Even though it has been ready for months, findings of a critically important tuberculosis survey have not been made public. Every day that passes, the more outdated the findings become, and accordingly the less useful.
Roughly 42% of people with diabetes who tested positive for COVID-19 and had to be admitted to hospital in the Western Cape had died as of 16 July. Elri Voigt asked experts why people with diabetes who are hospitalised with COVID-19 have such poor prognoses.
Already at an increased risk of serious COVID-19 illness, older persons in poor communities face an additional set of difficulties in staying safe and healthy. Siyabonga Kamnqa spoke to older people, experts, civil society organisations and government authorities on what can be done to protect older people.
Are waste service workers becoming infected with SARS-CoV-2 through their work? Is handling household waste an occupational hazard? Are the precautionary measures introduced by municipalities sufficient? Professor Wolfgang Preiser explains the science and puts the risks in perspective.
Hundreds of people daily search for recyclable materials to sell and food to eat at Arlington and Uitenhage waste disposal sites in Port Elizabeth. Luvuyo Mehlwana spoke to waste pickers about their fears of contracting COVID-19 from waste and to experts about the risks of this happening.
The COVID-19 epidemic in the Western Cape is at least a few weeks ahead of that in South Africa’s other provinces. Some leading doctors in the province have shared some key lessons learned in recent months.
Doctors at two of the Western Cape’s most severely impacted COVID-19 hospitals say they have seen positive outcomes from using high-flow nasal oxygen instead of invasive mechanical ventilation. Kathryn Cleary asked doctors at these hospitals to explain how and why this kind of oxygen therapy works so well.
National immunisation rates for children under five years have dropped dramatically over the period of South Africa’s COVID-19 lockdown, sparking fears of an outbreak of deadly childhood infectious diseases including measles. Adele Baleta reports.
How to fight COVID-19? Look to HIV, says UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima.
The vast majority of people in South Africa depend on public transport, which poses a heightened risk for contracting COVID-19. Practical health measures and various fascinating innovations could not only mitigate this, but change how we travel long term.
Since January Dr Arifa Parker has served at the coalface of South Africa’s fight against COVID-19. Biénne Huisman chatted to her about what life is like in the eye of the storm.
Two provinces have said they will force people with COVID-19 to isolate in state facilities irrespective of whether they can safely self-isolate at home. Kathryn Cleary investigates the legal and public health side of these decisions.
