Health e News
South Africa’s COVID-19 cases are beginning to climb as the government continues its drive to get 70 percent of the population vaccinated by the end of the year. The National Institute of Communicable Diseases warned there has been a spike in the 7-day moving average for new cases. In the past week, infections increased in Gauteng, particularly in Tshwane, the NICD said in a statement. The spike was evident among 10 to 29-year-olds. A cluster of infections was also identified among the 20-44 age group at a tertiary institute in Tshwane. “Localised increases in case numbers (clusters) are not unexpected, however, it is hard to say whether the increases indicate the start of a widespread resurgence.,” said NICD Acting Executive Director, Professor Adrian Puren. NICD monitoring trends Puren said they were monitoring the trends to see if the increases persist. The emergence of new SARS-CoV-2 variants had driven the previous
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a crippling effect on all women globally across every sphere; from health to the economy, security to social protection, and escalated poverty levels. However, few will argue that if it’s been tough for anybody, single mothers take first place. Mrs Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, the former Executive Director of United Nations Women, summed it up well. “The COVID-19 pandemic is not just a health issue but a profound shock to the societies exposing the deficiencies of public and private arrangements that currently function only if women play multiple and underpaid roles.” The extent of the stringent lockdowns hit women badly as they saw an increase in roles and an extra burden of family care, but they fell disproportionately on single mothers, many of whom were already facing hidden challenges. According to the Gallup World Poll 2018, Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest percentage of single mothers worldwide, at
Around 50 percent of South Africans living with diabetes are unaware they have the disease, and the public health system cannot afford to treat them. Today is World Diabetes Day. The Inaugural Diabetes Summit heard that South Africa should focus on preventing diabetes in the population as the country cannot afford to treat everyone. It cost an estimated R2.7-billion to treat those who were diagnosed with diabetes in 2018. “If we were to treat everyone including those who are not yet diagnosed which is about 50% of the population, the estimated cost is close to R22 billion and this is the money that the health system currently doesn’t have. So if you don’t have the money to treat something then you’ve got to prevent it,” said Dr. Yogan Pillay, Country Director of Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI). Diabetes is a chronic disease that occurs either when the pancreas does not
South Africa may have to revise its target of vaccinating 70 percent of the population by the end of the year, said Deputy President David Mabuza during the launch of the Vooma vaccination weekend in the Eastern Cape. Speaking at the Nelson Mandela Bay stadium in Gqebhera in the Eastern Cape, Mabuza said the target now seemed like a “tall order”. South Africa is aiming to vaccinate 40-million South Africans against Covid-19 by the end of the year. The latest statistics show that 23.5-million South Africans have received at least one vaccine dose. ”It now looks far-fetched. it looks like we will have to revise the target. 70 percent seems a tall order judging by the time left now – we are in November and December is next month. The pace of vaccination has slowed down, and we think it’s mainly because of these conspiracy theories which are flooding social
National government is working closely with the provinces to ensure the country is prepared for the expected fourth wave of COVID-19. Briefing media on Friday, Health Minister Joe Phaahla said priority is being given to ensuring there is adequate oxygen supply, ventilators, beds and PPE available. When the third wave hit South Africa in June hospitals ran out of beds and oxygen. “AFROX has made contingency plans to ensure that we have enough oxygen when the fourth wave comes.” Phaahla said staffing is an issue as the additional healthcare workers employed to respond to the pandemic are on short term contracts. “We are in talks with the treasury to make more funds available to ensure we have required staff.” While the rate of new infections has slowed over the last four weeks, Phaala said a resurgence was imminent. The health minister said this resurgence would occur sometime between mid December
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Health Minister Joe Phaahla said the local government elections held on November 1 have not caused a spike in COVID-19 infections as was feared. “We are pleased to report that indications thus far, 11 days after elections we have not experienced any super spreader events. This is after the election or the campaigns. Thus far not a single province or district has shown a spike in infection,” Phaahla said at an online briefing on Friday morning. He added that 70,000 people were vaccinated on election day as part of the partnership with the IEC where vaccination sites were set up near voting stations. Get Vaccinated He warned that the fourth wave is imminent and urged South Africans to come forward to get vaccinated. Phaahla said they were concerned about the low vaccination uptake in the 18 to 34 age group which is at 28 percent. “It is clear that fake
