While a combination of drugs including now FDA-approved pretomanid is probably the best treatment for XDR-TB, it is still not clear whether or not pretomanid itself is safe and effective.
The new tuberculosis medicine pretomanid has just been registered by the United States Food and Drug Administration. What are the implications for South Africa?
SAHPRA inherited a backlog of around 16 000 medicine regulatory applications from the MCC. How can this backlog be processed and medicines regulation improved in future?
The root causes of high prices—unchecked patent-granted monopolies—remain in place. Once again, thousands of lives are being lost on the altar of profiteering. Mark Heywood and Zain Rizvi argue why South Africa must urgently adopt a new patent law.
Might an ambitious scale up of active case finding be just what is needed to break the back of South Africa’s tuberculosis epidemic?
The derelict Cecilia Makiwane Hospital Mental Health Unit is a powerful indictment of the province’s failure to care for the mentally ill.
The recently released outputs of the Thembisa mathematical model of HIV in South Africa allow us to compare the burden of HIV at the provincial level and see how close each province comes to achieving the 90-90-90 targets. We made some graphs to explore the data.
Two leading South African HIV experts reflect on the future of new ARVs dolutegravir and TAF, following the publication of findings from a major new trial conducted in Johannesburg.
On a leafy street in Rondebosch, Cape Town, a new palliative care facility for children is taking shape. Biénne Huisman paid a visit.
Sometimes a child’s death is not just inevitable, but imminent. For a pragmatic like Dr Michelle Meiring the challenge lies in cushioning the landing.
From a children’s hospice in Bloemfontein to leading an international network, Joan Marston has made a major contribution to palliative care for children. Biénne Huisman went to meet her.
In July Bloemfontein is dry and hued in shades of brown. Against this backdrop, the Sunflower Children’s Hospice rises like an oasis: the house is covered in bright murals and surrounded by trees and budding shrubs. Biénne Huisman stepped inside.