It has been 18 months at the helm of one of South Africa'€™s toughest cabinet portfolios and already Dr Aaron Motsoaledi has endured a disgruntled doctors'€™ strike, a crippling public sector work stoppage, the untimely death of his deputy minister and complex debates on a National Health Insurance initiative, which is really the critical transformation of the health system.
OPINION:Since the ANC'€™s announcement last week that a national health insurance (NHI) will be pursued, we have once again seen claims that an NHI is unaffordable and that the whole idea should be consigned to the garbage bin. However, South Africa can have a health system that makes us proud and serves everyone, rich and poor, in an equitable manner.
As country leaders and donors met this week at the United Nations'€™ head-quarters in New York to review their progress towards reaching the Millennium Development Goals, there were renewed calls for aid to strengthen Africa'€™s response to AIDS.
The African National Congress has released more detail on the much anticipated National Health Insurance scheme. According to a press release the plan will kick off in the rural areas and will be staggered over three phases starting in 2012. The press release read by the ANC's health committee chair Zweli Mkhize is available here.
Leaders need more creative plans to increase funding to reduce child malnutrition and AIDS, says Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).
The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) has urged governments and donors to pour money for HIV services into the Global Fund or risk a global emergency for AIDS funding. This comes on the eve of the third Voluntary Replenishment Conference which will be hosted by the Global Fund next month. Click here to view page.
The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) has urged governments and donors to pour money for HIV services into the Global Fund or risk a global emergency for AIDS funding.
The deans of several university health science faculties have been ordered to return to the drawing board and prepare for their presentation to parliament'€™s health portfolio committee.
The Lancet has published a new blueprint for international development, a week ahead of the UN'€™s major summit about the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
Retaining health workers in rural facilities remains a major challenge facing South Africa and other developing nations. But, some success stories have emerged from a few rural areas.
The current strike by government employees which has left some patients dead and others without access to medication could have been avoided had government had a Minimum Level Service Agreement with unions to ensure that health care services do not shut down.
Huge weaknesses in provincial health departments are behind the R7.5-billion debt that has been accumulated, mainly by Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape.
In a special partnership the Soul City Institute for Health and Development Communication and the Wits School of Public Health, have launched a post-graduate degree programme aimed at breeding professionals who will promote and implement social and behaviour change communication in health.
DURBAN - Severe overcrowding in KwaZulu-Natal'€™s prisons is contributing to the spread of HIV and tuberculosis and driving the high death toll in prisons.
OPINION: Florence Nightingale, the woman widely credited with introducing professional nursing standards, died 100 years ago this month.
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