SECTION27 is representing 66 families whose loved ones passed away as a result of the Marathon Project. The arbitration heard heartbreaking testimony from family members – represented separately by SECTION27, The Legal Aid Clinic and Solidarity – about the state in which they found their loved ones.
After two years, and countless attempts at compelling the Gauteng Department of Health (GDoH) to act in the best interests of Mental Health Care Users (MCHUs), significant headway is finally being made in the ‘Marathon Project’ saga, which saw 1 441 MCHUs rapidly moved from Life Esidimeni – to their detriment.
1 October is set to become a memorable day in some higher-education institutions. It marks the day in 2017 that Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) was first rolled out at select campus health clinics as a new, highly effective HIV-prevention method.
Thuthukile Mbatha is a researcher at SECTION27, and an advocacy fellow for the AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition (AVAC). She runs an advocacy project that calls for access to Pre-Exposure Prophlylaxis (PrEP) for young women in higher education institutions.
On 17 November 2017, at the University of the Witwatersrand, Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz gave a lecture to a standing-room-only crowd. The lecture, entitled Intellectual Property and Societal Welfare, came as the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) moves forward on reforms to South Africa’s intellectual property (IP) regime.
While healthcare workers in the Free State report theatre temperatures of 30 degrees Celcius, a halt to cancer biopsies, and an ongoing orthopaedic crisis, the provincial Department of Health insists that orthopaedic services and surgery are not collapsing.
A volunteer healthcare worker tells the story of a young boy confined to his bed since he was a young child, as a result of the shortage of physiotherapists and occupational therapists in the rural Eastern Cape. This is a first-person account of the rigours of rural health care, in which it takes extraordinary effort to secure even the most basic services.
Keiskamma Trust, an Eastern Cape based health organisation, praised around the world for its incredible community work which has saved thousands of lives, is in danger after funding cuts. Ntsiki Mpulo spent time with a community worker to give us a glimpse into the important work they do in a province where the health system is unable to deliver.
Eastern Cape Health Department fails to complete clinic projects promised by the Minister of Health.
On 10 December 2017 the Constitution Hill Trust marked the 21 years since the signing of our Constitution by holding a lekgotla in the foyer of the Constitutional Court. Present were a rare combination of judges, former judges, lawyers (past present and future), politicians, activists and school children. On a stormy Highveld afternoon, in the shadow of the Johannesburg version of the Arch for the Arch, they debated the achievements and failings of the Constitution, as well as our relationship with it. Below is an edited version of comments made by Mark Heywood, the Director of SECTION27.
A few meters from the entrance to Philani Clinic in Queenstown, opposite the gate, is a black-walled tavern. On weekdays, it’s as quiet as a church; but on weekends, music bursts out of its dark interior, cars line the street and patrons dance between them, holding beer cans and bottles.
The stories of health care users experiences with the health system as published by Spotlight are devastating. Various factors play a role when patients’ rights are violated, such as poor planning, inadequate HR management, budget cuts, healthcare worker attitudes, medicine stock-outs, poor policy implementation, and well-intentioned policies that fail to address the rural context.