Bhekisisa TV

As the president delays the implementation of the NHI, Health Beat examines the court and constitutional clashes blocking South Africa’s most sweeping health overhaul since 1994.

Twenty-five years ago, South Africans battled for ARVs to keep people alive. Now the focus has shifted to medicines that can prevent HIV altogether. Health Beat looks at Aids at 44 — and how the story has evolved.

This week, the High Court ruled that blocking foreigners from healthcare is unconstitutional. So why does the National Health Insurance Act say that’s what we should do when it comes to HIV services? Bhekisisa asked Sasha Stevenson, executive director of SECTION27, to explain what the law says about healthcare access for foreigners now, what the NHI Act would change and why it matters for public health.

Imagine watching loved ones swept away, land and livestock destroyed, possessions lost within hours. For many, that’s reality as climate disasters wreak havoc on lives and livelihoods. Health Beat investigates the mental toll of drought and floods, from Durban to Nairobi, and asks if smarter policy can help mend minds as well as communities.

Obesity is surging in South Africa. What’s fuelling this epidemic and how does it contribute to diabetes and heart disease, SA’s top killers?

Undocumented migrants and asylum seekers are being turned away from government clinics and hospitals by xenophobic groups, while the NHI Act says they’re only entitled to emergency care. HIV activists say that’s neither wise nor legal.

From August, clinics countrywide will issue patients who are doing well on their ARVs, a six-month supply, twice a year. 6MMD is widespread in Africa and started in the Western Cape last year. How will it work? Health Beat catches up with two Cape clinics.

South Africa’s HIV programme is the biggest in the world, but now it’s been cut thin, with the loss of billions in US funding. Health economists warn of a surge in new infections and deaths if South Africans forgo their treatment. Could an expensive HIV jab be the answer?

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.

While discoveries like these rarely make the news, it happens all the time. We asked leading forensic pathologist Shakeera Holland what her team found after studying remains at the Diepkloof Forensic Pathology Service in Soweto.

Baby Savers South Africa is taking the government to court over the ban on baby boxes in Gauteng. Are they a harmful tool that makes child abandonment and trafficking easy, or a lifesaver for mothers with nowhere to turn? With about 3 500 babies abandoned unsafely each year, Health Beat looks at whether a maternal support grant could help change that.

Every year, hundreds of newborns and foetuses are found dumped in the open veld, dumps and public toilets.Abandonment is often because of a lack...

As climate change intensifies, a toxic legacy grows more dangerous in Soweto. Residents living beside an old mine dump face health problems as more floods and heatwaves worsen the dangers of mining pollution.

South Africa is producing more doctors than ever, but many can't find jobs in the public sector — even though hospitals need them. The Health Beat team examines options for newly qualified doctors in a country where youth unemployment is at an all-time high and Trump’s funding cuts spell doom and gloom.

It’s a shocking reality: most children in our country feel they need mental health support — that’s according to Unicef. Health Beat finds that depression and anxiety, especially in teens, are playing out in complex ways like self-harm.

The Health Beat team visits a community suffering the health effects of living near mine waste and finds out whether our new Climate Change Act will make a difference to those affected by air pollution.