Author: Njih Favour

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…

08 Nov SAHPRA’s position on GLP1 and GIP-GLP1 products that are compounded, substandard and falsified Pretoria, 08 November 2024 –The South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) is concerned about the proliferation of falsified, compounded and substandard Glucagon-like Peptide (GLP-1)-containing products being made available to the public via websites, social media platforms and other informal channels. These pose a health risk to the public. SAHPRA cautions the public to not purchase and/or consume such products as their safety, efficacy and quality have not been assessed. Of the registered products that contain GLP-1 agonists, SAHPRA has noted with concern the number…

The Universal Healthcare Access Coalition (UHAC) argues that the National Health Insurance (NHI) model is fiscally and institutionally unfeasible, stating that there is no scenario in which a single, tax-financed fund can provide full medical coverage for the entire population.  In its current form, the NHI fails to address the critical issues of governance in the public sector and equity in the private sector, the group claims.  Instead, the coalition – which is made up of health professions associations, healthcare funders and advocacy groups – proposes a “balanced, feasible, and sustainable pathway to achieving universal health coverage in South Africa”.   …

Christoffel de Jongh in the tented community where he lives in central Pretoria. He relies on a US funded health facility for his HIV medicines as well as methadone. (Photo: Jesse Copelyn/GroundUp/Spotlight) News & Features 18th February 2025 | Jesse Copelyn A US-funded health facility in Pretoria shut its doors for over two weeks after an executive order by President Trump paused funding. A beneficiary of the centre, who is HIV-positive, said that he hadn’t taken his ARVs in roughly two weeks due to the closure. Many were in the same predicament. The health centre reopened on 13 February after…

21 Nov SAHPRA recalls a batch of YAZ Plus contraceptives due to a quality issue Pretoria, 21 November 2024 – The South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) is aware of a quality issue in a batch of YAZ Plus contraceptives (Batch No. WEW96J distributed on 09 and 24 November 2023) which has resulted in the incorrect arrangement of tablets within some packs, thus affecting the efficacy of the affected batch. Instead of containing 24 pink film-coated hormone tablets and 4 light orange hormone-free tablets, the affected packs contain 24 light orange hormone-free tablets and 4 pink film-coated hormone tablets.…