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spotlightnsp.bsky.social
Spotlight
@spotlightnsp.bsky.social
440 followers 760 following 250 posts
In-depth, public interest health journalism from South Africa. Reporting and analysis on TB, HIV, NCDs, health systems, and much more. www.SpotlightNSP.co.za
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spotlightnsp.bsky.social
Spotlight @spotlightnsp.bsky.social · 3h
Healthcare funding in the public and private sector is headed towards a sustainability crisis, delegates at the HASA conference heard. But potential solutions such as pooling resources, linking services and partnering smarter has proved to be elusive.

www.spotlightnsp.co.za/2025/10/15/g...
Government and the private sector should team up to improve healthcare, conference hears
Government and the private sector could work together much more effectively to improve healthcare services in South Africa, but the potential of such a partnership remains largely untapped, delegates ...
www.spotlightnsp.co.za
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Marcus Low @marcuslowx.bsky.social · 2d
These briefings are of the best things we publish on Spotlight
spotlightnsp.bsky.social
Spotlight @spotlightnsp.bsky.social · 2d
MUST READ | Childhood immunisation programmes have saved millions of lives. Today, these vital efforts are losing momentum. In this #InTheSpotlight feature, @elri-voigt.bsky.social unpacks the data and explores how to revive these life-saving programmes.

www.spotlightnsp.co.za/2025/10/13/i...
#InTheSpotlight | Amid all the noise, how well is SA’s immunisation programme actually doing
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...
www.spotlightnsp.co.za
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spotlightnsp.bsky.social
Spotlight @spotlightnsp.bsky.social · 2d
MUST READ | Childhood immunisation programmes have saved millions of lives. Today, these vital efforts are losing momentum. In this #InTheSpotlight feature, @elri-voigt.bsky.social unpacks the data and explores how to revive these life-saving programmes.

www.spotlightnsp.co.za/2025/10/13/i...
#InTheSpotlight | Amid all the noise, how well is SA’s immunisation programme actually doing
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...
www.spotlightnsp.co.za
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spotlightnsp.bsky.social
Spotlight @spotlightnsp.bsky.social · 2d
MUST READ | Childhood immunisation programmes have saved millions of lives. Today, these vital efforts are losing momentum. In this #InTheSpotlight feature, @elri-voigt.bsky.social unpacks the data and explores how to revive these life-saving programmes.

www.spotlightnsp.co.za/2025/10/13/i...
#InTheSpotlight | Amid all the noise, how well is SA’s immunisation programme actually doing
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...
www.spotlightnsp.co.za
2 2
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spotlightnsp.bsky.social
Spotlight @spotlightnsp.bsky.social · 5d
KIDS ARE GOING HUNGRY | That children are dying in part due to malnutrition is devastating, but in a sense, it is the tip of the iceberg. Learn more: shorturl.at/bMFI4

Join our mailing list: shorturl.at/Ntzoa
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spotlightnsp.bsky.social
Spotlight @spotlightnsp.bsky.social · 5d
KIDS ARE GOING HUNGRY | That children are dying in part due to malnutrition is devastating, but in a sense, it is the tip of the iceberg. Learn more: shorturl.at/bMFI4

Join our mailing list: shorturl.at/Ntzoa
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spotlightnsp.bsky.social
Spotlight @spotlightnsp.bsky.social · 6d
One of the rallying cries of patient and community-based organisations is “nothing about us, without us”. The “patient voice” is, however, not always heard in medicines selection or medicines regulation, writes Dr Andy Gray in his latest #InsideTheBox column.

www.spotlightnsp.co.za/2025/10/09/i...
#InsideTheBox with Dr Andy Gray | Public participation in medicines selection and regulation – lacking?
In several countries, the public is given an opportunity to share their views with regulators before new medicines are registered or to engage with those choosing essential medicines. In South Africa,...
www.spotlightnsp.co.za
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spotlightnsp.bsky.social
Spotlight @spotlightnsp.bsky.social · 7d
GOOD NEWS | Spotlight recently spent time at the Pebbles Kitchen, where a small team have made it their mission to get nutritious meals to the kids of farm workers in the Western Cape.
www.spotlightnsp.co.za/2025/10/07/f...
From the heart of the Winelands, Pebbles Kitchen is helping fill many young tummies with nutritious meals
Despite the country’s relative wealth, South Africa has shockingly high levels of childhood malnutrition and stunting. Biénne Huisman spends some time with a small team who have made it their business...
www.spotlightnsp.co.za
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spotlightnsp.bsky.social
Spotlight @spotlightnsp.bsky.social · 9d
MUST READ | Deep into the night while most of Cape Town is asleep, trauma surgeon Dr Deidre McPherson slips into work scrubs, hitting the highway to Groote Schuur Hospital to save the lives of critically injured patients.

