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Daniel Marcu, University of East Anglia; Liana Maree, University of the Western Cape, and Shannen Keyser, University of the Western Cape The World Health Organisation (WHO) recently reported that around one in six couples globally are affected by infertility. For many years people tended to blame women for a couple’s infertility – especially in African countries. But it’s now known that male factor infertility contributes about 50% of total cases. And men worldwide – Africa included – are experiencing a worrying trend of decreased sperm count and quality. There are multiple causes of male infertility. However, it is clear that environmental contaminants play a large part in declining fertility worldwide. Concern is rising about substances such as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, nanomaterials and endocrine disrupting compounds. These substances are found everywhere in modern everyday lives. Most are present in personal-care products such as soaps, shampoos and hair sprays, as well
Agnes Erzse, University of the Witwatersrand and Aviva Tugendhaft, University of the Witwatersrand South Africa has persistently high rates of hunger and malnutrition among mothers and children. More than a quarter – 27% – of children under five are stunted and 61% of children are iron-deficient. Sixty-nine percent of women of reproductive age are overweight or obese, and 31% are iron-deficient. These figures paint a worrying picture. They suggest gaps in the country’s evidence-based nutrition policies and services. One way to accelerate progress on malnutrition is through engaging with the people who are directly affected by policies. South Africa’s health system strategy does include public consultation. But public participation is mostly limited to public meetings once a policy has already been drafted. This leaves little opportunity for substantial revisions. The lack of meaningful public engagement is also evident in how funds for mother and child nutrition are allocated. Decisions are
By Edina Amponsah-Dacosta, University of Cape Town and Julie Copelyn, University of Cape Town South Africa has experienced outbreaks of cholera since January. The worst was in May in Hammanskraal, north of Pretoria, where nearly 30 people died. Cholera is a bacterial disease which spreads via the faecal-oral route mostly through ingestion of contaminated food and water. It causes severe diarrhoea and dehydration and in extreme cases death. The source of the outbreak in Hammanskraal is still not known. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations for responding to a cholera outbreak include ensuring that communities have access to safe drinking water and sanitation and treating sick people quickly. Oral cholera vaccines may be considered to contain ongoing outbreaks and to limit the spread. These vaccines have not been administered during the current outbreak in South Africa. The Conversation Africa spoke to vaccinologists Edina Amponsah-Dacosta and Julie Copelyn about the cholera
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by Onke Ngcuka, Daily MaverickWeather experts have sent out an alert about the possible impacts of an El Niño manifesting in the central Pacific Ocean, but they are uncertain what effect it will have across southern Africa. El Niño is a weather phenomenon that typically brings with it higher temperatures and lower rainfall as a result of warm sea surface temperatures along the South American coast and towards the central Pacific Ocean, caused by weaker trade winds (easterly winds near the equator). Speaking at an El Niño summit hosted by the University of Pretoria on Monday, weather phenomenon observers said there had been record high sea surface temperatures, but it was still unclear what effect El Niño would have in southern Africa. Dr Neville Sweijd, a senior researcher at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), was one of the experts at the summit. He said that this year,
Youth Month calls us to reflect both on the historic debt we owe previous generations of young people who fought for our freedom and on the challenge of breathing hope and self-belief into the hearts of the current generation. The debate, quite rightly, centres on skills and jobs for young people in order to enable them to enjoy a better life than previous generations. But we cannot afford to neglect social ills that also erode the quality of life of our youth. Among these is the widespread use of alcohol by people under the age of 18, and a society that not only tolerates this but sometimes enables it. The issue is not whether it is morally right or wrong for adolescents and teenagers to drink. The fact is that it is damaging to their bodies and endangers their lives. The effect of alcohol on the brain is more marked
The death toll from the cholera outbreak in Hammanskraal climbed to 15t, the Gauteng Health Department confirmed Monday. The outbreak in the area was confirmed on Sunday. “By Sunday night 37 people were admitted to hospital. Another update will be given at midday,” says Gauteng Health Department Spokesman Motalatale Modiba. He urged anyone exhibiting symptoms of diarrhoea, nausea, vomiting, or stomach cramps to visit their nearest clinic or hospital immediately. Cholera typically causes acute watery diarrhoea and can affect people of all ages. It mainly spreads through contaminated/polluted water. People can become infected directly through drinking contaminated water or indirectly through eating contaminated food. The infection is often mild or without symptoms but can sometimes be severe and life-threatening. An outbreak usually occurs in settings with inadequate sanitation and insufficient access to safe drinking water. Modiba says 95 people with similar symptoms from Kanana, Suurman, Majaneng, Green Field, Carousel View,
South Africa is experiencing a rise in malaria cases in the endemic provinces and Gauteng. The National Institute of Communicable Diseases says there have been a number of severe cases due to late detection. “Undiagnosed and untreated malaria rapidly progresses to severe illness, with a potentially fatal outcome,” the NICD says in a statement. It says anyone with fever and flu-like illness, who has travelled to malaria-risk areas of Limpopo, KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga in the last six weeks, must test for malaria. Recent heavy rains and more people travelling during the recent Easter holidays possibly caused the rise in cases. Let your doctor know of travel to malaria-risk areas “(They) must be tested for malaria by blood smear microscopy or malaria rapid diagnostic test. If they test positive for malaria, the patient must start on malaria treatment immediately.” Malaria is a potentially life-threatening disease. The blood parasites of the genus
The 2023/24 budget allocation for the National Department of Health has declined by R4,4bn from R64.5bn in 22/23 to R60.1 billion in 2023/24. Health Minister Joe Phaahla says this can be attributed to the discontinuation of conditional grants allocated for fighting Covid-19. Delivering the budget vote in the National Assembly in Parliament on Tuesday, the minister says both the pandemic and loadshedding have hurt the economy. “The financing of public health is seriously negatively affected by this situation. The fact of the matter is that there is not even an inflation adjustment and there are also reductions in allocations to existing programs,” says Phaahla. Health underfunded He says the treasury acknowledges the health sector is underfunded to a minimum of R11-billion. “We believe commutatively it is much higher. 89.2% of our budget is transferred to provinces and in the current budget the transfers and subsidies to provinces are at R56.2bn
Decreasing investment in maternal and newborn health has stalled global progress in reducing deaths of pregnant women, mothers and babies since 2015. According to a new by the United Nations over 4.5 million women and babies die every year during pregnancy, childbirth or the first weeks after birth. This is equivalent to 1 death happening every 7 seconds. And the deaths are mostly from preventable or treatable causes. “Pregnant women and newborns continue to die at unacceptably high rates worldwide, and the COVID-19 pandemic has created further setbacks to providing them with the healthcare they need,” says Dr Anshu Banerjee, Director of Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health and Ageing at the World Health Organisation (WHO). “More and smarter investments in primary healthcare are needed now to give every woman and baby — no matter where they live — the best chance of health and survival.” Staggering number of maternal
As cold and flu season approaches, residents of Bojanala district in the Moretele Municipality face a shortage of medicines to treat colds, and ear and eye infections. This is because of their local faces shortages of these medicines. write Precious Mashiane. Lerato Thibedi, a 34-year-old resident, is one of many frustrated residents. “Whenever I go to the clinic with flu symptoms, they always tell me they don’t have cold and flu meds,” she says. “Last month, I went and was still told there are no cold and flu medications.” NW health department reassures patients over medicines Agnes Golela, 49, has a similar story. She says she visited the Leseding clinic recently for an earache. Nurses told her they had no medicine to treat her with. “I could not believe what I was told. I went to the clinic to be told that I should buy Vicks. What a waste of