Profile: Keertan Dheda – reflections on a career finding ways to fight TB

By Biénne Huisman, March 30, 2022

Posted in: Healthcare system, Healthcare Workers, Latest, TB

Professor Keertan Dheda has come a long way from growing up as one of three siblings in a one-bedroom apartment in a high-rise in central Durban. Biénne Huisman chatted to Dheda, now the head of the University of Cape Town’s Division of Pulmonology, and a Professor in Mycobacteriology and Global Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, about work-life balance, problem-solving that excites him, and a career dedicated to the fight against tuberculosis.

HIV prevention ring approved, but next steps unclear

By Thabo Molelekwa, March 29, 2022

Posted in: Healthcare system, HIV/AIDS, Latest

The South African Health Products Regulatory Authority recently approved the use of the monthly dapivirine vaginal ring for women 18 years and older to reduce the risk of HIV infection. Thabo Molelekwa looks at the evidence for the ring’s efficacy and asks what plans there are for making it available to women in South Africa.

Tags: Advocacy for Prevention of HIV and AIDS APHA ARV tender AVAC CAB LA dapivirine vaginal ring Department of Health Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation featured HIV Prevention HIV prevention and Oral Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis guidelines International Partnership for Microbicides Janssen Pharmaceuticals long-acting cabotegravir National Health Council NNRTIs non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors PrEP SAHPRA South African Health Products Regulatory Authority treatment adherence Wits RHI

HIV prevention ring approved, but next steps unclear

In-depth: SA company gearing up to make API

By Catherine Tomlinson, March 28, 2022

Posted in: Access to Medicines, Healthcare system, Latest, Science

While various medicines are produced in South Africa, the active pharmaceutical ingredients going into these medicines are mostly still imported. Catherine Tomlinson reports on a local company that is trying to change that – starting with active pharmaceutical ingredients for tuberculosis and COVID-19 medicines.

Tags: API technology innovation cluster API's ARVs COVID-19 CPT Pharma Department of Health epilepsy featured generic medicines HIV IDC M4ALL medicine procurement Medicines for all Institute Medicines Patent Pool pharmaceutical ingredients SAHPRA South African Health Products Regulatory Authority TB TB Proof Technology Innovation Agency World Health Organization

In-depth: SA company gearing up to make API

Opinion: Safeguarding public procurement and resources now beyond urgent

By Zukiswa Kota, March 25, 2022

Posted in: Healthcare system, Latest

At an estimated R27 billion per year, the cost of corruption equates to about 10% of the country’s total budget for health in 2022. With procurement understood to be a government’s single greatest corruption risk – health contracts are especially vulnerable. This is why reform related to safeguarding public procurement and resources is now beyond urgent, argues Zukiswa Kota.

Tags: corruption COVID-19 COVID-19 related procurement COVID-19 vaccine contracts Cyril Ramaphosa Department of Health Digital Vibes featured health budget health procurement Medicine Stock-outs NHI Bill open contracting procurement reform PSAM Public Procurement Bill SIU social justice SONA Special Investigating Unit state capture State Capture Commission Treasury

Opinion: Safeguarding public procurement and resources now beyond urgent

What should the TB priorities be in the new NSP?

By Tiyese Jeranji, March 24, 2022

Posted in: Healthcare system, Latest, TB

The period covered by South Africa’s National Strategic Plan (NSP) for HIV, TB, and STIs 2017 – 2022 will soon come to an end. Against the backdrop of another World TB Day, Tiyese Jeranji asked several local tuberculosis experts what they think the TB priorities should be as South Africa develops an NSP for the next five years.

Tags: computer-aided detection systems Department of Health featured HIV Mobile X-ray units National Strategic Plan National TB Prevalence Survey SAMRC Targeted universal testing TB TB HIV Care TB preventive therapy TB Proof TB recovery plan TB screening TB screening guidelines TBhealthCheck tuberculosis urine lipoarabinomannan World Health Organization Global TB Report World TB Day Xpert Ultra

What should the TB priorities be in the new NSP?

Analysis: Is SA on course to solve its TB diagnosis problem?

By Marcus Low, March 24, 2022

Posted in: Healthcare system, Latest, TB

It is estimated that over 100 000 of the over 300 000 people who fall ill with TB in South Africa every year are not diagnosed. As a result, improving TB screening and testing has become a high priority in South Africa’s TB response. Coinciding with World TB Day 2022, Spotlight editor Marcus Low examines new information shared by the National Department of Health and assesses the state of the country’s TB case-finding efforts.

Tags: Department of Health digital chest X-rays Dr Norbert Ndjeka featured healthcare workers infectious diseases National TB Prevalence Survey NHLS NSP 2017 – 2022 SAMRC Targeted universal testing TB case detection TB response TB symptoms TB tests TBhealthCheck TUT World Health Organization

Analysis: Is SA on course to solve its TB diagnosis problem?

Are long-acting injections the future of TB prevention?

