Guest Author

Health, Health Systems, Women's Health

Getting to zero preventable child deaths is possible

News child mortality data shows East and southern Africa are making the fastest progress on reducing child deaths - and this bodes well as the world ushers in new development goals, write UNICEF Regional Director for Eastern and southern Africa Leila Gharagozloo-Pakkala and Save the Children East Africa Director David Wright.

Guest Author
September 9, 2015

Health

Rural Reflections: There is a problem

As public debate rages about whether there are or are not antiretroviral (ARV) stock outs in the county, our rural doctor and blogger reminds us what three letters and ARV stock outs really mean.

Guest Author
July 27, 2015

Health, Women's Health

Opinion: I’ll #BreastfeedAnywhereAnytime

Thousands of rands have been spent promoting breastfeeding for babies, so why do we treat mums who do like criminals, asks Sizile Makola, who has started the #BreastfeedAnywhereAnytime social media campaign.

Guest Author
July 2, 2015

Mental Health

Through the looking glass: ‘I was living an unliveable life’

In the latest installment of her regular mental health blog, Jocelyn Fryer writes about how she lost – and found – her voice after being diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

Guest Author
June 24, 2015

Health

Is there an orthopod in the house?

Our rural doctor-turned-blogger gets what could be the important WhatsApp of her career as she faces a bakkie load of factures by herself and without a specialist.

Guest Author
June 18, 2015

Determinants Of Health, Health

Opinion: Going too far with GMOs, ‘toxic’ chemicals

Helen Whitehead says Port St. Johns residents have little choice but to heap genetically-modified food onto their plates. She’s joined many in demanding better transparency about what’s on the country's crops and plates.

Guest Author
June 5, 2015

Health, Health Systems

What’s in your purse dictates what’s on your plate

The stream of media coverage about diets may suggest that the majority of South Africans are pre-occupied with the latest food fads. But what people choose to eat is more often dictated by class and their purses than clinical decisions about what is good for them, writes Thandi Puoane.

Guest Author
May 21, 2015

Mental Health, Women's Health

Through the looking glass: Silencing the critic

In her latest column on mental health, writer Jocelyn Fryer talks about what bipolar treatment meant for her body and what her new body meant for her.

Mental Health

Through the looking glass: Learning to love life with bipolar

My confession is this: I have bipolar, writes Jocelyn Fryer as she she reflects on being hospitalised with bipolar and how she has learned to adjust to life after her diagnosis.

Guest Author
April 22, 2015
1 Comment

Health

Rural Reflections: Park homes and preemies

Our monthly column profiling the realities of rural health is back as we follow another community service doctor through her year at a rural hospital. In her first entry, our doctor settles in to her new home but it is not long before she is in the deep end.

Guest Author
April 15, 2015

Health

True Life: Flipping the switch, hearing again

Hearing her mother’s voice for the first time in five years brought tears to her eyes, writes tuberculosis (TB) activist Phumeza Tisile just weeks after cochlear implants restored the hearing multidrug-resistant TB treatment took from her.

Guest Author
April 1, 2015

Health Systems, News

Free State protest for community health workers

Bloemfontein recently came to a standstill as community health workers (CHW) and the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) marched to the magistrate’s court in support of 118 health workers arrested in July last year.

Guest Author
April 1, 2015

Health, Health Systems

Opinion: SA needs clear e-cigarettes legislation

City of Cape Town warnings that it will seek to clarify legislation around e-cigarettes and hookah pipes is a responsible move, writes Dr Dominique Stott, executive for medical standards at the Professional Provident Society financial services company.

Guest Author
March 20, 2015

Health, Health Systems

Opinion: The fight for the right to food

South Africa’s Constitution is one of just 20 in the world that recognises the right to food, but realising that right will mean re-thinking agriculture and re-connecting with the source of our food, writes Busiso Moyo with the Studies in Poverty and Inequality Institute think tank.

Guest Author
March 17, 2015

Health Systems

Opinion: A faster track to National Health Insurance

With the majority of South Africans still denied affordable access to quality healthcare, it’s time to find a faster track to deliver universal health coverage, writes Metropolitan Health CEO Dylan Garnett.

Guest Author
March 9, 2015

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