www.spotlightnsp.co.za/2025/10/03/b...
Between silence and sirens: Cape Town trauma surgeon Dr Deidre McPherson’s midnight vigils
Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town has one of the busiest emergency centres in the Western Cape. As it turns to the public to raise R20 million for the opening of a new emergency centre, Dr Deidre Mc...
www.spotlightnsp.co.za
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spotlightnsp.bsky.social
Spotlight @spotlightnsp.bsky.social · 12d
BE A LIFELINE | Every year, thousands in South Africa wait in hope and desperation for life-saving organ transplants. Learn more, including updates on Tembisa corruption and affordable lenacapavir: shorturl.at/SjjaW

Join our mailing list: shorturl.at/Ntzoa
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spotlightnsp.bsky.social
Spotlight @spotlightnsp.bsky.social · 12d
BE A LIFELINE | Every year, thousands in South Africa wait in hope and desperation for life-saving organ transplants. Learn more, including updates on Tembisa corruption and affordable lenacapavir: shorturl.at/SjjaW

Join our mailing list: shorturl.at/Ntzoa
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spotlightnsp.bsky.social
Spotlight @spotlightnsp.bsky.social · 14d
DID YOU KNOW? Medical devices aren’t regulated in SA. The country's regulator has however started down a road that should eventually lead to the regulation of all medical devices.

www.spotlightnsp.co.za/2025/10/01/m...
Medical devices aren’t regulated in SA, but that is set to change
Unlike with medicines, and with a few exceptions, South Africa’s regulator does not assess whether diagnostic tests and other medical devices on the market are safe and work as they are supposed to. T...
www.spotlightnsp.co.za
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spotlightnsp.bsky.social
Spotlight @spotlightnsp.bsky.social · 14d
DID YOU KNOW? Medical devices aren’t regulated in SA. The country's regulator has however started down a road that should eventually lead to the regulation of all medical devices.

www.spotlightnsp.co.za/2025/10/01/m...
Medical devices aren’t regulated in SA, but that is set to change
Unlike with medicines, and with a few exceptions, South Africa’s regulator does not assess whether diagnostic tests and other medical devices on the market are safe and work as they are supposed to. T...
www.spotlightnsp.co.za
2
spotlightnsp.bsky.social
Spotlight @spotlightnsp.bsky.social · 16d
MUST READ | The country that performed the first successful heart transplant has very low organ donation rates. @elri-voigt.bsky.social asks the experts why South Africa's donation rates are so low and what can be done about it.

www.spotlightnsp.co.za/2025/09/29/s...
SA has very low organ donation rates – how can we fix it?
Thousands of people in South Africa are waiting for a life-saving organ transplant, but our very low organ donation rates mean that many won’t get a transplant in time. Elri Voigt asks the experts why...
www.spotlightnsp.co.za
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spotlightnsp.bsky.social
Spotlight @spotlightnsp.bsky.social · 19d
INSIDE THE BOX | Every diagnostic test, treatment, or vaccine is shaped by a complex mix of evidence, policy, and decision-making. Dr Andy Gray unpacks how these forces influence access, use, and promotion.

Find out more: tinyurl.com/mvrbf5ec
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spotlightnsp.bsky.social
Spotlight @spotlightnsp.bsky.social · 20d
This is a major step toward the wide availability of HIV prevention jabs in SA
unitaid.bsky.social
Unitaid @unitaid.bsky.social · 21d
Unitaid, CHAI, Wits RHI & Dr. Reddy's Laboratories have secured a US$40 annual price for injectable lenacapavir, a twice-yearly HIV prevention shot. Instead of the usual decade, generics are expected by 2027, just two years after first approvals.

