Health

HIV vaccine: some progress, but we’re not there yet

While antiretroviral drugs against HIV are getting more effective and allow HIV-positive people to live longer, the ultimate prize is to find a way to cure people of the virus, the best hope being a vaccine.

Kerry Gordon

News | 9 October 2013

Junior school raises awareness about breast cancer

On October 4, Rustenburg Girls Junior School celebrated two of its teachers who have survived breast cancer by hosting two fundraising events to raise funds for cancer awareness.

Nwabisa Pondoyi

Brief | 7 October 2013

Plans to close and rebuild GF Jooste Hospital delayed

It caused a controversy last year, leaving many people wondering how exactly it would work. But what was supposed to be the closure and reconstruction of GF Jooste Hospital this year, will now only happen in 2018.

Mary-Anne Gontsana

News | 1 October 2013

Fewer learners fed after feeding tender goes BEE

Since the Peninsula School Feeding Association (PSFA) lost a tender by the Department of Education’s National School Nutrition Programme to deliver a school feeding service, two schools are complaining that the service has decreased, and learners are hungry.

Mary-Anne Gontsana

News | 26 September 2013

SJC Civil Disobedience matter postponed

The matter against the twenty-one Social Justice Coalition (SJC) activists, who took part in a civil disobedience action last week, has been postponed to 23 October 2013. The 21 activists appeared before the Cape Town Magistrates’ Court this morning.

Sibusiso Tshabalala

Brief | 18 September 2013

What is the role of civil disobedience in South Africa?

On 18 September 2013, twenty-one Social Justice Coalition activists will appear in the Cape Town Magistrate court for contravening provisions of the Regulation of Gatherings Act.

Sibusiso Tshabalala

Opinion | 18 September 2013

Naidoo speaks out on Eastern Cape health crisis

The Neil Aggett Memorial lecture was delivered by Jay Naidoo at Kingswood College, Grahamstown on 13 September 2013.

Jay Naidoo

Opinion | 17 September 2013

TAC protests against shortages of life-saving drugs

“We demand accountable leadership”, “Failure to resolve stock-outs = human rights violation”, “Limpopo Department of Health – Failed promises” read placards at the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) march in solidarity with provinces that continue to be plagued by finding essential medicines are out of stock.

Mary-Anne Gontsana

News | 16 September 2013

True meaning of “civil obedience”

This is an edited extract from a speech by Prof. Roy Jobson at a memorial for Dr. Neil Aggett at Kingswood College on 14 September 2013.

Roy Jobson

News | 16 September 2013

SJC activists arrested during protest outside Mayor’s office

Several Social Justice Coalition (SJC) members who chained themselves to railings at the Civic Centre in Cape Town this morning vowing they would not budge until Mayor Patricia de Lille addressed them, were arrested and held at Caledon Square Police Station. They have not yet been charged.

Tariro Washinyira

News | 11 September 2013

Help kickstart Khayelitsha baker’s bicycle dream

An obsession with spinach makes a good baker -- that at least applies to 25-year-old Lufefe Nomjana.

Mary-Anne Gontsana

News | 11 September 2013

When the solution compounds the problem

In April 2012, the Eastern Cape Department of Health (ECDoH) put in place a moratorium on the appointment of healthcare workers to vacant posts at facilities throughout the province. This moratorium was instituted in an attempt to control the chronic overspending that was pushing the department deeper into financial crisis each year.

Daygan Eagar

Opinion | 11 September 2013

A Tale of Rural Health

The failing healthcare system in the Eastern Cape affects everyone: urban communities, migrants from Gauteng and Cape Town too sick to work anymore or returning home to retire, and healthcare workers who don’t have the medicines, equipment and a functioning referral system, to offer the care their patients need.

Marije Versteeg

Opinion | 11 September 2013

What to do with expired medicines

Most households have cupboards of expired pills and medicines and sometimes even use them. But what are the dangers?

Mary-Anne Gontsana

Brief | 3 September 2013

Dissatisfaction with service delivery at Khayelitsha District Hospital

The new Khayelitsha District Hospital, officially opened in April 2012, has attracted widespread criticism and unhappiness with its quality of service, which has fallen far short of expectation.

Thandile Majivolo

News | 21 August 2013

Religious leaders inspect Khayelitsha’s sanitation

Members of the Western Cape Religious Leaders Forum led a sanitation walkabout in Khayelitsha to collect evidence to present to the City of Cape Town, about the huge problem of sanitation in the township.

Amelia Earnest

News | 14 August 2013