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In his 2025 State of the Nation address the president promised improved healthcare access and infrastructure. (Photo by Guillem Sartorio/Getty Images)

Will mediation stop dodgy lawyers from milking the health department?

South Africa spends too much money on medical malpractice lawsuits and wants to pursue new ways to settle cases out of court

Sampling marine sponges for bioprospecting. Photo by Davide Seveso

Mauritius sea sponge makes chemicals that can kill liver cancer cells

Mauritius has an array of sponge species, offering the opportunity to discover bioactive agents

Today, 12 May, marks International Nurses Day—a time to recognise the indispensable role nurses play in sustaining healthcare systems worldwide. This year’s theme is “Our nurses. Our future. Empowered nurses save lives.”

Africa health worker exodus strains poorer countries

WHO red list fails to prevent rich countries from poaching healthcare workers from countries where those workers are in short supply

In healthcare, AI can now conduct clinical diagnosis with a better accuracy rate than their human “colleagues.” (CFOTO/Future Publishing via Getty Images)

New medical technologies risk exacerbating inequalities

Artificial intelligence can predict disease before it emerges, and the rich and poor should have access to such medical advances

Jane Kubai ran away from home to avoid FGM. She then worked day and night to obtain a qualification. Now, her father advises other families against child marriage

Meet a Kenyan heroine of health: ‘I want to be an ambassador for the voiceless’

Jane Kubai ran away from home to avoid FGM. She then worked day and night to obtain a qualification. Now, her father advises other families against child marriage

Bitter pill for complementary medicine sector

Time for Africa to take control of its own health

Nigeria, South Africa and Kenya among 27 countries yet to sign the treaty for the establishment of the African Medicines Agency.

Quality time: After Dr Zolelwa Sifumba was in a car accident, which occurred after she worked for 36 hours straight, she realised how important it was to get enough regular rest. (Paul Botes/M&G)

Q&A Sessions: Dr Zolelwa Sifumba on learning to rest and healing herself

Dr Zolelwa Sifumba went from being a frontline healthcare worker to stepping back from clinical work. She speaks to Elna Schütz about her shift into more open spaces

Top shot: The drug tocilizumab reduces Covid deaths but it is expensive and in short supply in Kenya. Photo: Brian Ongoro/Getty Images

Unvaccinated, untreated: Africa may not get its fair share of Covid-19 drugs

Only 18 countries are using dexamethasone, while tocilizumab and sarilumab can cost hundreds or thousands of dollars a dose

Hospital admissions in Africa have increased by 67% during the period but the bed occupancy rate for intensive care units remains low at 7.5%, with 14% of the patients receiving supplemental oxygen. (Photo by Sergei SavostyanovTASS via Getty Images)

Palliative care is the opposite of giving up

You can start palliative care at any stage of a serious illness, even as soon as you receive a diagnosis or start treatment, says Dr Linda Holding

Forty-four Covid-19 vaccination sites have managed to remain operational in KwaZulu-Natal despite the upheaval sparked by protests.  (Waldo Swiegers/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Violence severely impedes Covid-19 vaccine rollout in KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng

Twenty pharmacies in KZN have been looted and damaged, while one was burned down and several others closed their doors as a precaution

If ivermectin had dramatic results in combating Covid-19, it should perform well in any well-conducted, unbiased scientific study, but this is not the case. (Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)

People use social media posts to sell Ivermectin on the black market

Selling medication without a license to prescribe or dispense it is illegal, and can lead to a hefty fine or imprisonment

The West’s perceptions of China hold up a mirror to its own preoccupations. More nuanced analysis is much-needed. (Anthony Wallace/AFP)

Spend less on arms and more on science

We dedicate a lot more time and money to military defence than we do on health responses to deadly pathogens

Taking precautions: Chinese citizens wear masks to defend against the coronavirus, which was discovered in Wuhan last year. Olympic qualifiers are being moved to Nanjing. (Stringer/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

The coronavirus is a disease of Chinese autocracy

An outbreak of a new coronavirus that began in the Chinese city of Wuhan has already infected over 4000 people – mostly in China, but also in several other countries, from…

The Mapungubwe gold rhino is exhibited at the Javett-UP Art Centre’s  interactive Gold of Africa Gallery

The past, the present and the future at UP

The university is launching four transdisciplinary initiatives to harness knowledge in the 4IR era

The health department will not buy some medicine for cancer and rare diseases as they are not ‘essential’ but there are legal ways to get drugs unavailable here

​Prioritising an overarching approach to medicines regulatory systems strengthening

The aim is to improve access to quality, safe and efficacious medical products

The DRC opposition failed at the 11th hour to unite behind presidential candidate Martin Fayulu (centre). (Junior Kannah/AFP)

How biobanks can help improve the integrity of scientific research

Most biobanks, whether small or large, have high quality assurance and control measures in place

The North West is out of medicine. And worse may be yet to come.

Missing medicines and missing money: Why a bigger crisis looms in North West

Provincial medicine shortages may be just the beginning.

Time is running out for North West patients as the province barrels towards a province-wide medicine stock-out.

State capture strikes again? Why 95% of medicines are missing at North West clinics

Striking workers say a go-slow at the province’s central depot will continue until their demands are met.

‘Although I am aware that we may live in a world full of myths

We need our foreign doctors

Yet these skilled professionals are discriminated against by their colleagues

Jacob Zuma visits the business exhibitors’ centre during the ANC’s conference at Mangaung in 2012.

Malawi’s drone battlefield is on the humanitarian front

The government, in partnership with the United Nations Children’s Fund, has opened the first humanitarian drone corridor in Africa.