Features

The scars left by the April 2022 flash floods aren’t obvious to visitors to this part of Inanda, the township just northwest of Durban. The earth seems to have healed itself, roads are passable and some new bridges have been reassembled. But the collective and individual trauma, often left unspoken, continues to linger.

Ndiviwe Mphothulo started in politics at the age of 12 in Soweto, where he was born with activism in his bloodline. Now, a medical doctor and the president of the Southern African HIV Clinicians Society, he’s trying to make sure the Trump administration’s funding cuts don’t collapse South Africa’s HIV programmes.

Plenty of people told Sarah Stein that practising medicine would be difficult. Now, as a fifth year medical student at the University of Cape Town, she wishes she would have listened more carefully.

In her nearly 30 years in public healthcare, Rolene Wagner has risen to lead an institution that many had given up on: the debt-wracked, conflict-ridden Eastern Cape department of health. Her upbringing has custom-suited her to the task.

Following the execution of Muhsin Hendricks, the openly gay imam who created safe places for queer Muslims to practice their faith, Zackie Achmat reflects on the dangerous ways religious communities fuel hate — and his own banning from the community over 30 years ago.

Yogan Pillay has worked under every health minister since 1994, making him the ultimate healthcare insider. Now he’s an outsider, but one with tremendous influence. Sean Christie visited him at home in Pretoria to hear what he’s been up to.

Zane Wilson founded the South African Depression and Anxiety Group (Sadag) in 1994, in the midst of her own debilitating struggle with panic disorder. Thirty years later, the group is the largest and most impactful mental health organisation in South Africa. Bhekisisa’s Sean Christie found Wilson and several of Sadag’s staff in a proud and reflective mood.

When our profile writer, Sean Christie, asked Aaron Motsoaledi for a form of life story share, South Africa’s health minister responded with a swift biographical flyover. But Christie was more interested in a sense of the experiences that lie behind the bullet points, both good and bad.

Mzulungile Nodikida, Sanele Madela, Bongile Mabilane, Nhlakanipho Gumede and Godisamang Kegakilwe have one thing in common: they studied medicine in Cuba.Since its establishment in...

In February, Mzulungile Nodikida stepped into the top seat at the South African Medical Association. He tells Sean Christie how he went from playing soccer and cricket while at school in the Eastern Cape to studying medicine in Cuba — and how his career path moved from seeing patients every day to steering an organisation that stands for “uniting doctors for the health of the nation”.

In 2016, when renowned South African cardiologist Ntobeko Ntusi stepped into the role as head and chair of the University of Cape Town’s (UCT) department of medicine, he took on both responsibilities and a legacy that most would have baulked at, amidst much scrutiny. He spoke to Sean Christie about his life’s trajectory, shortly before he joins the South African Medical Research Council as its new president and CEO.

With a fifth of antiretroviral or chronic medication parcels left uncollected in the Chris Hani district in the first three months of this year, bicycle deliveries by Siphelo Lose are a lifeline to people in rural areas who can’t get to clinics. In this #SliceofLife he shares his story.

At a conference towards the end of last year, some of the great names in African public healthcare shared their lessons about what can — and can’t — work on the continent, from setting up new hospitals to implementing national health insurance. Sean Christie was there.

In 1969, Esther Mwaikambo became Tanzania’s first female doctor. Today, she is arguably also the country’s most famous. She tells Sean Christie how public healthcare in Africa has changed — and what she wishes for the future.

With a black beret “à la the EFF” and fire-engine red scrubs, Ebrahim Variava is not scared to speak out against the ills of a broken public health system — something that got him suspended from his post as head of internal medicine at the Tshepong Hospital in Klerksdorp in 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 crisis. Meet the doctor for whom patients are always the priority.

In the past five years, none of the targets political leaders adopted after the previous round of high-level discussions on the fight against tuberculosis (TB) at the United Nations General Assembly have been met. Today, talks will focus on how to get us back on track to end the disease by 2030.