An estimated 56 000 people in South Africa and 1.25 million around the world died of TB in 2023, according to just-published figures from the WHO. This means that in 2023 TB overtook COVID-19 as the top infectious disease killer on the planet. Marcus Low unpacks the new numbers.
Pregnant women are typically excluded from clinical trials of new TB medicines. This has led to a lack of solid scientific evidence on how best to treat women who fall ill with TB while they are expecting. Tiyese Jeranji asked local TB experts about the problem and puts the spotlight on a recent study that broke the mould by opening its doors to pregnant women.
To see National Health Insurance primarily as the setting up of a state-run medical aid scheme risks underplaying its massive potential to restructure how public healthcare services are organised and funded, and with that, its potential to boost the delivery of primary healthcare services in South Africa, argues Russell Rensburg.
HIV activist Solly Nduku was recently elected to the top civil society position at SANAC. Thabo Molelekwa asked Nduku and his newly elected deputies about their plans and priorities for the council.
Around twenty years ago, family physicians seemed set to take up roles as critical cogs across South Africa’s public healthcare system, but in the years since, doctors trained in this speciality have largely been underutilised. That is now finally set to change, according to the Department of Health, Chris Bateman reports.
Hillbrow started out as Johannesburg’s first health hub in the late 1880s. It’s also been a suburb associated with pimps and prostitution, a middle finger to the Nationalist Party, and a key site of the HIV crisis. Today, it’s the forgotten flatlands of inner city decay … but in small pockets it stays true to its heritage of bringing healthcare to the city’s most overlooked.
In June, we heard what could be this year’s biggest HIV breakthrough: a twice-yearly injection can prevent HIV infection. Findings from a second large study of the jab has now confirmed that it works. Elri Voigt goes over the new findings and unpacks the licenses that are expected to facilitate the availability of generic versions of the jab in over a hundred countries, including South Africa.
The National Health Insurance Act does not deal with the systemic issues that cause high prices and inequity in medicine access, and government is not listening, argues Fatima Hassan.
As health department officials move to set up National Health Insurance’s basic structures, including its board, several experts say the scheme remains a pipe-dream, doomed to the same fate as Gauteng’s aborted e-tolls project. In this Spotlight special briefing, Jesse Copelyn outlines three possible scenarios for how NHI might pan out over the coming years.
Stopping antiretroviral treatment when you are living with HIV can result in increased HIV transmission, illness, hospitalisation, and eventually death. To combat such disengagement with HIV treatment, Professor Graeme Meintjes and colleagues argue we need smarter differentiated care and better education of healthcare workers, people living with HIV, and communities.
Professor Lucy Gilson scooped the prestigious international Virchow Prize. She chats to Biénne Huisman about her upbringing, unexpected dive into the world of public health, and shares her thoughts on National Health Insurance. She says it will take more than money to fix our health system.
The idea of mandatory medical scheme coverage for employed people has made a comeback after the case for it was made at a recent conference. Chris Bateman unpacks how a system with mandatory medical scheme membership for the employed might work and asked experts whether it represents a viable alternative to government’s NHI plans.
