Scholars will receive the HPV vaccine as part of government's School Health Programme from February next year, health minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi announced in his budget speech. Read the full speech here.
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JOHANNESBURG – Each year, about three million of the 7.7-million children who die before reaching their fifth birthday are newborns who do not survive their first four weeks of life. This situation has led to the top health agencies and child experts meeting in South Africa to formulate what will become the Global Newborn Action Plan.
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MEDIA RELEASE: BRUSSELS – The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria announced a goal of raising US$15 billion so that it can effectively support countries in fighting these three infectious diseases in the 2014-2016 period.
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One of South Africa’s poorest districts and home to former President Nelson Mandela has scored bottom of the class when it comes to the delivery of health care services.
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A landmark decision by the Indian Supreme Court to uphold India's Patents Act in the face of the seven-year challenge by pharmaceutical company Novartis has been hailed across the world as a major victory for access to affordable medicines in developing countries.
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Patient CZ’s horror story represents a myriad of breakdowns within the Gauteng health system – ranging from stockouts of critical drugs, long delays in investigative and diagnostic procedures and stockouts of basics such as clean linen.
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Government’s National Health Insurance (NHI) rollout, specifically to the 10 provincial pilot sites, was the focus of finance minister Pravin Gordhan’s budget speech. However, while commentators welcomed the renewed focus on NHI, they wanted to hear more on rooting our failures and corruption within the health system.
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President Zuma discussed a range of health issues in his State of the Nation Address, specifically National Health Insurance, TB and lifestyle diseases. Read the part of his speech dealing with health here.
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Tshwane. - The news that the United States President's Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (PEPFAR) was discontinuing its financial support to non-governmental organisations in South Africa was received with shock by the thousands of patients at Hope for Life, an NGO in Winterveld in the northern region of the City of Tshwane that is now facing closure.
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The launch of the Joint Public Health Enhancement Fund last week is a rare occurrence in the history of South Africa’s health care. The Fund illustrates that in a climate of tough economic times and international donor fatigue, local private sector funds are sorely needed if South Africa is to improve its health outcomes.
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A unique partnership launched this week between the private health sector and the national Health Department will result in more student doctors being trained, the strengthening of health management education and training and the funding of local research in TB and HIV and AIDS.
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Health minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi has established a fund in partnership with 23 of South Africa’s largest private medical aid, pharmacy, drug and hospital companies in an effort to bolster human resource capacity in the public sector.
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OurHealth: Winterveldt – A number of non-governmental organisations who were in the past supported by the United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS (Pepfar) are closing at the end of March because they have failed to secure alternative funding.
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OPINION: Catherine Tomlinson of the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) has published an article on Quackdown that gives a detailed response to criticisms of the TAC and MSF by the Cancer Alliance.
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The title of last week's Global Health Lab, held at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, was meant to incite interest, not signal aggression. But some interpreted the symposium as an attack before it had even taken place. I was texted, tweeted, and emailed to encourage diplomacy. None of these rearguard protective manoeuvres turned out to be necessary. By Richard Horton.
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Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan has delivered his Medium Term Budget Policy Statement. Gordhan acknowledged that there has been mismanagement of supplies to schools and hospitals in some provinces.
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Dr Aaron Motsoaledi rubs his forehead and repositions himself in his chair, leaning forward as if to make sure the point come across clearly: “I will say it upfront. There is no way National Health Insurance (NHI) will function anywhere if the public health system is not functioning well.”
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He cuts a lone figure in the fading dusk light, clutching a laptop bag in one hand and an oversized grass basket in the other. His salt and pepper hair slightly disheveled after a long day, the Eastern Cape health’s head honcho Siva Pillay looks over his shoulder and grins: “I should have come in my other bakkie, I could have shown you those bullet holes”.
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The Eastern Cape Health and Treasury MECs have been given an ultimatum to either reply to a set of questions related to the staffing crises at Madwaleni and Livingstone hospitals, or face litigation.
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CAPE TOWN - Health Director-General Precious Matsoso has launched a strong appeal to the private health sector to come up with good “contracting models” whereby the state could as an example partner with private doctors to deliver services.
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Mediclinic has commented on the CMS Annual Report, read their statement here.
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The Council for Medical Schemes has just released its latest Annual Report, for the 2011-2012 financial year. Read it here.
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Activists met with new Gauteng Health MEC Hope Papo this week. Read their statement here.
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New United Nations data shows great gains in AIDS treatment coverage, but countries most affected by the AIDS epidemic continue to struggle to place enough people on treatment, mainly due to cuts in donor funding.
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WASHINGTON — Speaking at a satellite session today at the XIX International AIDS Conference, Ambassador Eric Goosby, the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator, and Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), commended countries and their international partners for recent progress in preventing new HIV infections among children and saving mothers’ lives.
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