Author: Njih Favour

Availability and affordability are have a big impact on the type of food people eat.(Photo: Freepik) Availability and affordability are have a big impact on the type of food people eat.(Photo: Freepik) On paper, it might seem simple. Eat less unhealthy food, exercise more, and you’ll avoid obesity. But for many South Africans, the reality is far more complicated. According to the World Obesity Observatory, more than 32% of adults in South Africa are living with obesity. The conversation is often reduced to just people making poor food choices, but there’s a bigger issue at play.  The April 2025 Household…

TB has lasted for centuries partly because our immune systems can’t easily get rid of it. (Photo: Shutterstock) News & Features 14th July 2025 | Elri Voigt TB can be cured, but ridding the body of the bug often takes many months and usually requires taking four or more different medicines. In this Spotlight special briefing, we zoom in on what makes the TB bacterium so hard to beat. There are many things we’ve learned from studying the ancient Egyptians. One especially fascinating discovery was evidence of skeletal deformities in mummies, which serves as silent markers of a tenacious bug…

The global AIDS response is at a paradoxical point.  On the one hand, the world is on the cusp of a “prevention revolution” with long-acting HIV prevention drugs, most notably the six-monthly injectable, lenacapavir, which is expected to be rolled out in South Africa by mid-2026.  On the other hand, countries are looking for ways to keep HIV programmes running after the U.S withdrew development funding earlier this year.  “There is a funding crisis. We must find ways to plug the gaps left by the withdrawal of donor aid. Countries need to look at their domestic budgets for where they…

Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi presented a R64.8 bn budget. (Photo: GCIS) Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi presented a R64.8 bn budget. (Photo: GCIS) South Africa will be among the first countries in the world to receive doses of lenacapavir, the long-acting HIV prevention drug administered once every six months. This was announced by health minister, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, during the Health Budget Vote on Wednesday.  “It is envisaged that the first shipment will reach at least one African country by the end of 2025 – we intend to be such a country and we have already started putting the…

It’s been six months since the U.S froze and subsequently cancelled critical funding of HIV programmes around the world. Despite South Africa being a major beneficiary of U.S HIV funding through PEPFAR (the U.S President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief), health minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi has previously stated that the country’s HIV programme would not be derailed by the funding cuts.  But recent research suggests there’s cause for concern. “Funding cuts have hindered the progress related to the HIV epidemic,” says Khensani Chauke from the Gauteng Department of Health.  Chauke was among researchers presenting their findings on the impact of…

This project is funded by: Patients admitted to Hewu Hospital in the Eastern Cape are subjected to cold wards with no heaters and dilapidated prefabricated walls.  Situated at Whittlesea about 35 km from Queenstown, also known as Komani, it serves nearly 298,000 people from 36 villages. In April this year, the hospital’s board chairperson, Zukile Khondlo, wrote to Premier Lubabalo Mabuyane, saying “only 168 of the 229 beds in the hospital are usable”. The facility has not had any major renovations since it started operating in 1988. Subscribe to our newsletter Lwando Thembani who was discharged from the hospital on…

Community healthcare workers aren’t qualified to treat serious mental health issues, but they can offer vital support and referrals when needed. (Shutterstock) News & Features 7th July 2025 | Sue Segar South Africa does not have enough psychologists and psychiatrists to meet the mental health needs of everyone in the country. One solution is to train community healthcare workers to provide some basic mental health support. We explore how one such a task-sharing project is being scaled up in KwaZulu-Natal. It’s a Wednesday morning in the Amajuba district near Newcastle in KwaZulu-Natal. A community healthcare worker walks into a brick…

This project is funded by: What began as a struggle with drugs in 2010 has turned into a powerful testimony of change and hope. Sipho Dlamini, once addicted to substances and infected with both HIV and tuberculosis (TB) from shared needles, is now using his story to help others. Sipho Dlamini uses his battle with addiction as a cautionary tale. (Photo: Supplied) Dlamini’s journey into addiction was like that of many young people: marked by peer pressure, emotional pain, and the false comfort of drugs. “I started smoking in 2010,” he says. “At the time, I didn’t understand the dangers.…

The community of Welkom, in the Free State, is crying foul after three weeks without running water while raw sewage runs through their streets. Residents criticised the “clean cities and towns” campaign launched by Deputy President Paul Mashatile in Welkom this week.  Bronville resident Quinton Bergman says the provincial government must put the Matjhabeng local municipality under administration for failing to provide basic services. “They are hosting a cleaning campaign whereby the neighbouring Ward 11 (Bronville) hasn’t had running water for 15 days, and raw sewage has been blocking the Bronville Primary School entrance since November 2024. We’ve reported this…

US President Donald Trump’s administration has cut life-saving aid to many African countries. (Photo: White House/Shealah Craighead) Comment & Analysis 4th July 2025 | Russell Rensburg South Africa still lacks an action plan after the withdrawal of US aid for HIV and related health services. But when funds do arrive, how will they be managed? Russell Rensburg suggests the answer may lie in the District Health Programme Grant. The government’s extended silence on how it plans to solve the funding crisis created by the withdrawal of US aid has thrown much of the health sector in South Africa into severe…