Opinion: HIV investments remain no-brainers, but some things need to change

Posted in: HIV/AIDS, Latest

HIV in South Africa is not the crisis it was 20 years ago, and the country faces a growing burden of non-communicable diseases, but specific investments in HIV nevertheless continue to offer excellent value for money for governments and donors alike. As people gather for the 2023 International AIDS Society Conference in Brisbane, Australia, Marcus Low argues that while funding for HIV interventions remains absolutely essential, it is also critical for the future of the HIV response and people living with HIV that HIV should now be better integrated with other healthcare services, especially those for diabetes and hypertension.

Opinion: HIV investments remain no-brainers, but some things need to change

Analysis: Taking a spoon to a knife fight – Is SA ready for rising obesity rates?

Posted in: Healthcare system, Latest

Experts describe rising obesity rates in South Africa as an “urgent crisis”, “a tsunami” – even an “epidemic” – that is costing lives, not to mention billions of rands. Tackling the situation warrants an action plan that is as comprehensive and cogent as the problem is dire. But does the new national strategy fit the bill? Amy Green asked several local experts.

Analysis: Taking a spoon to a knife fight – Is SA ready for rising obesity rates?

90-60-50: Can SA meet its diabetes targets, and would we know if we do?

Posted in: Healthcare system, Latest

Diabetes rates in South Africa are anticipated to keep rising in the coming years as the country’s health burden slowly shifts away from infectious diseases such as HIV and tuberculosis toward non-communicable diseases. The relevant government strategy sets three key diabetes targets. Elri Voigt spoke to several local experts about these targets and South Africa’s prospects of meeting them.

90-60-50: Can SA meet its diabetes targets, and would we know if we do?

Face to Face: Professor Soraya Seedat on the ‘workings of the brain’ and the realities of psychiatry in SA

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

Professor Soraya Seedat is a distinguished professor and head of Stellenbosch University’s psychiatry department. She has penned several hundreds of peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters on psychiatric disorders, with a focus on PTSD and anxiety, particularly among children and in resource-constrained settings. Biénne Huisman sat down with her to talk about her work, what drives her, and maintaining a work-life equilibrium.

Face to Face: Professor Soraya Seedat on the ‘workings of the brain’ and the realities of psychiatry in SA

New policies aim to integrate mental health support into HIV services

Posted in: Healthcare system, Healthcare Workers, HIV/AIDS, Latest

Research suggests that people living with HIV are more likely to have mental health conditions than the general population. There seems to be consensus that HIV programmes would benefit from including better mental health screening and support services. Two new policy documents – the Mental Health Policy Framework and the National Strategic Plan for HIV, TB, and STIs – have a lot to say about providing such integrated services, but will they result in actual changes on the ground? Thabo Molelekwa reports.

New policies aim to integrate mental health support into HIV services

90-60-50: Can SA reach its hypertension targets?

Posted in: Healthcare system, Latest

South Africa’s National Strategic Plan for NCDs sets three key targets related to hypertension that the country has to achieve to reduce the burden of hypertension in the country. Elri Voigt asks experts how South Africa is performing against these targets and where improvement is most needed.

90-60-50: Can SA reach its hypertension targets?

In-depth: SA’s obesity problem and the promise of new weight loss medicines

Posted in: Healthcare system, Latest

Obesity is a complicated public health issue that can be devastating on both the societal and the individual level. New weight loss medicines have shown remarkable efficacy in clinical trials, but their high cost is limiting uptake. Amy Green asks where these new medicines should fit into South Africa’s response to rising levels of obesity.

In-depth: SA’s obesity problem and the promise of new weight loss medicines

OPINION: 2022’s health budget decisions in review

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

Health budgets have the power to advance access to healthcare for millions of people in South Africa. This year, however, as the health sector and the economy recovered from the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic and a volatile global environment, the South African government missed opportunities to provide the financial resources to protect access to healthcare for the most vulnerable. Matshidiso Lencoasa unpacks how the past year’s budget choices will affect key public health services.

OPINION: 2022’s health budget decisions in review

Spotlight on Health: 2022 in under 1 000 words

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

An HIV prevention injection approved in South Africa, several promising developments on the tuberculosis front, the National Health Insurance Bill grinding its way through Parliament, no end in sight to healthcare worker shortages, another dire year for health in Gauteng – Spotlight wraps up 2022 in under 1 000 words.

Spotlight on Health: 2022 in under 1 000 words

In-depth: The state of asthma in SA

Posted in: Healthcare system, Latest

Asthma is a disease that can be easily controlled through the correct use of medications, yet in many low-and-middle-income countries like South Africa, many still die due to lack of effective management of this disease. According to estimates from the Global Asthma Report 2022, South Africa ranks third out of 28 low-and-middle-income countries for asthma-related mortality. Elri Voigt unpacks the state of asthma in the country.

In-depth: Major SAMRC study sheds light on causes of disease and death in SA

Posted in: Healthcare system, HIV/AIDS, Latest, TB

Unsafe sex, interpersonal violence, high body mass index, high systolic blood pressure, and alcohol consumption are the top risk factors for disease and death in South Africa, according to the Second Comparative Risk Assessment study conducted by the South African Medical Research Council’s Burden of Disease Research Unit. Nthusang Lefafa spoke to some of the researchers to unpack the findings.

In-depth: Major SAMRC study sheds light on causes of disease and death in SA

In-Depth: Hypertension – South Africa’s “silent killer”

Posted in: Healthcare system, Latest

It is estimated that around 45% of men and 48% of women older than 15 years have high blood pressure (hypertension) in South Africa and only about 19% of men and 29% of women who have this condition are aware that they have it. Elri Voigt unpacks the state of hypertension in the country and how it is diagnosed and treated.