With over 3 600 Western Cape users, lenacapavir is “cool”
From counselling about small nodules to overcoming people’s fears of needles, Biénne Huisman takes the pulse of a new HIV prevention injection’s rollout in the Western Cape.
This world-class SA scientist used to cut up her dolls and perform imaginary surgeries
Long before she became a pioneering scientist, Professor Liesl Zühlke insisted on seeing her tonsils after they were removed when she was just five years old. Today, paediatric cardiology is close to her heart, and her research has helped answer critical questions in the entire pipeline of heart disease.
“My kids will never struggle like I did” – how one doctor’s vision opened doors for hundreds of rural healthcare workers
Dr Andrew Ross’s idea of sponsoring rural students to study for careers in healthcare has succeeded beyond his dreams. Sue Segar sat down with him and chatted to the four students who bagged the initial fully funded scholarships and who went on to land senior roles in public health.
Abba Mallum – the Nigerian oncologist helping to fight cancer in KZN and across Africa
Propelled by an early vision to help others, Dr Abba Mallum tells Biénne Huisman about his roots in Borno State, about opportunities in Stellenbosch and Durban, and about his pioneering PhD in radiotherapy and oncology.
In The Spotlight | All you need to know about the jab that could dramatically reduce new HIV infections in SA
On June 5 2026, an HIV prevention injection will for the first time become available at some of South Africa’s public sector clinics. In this Spotlight special briefing, Marcus Low and Elri Voigt pull together all you need to know about this “breakthrough” jab.
Why pharmacists still can’t prescribe ARVs, months after court gave the green light
A Supreme Court of Appeal ruling in October 2025 cleared the way for specially trained and permitted pharmacists to dispense antiretroviral medicines without a doctor’s script. Seven months later, no pharmacists are yet providing these services. Catherine Tomlinson explores the reasons for the delay.
The Thursday evening clinics changing lives in Nkqubela
Seasonal workers in Robertson often struggle to get to the clinic to access basic healthcare during the day, so community health workers in the Langeberg have set up mobile clinics to visit the township at night. Sue Segar reports.
To the US and back: SA’s Prof Willem Hanekom reflects on the joys of science and a career ‘running with opportunities’
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.
How far will 800 new posts take Western Cape Health?
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.
‘I’m serving my people’: The pastor running a rural clinic that treats more than illness
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.
“When other kids were playing with dolls, I was playing being a doctor”, says SA’s new HIV and TB Czar
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.
Moonlighting, money and morals in a looted health system
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.