The benefits of approved COVID-19 vaccines still far outweigh the risks, experts say following a recently reported death in South Africa linked to Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine. Adele Baleta reports.
At the start of Women’s month this year, the gang rape of eight women at a mine dump in Krugersdorp made headlines in South Africa and abroad, adding to the country’s blood-curdling statistics of femicide and violence against women. René Sparks argues that the public health sector should play a bigger role in addressing violence against women.
Juliet Houghton was recently appointed as the CEO of the Southern African HIV Clinician’s Society (SAHCS). As part of Spotlight’s Women in Health series, Bienne Huisman spoke to her about her life working in HIV, her new role at the SAHCS, the importance of being able to laugh, and the Shakespearian origins of her name.
The AIDS2022 conference held recently in Montreal, Canada highlighted yet again the need for community activism and the importance of involving young people, writes Dr Yogan Pillay. He argues that the youth and communities must be engaged in the conceptualisation and writing of South Africa’s new AIDS plan, and young people and community-based organisations must have a central role in key aspects of its implementation.
Over the last three decades, Dr Fareed Abdullah has been at the coalface of South Africa’s response to HIV, tuberculosis, and more recently, COVID-19. Biénne Huisman chatted with Abdullah about providing antiretrovirals in the time of AIDS denialism, National Health Insurance, working as a medical doctor, and the toll HIV has sadly taken on his own family.
A recently published survey found that only 76.8% of children surveyed have received all their required childhood vaccines. Elri Voigt unpacks the survey findings and asks whether a recent measles outbreak in Gauteng may be a harbinger of worse outbreaks to come.
Professor Resia Pretorius and her colleagues at the University of Stellenbosch are at the cutting edge of research into one of the most likely causes of long COVID – inflammatory microclots. Adele Baleta spoke to Pretorius about their work.
In 2021, HIV was successfully suppressed in the bodies of around 63% of the close to eight million people living with HIV in South Africa. This is according to recent outputs from Thembisa, the leading mathematical model of HIV in South Africa. With the help of some graphs, Spotlight editor Marcus Low unpacks this and other key model outputs.
Earlier this month Cape Town-based vaccine company Afrigen announced a formal collaboration with the United States National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases’ (NIAID’s) Vaccine Research Centre. Catherine Tomlinson unpacks what this deal may mean for local production of vaccines for COVID-19 and other diseases.
Indications are that the virus that causes COVID-19 is going to continue evolving and escaping the protection against infection people already have. Researchers are working on next-generation vaccines tailored to fight off specific versions of the virus, like the Omicron sub-lineages BA.4 and BA.5. But can these new vaccines be tested and produced fast enough to keep up with the rapidly changing virus? Aisha Abdool Karim asked some local experts.
Omicron and its sub-variants have been dominating new surges of SARS-CoV-2 infections around the world and were behind South Africa’s fifth wave. The BA.4 and BA.5 sub-lineages unveiled yet more surprises about the evasive nature of these ever-emerging forms of SARS-CoV-2. They also hold clues for what to expect next and how to prepare. Aisha Abdool Karim reports.
In recent years damning findings from the Public Protector, the Human Rights Commission, the Public Service Commission, and the community-led monitoring group Ritshidze have been piling up against the Eastern Cape Department of Health. Luvuyo Mehlwana asks what value clinic committees and hospital boards can add to help improve public healthcare services in the province.
