How frontline workers in KZN are helping fight the mental health crisis

How frontline workers in KZN are helping fight the mental health crisis

South Africa does not have enough psychologists and psychiatrists to meet the mental health needs of everyone in the country. One solution is to train community healthcare workers to provide some basic mental health support. Sue Segar explores how one such a task-sharing project is being scaled up in KwaZulu-Natal.

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Questions over tripling of Gauteng Health’s security budget

Questions over tripling of Gauteng Health’s security budget

In just two years, the Gauteng health department’s spending on security has more than tripled. Ufrieda Ho tries to get to the bottom of the ballooning bills and what it means for governance in the department.

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Missed, misunderstood, and deadly: A Cape Town family’s heartbreak with hepatitis B

Missed, misunderstood, and deadly: A Cape Town family’s heartbreak with hepatitis B

When Desmond Pedro discovered a strange hardness under his ribcage, he was just 30 and preparing for a fresh start on a government skills course. Little did he know that he would soon die of liver cancer caused by undetected hepatitis B. Sue Segar spent time with his family and spoke to experts to uncover how this overlooked virus continues to claim lives — and what can be done to stop it.

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He leads with heart and hustle at Groote Schuur but money is a big problem, says nursing boss

He leads with heart and hustle at Groote Schuur but money is a big problem, says nursing boss

Groote Schuur Hospital’s first male nursing manager, Aghmat Mohamed, reflects on the pressures of nursing in South Africa. Ahead of International Nurses Day and the release of a major global report on the state of nursing, Biénne Huisman chatted to him about his decades on the front lines of healthcare.

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#Health4Sale | Tribunal orders controversial ambulance companies to pay back over half-a-billion rand

#Health4Sale | Tribunal orders controversial ambulance companies to pay back over half-a-billion rand

The Special Tribunal has ordered four ambulance companies run by Thapelo Buthelezi to pay back a total of over half-a-billion rand. The matter relates to contracts awarded by the Free State government, which were first reported on in Spotlight’s #Health4Sale series of investigative articles in 2018.

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Gauteng state doctors gear up to fight health department over overtime payments

Gauteng state doctors gear up to fight health department over overtime payments

Trade unions, medical associations and universities are raising the alarm that Gauteng budget cuts at the cost of doctors’ take-home pay will have dire consequences for public sector health. Meanwhile, the National Minister of Health has convened a committee to review the future of overtime for state doctors. Ufrieda Ho reports.

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Cape Town study brings hope to newborns left behind in HIV treatment advances

Cape Town study brings hope to newborns left behind in HIV treatment advances

Research led by Professor Adrie Bekker is paving the way for an important HIV medicine to be made available to neonates in a way that is both safe and much more convenient than previous options. Biénne Huisman met with the passionate clinician-scientist at her office in Cape Town.

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Controversy and cautious hope collide as Masechaba Sesing heads up Free State health dept

Controversy and cautious hope collide as Masechaba Sesing heads up Free State health dept

With a new head, there is quiet optimism in some circles that a turnaround in the Free State Department of Health’s fortunes could be on the cards. Masechaba Sesing talked to Spotlight’s Ufrieda Ho about her plans for the department.

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At the heart of Rape Crisis is a group of ‘positive people’, says former director

At the heart of Rape Crisis is a group of ‘positive people’, says former director

Rape Crisis pioneered the first containment counselling service at Cape Town’s inaugural Thuthuzela Care Centre, a model now adopted nationwide. Sue Segar visited staff at the soon to be 50-year-old organisation’s three offices and spoke with a rape survivor who has since become a volunteer at their Khayelitsha branch.

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New research challenges thinking on the places where TB is transmitted

New research challenges thinking on the places where TB is transmitted

For centuries, it was believed that tuberculosis spread primarily when a vulnerable person spends hours in a poorly ventilated space with someone infectious. But new findings suggest that much TB transmission also occurs through casual contact. Biénne Huisman reports.

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Shut doors, unmet needs: The strain of hospital closures on two North West communities

Shut doors, unmet needs: The strain of hospital closures on two North West communities

People who live near Thusong District Hospital, which closed in 2022, and the Christiana District Hospital, which was destroyed by fire in 2021, told Spotlight’s Nthusang Lefafa they are frustrated over long ambulance wait times, overcrowded clinics, and the high cost of traveling to alternative healthcare facilities

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“We’ll come to you”: HIV prevention project takes services to schools

“We’ll come to you”: HIV prevention project takes services to schools

Elzette Rousseau from the Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation told attendees at the top HIV conference in The United States about a project taking HIV prevention services to schools in Cape Town. Biénne Huisman visited one of the sites to find out how it works.

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