Bibi-Aisha Wadvalla
Eskom’s Kusile Power Station has been granted an exemption from complying fully with national air quality regulations and has been allowed to emit more sulphur dioxide (SO2) into the atmosphere despite its health impacts, Barbara Creecy, the minister of forestry, fisheries and the environment, said on Wednesday. “I am equally aware of the health and associated impacts of exposure to sulphur dioxide emissions, particularly on communities in close proximity to coal-fired power stations,” said the minister in a statement that also acknowledged the socioeconomic impacts of load shedding. “In the light of the competing factors, I have been called on to make an extraordinarily difficult decision.” Damaged chimneys clears way for Kusile exemption The exemption was granted on the grounds that one of Kusile’s stacks (chimneys) was damaged and will undergo repairs until December 2024. Eskom is constructing a temporary stack, expected to be completed by November, which will
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On a visit to Charlotte Maxeke Hospital in Johannesburg this morning, Health Minister Joe Phaahla said four people have died as a result of the ongoing protests by members of the National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu). The Department is considering legal action, as Phaahla said the deaths are “attributed directly to the strike”. Healthcare services nationwide are returning to normal, due to court interdicts taken out by various provinces. In a media statement issued today, the Department said ‘the situation has improved in many of the facilities as the police have heeded the court order and have come to ensure the safety of everyone, especially the non-striking workers to attend to their work responsibilities. Yesterday, some hospitals in Gauteng -Kopanong, Sebokeng, Thelle Mogoerane and Bheki Mlangeni- experienced a total shut down with patients were left unattended as striking workers went inside wards ordering staff out of
Written by Dr. Susan Winks, Head of Research Operations and Business Development, H3D Research Centre, University of Cape Town, and Prof. Kelly Chibale, Founder and Director, H3D Research Centre, University of Cape Town Africa’s disease burden continues to cripple economic growth across the continent. Despite accounting for just about 16.7 percent of the world’s population, Africa bears approximately 23 percent of the global disease burden and represents less than 1 percent of global scientific output, with the majority of this concentrated in South Africa and Egypt. Overdependence on health innovations developed in the global north is not sustainable and cannot continue if Africa is to be on a path to self-sufficiency. Not only do we need to invest in complementary drug discovery and development efforts we must also confront backward ideologies such as “afro-pessimism”, which have often limited our involvement in innovative pharmaceutical research and development (R&D) to participation
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A nurse from Helen Joseph Hospital is in a stable condition after he was stabbed in the stomach while on break in the facility parking lot in the early hours of Sunday morning. Gauteng Health and Wellness MEC Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko says two men escorting a patient attacked him. The two men approached the nurse who was on a comfort break and tried to steal his cellphone. They stabbed him in the stomach and then ran off, Nkomo-Ralehoko says in a statement. Overworked doctors, nurses and hospital staff battle personnel shortages, water shortages and load-shedding at Helen Joseph Hospital https://t.co/j4ey3ljM5j — Sunday Times (@SundayTimesZA) February 6, 2023 Attack on nurse captured on CCTV cameras “We condemn this act of hooliganism and criminality in the strongest possible terms. We implore the police to track down the attackers as the incident was captured on CCTV cameras,” says Nkomo-Ralehoko. She adds prior to the
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Communities in the Mpumalanga Highveld Priority Area have long felt the health effects of Eskom’s deadly air pollution that has caused premature deaths and health complications for the surrounding communities, particularly among children, writes Onke Ngcuka. A recent report shows that further air quality non-compliance by the ailing power utility could result in 79,500 air pollution-related deaths from 2025 until the power plants’ end of life. The report, Health impacts of Eskom’s non-compliance with minimum emissions standards, by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (Crea) and authored by Crea lead analyst Lauri Myllyvirta and air quality analyst Jamie Kelly, also points out that Eskom’s lack of compliance with South Africa’s Minimum Emission Standards (MES) not only costs lives, but affects the public purse too, as the lack of compliance by 2030 would be a R42-billion blow to the economy. For Thomas Mnguni, a campaigner for groundWork
The world wants health equity by 2030, but how do we scale up to get there? It starts with a clear understanding of what health and health equity really means, writes BroadReach co-founder Dr Ernest Darkoh. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), health is the state of an individual’s physical, mental and social well-being – not just the absence of infirmity or disease. This is driven by social determinants of health (SDoH), including nutrition, education, economic status, safety and security and housing. Health equity is the absence of unfair, avoidable or remediable differences among groups of people, whether they are defined socially, economically, demographically, geographically or by other dimensions of inequality (e.g., sex, gender, ethnicity, disability, or sexual orientation). The WHO says health is a fundamental human right and that health equity is achieved when everyone can attain their full potential for health and well-being. The SDoH interact
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Nurses have ended their strike at Boitumelo Regional Hospital. They downed tools last week over safety issues, overtime and staff shortages. The National Health Department (NDoH) says the strike ended after a meeting between unions and the provincial health department on Monday. “The Free State Department of Health has made phenomenal progress on many of the concerns tabled by union representatives during engagements with the management of the Department,” says NDoH. Meetings between senior management and union representatives at Boitumelo Regional Hospital will continue to outline the progress in addressing their concerns. The department adds that the concerns raised were already being attended to. It says air-conditioners in three of the five theatres were repaired. The remaining two units were ordered. An air-conditioner was installed in the maternity theatre. A broken generator, a leaking roof and five cold rooms were also repaired. The NDoH added that there are currently
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By Caradee Yael Wright, South African Medical Research Council Most skin cancers are caused by too much exposure to the sun – specifically solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation or rays. These can damage the cells in the skin and cause them to mutate. This causes skin cancer. Melanoma is the most fatal kind of skin cancer. The risk of skin cancer depends on a few things, including family history, lifestyle (such as spending a lot of time outdoors), a personal history of skin cancer and skin pigment. Other factors include skin that burns easily, having a large number of moles and older age. A big factor in skin cancer risk is skin pigment. This is called melanin. Melanin is like a natural sunscreen that protects us from the sun’s harmful UV rays. Exposure to the sun is the most important risk factor for skin cancer. People who are deeply pigmented (dark