The sudden and severe US cuts to grants from the world’s largest health research funder threaten to unravel the medical research landscape in South Africa. A crucial question now is whether the government will turn this crisis into an opportunity for renewal, write Marcus Low and Nathan Geffen.
What medicines do you need prescriptions for and who is authorised to write those prescriptions is not a straight-forward matter. In his latest Inside The Box column, Dr Andy Gray explains how the system works now and sets out how it might be improved.
The TB Sustainable Development Goals of reducing incidence and deaths from TB are achievable, if we all work together. We must double down on this ambition and be even bolder in our investments, write Yogan Pillay and Gaurang Tanna.
While the 2025 national budget boosts health spending, researchers from the South African Medical Research Council stress the need for strong accountability measures. They also raise concerns about rising VAT and omissions related to US funding cuts and climate change.
South Africa faces its worst health crisis in 20 years. Worse than COVID, and one that will overshadow diabetes as a major killer, while pouring petrol on a dwindling TB fire. But it is preventable, argues Professor Francois Venter if our government steps up urgently.
In the first of a new series of monthly columns for Spotlight, Dr Andy Gray considers what we mean when we refer to medicines as ‘essential’ – something that is routinely done by the WHO and the health authorities in many countries.
Following President Donald Trump’s decision to suspend foreign aid, President Cyril Ramaphosa can display great leadership by meeting with leaders of wealthy countries and convincing them to increase spending to support the health systems of poorer countries, write Nathan Geffen and Marcus Low.
From the ongoing political and legal battles over NHI, to the far-reaching health impacts of political change in the United States, it is set to be another tumultuous year for healthcare in South Africa and around the globe. Here’s Spotlight’s top four healthcare questions for 2025.
The Democratic Alliance intends to propose legislation that would allow healthcare professionals to do community service and internships in private hospitals. Such a legislative change risks exacerbating some of South Africa’s healthcare inequalities, argues Bulela Vava.
Ahead of World AIDS Day 2024, Professor Salim Abdool Karim and Dr Nikita Devnarain argue that South Africa needs a concerted effort to reduce new HIV infections in young women and to prepare for the rollout of long-acting forms of HIV prevention alongside a well-functioning HIV treatment programme.
HIV prevention injections that can provide two, or even six, months of protection per shot have arguably been the biggest HIV story of the year. Ahead of World AIDS Day, Professor Francois Venter assesses the state of play and the critical next steps with these potentially game-changing new tools in the fight against HIV.
To see National Health Insurance primarily as the setting up of a state-run medical aid scheme risks underplaying its massive potential to restructure how public healthcare services are organised and funded, and with that, its potential to boost the delivery of primary healthcare services in South Africa, argues Russell Rensburg.
