New guides to advocating in AIDS councils
Spotlight has developed two new advocacy guides for members of provincial or district AIDS councils. One focuses on TB prevention and the other on retention in care.
Silicosis: The names in Paragraph 7
Photographer Thom Pierce reflects on the news that 10 out the original 56 applicants in the silicosis class action have died. Pierce was a key part of a team that created the “Price of Gold” exhibition.
New science: Highlights from CROI2019
Last week the Conference for Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) was held in Seattle, USA. Spotlight did not attend this year’s conference, but fortunately all CROI abstracts and presentations are made available online. Below we have picked some highlights of relevance for South Africa.
Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal Circulars on migrants may be a sign of things to come
OPINION: The first few days of March 2019 must have been a time of great uncertainty for migrants in South Africa in need of health care services. Circulars by the Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal health departments said that all non-South Africans, other than refugees, would from now on have to pay in full for all health care services at public clinics and hospitals. By Sasha Stevenson
Vote4Health: Artist colony paints dull picture for rural healthcare
With less than 2 000 residents, one small government clinic and the nearest hospital 40 kilometres away, Hamburg residents in the small Eastern Cape hamlet are under strain. By Kathryn Cleary.
Health4Sale: Limpopo air ambulance service grounded after dodgy contract
Two doctors who run a small-scale ambulance service in Louis Trichardt (Makhado) in Limpopo with no aeromedical experience, landed a lucrative air ambulance contract with the provincial health department which has already paid out close to R3-million in four months. By Anso Thom and Marcus Low
In-depth: The problem of stopping or not starting HIV treatment
Many people in South Africa living with HIV never start taking antiretroviral treatment, or start and then stop. Spotlight asked the experts how big a problem this is and what can be done about it.
Analysis: How a cutting edge medicine made it to SA’s new ARV tender
New medicines usually take many years or even decades to reach public sector patients in South Africa. One new HIV medicine is an exception.
Strike terrifies mental health patients in North West
A group of workers staged a strike at Witrand psychiatric hospital in Potchefstroom trashing several sections in the facility and terrifying mental health patients.
Will the President cure the health system?
Last year’s Presidential Health Summit was supposed to be a big step towards saving our health system. Last week was the release of a report on the summit. Is this the panacea the health system has been waiting for?
Four healthcare priorities for South Africa’s budget
Russell Rensburg of the Rural Health Advocacy Project outlines four healthcare priorities for today’s critical budget.
UN Committee finds austerity measures implemented in SA “may further worsen inequalities”
The United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has called for more inclusive economic policies and a review of fiscal policy to enable government to meet its Constitutional and international human rights obligations. But is Tito Mboweni willing to take a tip based on international law? Sadly, it seems unlikely by Mark Heywood.