Features
Costly Warmth: The Health Toll of Indoor Fireplaces and Braziers
Dying while waiting three days for an ambulance: the norm in rural Eastern Cape
Living in the shadow of hope: the story of Ramaphosa Informal Settlements
Lack of knowledge and awareness make rare diseases hard to spot and treat
Drinking all day a hazardous pastime for rural grannies in Limpopo
“I have been drinking this home brewed beer for over two decades now and it has become a part of my life. I drink it everyday. If I go a day without drinking it my body does not feel right,…
Hot weather can cause health problems, people working in the sun are most at risk
It is almost eight o’clock on a warm but chilly November Friday morning, Joyce Mathe from Thembisa in Ekurhuleni east of Johannesburg is hard at work collecting waste outside of people’s yards for her recycling business. The cool weather is…
Limpopo dad shares experiences of raising a Deaf child in a rural area
“My son was already three years old when we learned that he was Deaf,” fifty-seven-year-old Takalani Mutwanamba tells Health-e News. “We had first realised that he couldn’t utter a word when he was about six months old, but we never…
‘Teaching Deaf children is a calling, it needs passion and dedication’
Sixty-three-year-old Maria Nemakonde is just two years away from retirement, something she’s not quite looking forward to. Nemakonde is a teacher at a school for children with special needs in Shayandima, outside Thohoyandou in Limpopo. And she’s worried about what…
Life on the waiting list: Black stem cell donors urgently needed to save lives
It’s been two years since Health-e News first met Oreokame Sehularo from the Northern Cape. Two birthday celebrations later, and the 11-year-old, affectionately called “Oreo” by family and close friends, is still waiting for a life saving stem cell donation. …
Deaf people need sign language interpreters in therapy or counselling. But very few are trained
South Africa has limited – almost non-existent – mental health services for Deaf people. Before a Deaf person can access counselling or therapy, a sign language interpreter must be arranged. This introduces an additional barrier to mental healthcare. “Often the…
It’s a wait and hope for thousands of people in need of life-saving organs
Waiting and hoping. That is how critically ill, 44-year old Guy Read has spent the past four years. Read, who suffers from a kidney disease, has been on the waiting list for a transplant for four years now. He is…
Load-shedding: job losses, gender based violence and increased anxiety
For two years, *Thandekile Ngwenya, a candidate attorney, has driven the same route to her workplace, a law firm in Rosebank, without incident. On 18 January, this changed. Due to load-shedding, the traffic lights were out, and Ngwenya felt herself…