Arsenic-contaminated drinking water found in two SA villages: scientists blame government mismanagement

By Jesse Copelyn, September 12, 2023

Posted in: Healthcare system, Latest, Limpopo, Provinces

A study published in April this year found that residents across two villages in Limpopo’s Giyani local municipality have dangerous amounts of arsenic in their drinking water. Attempts to improve access to safe water in the area appear to have been derailed by alleged corruption. Jesse Copelyn unpacks the risks of excessive arsenic exposure and what is known about the alleged corruption in Giyani.

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Arsenic-contaminated drinking water found in two SA villages: scientists blame government mismanagement

In-depth: What two major bills might mean for health sector procurement in SA

By Alicestine October, September 8, 2023

Posted in: Healthcare system, Latest, NHI

Between South Africa’s Public Procurement Bill and the National Health Insurance Bill, health sector procurement in the country is set for a major shake-up – all as a landmark court decision recently reaffirmed the Constitutional imperative that public procurement must be conducted in a transparent way. Alicestine October takes a deep dive into the accelerating currents of procurement reform.

Tags: AIDC corruption Corruption in Health Corruption Watch COVID-19 Department of Health ENSafrica featured GDP health budgets Health Justice Initiative health procurement health spending HJI national health insurance bill NHI NHI Bill Parliament public procurement Public Procurement Bill RHAP Rural Health Advocacy Project supply chain management

In-depth: What two major bills might mean for health sector procurement in SA

Opinion: A UN meeting on TB is at best a means to more important ends

By Marcus Low, September 7, 2023

Posted in: Healthcare system, Latest, TB

On September 22 ministers, heads of state, and other officials from around the world will gather in New York for the second United Nations High-Level Meeting on TB. Yet, a few months ago it was not the governments these officials represent, but two philanthropies that stepped in to ensure arguably the most important TB trial of the decade has the funding needed to proceed. Marcus Low contrasts commitments made at the previous UN High-Level Meeting on TB with recent data on funding for TB research and asks what this tells us about the state of the global response to an age-old killer.

Tags: BCG vaccine Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation BRICS featured high TB-burden countries M72 TB TB Funding TB Research TB response TB vaccine trials The Stop TB Partnership tuberculosis UN High-Level Meeting on TB Wellcome

Opinion: A UN meeting on TB is at best a means to more important ends

Hospital Histories: The many lives that started at Mowbray Maternity

By Biénne Huisman, September 5, 2023

Posted in: Child health, Healthcare system, Healthcare Workers, Latest

The modernist five-storey Mowbray Maternity Hospital sits on a swathe of Cape Town’s earliest contested colonial farm land, earmarked by Jan Van Riebeeck in 1657. Biénne Huisman visited the hospital to learn about its history and its continuing role in helping mothers and babies in the 21st century.

Tags: access to healthcare child and maternal health COVID-19 featured HIV Hospital Histories Kangeroo Mother Care maternity care guidelines Midwife Obstetrics miscarriage Mowbray Maternity Hospital neonatal deaths neonatal unit NICU Public Health TB

Hospital Histories: The many lives that started at Mowbray Maternity

MTN temporarily pulled plug on Eastern Cape Health due to non-payment

By Luvuyo Mehlwana, September 4, 2023

Posted in: Healthcare system, Latest, Provinces

In August, telecommunications company MTN joined the list of service providers who have temporarily withdrawn services because the Eastern Cape Department of Health failed to pay their bills. Luvuyo Mehlwana reports.

Tags: Eastern Cape Eastern Cape Department of Health featured health budgets health contracting healthcare workers Jane Cowley medical equipment Medicines MTN Nomakhosazana Meth public health facilities public health sector service providers supply chain management

MTN temporarily pulled plug on Eastern Cape Health due to non-payment

Women in Health: Vaccine safety Prof on her passion for making a difference

By Elri Voigt, September 1, 2023

Posted in: Healthcare system, Healthcare Workers, Latest

During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, many committees and organisations were working around the clock to prepare the country for the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines. Professor Hannelie Meyer, a pharmacist-turned-academic and later vaccine advocate, served on several of these committees. Elri Voigt spoke to Meyer about the pandemic, the mottos that guide her, and being an unapologetic workaholic.

Tags: COVID-19 COVID-19 vaccine safety surveillance network COVID-19 vaccines Department of Health Department of Public Health Pharmacy and Management featured HPV vaccine Human Papilloma Virus immunisation National Advisory Group on Immunisation National Immunisation Safety Expert Committee SAHPRA SAVIC Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University South African Vaccination and Immunisation Centre (SAVIC)vaccination vaccine hesitancy vaccine safety vaccines World Health Organization

Women in Health: Vaccine safety Prof on her passion for making a difference

Breastfeeding while hungry – Is enough being done to support mothers in the Free State?

By Refilwe Mochoari, August 31, 2023

Posted in: Child health, Free State, Healthcare system, Latest, Provinces

Earlier this month the world celebrated breastfeeding week. To improve infant nutrition by 2025, the United Nations set targets to eliminate malnutrition and increase breastfeeding rates to at least 50% – targets that South Africa also subscribes to. In South Africa, however, often mothers are poor, unemployed, and hungry – all factors impacting their ability to breastfeed and, ultimately, the nutrition their babies receive. As Women’s Month draws to a close, Refilwe Mochoari looked at the nuances of this challenge in the Free State, where mothers often face a litany of socio-economic challenges and asks how government can support these mothers better.

