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…
“Most of the times when I, or a friend, went to a clinic the healthcare workers didn’t want to help us because of the way we smelled or how we looked,” Chantel Sampson recalls. In 2018, the 42-year-old lived on…
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…
Residents of Tumahole in Parys have shut down local clinics and schools in protest of the ongoing water crisis plaguing the Free State town. But the shutdown, which started on Monday, has left the community divided. The mass protest…
Failed negotiations with the Western Cape government on Sunday means the protest action by the South African National Taxi Council (Santaco) will continue until Wednesday 9 August. The taxi strike started last Thursday and has resulted in acts of public…
Tuberculosis (TB) experts in South Africa are concerned about the slow uptake of TB preventive treatment (TPT). The people most at risk of TB disease aren’t receiving the protection they need. Dr Norbert Ndjeka, Chief Director of TB Control and…
The City of Johannesburg announced on Wednesday methane gas caused the explosion that took place on Bree street (now called Lillian Ngoyi street) in the inner city. The explosion made international headlines in mid-July with footage of the explosion going…
Lerato Mthunzi, Health and Allied Workers Indaba Trade Union (HAITU) General Secretary Breastfeeding is one of the most effective ways to ensure long term child health and survival. But fewer than half of infants under 6 months old are exclusively…
In the past 30 days, Johannesburg’s air pollution has reached the highest level since 2018. According to the South African Air Quality Index, the average PM2.5 concentrations have been at 72 micrograms per cubic metre. This is almost five times…
Bill Gates Last month, I visited Nigeria for the first time in five years, and, everywhere I went, perhaps more than on any of my previous trips, I felt the immense energy and boundless potential of its rising generation. I…
A recently launched report by the Rural Health Advocacy Project (RHAP) places a spotlight on possible corruption within the National Health Insurance (NHI) fund. The report highlights critical gaps in the health sector’s procurement and spending, and a lack of…
In 2020, Grace Kasongo*, originally from the Democratic Republic of Congo, gave birth at Steve Biko Academic Hospital. Following a stay of four days, she was billed R110 028, an amount she could not afford to pay. After informing the…
Karabo Rafube (41), a former inmate who contracted tuberculosis (TB) in prison says it’s concerning that the fight against the infectious disease continues to be neglected within South African prisons. He was speaking after the recent launch of a new…
“I regret being a nurse in Limpopo. We are under-staffed and working under constant pressure. We are working with ‘skeleton’ teams and we have to do double the work, no matter how tired and fatigued we are,” says Shirly Sithole*.…
Critical stockouts and shortages of essential medications are among the leading issues faced by the North West Department of Health. Long waiting times, staff shortages and hostile services for key populations are other key challenges. Ritshidze, a community monitoring organisation,…
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