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The International Planned Parenthood Federation’s digital campaign Treasure Your Pleasure is using an evidence-based sex-positive approach to educate young Africans about safe sex.

Common cough, flu and pain medicines can be addictive. Codeine addiction is an increasingly well-known problem in South Africa.

Bayanda Maseko lost 2 000 chickens and more than R100 000 he invested in his farm in 2022, all because of loadshedding. Maseko says psychological support is needed in an industry where “it's every man for himself”. He speaks about the impact of these losses on his mental health in the March episode of Bhekisisa’s television show Health Beat.

Goodman Makanda survived the most drug-resistant form of tuberculosis that scientists know of, but he lost a lung to the disease in the process. Now, he says he would “rather die” than take handfuls of TB medicine again.

In 2020, 1.9-million children were stillborn according to a new report from the World Health Organisation. Read how one woman’s experience of stillbirth inspired her to start a mental health support group for parents who lost a child during pregnancy.

Nokwazi Mbambo watched her life wash away in April, and little has changed 6 months later. Read more on how the climate change induced floods that destroyed her home.

Many women in South Africa resorted to sex work in order to survive the COVID recession. Male “blessers” were happy to pay, contributing to the spread of HIV.

More South African parents are choosing to bring their baby into the world with a splash, but is it better than conventional births?

The start of the rainy season in the war-torn country could spell a cholera outbreak.

Death comes for us all and when it does, we hope it’s a good one. We hope it has meaning, we hope it’s painless and that those we leave behind are cared for. Turns out, it doesn’t matter if you’re 80 or eight.

Planning for a baby? Before deciding on a birth plan, find out what you need to know to make an informed decision.

The Nigerian government wants to stop medical professionals from leaving to countries including the United Kingdom and the United States by making it mandatory for doctors to work in state hospitals for five years.

Tens of thousands of community health workers in Rwanda are driving a powerful vaccination programme in the country that could make the East African nation the first country in the world to eliminate cervical cancer.

An adherence club helped almost all patients stay on their treatment.

Zimbabwe’s tight abortion laws aren’t curbing demand, they’re driving them underground — and it’s about to get worse.

Driven by a more infectious new COVID variant, the second wave of South Africa’s coronavirus pandemic has seen considerably more infections than the first wave. This meant health workers have had to deal with more hospitalisations and deaths — and pressure. Bhekisisa visited George Mukhari Academic Hospital north of Tshwane to document the second wave realities experienced by doctors and nurses.