Although South Africa's NHI will focus on primary healthcare

Brazil and Thailand got it right – can SA really make NHI work?

Rwanda, too, has succeeded in doing what this country has only been talking about for 18 years.
Sending a message: Nelson Mandela with Aids activist Zackie Achmat. Mandela encouraged people to speak about HIV after the death of his son Makgatho from Aids.

Madiba: The belated rise of an Aids activist

Mandela regretted not acting on HIV during his presidency, but he made up for it in spades.
To uphold Nelson Mandela’s legacy

Mandela and the belated rise of an Aids activist

Former president Nelson Mandela regretted not acting on HIV during his presidency, but he made up for it in spades.
Over the last decade a growing number of studies have raised the alarm about men's low involvement in HIV services.

Shift in mood towards HIV

A recent Cape Town AIDS conference showed a shift in the global mood on HIV.
Topvein was marketed as a cure for AIDS

How true are reports of breakthrough Aids ‘cures’?

As the world recently marked World Aids Day, Africa Check has investigated the evidence behind three claims of an Aids breakthrough "cure".
Cotlands is a former children's Aids hospice that was converted to an early childhood development facilitation centre.

Journeying through HIV and early education

From being diagnosed with HIV to falling pregnant, Patience Tshabalala's life took a turn after volunteering at a former children's Aids hospice.
Prudence Mabele was an activist by day and a traditional healer by night. She helped win the fight for HIV treatment in SA and went on to tackle a host of other issues including LGBTI rights. She passed away on 11 June 2017

Prudence Mabele: “I have seen ARVs save lives”

Mabele helped lead the fight for antiretrovirals in SA. A memorial service will be held for her today. This was her last interview with Bhekisisa.
Cape Town photographer

Mo Bros face the figures – and it’s going to be a close shave

Will local facial hair campaigners be able to raise more than last year's R7-million for men's health issues?
Scientists say the current tests designed to detect even very low levels of HIV present in the body are simply not sensitive enough.

Villagers flock to take HIV tests

As a result of an NGO in the Eastern Cape using incentives to encourage people to check their status, HIV testing has tripled in four villages.
An application by Wouter Basson for the recusal the committee of HPSCA currently conducting an inquiry into his conduct has failed.

Dr Death close to patients’ hearts

Wouter Basson, one of SA's controversial apartheid-era figures, may be banned from practising medicine, but cardiology would suffer, say patients.
The benefits associated with eating placenta are thought to be the result of the nutrients

Placenta pizza: Is it really a healthy dish?

Following a radio chat where the perceived health benefits of eating human placenta were discussed, Melissa Meyer delves into the squeamish practise.
Apple of their eye: Sihle and his parents Jam-Jam Batiya and Beauty Mbalela.

The boy who lifts Hobeni’s spirits

Sihle Batiya's luckier than most – but the odds are stacked against kids with Down's syndrome in the Eastern Cape.
Keeping abreast: The SureTouch clinical breast examination machine is marketed as an alternative to a mammogram.

Touch-and-go breast tech is no substitute for mammograms

SureTouch does not claim to be a substitute for proper breast cancer screening, but patients are being misled.
Chanda Mollers teaches yoga to Sister Abegail Nhleko's children.

A mother to 30; a nurse to thousands

Undaunted by apartheid and Aids, she has made all the difference to those otherwise abandoned.
Survivors: Phumeza Tisile and Xolelwa Joni went to Paris to tell a world conference about their battle with extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis.

‘You can fight if you have support’

Two young women are proving to the world that the most deadly strain of TB can be beaten.
Helping hands: Zethu Mqopi* and her daughter Sisanda*. Zethu has learnt to carry out household chores

‘If they are raped, then so what?’

Mentally disabled people in the rural Eastern Cape are considered worthless, even evil. When girls are sexually abused, mothers are no longer shocked.