JOHANNESBURG – A cheap antiseptic ointment, used to cleanse a newborn’s umbilical cord, can reduce the risk of infection and death in the first few weeks of life by as much as 20 percent. Chlorhexidine has been around for ages…

JOHANNESBURG – Each year, about three million of the 7.7-million children who die before reaching their fifth birthday are newborns who do not survive their first four weeks of life. This situation has led to the top health agencies and…

JOHANNESBURG – Experts from around the globe are gathering this week to address the preventable and unnecessary deaths of newborns, which accounts for almost half of all deaths among children under five. “No child is born to die.  And no mother…

VHEMBE. – Requests to the Department of Education to upgrade facilities at the Mafukani pre-school have fallen on deaf ears, and have eventually resulted in a four-year-old nearly losing her life after being bitten by a snake in the sub-standard…

Researchers in the United States today said that they have identified a case of a ‘functional’ HIV cure in a child infected with HIV who began antiretroviral treatment within days of birth. The child has now been off treatment for…

South Africa has received global recognition for achieving a significant reduction in the number of children newly infected with HIV. The United Nations Joint Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) launched the 2012 Global Epidemic Report yesterday (SUBS: TUES) and praised South…

Electronic, or e-cigarettes are sold illegally from many shopping centres across South Africa despite a change in legislation last year. The change to the Medicines and Related Substances Act classified nicotine, an ingredient in the e-cigarette, as a schedule 3…

People who struggle to quit smoking may be genetically predisposed to the habit, according to new research published in the American Medical Association journal JAMA-Psychiatry. The international team of researchers reviewed studies that looked at genetic links to smoking and pulled…

PRESS RELEASE: Exposure to tobacco smoke could negatively impact adolescent kidney function, this is according to a new study led by a team of researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Johns Hopkins Children’s Centre.…

Smokers who light up as soon as they wake up in the morning are more likely to develop lung and oral cancer than other smokers, a new study, published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention reveals. According to the research,…

Smokers’ broken bones take longer to heal than that of non-smokers, according to new research. “We showed that smokers are at a higher risk of long bone fracture nonunion [not joining], and that there is a trend towards longer fracture…

One in four young people in the United Kingdom who gave up smoking last year said the ban on tobacco product displays in shops helped them to kick the habit, a survey revealed. On April 6 last year supermarkets and…

In response to the tough economic times, smokers are re-lighting used cigarette butts, a new study found. Although smokers may be saving some money, they are paying with their health and researchers warned that re-lighting cigarettes does not reduce exposure…

The best way of cutting the number of cancer cases worldwide is to fight the tobacco industry’s tactics in developing countries and ensuring the best vaccines get to those most in need, according to a new report published in Science…

Exposure to second-hand smoke increases a person’s risk of developing early signs a heart disease. According to a new study, signs of coronary artery calcification were found in 26 percent of people who never smoked, but were exposed to varying…