Tags: breastfeeding child hunger child malnutrition child nutrition child support grant children Community Paediatrics Division Department of Social Development featured Free State Department of Health Grow Great Campaign hunger Maternal and Child Health Mondli Mvambi public health sector severe acute malnutrition Social Relief of Distress South African Demographic Health Survey of 2016 WHO women empowerment

Breastfeeding while hungry – Is enough being done to support mothers in the Free State?

In-depth: Mental health needs of GBV survivors are not being met – what to do?

By Sue Segar, August 30, 2023

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

Survivors of sexual assault and gender-based violence (GBV) often require mental healthcare services to deal with the psychological trauma, but these services are often not available in already overburdened shelters and safe houses where resources are limited. Sue Segar visited some shelters and spoke to experts about this unmet need for women and children.

Tags: access to mental health services community-based mental health services featured GBV GBV survivors gender based violence Lisa Vetten medicine stockouts NACOSA National Strategic Plan on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide psychiatrists psycho-social support psychologists rape survivors Saartjie Baartman Centre Valkenberg Hospital Western Cape Department of Health and Wellness

In-depth: Mental health needs of GBV survivors are not being met – what to do?

Calls mount to act against senior Northern Cape health officials implicated in alleged PPE corruption

By Refilwe Mochoari, August 29, 2023

Posted in: Healthcare system, Latest, Northern Cape, Provinces

The head of health in the Northern Cape – Dr Dion Theys – appeared in the Kimberly Magistrate’s Court on Monday. Theys who was appointed as permanent head of health in July this year, along with two co-accused were released on bail of R5 000 each. This was Theys’ second brush with the law – albeit in different courts – in just over a month after his appointment. Despite these developments and an outcry among some health stakeholders, the Northern Cape health department has not yet taken decisive action against Theys. Refilwe Mochoari reports.

Tags: Corruption in Health Dr Dion Theys featured health procurement MEC for Health in Northern Cape Nehawu Northern Cape Department of Health Northern Cape Health MEC Maruping Lekwane PFMA PPE tenders

Calls mount to act against senior Northern Cape health officials implicated in alleged PPE corruption

OPINION: We are short-changing women with budget cuts, corruption, and underspending in health

By Matshidiso Lencoasa, August 25, 2023

Posted in: Healthcare system, Healthcare Workers, Latest, Reproductive Health

Though budget cuts impact the health system’s ability to provide quality services to the 85% of people in South Africa estimated to rely on public healthcare, women are doubly burdened by these cuts owing to their unequal reliance on public health services. Women have a disproportionate risk and prevalence of HIV/AIDS and more differentiated health needs, including those for reproductive and maternal health. This Women’s Month is an opportune moment to reflect on how much we spend on healthcare and the quality of that spending which can be powerful measures to help create a public healthcare system that narrows the gender gap, writes Matshidiso Lencoasa.

Tags: Access to Health Corruption in Health featured gender-responsive budgeting health budget health budget cuts healthcare funding maternal and reproductive health national treasury public health system Social and Cultural Rights underspending in health United Nations Committee on Economic World Economic Forum

OPINION: We are short-changing women with budget cuts, corruption, and underspending in health

The good doctor: Mark Blaylock on finding meaning back at Manguzi

By Sue Segar, August 21, 2023

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

In December 2008, Dr Mark Blaylock left South Africa after a high-profile spat with then-Health MEC of KwaZulu-Natal Peggy Nkonyeni. The affair was sparked by Blaylock’s colleague Colin Pfaff being charged with misconduct for sourcing funding for antiretroviral drugs for pregnant women living with HIV. Four years later, Blaylock was back at Manguzi District Hospital in KwaZulu-Natal. Sue Segar chatted to Blaylock about his years outside of South Africa, returning to Manguzi, and how healthcare in KwaZulu-Natal has changed over the years.

Tags: AIDS Denialism dolutegravir Dr Mark Blaylock featured healthcare workers HIV KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health Manguzi District Hospital Peggy Nkonyeni PMTCT rural health rural healthcare South African HIV Clinicians Society

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The good doctor: Mark Blaylock on finding meaning back at Manguzi

Surgeries delayed at Charlotte Maxeke as key machine decommissioned before replacements are ready

By Ufrieda Ho, August 17, 2023

Posted in: Gauteng, Healthcare system, Healthcare Workers, Latest, Provinces

Staff say patients at Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital in need of vascular surgery face a three-month wait for life-saving surgery because of what some staff are calling “fishy” operational management and bad planning. According to hospital management, however, patients will be diverted to other hospitals during this period. Ufrieda Ho reports.

Tags: angio machine Charlotte Maxeke Academic Hospital featured Gauteng Department of Health health contracts health procurement imaging medical equipment public health facilities Steve Biko Academic Hospital Tecmed vascular vascular diseases