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OPINION: A new African HIV Control Working Group to propel African voices in the global HIV response

OPINION: A new African HIV Control Working Group to propel African voices in the global HIV response

By Yogan Pillay and Izukanji Sikazwe,
Posted in: HIV/AIDS, Latest, TB

It is estimated that over 65% of the global HIV burden is in sub-Saharan Africa. Now, in an attempt to propel African voices and perspectives in the next phase of the HIV response in Africa, a group of Africans established an African-led HIV control working group (HCWG). They are all experts from the continent who have come together to develop consensus perspectives on the long-term sustained control of HIV and prioritise the systems and capabilities to achieve it. Drs Yogan Pillay and Izukanji Sikazwe explain the thinking behind the new working group and set out their objectives.

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The good doctor: Mark Blaylock on finding meaning back at Manguzi

The good doctor: Mark Blaylock on finding meaning back at Manguzi

By Sue Segar,
Posted in: Healthcare system, Healthcare Workers, Latest, Provinces

In December 2008, Dr Mark Blaylock left South Africa after a high-profile spat with then-Health MEC of KwaZulu-Natal Peggy Nkonyeni. The affair was sparked by Blaylock’s colleague Colin Pfaff being charged with misconduct for sourcing funding for antiretroviral drugs for pregnant women living with HIV. Four years later, Blaylock was back at Manguzi District Hospital in KwaZulu-Natal. Sue Segar chatted to Blaylock about his years outside of South Africa, returning to Manguzi, and how healthcare in KwaZulu-Natal has changed over the years.

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In-depth: The court ruling that gives qualifying pharmacists the green light to provide HIV and TB meds without a script

In-depth: The court ruling that gives qualifying pharmacists the green light to provide HIV and TB meds without a script

By Catherine Tomlinson,
Posted in: HIV/AIDS, Latest

Specially trained and accredited pharmacists in South Africa will now be allowed to dispense medicines to prevent HIV and TB and to treat uncomplicated HIV without a doctor’s script. This is because the North Gauteng High Court this week ruled against an application by a private doctors’ association attempting to block the initiative. Catherine Tomlinson unpacks the judgment and rounds up some responses.

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Surgeries delayed at Charlotte Maxeke as key machine decommissioned before replacements are ready

Surgeries delayed at Charlotte Maxeke as key machine decommissioned before replacements are ready

By Ufrieda Ho,
Posted in: Gauteng, Healthcare system, Healthcare Workers, Latest, Provinces

Staff say patients at Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital in need of vascular surgery face a three-month wait for life-saving surgery because of what some staff are calling “fishy” operational management and bad planning. According to hospital management, however, patients will be diverted to other hospitals during this period. Ufrieda Ho reports.

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TB contact tracing helps save lives – this is how it works in SA

TB contact tracing helps save lives – this is how it works in SA

By Tiyese Jeranji,
Posted in: Healthcare Workers, Latest, TB

Tracing the close contacts of people ill with tuberculosis (TB) and offering them TB preventive therapy is part of South Africa’s strategy to fight TB. A recent analysis found that such an approach of tracing household contacts and providing them with TB preventive treatment is cost-effective and would – by 2025 – cut deaths by 35% among household contacts of all ages and people living with HIV. In light of these new findings, Tiyese Jeranji assesses the state of contact tracing in South Africa’s public healthcare system.

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Analysis: Incentives seem to work in private healthcare, why not in public?

Analysis: Incentives seem to work in private healthcare, why not in public?

By Amy Green,
Posted in: Healthcare system, Latest, NHI

Doing ‘the right thing’ for one’s health, be it eating well, exercising, or going for an annual HIV test or blood pressure check, is easier said than done. One way to nudge people to make these ‘right’ decisions is to offer rewards or incentives. Amy Green asks whether aspects of some popular private-sector incentive schemes might be worth copying in South Africa’s public sector.

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Women in health: “No one taught me how to treat a sick system,” says leading young Professor

Women in health: “No one taught me how to treat a sick system,” says leading young Professor

By Biénne Huisman,
Posted in: Healthcare system, Healthcare Workers, Latest, Provinces, Western Cape

In high school, a guidance councillor told Salome Maswime that she would never be accepted at medical school. Today, she is a professor and head of Global Surgery at the University of Cape Town. Biénne Huisman chatted to Maswime about her work on safe surgery, her remarkable career, and being the only black woman in the room.

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Analysis: What climate change might mean for malaria in SA

Analysis: What climate change might mean for malaria in SA

By Adele Baleta,
Posted in: Healthcare system, Latest

Malaria-carrying mosquitoes will, and are already moving to new habitats as the earth warms up due to climate change. Adele Baleta asked several local experts what the changing climate might mean for malaria in South Africa and efforts to eliminate the parasitic disease.

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Analysis: SA’s new mental health plan and the problem of stigma

Analysis: SA’s new mental health plan and the problem of stigma

By Nthusang Lefafa,
Posted in: Healthcare system, Healthcare Workers, Latest, Mental Health

Mental illnesses and the labels that go with these illnesses are often associated with stigma, which in turn influences health-seeking behaviour and adherence to treatment. Nthusang Lefafa looks at how South Africa’s National Mental Health Policy Framework and Strategic Plan 2023 – 2030 addresses stigma and asked some experts for their views.

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There are paths to quality universal healthcare besides NHI

There are paths to quality universal healthcare besides NHI

By Marcus Low,
Posted in: Healthcare system, Latest, NHI, Opinions

One of the most damaging aspects of our public discourse on National Health Insurance is the mistaken notion in some quarters that the only two options are NHI and the status quo, argues Marcus Low.

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Mixed responses to Gauteng Health’s latest security plans

Mixed responses to Gauteng Health’s latest security plans

By Thabo Molelekwa,
Posted in: Healthcare system, Latest

Following reports of healthcare workers who have been robbed, assaulted, or killed in public healthcare facilities in Gauteng, the province’s health department announced that healthcare workers will now be trained to handle patients who become violent. Thabo Molelekwa looked at what these safety plans entail and asked health worker organisations for their views.

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Growing the beta variant – young scientist remembers the day they danced in the lab

Growing the beta variant – young scientist remembers the day they danced in the lab

By Biénne Huisman,
Posted in: COVID-19, Healthcare Workers, Latest

During South Africa’s COVID-19 hard lockdown, rising star scientist Dr Sandile Cele spent his Christmas holidays in a laboratory. Soon the 35-year-old became the first to successfully grow the beta variant of SARS-CoV-2 in the lab. Biénne Huisman spoke to Cele about how he did this, the string of accolades he received since, and his leap from a modest upbringing to the global scientific stage.

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