Analysis: SA secures good prices for TB medicines, with one exception
With one puzzling exception, South Africa’s new tender prices for tuberculosis medicines appear to compare well with the lowest international prices.
63 000 TB deaths in SA in 2018
A total of 63 000 people died of tuberculosis (TB) in South Africa in 2018, according to new figures released by the World Health Organization on Thursday.
Provinces not on same page regarding clinic committees
Information recently presented in parliament sheds light on how many clinic health committees there are in each province and how many members these committees have.
Shocking figures revive calls for mental health reforms
Some experts are calling for mental health reforms in South Africa following shocking figures presented in parliament and a new report on mental health spending.
Spotlight on NHI: Focus should be on building the public healthcare system
As a strategic purchaser the NHI should be expressly pro-public sector and strategically focus on building capacity in under resourced areas such as clinics and hospitals in poorer urban communities and in rural facilities, writes Dr Lydia Cairncross.
Spotlight on NHI: Why NHI should focus on cutting costs in the private sector first
The focus of NHI needs to shift from talking about fixing the public service first, to saving money first and especially in the private sector, argues John Ashmore.
Health department considering private sector reforms
Amy Green asked the Department of Health and others what happens next following the release of a landmark report into private healthcare in South Africa.
Spotlight on NHI: Why an Office of Health Products Procurement?
The Office of Health Products Procurement is a new entity introduced in the 2019 version of the NHI Bill. Nkululeko Conco asks what it will mean for procurement under NHI.
Spotlight on NHI: Why private sector reforms are essential to making NHI work
Government’s National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill is not the only roadmap to quality healthcare for all in South Africa. The Health Market Inquiry into the private healthcare sector report points the way toward an alternative, possibly more effective, approach.
Landmark report slams poor regulation of private healthcare sector
Government has failed in its duty to regulate the private health sector which is “neither efficient or competitive”, according to the Competition Commission’s report on the Health Market Inquiry (HMI) into the private sector.
Don’t get stuck in HIV triumphalism, warns Linda-Gail Bekker
Now is not the time to get stuck in complacency and triumphalism over the gains made in the global HIV/Aids response, says former president of the International Aids Society Prof Linda-Gail Bekker.
Spotlight on NHI: Could NHI fix emergency medical services?
The shortage of prompt, dependable, quality ambulance services in much of South Africa is a national crisis. Might NHI offer a solution?