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From the ongoing political and legal battles over NHI, to the far-reaching health impacts of political change in the United States, it is set to be another tumultuous year for healthcare in South Africa and around the globe. Here’s Spotlight’s top four healthcare questions for 2025.
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In 2023, tuberculosis was again the top infectious disease killer on the planet, having temporarily been overtaken by COVID-19. Even so, investment in TB research is far below what United Nations agencies estimate is needed. Catherine Tomlinson unpacks a new report on global TB research funding, zooming in on the situation in South Africa.
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From the NHI Act to major advances in HIV prevention, it has been another busy year in the world of healthcare. Spotlight editors Marcus Low and Adiel Ismail recap the year’s health developments and identify some key trends in fewer than 1 000 words.
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Ukwanda, the isiXhosa word for “grow,” encapsulates the mission of Stellenbosch University’s Ukwanda Centre for Rural Health: nurturing healthcare in rural communities. At the centre’s annual community partnership event in Worcester, Sue Segar discovered how future healthcare professionals are stepping up to address the unique challenges of rural populations.
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Though several South African companies are producing HIV and TB medicines, the active ingredients that go into these medicines are usually imported from India or China. Now, a local company is planning to break new ground by making the active ingredients for two important TB medicines in Pretoria. Catherine Tomlinson zooms in on the company’s…
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There is a history of competition law being used to drive HIV medicine prices lower in South Africa. Now, two cases involving cancer medicines seem set to nail down what qualifies as “excessive pricing” in South African law – a legal development that could have far reaching implications for medicines prices in the country. Catherine…
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Over the last decade, it has become clear that South Africa’s progress against TB depends on diagnosing more people more quickly. In this Spotlight special briefing, Marcus Low asks how we can best go about it.
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Some patients at KwaZulu-Natal hospitals are donating lung tissue for use in TB research. Sue Segar tracks what happens to these tissue samples and explores why these samples are so important to unlocking the mysteries of what the TB bacterium does inside the human body.
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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.
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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…
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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.
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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…
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