With glimmers of tenderness beneath a stoic façade, Tara Gerardy-Bissolati tells Biénne Huisman about her struggle to beat opioids, why homelessness is a public health issue, and her commitment to bring hope to people living rough in central Cape Town.
Long before she became a pioneering scientist, Professor Liesl Zühlke insisted on seeing her tonsils after they were removed when she was just five years old. Today, paediatric cardiology is close to her heart, and her research has helped answer critical questions in the entire pipeline of heart disease.
High-octane executive force Marlene le Roux tells Biénne Huisman about contracting polio when she was three months old, about not dimming her light, and renovations that made the Artscape Theatre Centre in Cape Town one of South Africa’s most accessible public spaces.
Dr Hermann Reuter did pioneering work treating HIV in the early 2000s in Cape Town and in the rural Eastern Cape. Today, his focus is substance abuse, which he believes is the country’s biggest health issue after HIV. Sue Segar spent time with him to learn about his work in the Garden Route city of George.
An NGO offers safe, private HIV services to Men who Have Sex with Men and transgender people in George. Sue Segar met with some of the people using these services, and found the NGO, TB HIV Care are already providing relief from the hostile reactions trans people sometimes experience in government clinics.
A survey of 49 000 teenagers in the Western Cape reminds us that preventing violence does not begin in a hospital, a police station or a courtroom. It begins much earlier, in families, schools, sports fields, faith communities and neighbourhoods, writes Western Cape Provincial Minister of Health and Wellness Mireille Wenger.
Seasonal workers in Robertson often struggle to get to the clinic to access basic healthcare during the day, so community health workers in the Langeberg have set up mobile clinics to visit the township at night. Sue Segar reports.
Young people with kidney disease in South Africa often fall into the gap between the paediatric and adult healthcare systems. One innovative clinic in Cape Town is offering a solution tailor-made for this group. Elna Schütz reports.
The Western Cape health department is ramping up its workforce with 800 new frontline posts. After years of austerity and with long lists of vacancies, questions now turn to how soon the new posts will translate into staff on the ground. Christina Pitt reports.
From academic corridors to ministerial meetings and rural reaches, Leslie London has never shied away from speaking truth to power. Biénne Huisman speaks to the Emeritus Professor at the University of Cape Town, who, still in his bright signature shirt and trademark wry grin, continues to fight health inequity.
The health department in the Western Cape is partnering with farms in the Cape Winelands to provide easier access to healthcare for farm workers. Sue Segar unpacks one such partnership and why it is a triple win for workers, businesses and the government.
What started as a childhood fascination with science and sport has grown into a mission to “democratise” technology with innovative, affordable rehabilitation solutions for people with limited resources. Biénne Huisman sits down with the associate professor – who was once a volleyball captain and is now the head of a top research centre – and who is proving that low-cost solutions are possible.