Health Beat shorts

How much water is in 16 Olympic-sized swimming pools? The same volume as what runs through Tshwane’s Rietvlei water treatment plant’s processes before it reaches household taps. Eunice Mokoena, a lead engineer at the facility, takes you on a tour via our TV team.

As extreme weather events such as storms and floods linked to climate change disrupt water and sanitation systems, we can expect to see diseases like cholera, which spread through dirty water, pop up more often — and affect more people. In this interview for Bhekisisa’s monthly TV show, Health Beat, Mia Malan spoke to infectious diseases expert Tom Boyles about the link between climate change and disease outbreaks.

The Emfuleni local municipality needs over R600-million to fix its broken wastewater plants. An activist in one township worries that cholera may spread because people can’t afford the soap needed to stay safe. In this Health Beat episode, we take you to Bophelong, a township south of Johannesburg, and show you what dirty water does to people's health.

The appointments for the heads of two more of the five directorates of the National Health Insurance (NHI) were approved on Monday. These two positions will oversee user and service provider management and healthcare benefits and provider payment design. In the latest episode of Bhekisisa’s monthly TV show, Health Beat, Mia Malan asked the health department’s Nicholas Crisp and Sasha Stevenson from Section27 how the NHI will play out.

If the National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill is passed in its current form, your medical aid will disappear in its current form. It’s not clear how the NHI will be funded, but raised taxes will be unavoidable — and the scheme will likely want your medical aid premium.

Imagine finding out you have cancer but your medical aid won't cover your treatment because of another health condition. This was the case for Louise Turner just as she was starting a new job. Our TV team takes you to see what cancer care looks like in two health systems — one public and one private.

How does the health department deal with doctors and nurses discriminating against patients who have a higher chance of contracting HIV? Teaching them about being sensitive and trying to understand the cause of the issue, says Thato Chidarikire, acting head of HIV programmes at the department. Mia Malan found out more during this interview for Bhekisisa’s monthly TV show, Health Beat.

How would you feel if you visit a clinic because you’re sick, but the doctor or nurse who helps you, laughs at you, rather than treats you? That’s the kind of treatment Luyanda Mzimela and Viyonce Mabena frequently get. Our TV team paid them a visit.

Bloating, belching and diarrhoea are just some of the side effects that come with using Semaglutide (Ozempic) for weight loss. Learn what doctors can do to help their patients here.

Health problems linked to obesity — such as diabetes or heart disease — cost South Africa’s public health system up to R36 billion in 2020. In the latest episode of Bhekisisa’s monthly TV show, Health Beat, Mia Malan spoke to public health researcher Susan Goldstein about how regulations about how foods are sold can help to prevent obesity.

Three in four employed people surveyed by the South African Depression and Anxiety Group (Sadag) said their bosses expected them to do the same amount of work despite consistent power cuts. Many feared that continued load shedding will lead to job losses and derail attempts to turn around the country’s struggling economy. Mia Malan speaks to Sadag’s Cassey Chambers for Bhekisisa’s monthly TV programme, Health Beat.

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.

In South Africa, 70% of female sex workers in a countrywide survey conducted in 2019 said they’d experienced violence from clients in the previous year. Find out how things change when sex work isn’t illegal from workers in New Zealand.

The justice department is currently reviewing comments from activists, academics and civil society on a proposed new law to decriminalise sex work. They will then ask the cabinet to take it to parliament before it can become law. Mia Malan interviews Deputy Justice Minister, John Jeffery, and United Nations special rapporteur on the right to health, Tlaleng Mofokeng, about what's next for sex workers.

A scholarship programme has been producing doctors for South Africa’s understaffed rural hospitals since 1999, but provinces don’t have the money to employ their recent graduates. Could the country’s planned National Health Insurance scheme fix this?

There are more unplanned pregnancies in countries where men hold more power in society, likely because women don’t have a say in how many children they have. The opposite is true when men support their partner’s use of contraception.