News and analysis

Up to one in five people can get long COVID — a condition in which someone keeps on feeling ill for months after their initial symptoms have cleared up. A drug called Paxlovid can lower the chance of developing the long-haul version of COVID. But at what cost?

In rural India, people with TB got healthy food parcels and vitamin pills. Their chance of dying from the disease dropped by 60% and passing on the infection to someone in their family fell by 40%.

Our burning fossil fuels makes the Earth warmer, causing weather patterns to change. In areas with lots of air pollution, this can make it even harder for people with lung diseases to breathe. And those who have least, will be affected most.

Thousands of South African women die of cervical cancer, caused by the human papillomavirus, every year. But it needn’t be so: it’s preventable and treatable — if caught early enough. Gynaecologic oncologist Langanani Mbodi explains to Mia Malan what can be done to help government patients.

HIV home visits in a Malawi village worked so well that the same visits are not also being used for conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure and cancer.

Is the water in your tap safe? What about cleaning that in storage tanks? In this Health Beat interview, Mia Malan speaks to environmental scientist Ayesha Laher about the state of South Africa’s water systems, how you can test your water for germs and what you should do if your water isn’t clean.

By 2025, South Africa wants 95% of people with HIV who are on treatment to have infection levels so low that they can’t transmit the virus to someone else. But this can only happen if they stick to taking their medication — which is where we’re falling down at the moment. A recent court ruling that allows people to get their medicines from private pharmacies may help.

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.

Pooling funds to cover people’s medical bills makes sense — but only if the funds are managed well. Here’s what actuaries and economists look at when calculating your monthly premium — and what it could mean for the proposed National Health Insurance plan.

When things get heated at hospitals or clinics, security guards often need to step in. But they’re not always trained to handle situations the right way. A new training programme can help.

Findings from an investigation into the cholera outbreak in Hammanskraal north of Pretoria revealed on Wednesday that the germ is not in the township’s tap water — but it is in a river close by. How will this be fixed?

Many tuberculosis vaccines are in the works — but only one is showing real promise. Here’s why it’s worth getting excited.

Countries in central and sub-Saharan Africa will be hit the hardest by heat waves as climate change ramps up. What can Africans do to survive?

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.

Not only does South Africa have one of the highest rates of tuberculosis in the world, the disease is also the country’s number one killer. With the country’s new national guidelines, more people will be able to get pills to prevent TB, which is part of the government’s plan to curb infections.

Police arrested three senior staff members of a food company in Kenya who strip-searched workers to find out who put a sanitary towel into the wrong bin. Activists say period shaming should stop.