Author: Njih Favour
This project is funded by: Conditions at Victoria Street in Durban’s downtown pose a serious public health hazard, as a major drainpipe that burst months ago continues to leak raw sewage across the pavement. The broken pipe, located near the busy market area, has led to stagnant pools of water that emit a strong, foul odour and attract flies. Vendors working along the street say they have been experiencing persistent stomach issues, vomiting, and itchy and irritated skin as a result. Fear for health and livelihoods Fruit vendor Zinhle Dlamini says her skin has become severely irritated, and she suffers…
(Photo: CDC/Unsplash) Comment & Analysis 27th November 2025 | Marcus Low and Nathan Geffen The National Health Laboratory Service has provided HIV, TB, syphilis and cholesterol data, which Spotlight and GroundUp obtained through the Promotion of Access to Information Act. Earlier this year, we made a request for data to the National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS) using the Promotion of Access to Information Act. In October, we were provided with the data we requested (and more). We are grateful and impressed that the NHLS provided the data without fuss and without the need to go to court. Other state institutions…
Gift Monareng lives with a football-sized tumour on his back, which makes it difficult for him to walk or sit. The 24-year-old from Acornhoek, Bushbuckridge in Mpumalanga has cellular angiomyxoma, a rare soft-tissue tumour that isn’t cancerous. “It’s been 14 years since I have been living with this tumour. I am tired and constantly in pain. It has grown to be huge now, and I cannot sleep on my back and only sleep on my chest. I am always vomiting and weak. The pain is unbearable, and the tumour has a yellowish discharge that smells very bad,” Monareng tells Health-e…
Epidemiologist Professor Salim Abdool Karim is internationally recognised for his significant contributions to research on HIV treatment and prevention. (Photo: Supplied) Comment & Analysis 26th November 2025 | Salim Abdool Karim As World AIDS Day 2025 swings by, CAPRISA Director Professor Salim Abdool Karim reflects on the frantic days following this year’s unprecedented cuts to health aid and research funding from the US, arguing that the deliberate disruptiveness was designed to be cruel. Nonetheless, he argues, our HIV response must now forge ahead on a path that is more affordable, sustainable and independent. STOP WORK! A “STOP WORK” order is…
All I wanted on the morning of Monday, 3 November 2025, as I stood outside of Addington Hospital with my sick three-year-old son beside me, was to get him medical care. Instead, I was confronted by a group of men and women at the gate, blocking the hospital’s entrance and demanding to see my ID before I could go inside. They called themselves the “March and March” group, one of several unauthorised formations claiming to “protect” public hospitals from so-called foreign nationals. I then explained to them, calmly, that I am a South African citizen and a freelance journalist for…
News & Features 25th November 2025 | Spotlight From the first reported cases of HIV in 1981 to the latest breakthroughs in long-acting prevention, this Spotlight timeline traces key moments in the global and South African response to the virus. It highlights scientific milestones, political controversies, activism, and the human stories that shaped one of the most significant public health challenges of our time. 1981 – The first cases of what would later become known as AIDS are reported in mostly gay men in the United States. In the following year, the condition will be given the name GRID…
FROM THE ARCHIVE Sexual violence is a major crisis in South Africa. In the first week of April 2025 alone, 222 suspects were arrested for rape. But, research shows that many of the complainants in these cases won’t see the inside of a courtroom. Despite South Africa’s strong laws, many gaps in the system contribute to cases falling through the cracks. This is known as rape case attrition. A 2023 study on factors associated with rape case attrition in the South African criminal justice system, found that: 35% of cases were closed by police, 31% were declined by the prosecutors, …
The World Health Organization recommends HIV self-screening tests as a tool to help find people that are difficult to reach through traditional HIV testing approaches. (Photo: Shutterstock) News & Features 24th November 2025 | Catherine Tomlinson It is estimated that around half a million people living with HIV in South Africa don’t know they are living with the virus. One way to help these people is by offering them the means to test themselves in the privacy of their own homes. As we explain in this #InTheSpotlight special briefing, such self-screening tests are part of our HIV response on paper,…
The national campaign calling for Gender-Based Violence and Femicide (GBVF) to be declared a national disaster reached a breakthrough. At the G20 Social Summit on 20 November, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that the government will officially classify GBVF as a national disaster, a long-awaited acknowledgement of the scale of violence faced by women and children in South Africa. This breakthrough follows an 18-month campaign led by Women for Change, a non-profit organisation that advocates for the constitutional rights of women and children in South Africa. Working alongside activists, civil society groups, community leaders, and survivor-led movements, Women for Change launched…
Associate Professor Yumna Albertus is the director of the University of Cape Town’s Health through Physical Activity, Lifestyle and Sport research entity. (Photo: Biénne Huisman/Spotlight) News & Features 21st November 2025 | Biénne Huisman What started as a childhood fascination with science and sport has grown into a mission to “democratise” technology with innovative, affordable rehabilitation solutions for people with limited resources. Spotlight sits down with the associate professor – who was once a volleyball captain and is now the head of a top research centre – and who is proving that low-cost solutions are possible. Inside her office at…