Health e News
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
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Covid-19 is no longer a public health emergency of international concern. The Director-General of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus made the announcement on Friday, marking exactly three years since the outbreak began in Wuhan, China. “Yesterday, the Emergency Committee met for the 15th time and recommended to me that I declare an end to the public health emergency of international concern. I have accepted that advice. It is therefore with great hope that I declare COVID-19 over as a global health emergency.” He says COVID-19 has had a devastating impact on the world, causing almost 7 million reported deaths. The toll is likely to be closer to 20 million deaths. It also caused severe economic and social upheaval. “COVID-19 has been so much more than a health crisis. It has caused severe economic upheaval, erasing trillions from GDP, disrupting travel and trade, shuttering businesses, and plunging
by Tony Carnie, Daily MaverickThe Saiccor pulp factory at Umkomaas has been mashing up and dissolving gum trees in chemical cookers for nearly 70 years to produce tree-based fibres for clothes and curtains. But since operations began in 1955, the factory has also raised the ire of local residents frequently by gassing the atmosphere with clouds of sulphur dioxide and other noxious gases, and by dumping its “purple death” liquid effluent into the sea. Sappi took over the factory in 1988 from the British textile group Courtaulds. Toxic fumes forced removal of 250 schoolchildren Just short of a decade later, a government official leaked documents to this writer demonstrating that the factory frequently exceeded the government’s air pollution guidelines. Sappi later agreed to relocate 250 children from a nearby primary school to a new site 2km away because of the cloying fumes that threatened the health of the children. At
Colour is a ubiquitous presence in our lives, from the bright shades of a beautiful sunset to the cool blues of a serene ocean. However, for the autism community, colour takes on a special significance as a symbol of hope, solidarity, and awareness writes Professor Juan Bornman. A rainbow-coloured infinity symbol is an international symbol for autism. It represents the vast range of autism symptoms and many challenges faced by these individuals but also their unlimited range of abilities. For the past 16 years, the autism community have embarked on the “Light It Up Blue” campaign in April to promote autism awareness worldwide. Iconic buildings such as the Eifel Tower in Paris, the Nelson Mandela Bridge in Johannesburg and King Shaka Airport in Durban are lit up in blue. Everyone is encouraged to wear blue clothes, shine blue lights, and hoist blue flags as a symbol of solidarity with persons
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by Agnes Erzse, University of the Witwatersrand It is almost impossible nowadays to listen to the radio, watch TV or scroll through social media without being exposed to an advertisement telling us that all we need for a little happiness and love is a sugary drink or a fast-food snack. There’s nothing that a tasty, affordable, ready-made meal cannot fix, we are asked to believe. Over many decades our food environments have relentlessly been encouraging us to make choices that are harmful to our health, through pricing, marketing and availability. This rise in advertising has contributed to a growing global obesity crisis as well as nutrition deficiencies as more and more people opt to eat unhealthy food. We each have the right to buy whatever we can afford. But commercial forces limit our freedom of choice more than we think. New evidence published in The Lancet shows that key causes
Black women living with HIV continue to experience forced sterilisation at South African public health institutions, the Sexual and Reproductive Justice Conference heard at Diep in Die Berg, in Pretoria, on Wednesday Organised by the Department of Social Development, the conference brought together policymakers, civil society organisations, researchers, and young people to deepen and promote sexual and reproductive justice. Addressing legacy of forced sterilisation of HIV-positive women Khensani Motileni, from the Women’s Legal Centre, says many women, especially, those living in rural communities face discrimination and don’t often have equitable access to basic services, such as water, food, and medical treatment. Quoting from an investigation report by the Commission on Gender Equality, Motileni says some women were sterilised without being given alternative prevention or birth control measures. This she says, is equivalent to forced or coerced sterilisation of women in public health institutions and has a negative impact on many
Written by Lillian Artz, Veronica Filippeschi and Nokwanda Nzimande The global female prison population has grown by a staggering 53% over the past decade. Yet little has been done to improve the system so that it supports those whom it incarcerates. South Africa is no different. The little information we have about women in South African prisons speaks of intolerable overcrowding, unhygienic sleeping conditions, and minimal health and mental health care services, including ‘medical neglect’. This comes in addition to pervasive issues with deteriorating infrastructure. And the impact of imprisoning women on the back of the already dire socio-economic conditions of the families that women support and leave behind when imprisoned. Two reports on conditions but no change In 2015 Constitutional Court Judge Cameron – now the Inspecting Judge for Correctional Services – released a harrowing report based on a visit to a prison where women were detained. “Ninety-four
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Plans to build a R20-million clinic near Lebowakgomo in rural Limpopo have stalled due to a disagreement over its location. Mining company Sibanye-Stillwater took on the project in 2019 after the communities of two rural villages, Dithabaneng and Makurung, requested a larger facility to serve the growing population. The Dithabaneng Clinic currently serves five villages. A site for the new clinic was chosen near the high school in Makurung, but Dithabaneng village residents have proposed a different site. Headmen at odds over clinic location Makurung Village headman Percy Shogole say the site makes the most sense. It is also the location chosen by the traditional authority. “We are not going to agree to this unfairness. The site next to the school is convenient for both villages, no argument about that.” Trevor Mphahlele, the spokesperson for the Mphahlele Traditional Authority, which oversees Dithabaneng and Makurung villages, confirms that the site
Treatment for erectile dysfunction (ED) is becoming more affordable in South Africa as the price of medication to treat it continues to fall. This means men no longer have to limit love-making to special occasions like Valentine’s Day. Increased competition in the market has led to a drop in prices by an average of 33% over the past 11 years, with generics now available for as little as R80 for a pack of four. National Impotence Day on February 14 sheds light on Erectile Dysfunction. It aims to educate both the public and health professionals.https://t.co/lhUjmrCaWg #erectiledysfunction #erectiledysfunctiontreatment #erectiledysfunctioncure #erectiledysfunctionexpert #impotence pic.twitter.com/Iz2Skj8UiC — IVFLondonUK (@IVF_londonUK) February 14, 2023 Fadhl Solomon, the Men’s Health Category Manager for Pharma Dynamics, says the introduction of generic medication to the market has driven the price drop. “Currently, there are ten different generic brands available to SA patients, with more expected to follow in the