Sales of weight loss medicines like Ozempic and Mounjaro have sky-rocketed in South Africa in recent years, although they remain too expensive for most people who might benefit from the jabs. In the first article of this Spotlight special series, Catherine Tomlinson tracks their remarkable rise and assesses when they will become more widely available here.
Getting to grips with rising diabetes rates is arguably one of the most urgent tasks for South Africa’s public healthcare system, but the setbacks keep coming. While some communities are facing shortages of blood sugar meters and insulin pens, a smaller wave of insulin vial shortages is now on the horizon, reports Joan van Dyk.
South Africa has the world’s largest population of people living with HIV, which both heightens the risk of anal cancers and their severity. However, neither the collection of data nor the efforts for prevention and screening are in line with the likely impact. Experts say significant change is needed, reports Elna Schütz.
Experts say cancer patients in the public sector in South Africa are dying for avoidable reasons like dysfunctional referral systems and a lack of medical imaging and treatment. Chris Bateman looks at efforts to get the country’s battle with cancer back on track.
Non-communicable diseases are killing more and more people in South Africa yet the government missed out on raising a total of more than R15 billion for prevention efforts, argues Dr Evelyn Thsehla.
There are significant gaps in the data when it comes to understanding South Africa’s cancer burden. Things are however set to improve with an initiative that will allow members of the public to assist in data gathering. Elri Voigt reports on a new patient-led cancer registry that will feed into South Africa’s existing National Cancer Registry.
With the remarkable success of antiretroviral treatment people living with HIV in South Africa are generally living much longer than they did two decades ago. As a result, more people with HIV are also now living with non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as diabetes and hypertension. Accordingly, the need to better integrate HIV and NCD services was a hot topic at the recent Southern African HIV Clinicians Society conference in Cape Town. Elri Voigt reports.
