Women in Health: Sr Wattie – the midwife from District Six who heeded the call to nurse and deliver

Posted in: Healthcare Workers, Latest

For decades, most stories from Cape Town’s District Six started with – “I was born at Peninsula Maternity Hospital!” The Peninsula Maternity Hospital was established in 1921 as a training hospital specialising in midwifery. It closed down in 1992. On the day of its closure, a group of nurses climbed up to the hospital’s roof to take a last look at Table Mountain and the surrounds where they served so many. Among them was sister Patience Watlington, or Sr Wattie, as many referred to her. Biénne Huisman sat down with the 80-year-old nursing veteran as she reflected on life as a midwife in District Six.

Women in Health: Sr Wattie – the midwife from District Six who heeded the call to nurse and deliver

OPINION: A new African HIV Control Working Group to propel African voices in the global HIV response

Posted in: HIV/AIDS, Latest, TB

It is estimated that over 65% of the global HIV burden is in sub-Saharan Africa. Now, in an attempt to propel African voices and perspectives in the next phase of the HIV response in Africa, a group of Africans established an African-led HIV control working group (HCWG). They are all experts from the continent who have come together to develop consensus perspectives on the long-term sustained control of HIV and prioritise the systems and capabilities to achieve it. Drs Yogan Pillay and Izukanji Sikazwe explain the thinking behind the new working group and set out their objectives.

OPINION: A new African HIV Control Working Group to propel African voices in the global HIV response

The good doctor: Mark Blaylock on finding meaning back at Manguzi

Posted in: Healthcare system, Healthcare Workers, Latest, Provinces

In December 2008, Dr Mark Blaylock left South Africa after a high-profile spat with then-Health MEC of KwaZulu-Natal Peggy Nkonyeni. The affair was sparked by Blaylock’s colleague Colin Pfaff being charged with misconduct for sourcing funding for antiretroviral drugs for pregnant women living with HIV. Four years later, Blaylock was back at Manguzi District Hospital in KwaZulu-Natal. Sue Segar chatted to Blaylock about his years outside of South Africa, returning to Manguzi, and how healthcare in KwaZulu-Natal has changed over the years.

The good doctor: Mark Blaylock on finding meaning back at Manguzi

In-depth: The court ruling that gives qualifying pharmacists the green light to provide HIV and TB meds without a script

Posted in: HIV/AIDS, Latest

Specially trained and accredited pharmacists in South Africa will now be allowed to dispense medicines to prevent HIV and TB and to treat uncomplicated HIV without a doctor’s script. This is because the North Gauteng High Court this week ruled against an application by a private doctors’ association attempting to block the initiative. Catherine Tomlinson unpacks the judgment and rounds up some responses.

In-depth: The court ruling that gives qualifying pharmacists the green light to provide HIV and TB meds without a script

Surgeries delayed at Charlotte Maxeke as key machine decommissioned before replacements are ready

Posted in: Gauteng, Healthcare system, Healthcare Workers, Latest, Provinces

Staff say patients at Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital in need of vascular surgery face a three-month wait for life-saving surgery because of what some staff are calling “fishy” operational management and bad planning. According to hospital management, however, patients will be diverted to other hospitals during this period. Ufrieda Ho reports.

Surgeries delayed at Charlotte Maxeke as key machine decommissioned before replacements are ready

TB contact tracing helps save lives – this is how it works in SA

Posted in: Healthcare Workers, Latest, TB

Tracing the close contacts of people ill with tuberculosis (TB) and offering them TB preventive therapy is part of South Africa’s strategy to fight TB. A recent analysis found that such an approach of tracing household contacts and providing them with TB preventive treatment is cost-effective and would – by 2025 – cut deaths by 35% among household contacts of all ages and people living with HIV. In light of these new findings, Tiyese Jeranji assesses the state of contact tracing in South Africa’s public healthcare system.

TB contact tracing helps save lives – this is how it works in SA

Analysis: Incentives seem to work in private healthcare, why not in public?

Posted in: Healthcare system, Latest, NHI

Doing ‘the right thing’ for one’s health, be it eating well, exercising, or going for an annual HIV test or blood pressure check, is easier said than done. One way to nudge people to make these ‘right’ decisions is to offer rewards or incentives. Amy Green asks whether aspects of some popular private-sector incentive schemes might be worth copying in South Africa’s public sector.

Analysis: Incentives seem to work in private healthcare, why not in public?

Women in health: “No one taught me how to treat a sick system,” says leading young Professor

Posted in: Healthcare system, Healthcare Workers, Latest, Provinces, Western Cape

In high school, a guidance councillor told Salome Maswime that she would never be accepted at medical school. Today, she is a professor and head of Global Surgery at the University of Cape Town. Biénne Huisman chatted to Maswime about her work on safe surgery, her remarkable career, and being the only black woman in the room.

Women in health: “No one taught me how to treat a sick system,” says leading young Professor

Analysis: What climate change might mean for malaria in SA

Posted in: Healthcare system, Latest

Malaria-carrying mosquitoes will, and are already moving to new habitats as the earth warms up due to climate change. Adele Baleta asked several local experts what the changing climate might mean for malaria in South Africa and efforts to eliminate the parasitic disease.

Analysis: What climate change might mean for malaria in SA

Analysis: SA’s new mental health plan and the problem of stigma

Posted in: Healthcare system, Healthcare Workers, Latest, Mental Health

Mental illnesses and the labels that go with these illnesses are often associated with stigma, which in turn influences health-seeking behaviour and adherence to treatment. Nthusang Lefafa looks at how South Africa’s National Mental Health Policy Framework and Strategic Plan 2023 – 2030 addresses stigma and asked some experts for their views.

Analysis: SA’s new mental health plan and the problem of stigma

There are paths to quality universal healthcare besides NHI

Posted in: Healthcare system, Latest, NHI, Opinions

One of the most damaging aspects of our public discourse on National Health Insurance is the mistaken notion in some quarters that the only two options are NHI and the status quo, argues Marcus Low.

There are paths to quality universal healthcare besides NHI

Mixed responses to Gauteng Health’s latest security plans

Posted in: Healthcare system, Latest

Following reports of healthcare workers who have been robbed, assaulted, or killed in public healthcare facilities in Gauteng, the province’s health department announced that healthcare workers will now be trained to handle patients who become violent. Thabo Molelekwa looked at what these safety plans entail and asked health worker organisations for their views.