Farmers saw it coming but they couldn’t prevent it

South ‌Africa's health regulator is reviewing 12 applications for generic versions of semaglutide, the active ingredient in Novo Nordisk's blockbuster diabetes and weight-loss medicines, it ​said on T...

Reverse algorithms, serofast results, prozone effects, and why there is no such thing as a quick syphilis question

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 Afri...

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 permanen...

The xenophobic movements’ indifference to State Capture, high-level corruption and massive corporate fraud betrays a cowardice to confront the root causes of South Africa’s development failures. …

South African researchers publish trial results in world’s leading medical journal

At his Durban office, Professor Willem Hanekom tells Biénne Huisman about taking a ventilated young patient to the Sea Point promenade, living with HIV, the need for an African research agenda, and th...

South Africa is unique among the many countries impacted by the Trump administration’s actions, having experienced triple blows of cuts to HIV funding, research, and cooperative diplomatic relations.

Twenty-four civil society organisations have joined forces to demand urgent, coordinated action on a disease that is now the country’s leading cause of natural death, and to hold themselves accountabl...

Currency ranks Pantry, Relish and Zuney in Joburg’s burger triangle – from best late-night bite to most divisive.

Three men, all veterans of the African National Congress and key players in the history of democratic South Africa, as well as the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), met at a crossroads in 20…

Journalist Ufrieda Ho passed away of cancer on 9 March 2026. In a career spanning three decades, she wrote for The Star, Daily Maverick, Spotlight, and many other publications.

Maryke Bezuidenhout is constantly on the road in rural, northern KwaZulu-Natal visiting and helping people with disabilities where they live. As part of Spotlight’s new Rural Health Heroes series, wri...

Cheap semaglutide, the drug in Ozempic and Wegovy, could help millions with diabetes and obesity in 160 countries

At 33, retired Constitutional Court justice Edwin Cameron thought he had, maybe, seven years left. His story traces the arc from certain death from Aids to a chronic, manageable condition at 73 — and ...

Thato Moncho, who died of cancer on 2 January 2026, was the face and voice behind the landmark Cancer Alliance<

A Happy New Year gift to me and everyone who shares one or both of these enthusiasms.

The number of children dying before their fifth birthday is projected to rise for the first time this century, according to a new report.

Makgwabe, 30 November 2025 – To mark World AIDS Day 2025, the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) is calling on the South African government to urgently fix the ongoing crisis in our clinics. Without addr...

I spend a lot of my time reading HIV clinical research papers. A lot. So here, for your viewing pleasure, is a poster I updated and modified from a brilliant xkcd web comic (using this tool), describi...

26,000 children lost HIV treatment in 6 months. CHAI’s 2025 HIV Market Report shows funding cut impacts in 14 countries. Download data now.

It is estimated that around half a million people living with HIV in South Africa don’t know they are living with the virus. One way to help these people is by offering them the means to test themselv...

A report by the community-led monitoring group Ritshidze has shown that among 326 public health facilities surveyed by the team, 48% reported reduced capacity after the Pepfar disruptions that took pl...

Survey finds longer waiting times for ARVs

“I would appreciate receiving a 6 month supply of ARVs. Going to the clinic every month or two is difficult. I have to miss work, wait long hours, and sometimes don’t receive the service I need, only ...

Childhood immunisation programmes have saved many millions of lives and prevented much suffering. Yet, immunisation programmes have lost momentum over the last decade or so. In this #InTheSpotlight sp...

Johannesburg, 10 October 2025 – Between April and June 2025, a scaled down team at the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) began monitoring through Ritshidze to assess the state of our clinics. During the...

“Legitimate and compelling public interests” to allow pharmacists to initiate antiretroviral treatment, says judge

If breast cancer teaches us anything, it is that our bodies cannot wait for political promises. South African women deserve more than pink campaigns that do not translate into measurable change.

Rather than spend hours at a clinic, patients measured their own blood pressure

The World Health Organization has expanded the list of ‘NCD best buys’. The updated list was approved at the 76th World Health Assembly, a move that will support governments to select lifesaving inter...

The courts have spoken. The health ombud has issued devastating reports. The Auditor-General has again put damning evidence on the table. Civil society has protested. Yet, the devastating crisis in Ga...

To build sustainable HIV programmes in south africa, we must focus on innovative approaches rather than seeking more funding from donors.

We cannot afford to look away from the assassination of lawyer Bouwer van Niekerk – the latest in what appears to be an escalation of threats and attacks against lawyers, investigators, auditors, whis...

U.S. cuts to global aid have caused backsliding on decades of progress in HIV care, treatment, and prevention.

Gains in cutting deaths from tuberculosis at risk as health officials warn clinics forced to ration drugs and testing

Duma Boko announces urgent funding package for medicines to be distributed with military oversight

Recently, I was invited to speak at a primary care conference on a terrific topic: “Can’t Miss Diagnoses in ID for the PCP.” Love it. So many great examples come to mind — endocarditis, Lemierre syndr...

A primary driver of the monumental endeavour to develop the yellow fever vaccine was a shared sense of responsibility that America, having the means and knowledge, should use its resources for the goo...

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 Socie...

cal impact of ceasing provision of services currently supported by PEPFAR and the costs and cost-effectiveness to the South African government (SAG) of potentially taking over these services. Methods...