3+ hour, 36+ min ago   (918+ words) Gauteng’s public healthcare system, which features the highest overall health expenditure and total number of beds in the country, is losing at least 100 nurses a month, posing a major hurdle to the successful rollout of the National Health Insurance (NHI)....

3+ day, 23+ hour ago   (578+ words) Kamohelo Chauke asks why Section27 has represented Tlaleng Mofokeng, an accomplished doctor and, until July, UN special rapporteur on health, in her defence against a complaint made to the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) (“Section27’s troubling choice in representing…...

4+ day, 3+ hour ago   (604+ words) Health & Science Correspondent Stats SA has defended the integrity of its population estimates, which the health department said earlier this week may have skewed its estimates of childhood vaccination coverage. Public health experts in multiple provinces have questioned the crisis…...

5+ day, 3+ hour ago   (845+ words) Health & Science Correspondent The health department has conceded that the precipitous decline in childhood vaccination rates it recently published may have been skewed by potentially inaccurate population figures provided by Stats SA. The issue goes to the heart of concerns…...

1+ week, 3+ day ago   (594+ words) Health & Science Correspondent South Africa’s biggest pharmaceutical manufacturer, Aspen Pharmacare, has pulled out of government plans for local production of Gilead Sciences’ HIV prevention shot lenacapavir, citing a lack of guaranteed demand, and is instead targeting Merck’s experimental pill, alimatravir....

1+ week, 6+ day ago   (661+ words) Health & Science Correspondent Lindiwe Mqatazana is not taking any chances with her health, or with that of her unborn child. “There’s a lot of guys who won’t tell you they are HIV positive. So I have to protect myself,” says…...

2+ week, 6+ day ago   (431+ words) The US National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) surprise announcement last week that it is lifting the ban on funding South African research is good news. But it does not absolve the government of its duty to step up funding for…...

3+ week, 4+ day ago   (417+ words) Health & Science Correspondent The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) has ended its ban on funding South African research projects, opening the door for local scientists to apply for its grants once more. In a memo sent to staff, a…...

3+ week, 4+ day ago   (297+ words) Moderna’s mRNA vaccine combined with Merck’s immunotherapy Keytruda succeeded in a late-stage trial for skin cancer, the companies said on Wednesday, sending shares of the vaccine maker up 60% in premarket trading. The study is ongoing, but interim results found the…...

3+ week, 6+ day ago   (685+ words) Health & Science Correspondent The health department has pushed back against pharmaceutical manufacturer Cipla’s legal bid to scrap its R15.5bn Aids drug tender, arguing in court papers that officials ran a fair and rational process to determine which companies should be allocated…...