Articles

A new once-a-month HIV prevention pill is moving into the final stage of testing. But early South African uptake data of the six-monthly anti-HIV jab suggest the biggest breakthrough may not be a new medicine — it may be giving people more ways to protect themselves.

As delegates gather in Rio de Janeiro for the International Aids Conference next week, one of the biggest lessons from HIV has nothing to do with a virus. South Africa has already learned what happens when stigma keeps people away from life-changing treatment. Now, as obesity rises and effective medicines remain out of reach for most people, we're at risk of making the same mistakes all over again.

From negotiating South Africa's bid to make the groundbreaking HIV prevention injection lenacapavir, to helping to chart the country's Aids programmes through unprecedented donor funding cuts, Thembi Xulu has become one of Africa's most influential HIV leaders. As delegates gather in Rio for the International Aids Conference, Bhekisisa profiles the woman helping shape the next chapter of South Africa's HIV response.

This is the first in Bhekisisa's series of commentaries marking the International Aids Conference in Rio de Janeiro that starts on Sunday. Netflix's The Polygamist has sparked conversation across Africa — but its portrayal of HIV also spreads harmful myths. Thabani Nyoni explains why ending Aids will depend as much on defeating stigma as on scientific breakthroughs.

In some of Kenya’s informal settlements, the floods that wreck homes several times a year aren't always about raging rivers and violent storms. It’s also about drains that don't work. Sean Christie travelled to find out what a lifetime of sewage through the front door does to the mind — and why the same pattern is playing out in places like Cape Town and Beira.

Could a vaccine that protects you against one of the most painful diseases of older age also help keep your brain healthy? South Africa has finally launched Shingrix, a new shingles vaccine that studies suggest may lower the risk of dementia too. We unpack what the evidence really shows — and whether the hefty price tag is worth it.

Newborn deaths in South Africa are low but rising, and maternal deaths are high and not coming down fast enough. That’s what the data in the latest District Health Barometer, released at the end of April, show. We dive in to make sense of the numbers.

Scientific papers don't travel to fireside conversations. People do. In this essay a young scientist explains how he got to know this. As the anti-HIV

This week on Health Beat, the booming market for illegal weight-loss jabs: why are so many people willing to risk them?

The judges deciding the NHI case are part of a 30-year tradition of using evidence, constitutional principles and careful reasoning to resolve some of South Africa’s toughest health disputes.

Access to harm reduction treatments, including opioid substitution therapy, clean needles and drug counselling treatment could save lives. I’m living proof. But there are plenty of others who don’t make it out.

As anti-immigrant protests gather momentum, a clause in the NHI Act could deny many refugees, asylum seekers and undocumented migrants HIV treatment — despite Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi saying that would "work in reverse" in the fight against HIV. Would the health minister be prepared to change that if the Constitutional Court rules the Act can go ahead?

US funding cuts gutted the NGOs that provided most of South Africa's transgender healthcare overnight. Last week, things became even cloudier with news reports that the US government plans to permanently phase out its multi-billion dollar HIV relief programme in South Africa by early 2027. Now, with hormones scarce and trusted clinics gone, an already vulnerable population is being pushed further from the HIV services they urgently need.

As executive director of SECTION27, Sasha Stevenson spent more than a decade fighting for migrants' right to healthcare, holding the state accountable for the Life Esidimeni deaths, and navigating the legal maze of the National Health Insurance Act. She tells Sean Christie why, when it comes to human rights law, patience is everything.

The roll-out of South Africa's six-monthly HIV prevention medication lenacapavir (LEN) has to consider our other epidemic: TB.

The electronic cigarette industry arrived in the country with lots of hype and no regulation more than a decade ago. Today, the vape industry is thriving, with no guardrails in place and a growing teenage addiction problem.