The World Health Organisation has released a technical document focusing on the issues associated with skin-lightening creams thatcontain mercury. One in three woman in South Africa are reported to be using these products on a regular basis despite the fact that it could cause kidney damage among other side-effects.
Childhood pneumonia and diarrhoea, two diseases that should ordinarily be treated and cured, are killing two million children under five each year.
Radiation exposure received from two to three computed tomography (CT) scans of the head in childhood (aged under 15 years) can triple the risk of later developing brain cancer, while around five to 10 such scans could triple the risk of developing leukaemia.
South African health officials have failed to advocate for more free water while efforts to improve sanitation have been undermined by lack of funds, resulting in high levels of disease and mortality mainly among the poor.
New research suggests that male pattern baldness may be a risk factor for prostate cancer.
The World Health Assembly, the decision-making body of the World Health Organisation (WHO), has approved a resolution calling for a 25% reduction in premature mortality from non-communicable diseases (NCDs) by 2025.
A recent study revealed that some cancer doctors experience grief, self-doubt and despair when patients die, while others build up emotional walls and distance themselves from patients they can't save.
Smokers lucky enough to have inherited a 'super-detox gene' could answer the age-old question of why some will develop smoking-related illnesses within the first five years of lighting up while others happily puff away for 50 years before dying of old age.
A survey of more than 1000 primary-care doctors in the United States suggests the vast majority have little knowledge about the long-term side effects of chemotherapy.
Scientists have discovered that a simple blood test could lead to better diagnosis and treatment for early-stage breast cancer patients, according to an article published online first in The Lancet Oncology.
Runners for Health, a group of runners from the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), will be participating in this year's Comrades Marathon. The annual 89 km race, running between Pietermaritzburg and Durban, will take place on Sunday. Read here why they describe it as their biggest challenge yet.
Insufficient production of Tenofovir, a crucial antiretroviral drug that is part of the three-drug combination therapy that AIDS patients need to suppress their virus, has left patients in the public sector taking sub-optimal treatment.
The continued stock out of the antiretroviral tenofovir and the failure to advise health workers on how to deal with it is a looming disaster, HIV Clinicians and activists are warning.
SECTION27 released a statement detailing the financial crisis in the Eastern Cape health department which is threatening to collapse. It calls on the national health department to urgently intervene, reminding it that it has a duty to do so.
Today (Thursday 31 May) is World No Tobacco Day, a World Health Organisation (WHO) initiative aimed at highlighting issues around the use of tobacco products. This year, the WHO has selected "tobacco industry interference" as the theme for the day in an effort to expose and counter the tobacco industry's 'brazen and increasingly aggressive attempts' to undermine anti-tobacco efforts.
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