ANC and its ministers reject reports of NHI ‘concessions’

Posted in: Access to Medicines, Focus, Healthcare system, InFocus, Latest, NHI

Recent media reports over the future of NHI have been contradictory and hard to make sense of. Chris Bateman chased up those in a position to know where things stand – it seems the ANC has not in fact made any major concessions on NHI. There is however agreement that medical schemes won’t be phased out in the next few years, something that likely wouldn’t have happened in any case given the poor state of the economy and the long timeline for NHI implementation.

ANC and its ministers reject reports of NHI ‘concessions’

Pressure grows for NHI compromise ahead of Cabinet lekgotla

Posted in: Access to Medicines, Focus, Healthcare system, InFocus, Latest, NHI

Whether or not the ANC and DA can find common ground on the future of medical schemes is set to be a major test of South Africa’s Government of National Unity. Ahead of a Cabinet lekgotla where the issue is expected to be on the agenda, momentum has been gathering behind a compromise option. Chris Bateman reports.

Pressure grows for NHI compromise ahead of Cabinet lekgotla

ANALYSIS: NHI Bill – clause-by-clause headbutting begins in Parliament

Posted in: Healthcare system, Latest, NHI, Sections

In what is expected to become a verbal minefield littered with the usual ideological quips, the members of Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Health this week started the clause-by-clause deliberations on the National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill. Alicestine October assesses the first leg of the deliberations and issues set to pop up in the next round of deliberations, starting with clause 5 of the Bill next week.

ANALYSIS: NHI Bill – clause-by-clause headbutting begins in Parliament

Opinion: Policy Graveyard- where policies go to die

Posted in: Healthcare system, Latest

If there is a policy graveyard located somewhere in the country it would be littered with well-written but otherwise poorly implemented policies. Moreover, it would not be unusual to find that most of these policies were buried without proper autopsies being conducted. Claire Botha unpacks the reasons for this and offers some suggestions as to what can be done about it.

Opinion: Policy Graveyard- where policies go to die

Opinion: What the law says about medical xenophobia in South Africa

Posted in: COVID-19, Healthcare system, Latest

The South African Constitution says the most basic forms of healthcare should be made accessible to all who reside in the country but this is often not the lived experience of many foreign nationals. Kholofelo Mphahlele unpacks some of the realities foreign nationals face at public health facilities and what the law provides for protecting their rights.

Opinion: What the law says about medical xenophobia in South Africa

Health in 2021: Another tumultuous year in under a thousand words

Posted in: Access to Medicines, Child health, COVID-19, Healthcare system, HIV/AIDS, Latest, Mental Health, NHI, Provinces, TB

It wasn’t rocket science when we predicted at the start of 2021 that South Africa’s biggest challenge this year would be to get COVID-19 shots into as many arms as possible. But the way it has played out with multiple setbacks and scrambling problem-solving is not something anyone could have predicted. In fewer than a thousand words, Spotlight editor Marcus Low takes a look back at a tumultuous year in health in South Africa.

Health in 2021: Another tumultuous year in under a thousand words

OPINION: Reflections on a budget of ‘unmet expectations’

Posted in: COVID-19, Healthcare system, HIV/AIDS, Latest, NHI

Budgets alone do not solve structural issues, but what it does is provide some insight into the government’s plans for addressing its broader developmental priorities. Russel Rensburg unpacks what the medium-term budget policy statement means for the health sector.

OPINION: Reflections on a budget of ‘unmet expectations’

Analysis: High turn-over in Health MECs continues

Posted in: Eastern Cape, Free State, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Latest, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, North West, Northern Cape, Provinces, Western Cape

After the 2019 elections, new MECs for Health (provincial ministers) were appointed in four of South Africa’s nine provinces. Less than two years later, three of the four are no longer in their jobs, writes Marcus Low.

Analysis: High turn-over in Health MECs continues

Government can do better, Deputy President says at World AIDS Day event

Posted in: HIV/AIDS, Latest

A high-level government delegation led by Deputy President David Mabuza descended on Soweto during a World AIDS Day commemoration. Ufrieda Ho reports.

Government can do better, Deputy President says at World AIDS Day event

Reimagining health in the Eastern Cape: A dysfunctional public health system is not inevitable

Posted in: Eastern Cape, Healthcare system, Latest, NHI

The persistent challenges in public health in the Eastern Cape, highlight the critical role of leadership. Prof Helen Schneider argues if we are to reimagine a future of access, equity and justice in health and health care in the Eastern Cape, we need bottom-up institution-building involving civil society and not just top-down legislative, budgetary and other reforms.

Reimagining health in the Eastern Cape: A dysfunctional public health system is not inevitable

Analysis: Unlike the global trend, South Africa’s children are too short and too fat

Posted in: Child health, Latest

A Lancet article reporting on children’s height and weight changes over the past thirty years makes for grim reading when it comes to South Africa. Two of the country’s top child nutrition experts unpack what this landmark study means and what we can do to improve the situation.

Analysis: Unlike the global trend, South Africa’s children are too short and too fat

SA is facing a healthcare worker crisis – What to do?

Posted in: Healthcare system, Healthcare Workers, Latest, NHI, Spotlight on NHI

Many healthcare workers are rightly identified as heroes of South Africa’s COVID-19 response. Yet, often healthcare workers are given very little support in the public healthcare system, something that may get worse as healthcare worker shortages get more acute in the coming years. Kathryn Cleary investigates.