If South Africa is serious about ending TB, protecting people living with HIV, and safeguarding the next generation from nicotine addiction, Parliament must finally pass the Tobacco Products and Electronic Delivery Systems Control Bill, argues Professor Lekan Ayo-Yusuf, as we mark World No Tobacco Day on May 31.
Shut down by the apartheid government for providing care to child patients of all races, Durban’s Addington Children’s Hospital is well on its way from a ghostly ruin into a lifeline for a new generation thanks to visionaries like Professor Hoosen Coovadia. Biénne Huisman spent time inside the historic KwaZulu-Natal Children’s Hospital with its striking artworks and wards named after birds.
Fake and substandard medicines, along with bogus healthcare practitioners, pose a growing threat to patient safety in South Africa.
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.
The number of people in South Africa on antiretroviral treatment remained roughly unchanged from 2024 to 2025, according to just-published estimates from the leading mathematical model of HIV in the country. This suggests that the disruption of US aid for HIV services has slowed the growth of our HIV treatment programme, but the impact so far is not as severe as some researchers feared it might be. Marcus Low reports.
Along dusty roads in northern KwaZulu-Natal, Biénne Huisman speaks to youth leaders, community mentors and leading scientists who are collaborating to bring a groundbreaking HIV prevention jab to this area where HIV infection rates remain stubbornly high.
We can generally trust that the medicines we buy at pharmacies contain what they are supposed to and that they were manufactured according to good quality standards. In his latest column, Dr Andy Gray zooms in on the regulatory scaffolding that enables this trust.
Substance abuse is both a symptom and a consequence of untreated mental illness, and government needs to urgently step in to confront this dangerous overlap, argues Gauta Mashego of SECTION27.
Fifteen years ago, when Christoff and Tarryn Bell fell in love with a severely ill baby in a KwaZulu-Natal orphanage, they had no idea this would kickstart a journey which would see them caring for numerous abandoned children with life-limiting illnesses. Sue Segar reports.
When Thokozile Ndlovu found out that her baby had a life-limiting illness, she went from pillar to post looking for medical help. Her journey took her to one of the only places offering hope, the Butterfly Palliative Home in Ingwavuma in KwaZulu-Natal. Sue Segar reports.
From 5–7 May, the Constitutional Court will hear two of the multiple challenges to the NHI Act. Sasha Stevenson, Executive Director of SECTION27, considers what will be on the line in these first potentially landmark cases that deal with the process that led to the Act.
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.
