Health e News
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The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the need for pandemic preparedness in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) with vulnerable populations. LMICs face a double burden during pandemics because they are often last in line to access available medicines and vaccines to reduce life-threatening diseases. This does not bode well for LMICs with overburdened public healthcare systems. Domestic intellectual property reform is necessary for pandemic preparedness to enable local production and manufacturing. It will also aid the transfer of technology. Most importantly, it will increase access to affordable medicine and realise people’s right to healthcare services. Why TRIPS waiver is important Domestic intellectual property law reform is not limited to pandemics or COVID-19 medical technologies access. People in South Africa still struggle to access life-saving medicines for diseases like cancer due to high prices driven largely by intellectual property barriers and limited access options. For instance, bendamustine is a cancer drug that treats
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In South Africa, reports of xenophobic incidents are a daily reality. Now migrants using the country’s strained public health system is a hot-button issue as impartial access to healthcare has recently become highly politicised. Operation Dudula’s anti-migrant protestors targeted the sick and vulnerable outside Kalafong Hospital in Tshwane to reach a political objective. They profiled patients allegedly by skin colour and language, turning away anyone who failed to pass muster. The protestors also targeted Hillbrow Community Health Centre, where they intimidated migrants accessing care. Days earlier, Limpopo health MEC Dr Phophi Ramathuba berated a Zimbabwean patient, claiming migrants are “killing my health system”. In an interview, politician, Gayton McKenzie, said he would switch off a foreign national’s oxygen to save a South African. Migrants left in the lurch After days of silence, the South African Government finally publicly condemned the xenophobic protests by Operation Dudula, emphasising that “the right to
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In many parts of the world, including Africa, people rely on rainwater as a source of drinking water, as well as for other household and livelihood uses. One of the reasons is water scarcity – sub-Saharan Africa has the largest number of water-scarce countries in the world. But there are concerns about how safe rainwater is to drink. It can be contaminated by dust and ash in the surroundings or by heavy metal from roofing material. Another concern is the presence of manufactured chemicals called perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), or “forever chemicals”. As environmental scientist Ian Cousins and his team explain, they are a threat to the use of rainwater for domestic purposes. What are PFAS, and why should we be worried about them? PFAS are a group of man-made substances often described as “forever chemicals” because they never break down in the environment. They are found everywhere –
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A distressed mother from the North West was left with more questions than answers after her nine-year-old son was diagnosed with bilharzia. It all started when Mokgadi Sebone* noticed blood stains on her son’s underpants. She immediately sat down with him before discovering that he’d been passing blood in his urine for some time. Worried sick, she took him to the nearest clinic where he was diagnosed with the tropical disease. “When I saw the blood, I thought it was prostate cancer or kidney failure. But bilharzia? I’d never heard of such a disease. I didn’t know how to feel or what to think. Was my baby going to die and where did he get it? I had so many questions,” said Mokgadi. The family lives in Moretele, a water scarce area far north of Pretoria, where residents have been using water tanks for over seven years. The area has
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A political storm has erupted in South Africa after a video went viral showing the health minister for the Limpopo province – which borders Zimbabwe – berating a Zimbabwean woman who was seeking healthcare. Responses have been divided. Some have called for Phophi Ramathuba to step down on the grounds that verbally abusing a patient was out of order. Others have supported her, saying she reflects the sentiments of South Africans living in the area. The Conversation Africa spoke to Kudakwashe Vanyoro, who has done research on the treatment of migrants in South Africa’s healthcare sector, to unpack the issue. What does the law say about treating non-South Africans? According to South Africa’s National Health Act, primary healthcare facilities run by the state must provide free care to everyone, except for people covered by private medical aid schemes. The country’s Refugee Act of 1998 stipulates that refugees are entitled to
The advocacy group, Healthy Living Alliance (HEALA), has set up a campaign warning the public of Nestle’s “blatant disregard” for child health. It claims the food giants have violated Regulation 991 relating to foodstuffs for infants and young children with their NIDO 3+ powdered milk product. What is R991? The #SayNoToNido campaign comes as a response to Nestlé’s Nido +3 #Childhoodmoments Masterclass which was hosted on Facebook on 30 July, two days before World Breastfeeding Week (WBW). Heala said after failing to get the event cancelled on social media, the campaign was their way to try and get Nestlé’s attention. It also wanted to raise public awareness of the violation of the Foodstuffs, Cosmetics and Disinfectants Act or R991, which relates to foodstuffs for infants and young children. R991 under sales and promotions prohibits any promotional practice or device advertising of infant formula, follow-up formula and infant or follow-up formula