By Tiyese Jeranji, March 23, 2022

Posted in: Edition 10: Drug-resistant TB, Edition 14: Tuberculosis, Edition 7: TB, Healthcare system, Latest, TB

Long-acting injections have been successfully used as contraception and more recently HIV prevention. Now researchers are exploring whether similar long-acting injections could be used for the prevention and treatment of tuberculosis. Tiyese Jeranji reports.

Tags: 1HP 3HP bedaquiline clinical pharmacology Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI 2022)CROI delamanid featured HIV Janssen Pharmaceuticals long-acting injections MDR-TB rifapentine TB TB prevention TB prevention regimen TB preventive therapy TB Research TB response TB Treatment TB trials tuberculosis World Health Organization World TB Day

Are long-acting injections the future of TB prevention?

Opinion: It is time to invest in ending TB in SA

By Yogan Pillay and Gaurang Tanna, March 23, 2022

Posted in: Edition 10: Drug-resistant TB, Healthcare system, Latest, TB

Investing in tuberculosis means that everyone has a stake in eliminating TB as a public health threat in our country: every person, every family, every community, every organisation (public and private) as well as government, writes Dr Yogan Pillay and Gaurang Tanna.

Tags: asymptomatic TB BCG vaccine Department of Health featured health financing health resources infectious diseases National TB Prevalence Survey Public Health SANAC South African National AIDS Council (SANAC)Targeted universal testing TB TB Check TB infections TB preventative therapy TB recovery plan tuberculosis World TB Day

Opinion: It is time to invest in ending TB in SA

PROFILE: I view the doctor-patient relationship as sacred, says leading TB doctor

By Biénne Huisman, March 22, 2022

Posted in: Edition 10: Drug-resistant TB, Healthcare system, Latest, TB

Dr Jennifer Furin has fought drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) since 1995, when she worked as a student in a poverty-stricken suburb in Lima, Peru. Since then she has roamed the world, treating TB and HIV patients in under-resourced countries, including Haiti, Russia, Tajikistan, Bangladesh, eSwatini, Lesotho, and South Africa. Biénne Huisman chatted to Furin about her life working in TB and what it means to see things from the perspective of people living with TB.

Tags: Doctors without Borders DRUG-RESISTANT TB drug-susceptible tuberculosis featured HIV Jennifer Furin MSF multi-drug resistant TB TB programme World TB Day

Opinion: Health needed a recovery budget, we got the opposite

By Tshidi Lencoasa, Khanyisa Mapipa, and Julia Chaskalson, March 18, 2022

Posted in: Healthcare system, Latest

For healthcare, a post-pandemic human rights-focused budget would have allocated funding specifically for backlogs in access to health services from the past two years, as well as tackling the present inequities in access to healthcare that characterise the public health system. Tshidi Lencoasa, Khanyisa Mapipa, and Julia Chaskalson argue that this year’s budget does not do enough to enable government to realise people’s fundamental human right to access healthcare.

Tags: 2030 Human Resources for Health (HRH) Strategy Access to Health and community outreach conditional grant budget budget cuts compensation of employees Denosa Department of Health District Health Programme featured Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana health budgets health financing healthcare goods and services healthcare spending healthcare workers HIV Malaria National Health Insurance nurses TB

Opinion: Health needed a recovery budget, we got the opposite

How death is handled in health facilities – Can we do better?

By Ufrieda Ho, March 17, 2022

Posted in: Healthcare system, Latest, Provinces

There is nothing humans can do about the fact that everyone dies eventually, but there may be room to do better when it comes to how some doctors, nurses, and care workers break the news of dying and death; and also how they give practical support to a grieving family. Ufrieda Ho looks at what measures are in place to guide healthcare workers, patients, and their families through this process in health facilities.

Tags: bioethics Birth and Death Act COVID-19 death death and dying Department of Health featured health facilities Hospice Palliative Care Association of South Africa hospitals HPCA HPCSA Mamelodi Day Hospital mortuary palliative care patient support Steve Biko Centre for Bioethics The Lancet The value of Death

How death is handled in health facilities – Can we do better?

Stix Morewa Hospital’s mental healthcare users stay put… for now.

By Thabo Molelekwa, March 16, 2022

Posted in: Healthcare system, Latest, Mental Health, Provinces

In February, Stix Morewa Hospital in Selby, Johannesburg sent out a letter to the families of the over 400 mental healthcare users in their care. In this letter, families were reportedly informed that the Gauteng Department of Health will terminate its contract with the hospital by the end of March, which would have meant that the mental health users would have had to be transferred elsewhere. Thabo Molelekwa looks at the developments since then.

Tags: deinstitutionalisation featured Gauteng Department of Health Life Esidimeni Life Esidimeni Inquest mental health mental health budgets mental health strategy mental healthcare users SADAG SAFMH SECTION27 South African Depression and Anxiety Group South African Federation for Mental Health Stix Morewa Hospital