Efforts by the Gauteng Health Department to improve the quality of health for all South Africans have yielded positive results in the fourth quarter of the last financial year.

South African GPs and other healthcare professionals (HCPs) are being offered free training to help patients quit smoking and excessive drinking, improve their diets and exercise more as part of a new nationwide programme to stem the tide of chronic lifestyle diseases such as diabetes, hypertension and heart disease.

Selected Netcare Stork’s Nest clinics will be administering vaccinations against polio and measles free-of-charge to pre-school children in support of the Department of Health’s (DOH) drive to eradicate these potentially dangerous childhood diseases. 

Water is a scarce resource and for many South Africans, practising cleanliness is a luxury especially when there is limited access to clean running water.

About 180,000 HIV positive patients are expected to start on the Fixed Dose Combination (FDC) ARVs, which experts say will improve compliance by reducing the risk of patients defaulting from treatment.

Samsung Africa launched its Solar Powered Health Centre model in Cape Town, marking the start of a large-scale medical initiative on the continent. The mobile centres are built for use in remote rural areas, and intended to eliminate the economic and geographic barriers that prevent people across Africa from obtaining quality medical treatment.

The 83 year old Paediatric Ward at Victoria Hospital in Wynberg, Cape Town will receive a R10million upgrade and extension for which the Children’s Hospital Trust will fundraise, with 50% of funding contributed by the Ackerman Family Foundation.

After struggling with only one doctor for six months, Madwaleni Hospital, which serves approximately 120,000 people in rural Eastern Cape, now has six doctors.

Justin Foxton writes about the wonderful work being done by Durban based palliative care NGO, Umduduzi. 

Nedbank Dream Riders, a team of passionate and dedicated cyclists, raised R1 million for the Reach For A Dream Foundation, benefiting over 200 children from ages 3 and 18.

Twenty one communities in South Africa and Zambia will be part of a six-year research study to test the impact of a combined package of several HIV prevention interventions on population-level HIV incidence.

Eastern Cape-based haematology NGO, the Igazi Foundation, has announced the establishment of the first South African patient support and advocacy group for people suffering from Chronic Myeloid Leukaemia (CML).

‘Europawärts’ sees six young South Africans working in Dresden for six months.

The HIV epidemic in South Africa has continued to stabilise over the past six years, with KwaZulu-Natal having recorded a notable decline in 2011

Funded by FNB, the introduction of the Hospice Data Management System (HDMS) has made a positive impact in the hospice sector.

mothers2mothers’ long-term goal has been to integrate the Mentor Mother model into national health systems throughout sub-Saharan Africa in order to facilitate local ownership, ensure the program’s sustainability and expand its reach.

Two local innovators have won the 2012 South African Breweries Foundation Innovation Award for developing a reliable, low-cost malaria test kit.

The 2012 Saturday Surgeries Public-Private Partnership initiative at the Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital has come to a successful conclusion.

The latest UNAids report, released this week, has praised South Africa for making the highest public investment in combating HIV/Aids of any low or middle income country.

After overcoming numerous challenges, two Western Cape health facilities will soon be able to provide better quality healthcare to the communities they service.

Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC), a global charity initiative aimed at creating, finding and supporting programmes that directly improve the health and wellbeing of children, has opened a local chapter in South Africa.

Over 100 patients, physicians, practice nurses and their families and friends took part in the Cape Town ‘Gun Run’ on Sunday, 14 October on behalf of the ‘Join the Fight against Autoimmune diseases’ campaign and to highlight the important role exercise can play in slowing the progression of these debilitating conditions.

The United Nations has called for renewed commitment to protect the health of young girls in South Africa, but has commended its efforts to stem HIV transmission, the department of women, children and people with disabilities said on Sunday.

Medical research on two women living with HIV has found that they developed antibodies which were able to kill at least 88% of the virus. This ground-breaking discovery provides an important new approach that could be useful in making an AIDS vaccine.

Yesterday, the Department of Health launched the first-ever Speaking Book addressing the understanding and prevention of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) like cancer, diabetes and heart disease.