Author: Njih Favour

A banner outside the offices of an organisation in Mozambique that got defunded by USAID. (Photo: Jesse Copelyn/Spotlight/GroundUp) Comment & Analysis 21st July 2025 | Jesse Copelyn Spotlight and GroundUp published a two-part exposé showing how US aid cuts led to the deaths of children in Mozambique. Here, Jesse Copelyn considers what led to this tragedy and who should bear responsibility for it. After the US Agency for International Development (USAID) abruptly terminated billions of dollars’ worth of overseas aid grants, the health system in central Mozambique was left in tatters. Earlier this year, I travelled to two badly hit…

PEPFAR, the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, has been hailed as “the most important and consequential contribution to public health”, providing HIV treatment to around 20 million people around the world. In January, U.S President Donald Trump froze all programmes supported by PEPFAR. In February, programmes providing life-saving HIV care, including prevention of mother-to-child transmission, were allowed to continue under a limited waiver. This week, the U.S. Senate made a move that’s given the HIV community some hope: they voted to protect PEPFAR from $400 million cuts proposed in Donald Trump’s rescission package.  At the International Aids Society…

A 22-year-old woman from Musina has accused staff at Messina Hospital of negligence after she was allegedly left to give birth on her own in a general ward, without medical assistance. Her premature baby was born without a heartbeat. Monica Madumi, who was five months pregnant at the time, was admitted to the hospital on the evening of 28 June after her water broke. Although a doctor initially said everything appeared normal, Madumi was later informed that her womb had begun opening and that a miscarriage was likely. She claims her condition deteriorated overnight, with repeated calls for help ignored…

Professor Francois Venter, a clinician researcher at the University of the Witwatersrand, is one of the foremost HIV research scientists in South Africa. (Photo: Supplied) Comment & Analysis 16th July 2025 | Francois Venter South Africa is staging a sequel to Mbeki-era denialism, only this time, the science, solutions, and costs are clearer, argues Professor Francois Venter. Tragically, we have politicians showing the same disregard for despairing public health experts sounding the alarm and civil society’s calls for engagement. Treasury’s token contribution, President Cyril Ramaphosa’s and the GNU’s silence, Deputy President Paul Mashatile’s empty promises, and Health Minister Dr Aaron…

New World Health Organisation (WHO) recommendations for the use of long-acting HIV prevention and treatment are a welcome boost in the global efforts to end AIDS as a global health threat by the year 2030.  The WHO announced new guidelines at the opening of the International AIDS Conference in Kigali this week. These include the use of lenacapavir, a six-monthly injectable, as an additional method of HIV prevention, or pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). “These recommendations are part of a broader effort to support expanded access to person-centered HIV prevention, especially for populations at greatest risk,” says Meg Doherty Director of Global…

RSV is a leading cause of illness and death in children under five, particularly during the first six months in low- and middle-income countries. (Photo: Manuel Sanchez/Unsplash) News & Features 15th July 2025 | Catherine Tomlinson A new respiratory syncytial virus vaccine to protect infants from severe illness is available in South Africa’s private sector but not yet in public clinics. The country’s advisory group on immunisations has recommended making it available to all pregnant women. This proposal is now under review by the National Department of Health. Like the common cold, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is highly contagious. It…

15 Jul  SAHPRA‘s position on anti-cancer medications in South Africa Pretoria, 15 July 2025 – The South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) was notified of the Lancet Global Health 2025; 13: e1250, an investigational study and its findings on substandard anti-cancer medications in Sub-Saharan African countries, including Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, and Cameroon. This study did not include South Africa. The seven (7) medicines/dosage forms mentioned in the study are cisplatin, oxaliplatin, methotrexate, doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide, ifosfamide, and leucovorin. The specific brands mentioned/shown in the article are neither registered nor marketed in South Africa.  SAHPRA, in terms of the Medicines and…

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…