Health e News
SECTION27 released a statement detailing the financial crisis in the Eastern Cape health department which is threatening to collapse. It calls on the national health department to urgently intervene, reminding it that it has a duty to do so.
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Today (Thursday 31 May) is World No Tobacco Day, a World Health Organisation (WHO) initiative aimed at highlighting issues around the use of tobacco products. This year, the WHO has selected “tobacco industry interference” as the theme for the day in an effort to expose and counter the tobacco industry’s ‘brazen and increasingly aggressive attempts’ to undermine anti-tobacco efforts.
Almost 5 000 women died while pregnant or within 42 days of giving birth in South Africa between 2008 and 2010, more than in any of the previous years.
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Chest and cancer doctors are calling for lung cancer screening in older people with a history of smoking a pack or more a day. But at the same time they also highlight the potential harms of screening, including a high risk of false-positive tests.
As many young women are now developing cervical cancer and more are at risk of cancer of the cervix because of HIV infection, new and simpler methods of diagnosis are needed. Now, scientists have discovered that vinegar is useful in diagnosing cervical cancer.
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Smoking increases the risk of oral cancer (OC) up to five times and alcohol can elevate the risk by nine times, according to the South African Dental Association (SADA).
‘Solidarity for Survival’ is an exhibition that shows the difficult living conditions that African foreign nationals who have come to seek refuge in South Africa endure. It is currently showing at Constitution Hill, in Johannesburg. Many of the difficulties these migrants face include the lack of access to health care.
Eastern Cape rural health is on the brink of collapse as a moratorium on the appointment of doctors and nurses is leading to clinics and hospitals having to shoulder the burden of delivering healthcare without staff.
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Fish-lovers may have a lower risk of colon and rectal cancers, according to a meta-analysis recently published in the American Journal of Medicine.
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Thirty minutes of exposure to low levels of second-hand smoke can cause significant damage to the lining of blood vessels in non-smokers. This is according to recent study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
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In September last year Karin Collins went to the doctor complaining of pain in her ear and throat. The doctor examined her, found nothing wrong, charged her a consultation fee, and sent her home with some pills. But the pain got worse and Karin returned to the doctor twice just to be told there was nothing wrong with her throat, but there might rather be something wrong with her ‘head’ ‘ the doctor diagnosed a mental disorder, prescribed anti-depressants and admitted her to hospital as a psychiatric patient.