MGUNGUNDLOVU. - April marked the start of a new era for HIV positive pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers. That was when the fixed dose combination pill for HIV was introduced in South Africa.
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TSHWANE. - Phedisong 4 Clinic in Ga-rankuwa was abuzz with when the Minister of Health, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, recently introduce the roll-out of the new one-a-day antiretroviral treatment for HIV patients.
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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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Blurb: National health department DG Precious Matsoso summarises the progress and future plans for introducing the NHI in South Africa.
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MEDIA RELEASE: As of this month (April), some public sector AIDS patients will start to take simplified ARV treatment of just one pill a day to manage their infection. The South African National AIDS Council (SANAC) welcomes this change in treatment protocols by the Department of Health.
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Turning the huge public health service ‘ship’ around to get it ready for the National Health Insurance (NHI) scheme is both complicated and slow
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The state of many public health facilities threatens the expansion of the country’s antiretroviral treatment programme, particularly frequent ARV shortages and poor service delivery.
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A Bill restricting alcohol advertising is likely to be presented to Cabinet next week, Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi announced last night.
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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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MEDIA RELEASE: CAPE TOWN – As the 5th BRICS Summit kicks off today in Durban, the South African government must follow the lead of its BRICS peers to ensure that life-saving medicines are affordable.
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A historic breakthrough. That’s how key stakeholders in breast health in South Africa described a meeting with the Health ministry on March 21, Human Rights Day. By Sue Segar
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Health activists have highlighted on-going medicine and consumable shortages, broken equipment and inadequate human resources at all Gauteng hospitals in response to Health MEC Hope Papo’s recent claims that his department is on top of matters.
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Gauteng health MEC Hope Papo has responded to the SECTION27 report which last week painted a grim picture of poor health service delivery. Read his statement here.
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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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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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The report details four core areas in which services were compromised. Read more here.
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The contributing factors that caused the crisis were improper budgeting and financial management, poor supply chain management and poor management.
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Avoidable deaths occur on a weekly basis at Helen Joseph hospital while Leratong hospital is a tragedy and disaster, a senior doctor said this week. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the Helen Joseph doctor has agreed to supply an affidavit should SECTION27 pursue a legal avenue.
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Professor Ashraf Coovadia shakes his head. “What really grates me is that we have the resources. Yes, we have challenges, but we have the skills, we have the facilities, we have the expertise – much more than in most of Africa and in certain respects comparable to the developed world”.
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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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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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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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Mayor Patricia de Lille has admitted that the City’s janitorial services in informal services needed to be jacked up and her office has taken over the monitoring of this service.
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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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South Africa’s Medicines Control Council (MCC) has confirmed that it will continue to deny compassionate access to a TB drug that for many drug resistant patients is their last hope.
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