At his Durban office, Professor Willem Hanekom tells Biénne Huisman about taking a ventilated young patient to the Sea Point promenade, living with HIV, the need for an African research agenda, and the recurring joy that has defined his career.
The Western Cape health department is ramping up its workforce with 800 new frontline posts. After years of austerity and with long lists of vacancies, questions now turn to how soon the new posts will translate into staff on the ground. Christina Pitt reports.
Bukhosi Mdletshe works as clinic manager at the Ensingweni clinic in in KwaZulu-Natal, and in his words, paying his dues to the rural community that raised him. Sue Segar and Thom Pierce spent some time with Mdletshe for Spotlight’s Rural Health Heroes series.
Biénne Huisman meets South Africa’s recently appointed Deputy Director-General for HIV, AIDS, TB and sexually transmitted infections, discussing the latest HIV prevention medicines, her career turning points, and bedtime reading.
The Department of Health allows some public sector doctors and nurses to moonlight in the private sector, but the relevant policy and its implementation caused much controversy over the years. Set against the wider management dysfunction in several provincial health departments, the issue is now coming to a head. Joan van Dyk reports.
The media has reported several incidents where people were turned away at public healthcare facilities because they did not possess South African identity documents. As related cases slowly grind through the courts, Teri Brown and Thembi Mahlathi of SECTION27 connect the dots between what the law says and what people are experiencing.
Many regions in the Northern Hemisphere experienced a slightly earlier start to their flu season, driven in some part by a novel variant of influenza A(H3N2). As our flu season also kicks off slightly earlier than usual, Elri Voigt reports on detection of this variant in South Africa and what we might expect from this year’s flu season.
Maryke Bezuidenhout is constantly on the road in rural, northern KwaZulu-Natal visiting and helping people with disabilities where they live. As part of Spotlight’s new Rural Health Heroes series, writer Sue Segar and photographer Thom Pierce tagged along with her.
Antiretroviral therapy has shifted HIV from a fatal to a chronic condition. But neuropsychiatrists say it is imperative for people living with the virus to start treatment immediately as the “duration of untreated exposure” may cause irreversible brain damage and impact long-term cognitive health. Biénne Huisman reports.
Individual rare diseases impact only a very small fraction of people, but collectively they are estimated to affect over three million in South Africa. As we mark International Rare Disease Day on 28 February, Elna Schütz assesses the state of play with rare diseases in the country.
From academic corridors to ministerial meetings and rural reaches, Leslie London has never shied away from speaking truth to power. Biénne Huisman speaks to the Emeritus Professor at the University of Cape Town, who, still in his bright signature shirt and trademark wry grin, continues to fight health inequity.
Bogus medical practitioners threaten the health of patients and undermines trust in doctors. The problem might be growing, but so is the fight against it. Elna Schütz reports.
