Author: Njih Favour

Despite an incredible reduction in the number of babies who acquire HIV from their mothers, many are still getting infected in this way. (Photo: Ryan Graybill/Unsplash) News & Features 14th May 2025 | Elna Schütz Over the last two decades, South Africa made massive progress in reducing transmission of HIV from mothers to their babies. Even so, about 7 000 babies still contract the virus every year. Experts put this down to having the right puzzle pieces for prevention but failing to integrate them optimally. Around 7 000 infants in South Africa still contract HIV from their mothers every year…

South Africa faces a high burden of mental health disorders driven by a range of factors, including childhood trauma, poverty, unemployment, the ongoing impact of HIV, and a history of political and social violence. Research shows that 30.3% of South Africans experience a mental disorder in their lifetime, yet most of them won’t get the care they need.  “There’s clear epidemiological evidence that 16% of South Africans experience a mental health condition in any given year. But more than 90% of people living with mental health conditions don’t receive the care that they need, despite clear evidence of cost-effective interventions,”…

File photo: Buthelezi EMS’ smallholding in the south of Johannesburg where ambulances were stored, as well as several other pieces of machinery, a horse, broken vehicles and outbuildings. (Photo: Spotlight) News & Features 12th May 2025 | Marcus Low and Tamsin Metelerkamp The Special Tribunal has ruled that companies owned by Thapelo Buthelezi must repay more than R532 million, linked to improperly awarded contracts first exposed by Spotlight. Buthelezi intends to appeal the tribunal’s decision.  The Special Tribunal has ordered four ambulance companies run by Thapelo Buthelezi to pay back a total of over half-a-billion rand. The matter relates to…

This project is funded by: Residents of Kliptown in Soweto say they’ve been forced to live under inhumane conditions and in an unhealthy environment. For more than 20 years they’ve been using plastic, chemical non-flush toilets. Some community members claim that they’ve fallen ill as a result.  Chemical non-flush toilets rely on a combination of chemicals to break down waste and control odour, including formaldehyde.  Professor Martin Onani, head of the chemistry department at the University of the Western Cape warns of the potential health hazards associated with plastic chemical non-flush toilets.  “Direct or indirect exposure to toilet chemicals could…

At the end of March, 17-year-old Bongani Nthangase from Chatsworth, Durban, died after being robbed and stabbed outside a popular restaurant on Durban’s North Beach. His passing and response from police, raised many questions on social media, about why police could not allow bystanders to assist in transporting him to the hospital, which was just 2km away. Nthangase who was at the beach, was approached by two young men, demanding his cell phone and other valuables. He didn’t have any valuables to hand over, but the robbers stabbed him and fled the scene.  The teenager was left in the beachfront…

#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 12th May 2025 | Andy Gray Clinical trial participants appear to be well protected in South Africa, particularly as the country’s guidelines recognise the risks of research with international collaborators. The sudden end of US-funded clinical trials, however, is exposing some limitations of ethics codes and guidelines, argues Dr Andy Gray. Participation in a clinical trial that involves the use of an investigational product,…

A few minutes after giving birth to her daughter, Philasande Mbutuma (30) from Kraaifontein in Cape Town felt something unusual, a movement in her stomach that she couldn’t explain. “I felt something moving inside me right after giving birth naturally.  I immediately told the doctors about it while I was still in the delivery room,” she says. Doctors performed a scan to investigate the ongoing movement in her abdomen, and what followed shocked not only her, but the medical team at Karl Bremer District Hospital. While nurses were examining her newborn in the hospital delivery room, Mbutiuma was surprised to…

Crucial health research is being stopped because the US government is cutting funding. (Photo: CDC/Unsplash) News & Features 9th May 2025 | Jesse Copelyn US funding for clinical research in South Africa is incrementally being cancelled. This is happening through at least two processes – the first is by banning certain kinds of foreign grants called sub-awards (which is affecting everyone globally). The second is by failing to issue routine renewals of grants for clinical studies in South Africa. Spotlight and GroundUp break down the current situation. On 1 May, the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), which is the…

Many state doctors work far beyond their contracted hours due to emergencies, understaffing, and other factors. (Photo: Mulyardi/Unsplash) News & Features 8th May 2025 | Ufrieda Ho Trade unions, medical associations and universities are raising the alarm that Gauteng budget cuts at the cost of doctors’ take-home pay will have dire consequences for public sector health. Meanwhile, the National Minister of Health has convened a committee to review the future of overtime for state doctors.  Dysfunction in the Gauteng Department of Health hit home hard for many public sector doctors on 29 April when their overtime payments due for the…

Saidy Brown was only 14 years old when she tested positive for HIV. She remembers the feelings of shock and confusion as if it were yesterday.  “I was in Grade 10 and our school had been invited to a Youth Day event. I was one of the learners chosen to attend,” she recalls. At the event, different NGOs were hosting HIV awareness sessions.  “They told us about voluntary counselling and testing and said it was free if we wanted to test for HIV. Naively, I got tested thinking I was creating memories from my trip. Indeed, memories were created when…