Mia Malan

Johannesburg

Editor-in-Chief at Bhekisisa

Editor-in-chief @bhekisisa_MG. Subscribe to our newsletter: https://t.co/WHFq7od7w4 Bluesky: @miamalan.bsky.social

Articles

It’s the ‘Donald disease’ that’s making us sick

2 days ago | timeslive.co.za | Tanya Pampalone |Mia Malan

06 June 2025 - 04:30 Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package. CATALYST Sex work has always been a dangerous profession. But ever since the Trump administration stopped most of its HIV funding in February, it’s become even more risky. “Hello, sis. How are you? I hope you're fine. I mean, I'm not.” A lot has been going on out there, he told Bhekisisa in the voicemail, one of the many we recently received. “You know, I’m a gay guy.
It’s the ‘Donald disease’ that’s making us sick

3 days ago | businesslive.co.za | Tanya Pampalone |Mia Malan

Here are some of their stories. We collected the stories via voice notes with the help of health workers who worked for Pepfar programmes that have now been defunded. Female sex worker: ‘My child is going to be infected’“Yoh, life is very hard. Since all this happened, life has been very, very hard.” “I have tried to go to the public clinic for my medication. But as sex workers, we are not being helped.
South Africa: It's The 'Donald disease' That's Making Us Sick

3 days ago | allafrica.com | Tanya Pampalone |Mia Malan

As politicians, activists and researchers duke it out from labs and clinics and press conferences, those who have the most to lose from the HIV funding cuts told Bhekisisa they have been left to fend for themselves. Which is bad news for all of us.
Medical breakthrough or dangerous shortcut? Behind the ketamine craze

1 week ago | businesslive.co.za | Anna-Maria Van Niekerk |Anna-Maria van Niekerk |Mia Malan |Jessica Pitchford |Thatego Mashabela

Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers. Sahpra has only approved one form of ketamine — a nasal spray — to treat depression, but it’s not yet available in the country.
WATCH | A medical breakthrough, or a dangerous shortcut? Health Beat investigates the ketamine craze

1 week ago | timeslive.co.za | Anna-Maria Van Niekerk |Anna-Maria van Niekerk |Mia Malan |Jessica Pitchford |Yolanda MDZEKE |Thatego Mashabela | +1 more

In the latest episode of Health Beat, we unpack the growing use of the psychedelic drug, ketamine, to treat severe depression and chronic pain. Research shows it can work quickly to improve mood, but experts are concerned about the rise of unregulated clinics using ketamine in ways that aren’t backed by solid evidence or properly supervised.
The case of the minister and the HIV activists: Are we entering denialism 2.0?

2 weeks ago | businesslive.co.za | Mia Malan

Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers. It's been two decades since the denialism war was won in South Africa. Now HIV scientists and government are once again pitted against each other. Picture: GCIS/Flickr In the leafy office park not far from Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital, you’ll find them just past the security boom.
South Africa: The Case of the Minister and the HIV Activists - Are We Entering Denialism 2.0?

2 weeks ago | allafrica.com | Mia Malan

It's been two decades since the denialism war was won in South Africa. Now HIV scientists and government are pitted against each other once again, with one side saying the health minister is in denial over the impact of US funding cuts and the minister is accusing the activists and the media of overblowing the crisis and spreading disinformation. It's been two decades since the denialism war was won in South Africa. Now HIV scientists and government are pitted against each other once again.
The case of the minister and the HIV activists: are we entering denialism 2.0?

2 weeks ago | timeslive.co.za | Mia Malan

TENSION It's been two decades since the denialism war was won in South Africa. Now HIV scientists and government are once again pitted against each other. In the leafy office park not far from Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital, you’ll find them just past the security boom. Dozens of vehicles, leftovers from what were once busy, purposeful operations, sitting under the Highveld sun. Engines dead and tyres flat.
The case of the minister and the HIV activists: Are we entering denialism 2.0?

2 weeks ago | bhekisisa.org | Mia Malan

It’s been two decades since the denialism war was won in South Africa. Now HIV scientists and government are pitted against each other once again. Activists are saying the health minister is in denial over the impact of US funding cuts and the minister is accusing the activists and the media of overblowing the crisis and spreading disinformation.
LISTEN | Do ADHD meds work to cram during exams?

3 weeks ago | timeslive.co.za | Mia Malan

ADHD medication is sometimes abused, for example, when university students without the condition use it to study better. The reality, however, psychiatrist Renata Schoeman tells Mia Malan in this podcast, is that the medicine doesn’t work for people without ADHD. In fact, it can worsen their performance. The results for the first medicine to treat attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder was released in 1937, and over the years, many other medicines have been tested and come onto the market.