Bhekisisa

The Bhekisisa Centre for Health Journalism focuses on reporting related to health and social justice. They create engaging narrative articles, podcasts, videos, and insightful analyses that cover various issues across Africa. Their top-notch journalism is available in both digital and print formats, reaching a wide audience that includes policymakers, academics, activists, and political figures. This often leads to changes in policies, influences national discussions, and helps reshape important conversations.

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R2.82-billion. That’s what we need to plug the US funding gap — for now - Bhekisisa

1 month ago | bhekisisa.org | Mia Malan

The national health department is convinced that all US government funding for HIV and tuberculosis (TB) projects in South Africa will end by September 30. The department has calculated that it needs R2.82-billion to plug the gap for the rest of the financial year after the Trump administration cut more than half of such support to the country in February.
[LISTEN] 8 in 10 ADHD cases are genetic. Can you outgrow it?

1 month ago | bhekisisa.org | Mia Malan

In South Africa, the proportion of primary school children with ADHD who use government health facilities is as low as 1.72% because the public sector doesn’t have enough of the right health workers to diagnose people. Eight in 10 people with the condition have a child, parent or sibling with it. Many adults only discover they have ADHD when their children get diagnosed and they recognise the symptoms in themselves. Malan asks Schoeman: can you outgrow the condition? Find out.
The 6-monthly anti-HIV jab could end Aids in SA by 2032

1 month ago | bhekisisa.org | Mia Malan

A modelling study released in March gives a clue at which price the six-monthly anti-HIV jab, lenacapavir, would be worth the health department’s while. The health department needs to step in, as the US government is unlikely to stick to a December commitment to buy the medicine for countries like South Africa, along with the Global Fund for HIV, TV and Malaria.
Trump: 'Thank you for partnering with USAID and God bless America.' - Bhekisisa

2 months ago | bhekisisa.org | Mia Malan

In today’s newsletter, Mia Malan explains how US President Donald Trump ordered USAID-funded HIV organisations in SA to shut down. Sign up for our newsletter today. THIS IS A BREAKING, DEVELOPING STORY. IT WAS LAST UPDATED AT 2.25PM. Pepfar-funded HIV organisations in South Africa, who receive their funds through the United States Agency for International […]
Is tax alone enough to pay for NHI? We do the sums - Bhekisisa

2 months ago | bhekisisa.org | Linda Pretorius |Jacques Verryn

Healthcare doesn’t come cheap and rolling out National Health Insurance will cost a lot of money. The NHI Act says that funding healthcare for all should come from tax. But with tax payers already under pressure, will there be enough money to cover everyone? We do some sums to look at different options.
‘You won’t find a child born with HIV in this village’

Nov 6, 2024 | bhekisisa.org | Zano Kunene

Babies getting HIV from their infected mothers is rare in a cluster of 39 villages in the OR Tambo district in the Eastern Cape — despite more than a third of pregnant women in this rural part of the province being HIV positive. Here, a non-profit organisation that helps with health services for moms and their young children employ women who themselves have HIV to help infected mothers stay on antiretroviral treatment — so that they don’t pass on the virus to their babies.
[WATCH] How a youth centre is fighting Westbury’s drugs and gangs - Bhekisisa

Oct 31, 2024 | bhekisisa.org | Anna-Maria Van Niekerk |Anna-Maria van Niekerk |Jessica Pitchford |Mia Malan |Thatego Mashabela

Anna-Maria van Niekerk is Bhekisisa’s news editor. She joined the centre after six years as the managing editor of the investigative television show, Carte Blanche. Anna-Maria has an extensive career in in-depth health and human rights reporting and has been named both the Vodacom Journalist (2002) and Discovery Health Journalist of the Year (2010) for exposés on the selling of human body parts for muti in Limpopo and the devastating consequences of HIV denialism.
Health Beat 24 | Why does SA treat drug addiction as a criminal, rather than a health problem? - Bhekisisa

Oct 27, 2024 | bhekisisa.org | Anna-Maria Van Niekerk |Anna-Maria van Niekerk |Jessica Pitchford |Mia Malan |Thatego Mashabela

South Africa’s National Drug Master Plan recognises drug addiction as a chronic disease that affects the brain and behaviour. It says human rights — instead of prejudice — should underpin how the country fights against drugs. That’s why it recommends harm reduction strategies, such as opioid replacement therapy, where drug users are given methadone to curb their withdrawal symptoms and to eventually wean some of them off opioids.
How breast milk can help fight climate change

Oct 24, 2024 | bhekisisa.org | Tanya Pampalone

Only 44% of women worldwide exclusively breastfeed their babies for the first six months of their lives, which is what the World Health Organisation recommends. In South Africa, data shows the number likely sits at around 32%. Breast milk naturally boosts babies’ immune systems, protecting them against illnesses like asthma, diarrhoea and diabetes, and also improves thinking skills.
Talks have started to get the twice-yearly anti-HIV jab registered in SA

Oct 20, 2024 | bhekisisa.org | Mia Malan

Gilead Sciences, the maker of a twice-a year anti-HIV injection, has approached South Africa’s medicine regulator to discuss how to get the shot registered locally as fast as possible in the country. The jab, lenacapavir, protected HIV-negative women 100% against HIV infection in a trial of which the results were published in July.