguni.
#Vote4Health: Health in the Northern Cape: Disturbing visions from SA’s forgotten province
Health services in large parts of the Northern Cape have virtually collapsed with communities mostly being served by overstretched nurses struggling to cope with the disease and injury burden. The challenges are overwhelming. Spotlight travelled a circular route through the province and clocked up about 2 000 kilometres of mostly dirt and some tar road to take the temperature of South Africa’s largest province.
#Vote4Health: Visuals of Northern Cape collapse
Health services in large parts of the Northern Cape have virtually collapsed with communities mostly being served by overstretched nurses struggling to cope with the disease and injury burden. The…