Author: Njih Favour
13 Dec Mokgadi Fafudi – Substandard and falsified medical products Posted at 07:36h in News & Updates by Ntokozo Msiza Substandard and falsified medical products (SFMPs) are identified as one of the urgent global challenges of this decade. The global threat and routes to the market of SFMPs have grown exponentially with the ever-increasing demand for medical products globally. The entry of SFMPs into the supply chain undermines efforts made towards ensuring access to quality, safe and efficacious medical products. Africa and South Africa import a lot of medical products; subsequently, a significant percentage of SF medical products circulating globally…
Parents Abonga and Amanda Komsana are excited about their son Onke’s initiation. It’s been nearly three weeks since 18-year-old Onke Komsana from the rural village of Sithebe in Ngcobo in the Eastern Cape left home for initiation school – the rite of passage for Xhosa boys transitioning to manhood. Onke’s father, Abonga Komsana, has faith that his son is in safe hands under the guidance of a trusted ikhankatha (traditional nurse). But the 41-year-old father of three still finds himself waking up at all hours of the night. Onke is among thousands of adolescent boys and young men undergoing this…
By Tian Johnson, African Alliance Universal Health Coverage Day was created to remind the world of a simple promise: everyone should be able to get healthcare without being pushed into debt. But in Africa, that promise still feels far away. Even as the continent’s population races towards 2.5 billion people by mid-century, access to basic services is crawling forward at a pace that doesn’t match the need. The World Health Organisation estimates that Africa is only just approaching the halfway mark to achieving universal health coverage. Millions still can’t get the care or medicines they rely on. And that’s the…
Ali Burundi,a 58-year-old living in Durban, is facing a life-threatening struggle. Living with both TB and HIV, he’s received his medication consistently from Gateway Clinic at Addington Hospital since 2019. But for the past two months, he has been unable to access treatment due to blockades by a group known as March-and-March, a collective that describes itself as a “citizen-led movement tackling illegal immigration’s impact on SA”. “I’ve always been able to go to the clinic and get my medicine. Now, since Dudula started, there’s no more medicine. Every time I go to the clinic, they fight me, and I…
South Africa has come a long way in the fight against HIV, boasting the world’s largest antiretroviral therapy (ART) programme. While the proportion of people living with HIV experiencing discrimination has decreased, stigma remains a major challenge for people living with HIV. Findings from the 2024 HIV Stigma Index 2.0 report show that “more than half (54.6%) of those living with the virus have experienced the feeling of shame or guilt about their HIV positive status at some point in their lives”, says Duncan Moeketsi from the National Association of People Living with HIV and AIDS (NAPWA) and co-principal investigator…
This project is funded by: For millions of South Africans living with disabilities, the government’s disability grant is more than just money; it’s a lifeline. But accessing financial support requires navigating a bureaucratic system plagued by delays due to understaffed medical boards and an uneven distribution of South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) offices. According to Statistics South Africa, about 3.3 million South Africans, roughly 7% of the population, live with a disability. Of those, more than 1 million receive the disability grant. A further 170 000 are beneficiaries of the care dependency grant, which supports primary caregivers of children under 18.…
US President Donald Trump’s administration has cut life-saving aid to many African countries. (Photo: White House/Shealah Craighead) Comment & Analysis 8th December 2025 | Marcus Low The year’s biggest health story by far has been the cuts to US aid for health and US support for health research. But it’s also been a year of important HIV prevention developments, NHI court cases, ongoing crises in some of our provincial health departments, and some first steps toward accountability for the corruption at Tembisa Hospital. In January, newly inaugurated United States President Donald Trump signed an executive order pausing all foreign aid for…
by Melanie A. Bisnauth, PhD, University of the Witwatersrand In January 2025, the dismantling of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) began as President Donald Trump signed an executive order that would see the freeze and eventual withdrawal of funding to critical health research and programmes around the world. Over US$400 million was rescinded from PEPFAR, and USAID was rapidly restructured, slashing its global footprint. By March, 83% of USAID initiatives had been cut. Its workforce collapsed from over 10,000 employees to fewer than 300. People living with HIV were among the hardest hit. The U.S. withdrawal triggered…
This project is funded by: On a scorching summer day, sweat wells down Sivuyile Vundle’s face as he sits in his wheelchair, navigating the crowded streets of Ngcobo in the Eastern Cape. Getting anywhere when using a wheelchair is a tough task, so 42-year-old Vundle relies on his cousin, Ludwe, to push him around. Sivuyile Vundle says people with disabilities are being overlooked. On this day, the pair made their way to Masonwabe Clinic to collect Vundle’s high blood pressure medication. They woke up at 5 o’clock that morning to catch public transport, which comes in the form of a…
People with diabetes who take insulin have to monitor their blood sugar levels multiple times a day. (Photo: Shutterstock) News & Features 4th December 2025 | Joan van Dyk Getting to grips with rising diabetes rates is arguably one of the most urgent tasks for South Africa’s public healthcare system, but the setbacks keep coming. While some communities are facing shortages of blood sugar meters and insulin pens, a smaller wave of insulin vial shortages is now on the horizon. In August, activist Eksoda Mazibuko was sure that years of community organising had finally yielded tangible results for people with…