Author: Njih Favour

Patients in Botshabelo in the Free State say they’ve been denied healthcare by staff at Potlako Motlohi clinic. Since mid-February clinic staff have been telling them that they cannot be helped due to the data-capturing computer system being offline.    Tshokolo Sanda says on Thursday 20 February, he and other patients spent more than eight hours at the facility before being turned away.   “I suspect workers were only punishing us, how can they leave us from 6 o’clock in the morning to late at 3pm and tell us to come back the next day when the system is working. Then they…

Health minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi. (Photo: GCIS) Health minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi. (Photo: GCIS) The abrupt halt of PEPFAR (the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief) funding to South Africa threatens the country’s fight against HIV, putting thousands of healthcare workers’ jobs at risk and disrupting treatment for millions of patients. The big picture With 7.8 million people living with HIV, South Africa now faces a funding shortfall of around R8 billion that could upend progress made in reducing infections and deaths. Addressing Parliament on Thursday 6 March, Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi outlined events since US President Donald…

The Universal Health Care Access Coalition (UHAC), an affiliation of health professionals, founders, and advocacy groups, argues that the government’s focus on pricing alone will not reduce the high cost of private healthcare. The coalition was responding to the government’s announcement last week of measures being adopted to implement recommendations made by the Health Market Inquiry to address the high prices in the sector.  Why this matters The cost of private healthcare in South Africa has long been under the spotlight. Health minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi has repeatedly said that addressing this issue is a pre-condition for the National Health…

South Africa’s HIV testing programme has been a huge success over the last decade, largely due to the use of rapid tests. (File photo: Unicef) News & Features 6th March 2025 | Ufrieda Ho Amid major disruptions caused by aid cuts from the United States government, the health department aims to enrol a record number – an additional 1.1 million – of people living with HIV on life-saving antiretroviral medicine this year. Experts tell Spotlight it can’t be business as usual if this ambitious programme is to have a chance of succeeding. Government’s new “Close the Gap” campaign launched at…

by Dr Sharon Nyatsanza, Deputy Director, National Council Against SmokingThis year marks the 20th anniversary of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) coming into force. This critical milestone in global health progress has become one of the most rapidly and widely embraced treaties in United Nations history. Since its adoption in 2005, the FCTC has united countries in implementing policies to combat the tobacco epidemic, focusing on measures like tobacco advertising bans, taxation, and public smoking restrictions.In 2003, South Africa was one of the first signatories to this Treaty.   We now stand on the…

Health organisations warn of a severe crisis if US pulls funding. Some US-backed services have already closed. (Illustration: Lisa Nelson) News & Features 11th February 2025 | Jesse Copelyn A coalition of health service organisations has warned that patients will lose access to life-saving treatment if the US withdraws health funding to South Africa. Certain HIV and TB-related health services are continuing for now under a limited waiver. But the waiver has failed to cover organisations that provide services, including HIV care, specifically to LGBTI people and people who inject drugs. Two PEPFAR-funded harm reduction centres have already closed their…

On 28 January 2025, Future Families, a non-profit organisation that provides social services to orphans and vulnerable children and people infected with HIV and AIDS in South Africa, was forced to stop all activities. Of 59 staff operating in Limpopo, “43 of us are put on unpaid leave. We have stopped all of our activities. Everything is stagnant,” says Casey Nyathela, a Future Families programme manager. It is one of many non-governmental organisations that rely on funding from the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), or the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). The executive orders issued by…

Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi. (Photo: Kopano Tlape/GCIS) News & Features 14th February 2025 | Ufrieda Ho South Africa’s National Department of Health is still to outline a clear contingency plan as a United States (US) funding freeze puts lives at risk, spells job losses, and presents threats to keeping HIV and TB under control. The ripple effects of US President Donald Trump’s 90-day freeze of funding on foreign aid programmes have hit South Africa hard. The damage is being counted at multiple levels – even as some limited funding flows are being restored. For the country, the fallout has heightened…

Tensions are high in Parys in the Free State, where frustrated residents of Tumahole township have shut the town down in a protest for clean running water, which residents say they haven’t had in eight months. According to community member Tshepo Naale, the problems in Parys started in June of 2022 and continued into 2023 when the first shutdown happened.    “After the first shutdown, the provincial government brought us Jojo tanks which only decorated the town instead of providing us with clean water.  We have had similar stand-offs since 2022 and we have warned the municipality that the water crisis…

National Health Insurance is a scheme that aims to address healthcare inequity in South Africa. (Photo: Rosetta Msimango/Spotlight) News & Features 17th February 2025 | Chris Bateman Recent media reports over the future of NHI have been contradictory and hard to make sense of. Spotlight chased up those in a position to know where things stand – it seems the ANC has not in fact made any major concessions on NHI. There is however agreement that medical schemes won’t be phased out in the next few years, something that likely wouldn’t have happened in any case given the poor state…