The family of a four-year-old boy who died after he was hit by a car last month believes he may have survived if it wasn’t for load shedding. Their nightmare started when a car hit Nhlakanipho Zondo while he was chasing a soccer ball. “The driver thought the ball was under his car. But Nkhlakanipho was under his car,” said Mandla Mahlangu, the boy’s uncle. A matter of life or death They rushed the little boy to the Alexandra Community Health Centre (CHC), five minutes from their home. But a security guard told them they could not enter due to load shedding. He also told them that the generator wasn’t working, advising them to take the seriously injured child to Edenvale Hospital. They begged the guard to let nurses on duty examine the child, but he told them to call an ambulance or take the boy to another hospital. Mahlangu
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African men around the world are prone to a skin disorder called Acne Keloidalis Nuchae (AKN) which if left untreated, worsens causing scars and hair loss. Dermatologists said that AKN also affects people with curly or stiff hair. According to the American Academy of Dermatology Association (AADA), AKN is a common skin condition, which is often mistaken for acne or razor bumps on the back of the neck and scalp. Without proper treatment, AKN tends to worsen which makes it imperative to see a board-certified dermatologist as soon as bumps appear. If not treated immediately, raised scars and hair loss can occur. First-hand experience Health-e News spoke to Mluleki Sibiya, who has been suffering from AKN since he was 18. He believes he developed AKN after gaining weight and shaving with a razor blade almost every week. “I first noticed it when I gained weight due to a bad diet,
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An elderly lady in Limpopo is still recovering from severe allergic reactions after a nursing sister at Rebone Clinic forced her to take cotrimoxazole tablets nearly two months ago. Nora Mocheko, 73, pleaded with the nurses to look at her records about her severe reaction to cotrimoxazole. But according to her family members, her pleas fell on deaf ears. Her granddaughter, Thabiso Mochiko, said her granny has since developed burn-like wounds after taking the pill on 19 June. “The nursing sister insisted she must take the pill if she wanted her cough cured,” said Thabiso. Desperate measures “My granny, still sceptical, took the pill home but didn’t drink it that day. She eventually did the next day because her cough was worsening,” added Thabiso. She continued: “Immediately after ingesting the pill, her body reacted with burning sensations in her stomach. Severe sores, like burn-like wounds, started rapidly appearing across most
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The world stands at an inflexion point once more in the war against HIV. For those of us working in the field in South Africa, it feels eerily like the battle that was fought 25 years ago. At the time, I was doing my internship as a doctor at Chris Hani Baragwanath. Antiretroviral therapy was available in rich countries but not yet in Africa. It was heartbreaking to know that a simple, yet often inaccessible, intervention was the difference between suffering and relief. We knew we could make a difference. We could stop the transmission from mother to child. We could turn the tide. We could manage the medical conditions of HIV-positive patients, rendering the sickness chronic, rather than the death sentence it had been with its inevitable progression to AIDS – if only we could prescribe and dispense those life-saving ARVs. Ultimately, we were. Turning the corner on this
Breastfeeding is a relationship between two people in a thrilling new, highly vulnerable position: a mother and her newborn. It’s a bonding experience shaped by physiology, emotion and the good and bad realities of life. It is far more than the disembodied and mechanical way in which breastfeeding tends to be communicated in mainstream messaging. This is something that society should be thinking about as we marked World Breastfeeding Week (WBW) between 1 to 7 August. A joint campaign undertaken by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and WBW aims to draw attention to how public health systems, civil society, legislators, policymakers and businesses can strengthen protections for breastfeeding and postpartum parents. Several realities are lost This year’s international theme, “Step up for breastfeeding”, is a call to support the mother-child breastfeeding dyad. Whilst this is an important advocacy point, we must be sure to frame conversations about breastfeeding with mothers
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Sweet foods were an important energy source, but now we consume too much.(Photo Credit: Unsplash/Rod Long, CC BY) Cherie Russell, Deakin University; Carley Grimes, Deakin University; Mark Lawrence, Deakin University; Phillip Baker, Deakin University, and Rebecca Lindberg, Deakin University Humans have an evolutionary preference for sweetness. Sweet foods, like fruit and honey, were an important energy source for our ancestors. However, in the modern world, sweetened foods are readily available, very cheap and advertised extensively. Now, we are consuming too much sugar in foods and drinks – the kind that is added rather than sugar that is naturally occurring. Consuming too much added sugar is bad news for health. It is linked to obesity, type 2 diabetes and tooth decay. Because of these health concerns, manufacturers also started using non-nutritive sweeteners to sweeten food. These sweeteners contain little to no kilojoules and include both artificial sweeteners, such as aspartame and