A positive attitude
For Gugu Xulu (31), 2005 was a dark year. First, she buried her boyfriend, the father of her child. Then, just days later she learned she was pregnant again, and…
All not well at Piet Retief
At first glance Piet Retief’s hospital looks like a facility that stands proud. It’s clean, modern and operational. It’s also strangely quiet – it’s the silence that reveals the problem.…
Nightmare in Ermelo
[caption id="attachment_2746" align="alignnone" width="570"] Pelu Hlatswayo and her mentally challenged grandson, S’busiso. Pelu’s pension barely keeps the family going, but bureaucracy and administrative hurdles means she can’t access a grant…
A district in despair
The snapshot of the state of health in the Gert Sibande district is not a pretty picture. [caption id="attachment_2742" align="alignleft" width="381"] Despite linoleum peeling off the floors, broken and collapsing…
Gert Sibande District Facts
»»GERT SIBANDE is a National Health Insurance (NHI) pilot district and is one of three districts in Mpumalanga that covers a geographical area of 31 841 square kilometres. »»THE PROVINCE…
Accelerated access to new drugs for MDR-TB
Bedaquiline and Delamanid are the first new drugs for TB treatment to receive approval from the United States and European authorities for more than 40 years. Both Delamanid and Bedaquiline…
Defaulting on treatment – where are we?
Default from treatment for drug resistant TB (DR-TB), (now classified as lost to follow-up), defined as interruption of TB treatment for two or more consecutive months, is a problem that…
Regulations stumble while the disease sprints
At the SA AIDS conference in June 2013, in a session on communicable diseases with high level officials of the National Department of Health on the panel, a young doctor…
TB behind bars
“There is no greater error than to imagine that tuberculosis in prisons because of the isolation of the institutions does not constitute a great danger to society at large” Dr…
10 misconceptions about drug-resistant TB
1. Drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB) only exists in specific countries or regions, mostly in the former Soviet Union Most evidence on DR-TB has been limited to developed countries. In 1992, the…
Veteran TB doctor still fighting
Dr Iqbal Master could be classified a TB veteran and for good reason. For 20 years and still going strong, Dr Master has been working at the coalface of the…
Veteran TB doctor still fighting
Dr Iqbal Master could be classified a TB veteran and for good reason. For 20 years and still going strong, Dr Master has been working at the coalface of the…