Interactive Data Dashboards
Live indicators, province breakdowns and downloadable data.
2023 is set to be another tumultuous year for healthcare services, health policy, and governance in South Africa. We’ve picked 13 things to look out for this year arranged under three broad headings: leadership and governance, policy and legislation, and HIV, TB and the NSP.
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Our public health system is creating a new type of disability – ostomates who, with access to the necessary care and medical consumables could live long and fulfilled lives, but who every day are subjected to the indignities of inadequate care, writes colorectal cancer survivor and ostomate, Faizel Jacobs.
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In an open letter to young women in South Africa, Faith Fikizolo reminds us that meaningful comprehensive sex education is an important lever in ensuring girls and young women are fully empowered to exercise their sexual and reproductive health rights. She argues that, due to the lack of meaningful sexuality education, many South African young…
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COVID-19 has pushed back our progress on tuberculosis, but we can claw back our gains when we work collaboratively and efficiently, writes Kelvin Vollenhoven and Neetha Morar.
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According to some estimates, over a third of tuberculosis (TB) patients have high levels of psychological distress and a quarter have an alcohol use disorder. Following an eye-opening project in KwaZulu-Natal, Atlantic Institute Tekano Fellow Amanda Fononda argues that a diagnosis of an illness (such as TB) should be accompanied by mental health screening for…
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In South Africa, a newly qualified professional nurse often has great difficulties when entering the clinical practice after completion of their studies. By applying a preceptorship model, newly qualified nurses may experience a positive transition period, improving their clinical competence, argues Warriodene Hansen.
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South Africa is among the most unequal countries in the world with a huge quadruple burden of disease and to address this we need hands. Professor Parimalaranie Yogeswaran argues that we should maximise the untapped potential of clinical associates to beef up the clinical health workforce.
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Pregnant and breastfeeding women and young children should have free healthcare services, irrespective of nationality and documentation status. It is an entitlement that our law already affords them and one that we will continue to defend writes Thembi Mahlathi and Sibusisiwe Ndlela.
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The right to abortion has been catapulted into the spotlight by Dobbs v Jackson, the landmark judgment of the United States Supreme Court that overturned Roe v Wade – a 50-year-old precedent of that court that first recognised the constitutional right to abortion in the US.
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The recent floods in KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape showed us how climate change harms people’s health and healthcare services. On the other hand, modern health care systems contribute to climate change through large greenhouse gas emissions. In the development of South Africa’s National Health Insurance system we have an opportunity to address both these…
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A rise in teenage pregnancies and gender-based violence coupled with the loss and uncertainty related to COVID-19 are all stressors fuelling the mental health burden the pandemic will leave on children, especially girls. If not adequately addressed, argues Kholofelo Mphahlele, the mental health consequences for a generation of children and young people could far surpass…
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Second-trimester abortions, which occur between the beginning of the 13th and the end of the 20th week of pregnancy, are difficult to access in the public sector. This is mainly due to the lack of designated abortion facilities and the unavailability of abortion providers to provide the service and the Eastern Cape is no exception,…
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