When a child becomes a parent
When I was 14 I got involved with a boy who was four years older than me. At that time I knew very little about dating and sex because my parents did not talk to me about such things.
Our Health
OurHealth is Health-e’s network of community journalists based in rural villages and townships across South Africa. We bring you grassroots reporting from the people who cover the communities they live in.
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Limpopo moves to fumigate houses in malaria fight
As malaria season approaches the Limpopo Department of Health aims to disinfect a million houses in the province.
Calls for more foetal alcohol syndrome awareness
South Africa, which has the world’s highest prevalence of Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD), is joining other countries to create awareness of the disorder on 9 September - International FASD day.
HIV+ woman beats anger and denial
Mpumalanga - A young woman says HIV will not claim her life. Khosi Zitha said before she accepted her HIV status she battled with denial and anger. The 24-year-old told Health-e News that she could not cope because three of her siblings, who had been HIV-positive, had died.
Toilet stench headache for KwaMashu residents
KWAZULU NATAL - Residents of Bester in KwaMashu north of Durban have been living with the overwhelming stench of overflowing toilets in the area for many years - and the situation is becoming worse.
Abused Limpopo woman uses poetry to heal
After spending 17 years in an abusive marriage, Koena Selemela (46), penned her experience in a book called Healing Poems. This is an anthology documenting details of her horrific past as they unfolded every day.
Single mom’s mission to help dyslexic son
NORTHERN CAPE - Ontiretse Jacqui Mereyotlhe, a 33-year-old single mother, remembers the frustration of doing homework with her 9-year-old son at the beginning of the year.
Villagers get water after 20 dry years
After two decades, clean water will once again flow when Mgobodzi residents open their taps. Those residents in the village in the Nkomazi local municipality in Mpumalanga, who could afford to pay R15 for 25 litres of water had no choice but to share streams with animals.
Life beyond scars for taxi fire survivor
Every year thousands of South Africans sustain burn injuries from fire, steam, boiling water and chemicals. Many victims are left dejected and feel they have no hope of living a normal life.
Privacy at last for EC clinic patients
Mbizana, Eastern Cape - For 40 years patients at the Khanyayo Clinic have been treated in the same consulting room with little privacy - but thanks to a public-private partnership the clinic has received two extra consulting rooms.
Angry parents pull learners out of dilapidated schools
LIMPOPO - Angry parents have pulled out their children out of the dilapidated and damaged Tshivhade Primary School after learning that it been removed from the list of Vuwani area schools to be renovated.
Expert weighs in on ‘extremely unhealthy’ kota
A new fast food is on the rise in South Africa’s townships - spatlho, commonly known as bunny chow. You can find a spatlho outlet on almost every corner in Ikageng, a township in the North West province.
Give us skills we can use – rural youth
The young people of Kwa Nkcele in Lusikisiki say they are tired of receiving certificates that are not worth the paper they’re written on. They say the skills the Eastern Cape Department of Social Development offer have no value because they don’t lead to jobs.
‘Madiba bakkies’ for kids with cerebral palsy
JOHANNESBURG – After more than a year of battling to transport her physically challenged the child, Lindiwe Mashini (33) from Bluegum View section in Duduza has finally received a special purpose-built pram – or “bakkie” as they are termed, from Pholosong Hospital.
Limpopo health encourages breastfeeding at work
LIMPOPO - The Department of Health has launched a breastfeeding room at their offices in order to promote breastfeeding.