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An international organisation, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), has called on COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing giants to share their technology with African countries. The lack of vaccine production capacity in African countries has exposed the continent’s vulnerability and has slowed the vaccine rollout. The United States have donated more than 50 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to African nations with the continent only producing a mere 1% of vaccines administered. Egypt is currently the only country in African to produce the vaccine although South African and Algeria have announced plans to do the same. Secrecy concerns MSF, also known as ‘Doctors without Borders’, has raised concerns on secrecy behind the production of the vaccine. He emphasised that African countries can produce these vaccines much faster but pharmaceutical companies are not giving Africa the option to license and produce them. Alain Alsalhani, a vaccines expert with MSF’s access-to-medicines campaign, expressed his fears. “We
A new campaign #vacciNATION4MEN which aims to put men at the centre of efforts to get more South Africans vaccinated against COVID-19 has been launched by the Community Constituency Front (CCF) for COVID-19 South African men currently make up less than 40% of 12,7 million South Africans who have been fully vaccinated. This is according to a report by the Health Department released in August. This prompted several civil society organisations to find a way to overcome the hesitancy held by men. Supported by Solidarity Fund, these organisations have spent the last two months gaining insight from men about their hesitancy. "How about MEN pause for a moment, and think about the costs of their lives?"#ThinkTwiceAboutCOVID#RollUpYourSleevesSA #Vaccination4Men#ChampionSouthAfrica#VaccinateToSaveSouthAfrica https://t.co/azNV93qKu3 — Community Constituency Front (CCF) (@CCFront) November 6, 2021 Evidence from listening sessions held in several provinces including Gauteng, North West, and Limpopo indicate that men are reluctant to get the vaccine
South African children have been hit hard by COVID-19 with almost 100 000 kids losing either parents or primary caregivers during the ongoing pandemic. This has seen the country record one of the highest rates of children affected by COVID-19 associated orphanhood and deaths of caregivers as published by Lancet earlier this year. *Sixteen-year-old Litha’s whose father died from the virus last year, says the support he gets from his mother and teachers at school has helped him. “My mother has been telling me to be strong and focus on my school work. I am able to be strong. My other teacher has been supportive too,” said the Khayelitsha teen. Jelly Beanz, an organisation in Cape Town which provides hope for children affected by trauma and abuse, helps young people like Litha. Yonela Tanase, a social worker at the centre, says COVID-19 has had a devastating impact on children. Helping
Healthy diets are crucial for the overall mental well-being of a child. In South Africa, close to 3 million children go to bed hungry, causing physiological and emotional stress. A recent study led by the University of East Anglia found that eating a more nutritious diet was associated with better mental wellbeing in children. This included healthier breakfast and lunch habits. The study focused on 1253 primary school pupils aged between 8-11 years and 7570 secondary school pupils aged 12 – 18 years. In secondary school pupils, researchers found that higher consumption of fruits and vegetables was linked with high mental well-being scores. Those who didn’t eat any breakfast had an almost 6% lower score. Only 25.2% of secondary school children reported consuming the recommended 5-a-day fruits and vegetables compared to almost 30% of primary school children. Food insufficiency linked to poor mental health Although there’s no specific data on
The majority of mothers in low-income communities in South Africa face many barriers such as high levels of stress which is believed to undermine their ability to produce breast milk of acceptable quality and quantity. This trend has seen South Africa slip down the rankings on the continent with the lowest rate of exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) in Africa. Breast milk is the ideal food for infants as it is one of the most effective ways to ensure child health. The milk produced by mothers is safe, clean, and contains antibodies that help protect against many common childhood illnesses. The World Health Organisation (WHO) and UNICEF have recommended that breastfeeding begins within the first hour of birth and that babies be breastfed exclusively for the first 6 months of life. However, globally 3 in 5 children are not breastfed in the first hour of life. And according to WHO, only 41%
A number of rural pharmacies are facing closure after the government failed to pay them for vaccinating people without medical insurance against COVID-19. The Independent Community Pharmacy Association (ICPA) said that some pharmacies are owed over R1-million. ICPA CEO, Jackie Maimim, said the health department was meant to pay these pharmacies for operating as vaccination sites for those without medical insurance. Claims not met ”The agreement was that if we vaccinate the uninsured, we will get a cost recovery fee from the government. Simply, this was a reimbursement for the use of our syringes, needles, our nursing staff, and administration work. But, the problem is that our claims are not being met when we submit,” said Maimim. He added: ”The process is complex because multiple affiliates are involved. We understand that, but this is affecting some of our members, mostly rural pharmacists. Up to 99% of the people they vaccinate