A programme educating young girls about sexual and reproductive health in Ratanda, Heidelberg has mentored more than 120 girls since its inception in Gauteng six years ago. Organisers say there have been no pregnancies among participants since the launch of…
For 15 years, Maria Sikhosana from Orange Farm has relied on family members to take phone calls, listen to messages and help her communicate when she needs healthcare. The 43-year-old single mother of 12-year-old twins says she lost her hearing…
Joel Raphiri lives by the Northern Sotho adage ‘letsema le ema ka mong’, meaning a group effort only succeeds if the person who initiated it takes the lead and puts in the work first. For more than a decade, the…
Thapelo Tshabalala, author and co-founder of Tshwane Disability Empowerment Projects, knows what it is like to feel excluded because of a disability. Growing up, Tshabalala struggled to read and write and says he was repeatedly told by teachers and family…
Dorothy Khomo from Duduza township, near Springs on Gauteng’s East Rand, had just returned from church and was eating with her family when she felt a chicken bone lodge in her throat. Her sister suggested eating brown bread to push…
The Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) is investigating a case after a five-year-old Grade R learner was injured at a Tshwane primary school and later required surgery. Katlego Setshedi was injured while playing on a metal swing at Nchuncheko Primary…
When the Wits Reproductive Health and HIV Institute (Wits RHI) transgender clinic where Kamogelo Moamogoe received her hormone treatment closed last year following cuts to US funding, she says she was given a prescription to buy her hormones herself, but…
More than 10 intersex adults have approached a South African support organisation since 2020 saying they underwent surgery or other irreversible medical interventions as children without their or their parents’ informed consent. One of them is 33-year old Lerato Sikhosana…
Children in Saulsville, west of Pretoria continue to use public parks where residents say sewage, illegal dumping and deteriorating infrastructure have made the spaces unsafe. When Health-e News visited Forest Park on Chauke Street, sewage was flowing through the park,…
At 21, Brandon Booysen from Randfontein in Gauteng is bedridden with end-stage kidney disease and severe bone complications after living with chronic kidney disease (CKD) since childhood. He cannot sit upright for more than a few minutes because of severe…
If there is a statement that still haunts Llona Makhubedu, it is: “Switch off the machine.” Eighteen years ago, her first-born son, Paballo Makhubedu could not breathe on his own after his birth and was placed on life support. Llona…
For the past five years, more than 800 learners and staff at Seetsa sa Kgwedi Primary School in Soshanguve, north of Pretoria, have been living with recurring sewage spills on the school grounds. School governing body (SGB) chairperson, Kehwile Ramaru…
For unemployed father of three, Ramsenyane Lefenya, volunteering at a community garden in Lenasia South close to Johannesburg, means there are fresh vegetables to take home to his family every day. The 34-year-old father of three children aged 7, 9…
As the Gauteng Education Department faces a R27 billion backlog in school occupational health and infrastructure, parents at a Soshanguve primary school in Tshwane threaten to keep their children home, saying conditions of temporary mobile toilets at the school pose…
When Health-e News first shared the story of 110-year-old Koko Violet Ramadimetsa, her birthday wish was not cake or presents. It was a simple wish to walk safely and live with dignity. Koko Violet, who lives in Hammanskraal, Tshwane, had…
