Important TB drug as effective at lower dose, study finds

Important TB drug as effective at lower dose, study finds

The treatment of drug-resistant forms of tuberculosis has been transformed over the last decade with treatment becoming more effective, safer, and treatment duration in many cases dropping to under a year. Even so, treatment can still come with serious side effects and for some, it can still last over a year and a half. In a finding that may help further reduce side effects, new research has found that the dosage of a key drug can be lowered without compromising how well it works. Tiyese Jeranji and Marcus Low report.

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OPINION: Community-Led Monitoring Dashboard Reveals the Crisis in SA’s Clinics

OPINION: Community-Led Monitoring Dashboard Reveals the Crisis in SA’s Clinics

Data collected by the Ritshidze community-led healthcare monitoring project is now being shared through a new, publicly accessible online dashboard. Authors involved with the project explain the kinds of insights this rich new data source can give on healthcare services in South Africa.

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OPINION: Going Local in Health Innovation – It is time and we are ready

OPINION: Going Local in Health Innovation – It is time and we are ready

The COVID-19 pandemic has reinforced the need to think global and build locally. The African innovative pharmaceutical sector has the potential to thrive and needs more incentive to grow. A blooming continental sector would serve as a critical and secure source for key vaccines and therapeutics, reducing the need to rely on the goodwill of donors, writes Professor Kelly Chibale.

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In-depth: Why is there hardly any flu in SA this year?

In-depth: Why is there hardly any flu in SA this year?

While COVID-19 cases are surging in South Africa off the back of the dominant Delta variant, the flu virus has virtually vanished. Only 50 influenza cases have been detected so far this year through the country’s influenza monitoring system. Adele Baleta unpacks what is going on.

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IN-FOCUS: How to protect hospitalised infants from dangerous germs

IN-FOCUS: How to protect hospitalised infants from dangerous germs

Outbreaks of hospital-acquired infections such as Klebsiella have claimed the lives of infants and made headlines on a number of occasions over the last decade. Tiyese Jeranji looks at how the germs involved spread, how common these infections are, and what can be done to prevent outbreaks.

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Health and Unrest: Counting the cost and getting people their medicines

Health and Unrest: Counting the cost and getting people their medicines

As the country is still calculating the tally of the vaccine stock and medicines stolen in last week’s unrest in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng, there is still a lot of uncertainty about plans to restore medicine security.

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COVID-19: How vaccination numbers compare in SA’s provinces

COVID-19: How vaccination numbers compare in SA’s provinces

Over five million people in South Africa have so far received at least one shot of a COVID-19 vaccine. Elri Voigt unpacks how the vaccination rollout is going in South Africa’s nine provinces. Though the numbers do not tell the full story and provinces face different challenges, indications are that Limpopo, Western Cape, Eastern Cape, and KwaZulu-Natal are doing well, while Mpumalanga is struggling.

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Health and unrest: KZN healthcare services left battered after a week of unrest and looting

Health and unrest: KZN healthcare services left battered after a week of unrest and looting

By Friday, looting, rioting, and violence in parts of KwaZulu-Natal left shops and pharmacies empty and vandalised, warehouses burnt to the ground, and many lives lost. Sandile Duma and Leslie Mudzudza report on the impact on health services.

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Health and Unrest: NHLS and medicines distribution impacted

Health and Unrest: NHLS and medicines distribution impacted

This week’s unrest in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng has disrupted both medicines distribution and laboratory services. Thabo Molelekwa reports.

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OPINION: The long and painful road to the Life Esidimeni inquest

OPINION: The long and painful road to the Life Esidimeni inquest

Although individual families of the mental healthcare users who died after they were discharged from Life Esidimeni in 2016 have been compensated for the violation of their constitutional rights, the actors responsible for the deaths, suffering, and torture of the mental healthcare patients have yet to be held criminally accountable. But that could change after a formal Judicial Inquest into the deaths, starting at the Pretoria High Court on 19 July 2021.

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COVID-19: Gauteng hospitals under strain as third wave continues

COVID-19: Gauteng hospitals under strain as third wave continues

As the third wave of COVID-19 infections continues in Gauteng, hospitals remain under severe strain due to staff and equipment shortages. Add to this the ongoing unrest in certain areas in Gauteng, and it makes for a very grim picture. Thabo Molelekwa reports on the situation in East Rand hospitals.

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OPINION: Without contraception, Limpopo women’s rights are being violated

OPINION: Without contraception, Limpopo women’s rights are being violated

The ongoing stockouts of contraceptives grossly violate individuals’ and couples’ reproductive rights but alternative measures have not been put in place. If the issues of access to contraceptives are not dealt with, the country will face a baby boom and a rise in HIV infections at the end of the current pandemic writes Thuthukile Mbatha and Annah Maluleke.

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