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#InTheSpotlight | Why government should provide more free HIV self-tests

Posted in: #InTheSpotlight, Access to Medicines, Focus, Healthcare system, HIV/AIDS, InFocus, Latest, Special Investigations, Spotlight

It is estimated that around half a million people living with HIV in South Africa don’t know they are living with the virus. One way to help these people is by offering them the means to test themselves in the privacy of their own homes. As Catherine Tomlinson explains in this #InTheSpotlight special briefing, such self-screening tests are part of our HIV response on paper, but in reality, the tests are massively underutilised.

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Medical devices aren’t regulated in SA, but that is set to change

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

Unlike with medicines, and with a few exceptions, South Africa’s regulator does not assess whether diagnostic tests and other medical devices on the market are safe and work as they are supposed to. The regulator has however started down a road that should eventually lead to the regulation of all medical devices in the country. Catherine Tomlinson unpacks the details.

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Interview: A simple device used after birth can help save lives, says award-winning young innovator

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

As a child growing up in Uganda, Maureen Etuket used a screwdriver to dismantle electronic appliances and toy trucks. Now, a PhD candidate in Industrial Engineering, this curiosity has been driving her quest to find solutions to public healthcare challenges. Last month, she won the Mandela Rhodes Foundation’s award for social impact in Africa for a device that can help save the lives of women who suffer excessive bleeding after child birth. Bienne Huisman chatted with her about the device, medical innovation in Africa, and finding one’s purpose in this challenging field.

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Rural Doctor of the Year: Craig Parker – the doctor-engineer who created a COVID lifeline for rural areas

Posted in: Access to Medicines, Eastern Cape, Healthcare system, Healthcare Workers, Latest, Provinces

A trained engineer and medical doctor, Dr Craig Parker created an oxygen device that was an important lifeline to patients in rural Eastern Cape at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Earlier this month at the Rural Health Conference in Oudtshoorn, Parker received the Rural Doctor of the Year Award for 2022. Bienne Huisman chatted to Parker about the device and his life as a rural doctor.

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