Author: Njih Favour
Medical research as we know it in South Africa is facing an existential threat. (Image: BulentYILDIZ/Pixabay) Comment & Analysis 3rd April 2025 | Marcus Low and Nathan Geffen The sudden and severe US cuts to grants from the world’s largest health research funder threaten to unravel the medical research landscape in South Africa. A crucial question now is whether the government will turn this crisis into an opportunity for renewal. South Africa has many of the world’s best HIV and TB researchers. Until recently, this research excellence was widely recognised by the fact that local research groups kept winning grants…
Nneka Mahote, 32, is excited about her evolving body. Her breasts, now a C-cup bra size, have grown fuller, and her skin feels softer. Her hips, too, are beginning to take shape. For the past four years, she has been transitioning to a woman, undergoing gender affirming hormone therapy with oestrogen and anti-androgen medication to suppress masculine traits and promote more feminine characteristics. She has successfully changed her name and identifies as female on her official identity documents. But now, all of her progress hangs in the balance. It’s been two months since the Nelson Mandela Bay clinic she was…
Malesolle Mokoatsi travels about 60km to General De La Rey Hospital. (Photo: Nthusang Lefafa/Spotlight) News & Features 2nd April 2025 | Nthusang Lefafa People who live near Thusong District Hospital, which closed in 2022, and the Christiana District Hospital, which was destroyed by fire in 2021, told Spotlight they are frustrated over long ambulance wait times, overcrowded clinics, and the high cost of traveling to alternative healthcare facilities. On 8 September 2021, a devastating fire ravaged the Christiana District Hospital, destroying renovations worth over R95 million. A forensic investigation later concluded that the blaze was caused by human error. Just…
Tebogo Padime from Praktiseer outside Burgersfort in Limpopo buried her two-year-old daughter, Revival, on Monday. The 35-year-old mother blames a nurse at Prakitseer clinic who refused to attend to the toddler. Revival Padime was only 2 years old when she died last week. (Photo: Supplied) On Friday morning, around 10 o’clock, Padime set off on foot to visit a friend, with Revival strapped to her back. While walking, a group of young men who were standing in front of a tuckshop stopped her. “They told me that my child was having a nosebleed,” Padime tells Health-e News. “I took her…
This project is funded by: It is a Saturday morning and residents in Tshikota township, Makhado municipality, mainly women and children, are seen in the streets carrying empty 25-liter containers in search of water. In one of the busy streets, two children are pushing a wheelbarrow carrying a 25-liter container full of water. In the township, about 2 km east of Louis Trichardt town, some residents buy water from those who own boreholes or water vendors driving up and down the streets in bakkies, while others rely on solar-driven boreholes. Thabang Tlou, secretary of the South African National Civic Organisation,…
US President Donald Trump’s administration has cut life-saving aid to many African countries. (Photo: White House/Shealah Craighead) News & Features 1st April 2025 | Jesse Copelyn There is no shortage of myths about the cancellation of US foreign assistance. This includes the widely held misconception that PEPFAR is exempt from US aid cuts and the belief that grant terminations are just taking place in South Africa. Many of these falsehoods have been reinforced by US and South African officials. Spotlight and GroundUp dissect some of the most popular misconceptions. Myth 1: USAID cuts only apply to South Africa For some,…
A KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) family is mourning the loss of 17-year-old Bongani Nthangase who died after being robbed and stabbed outside a popular restaurant on Durban’s North Beach last week. On Thursday afternoon, around 3pm, Nthangase from Chatsworth was at the beach when two young men approached him, demanding his cellphone and other valuables. He didn’t have any valuables to hand over, so the robbers stabbed him and fled the scene. The teenager was left in the beachfront parking lot, 500 metres from a mobile police station. Lifeguards administered first aid, and a bystander offered to drive him to Addington Hospital,…
Around 12.8% of South Africa’s population is living with HIV. (Photo: Towfiqu Barbhuiya/Pexels) News & Features 31st March 2025 | Marcus Low The number of people living with HIV in South Africa has for the first time reached the eight million mark. Of these, around 6.2 million are on treatment, according to new estimates. The number of people living with HIV in South Africa continues to rise, surpassing eight million in 2024. This is according to just-released estimates from Thembisa, the leading mathematical model of HIV and TB in South Africa. The eight million amounts to 12.8% of the population.…
#InsideTheBox is a column by Dr Andy Gray, a pharmaceutical sciences expert at the University of KwaZulu-Natal and Co-Director of the WHO Collaborating Centre on Pharmaceutical Policy and Evidence Based Practice. (Photo: Supplied) Comment & Analysis 28th March 2025 | Andy Gray What medicines do you need prescriptions for and who is authorised to write those prescriptions is not a straight-forward matter. In his latest #InsideTheBox column, Dr Andy Gray explains how the system works now and sets out how it might be improved. In South Africa, medicines are scheduled in a few broad categories: those that can be bought…
by Shelley Humphreys, CEO, Save Our Schools NPO The deadline that basic education minister Siviwe Gwarube set for the eradication of pit latrines is fast approaching. All indications are: this is another deadline that will not be met. This is despite the minister’s recent announcement that 93% of pit latrines have been replaced at 3372 schools identified by the department. There are a lot of questions about this eradication plan. I’ve been trying to find out what schools are on the identified list, but haven’t had much luck. It’s not clear if there is an official list that the public…