Learn more: unitaid.org/lenacapavir
Unitaid, CHAI, and Wits RHI enter into a landmark agreement with Dr. Reddy’s to make HIV prevention tool lenacapavir affordable in LMICs - Unitaid
unitaid.org
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spotlightnsp.bsky.social
Spotlight @spotlightnsp.bsky.social · 20d
Despite significant strides made for many in South Africa, oral disease is not simply a matter of cavities and gum pain - it is a mirror reflecting the structural inequities of race, gender, disability and class that persist three decades into democracy.

www.spotlightnsp.co.za/2025/09/25/b...
Bulela Vava | Today’s poor oral health in SA is partly a legacy of apartheid
We need to confront the racialised and class-based structures that still dictate society's oral health outcomes, argues Dr Bulela Vava as we head toward the end of this year’s National Oral Health Mon...
www.spotlightnsp.co.za
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africacleanair.bsky.social
africacleanair.bsky.social @africacleanair.bsky.social · 20d
Battle to Breathe by @spotlightnsp.bsky.social exposes the heavy toll of #airpollution in Mpumalanga where health risks like asthma & premature deaths are on the rise.
This article raises urgent questions: Who is accountable? And what action is needed?
Read more: bit.ly/429z0nF
Battle to breathe: What we know about air pollution in Mpumalanga and people’s health
Journalist Sue Segar and photographer Thom Pierce recently visited Emalahleni in Mpumalanga to report on how air pollution is impacting the health of people in the area. In part 3 of this Spotlight sp...
bit.ly
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spotlightnsp.bsky.social
Spotlight @spotlightnsp.bsky.social · 26d
The Gauteng health department has an annual budget of around R67 billion. This is more than 20% of the South African government’s entire spending on health. For the corrupt, the Gauteng health department is an obvious target.

www.spotlightnsp.co.za/2025/09/19/e...
EDITORIAL | The rot runs deep: Gauteng Health’s dance of impunity betrays the people it is meant to serve
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...
www.spotlightnsp.co.za
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spotlightnsp.bsky.social
Spotlight @spotlightnsp.bsky.social · 26d
THE ROT RUNS DEEP | The Gauteng health department remains trapped in a cycle of institutional decay and administrative failure. The consequences are catastrophic. Find out more: shorturl.at/esHjA

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spotlightnsp.bsky.social
Spotlight @spotlightnsp.bsky.social · 26d
The lesson from history is clear: When lifesaving HIV treatment was delayed, millions died needlessly. We cannot afford the same mistake with HIV prevention, write Fatima Hassan, Leena Menghaney, and Bellinda Nkoana.

www.spotlightnsp.co.za/2025/09/09/a...
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spotlightnsp.bsky.social
Spotlight @spotlightnsp.bsky.social · 27d
ICYMI | The Western Cape Government is now the eighth group to litigate against the NHI Act. Spotlight combed through some of the founding affidavits and spoke with legal experts to get a sense of the arguments litigants are betting on.

www.spotlightnsp.co.za/2025/09/16/o...
On which legal arguments are the NHI court cases set to turn? Part 1: Affordability
Since President Cyril Ramaphposa signed the NHI Act into law last year in May, eight different groups have challenged it in court. One common argument is that it is irrational and unreasonable to rest...
www.spotlightnsp.co.za
spotlightnsp.bsky.social
Spotlight @spotlightnsp.bsky.social · 28d
CANCER CARE CRISIS | The Gauteng health department's late appeal to a court judgment compelling it to act on cancer treatment backlogs is raising more questions from activists about what the department believes it stands to lose from not following the ruling.
www.spotlightnsp.co.za/2025/09/17/c...
Cancer court battle rumbles on as Gauteng Health again appeals
Activists say the Gauteng department of health’s late appeal to a court judgement that compels it to act on cancer treatment backlogs is raising more questions about what the department believes it st...
www.spotlightnsp.co.za
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spotlightnsp.bsky.social
Spotlight @spotlightnsp.bsky.social · 29d
NHI PUSHBACK | A key argument in challenging the NHI ACT in court is that it's irrational and unreasonable to overhaul the health system when there’s no money to do so. Spotlight dissects how the argument is being applied.

www.spotlightnsp.co.za/2025/09/16/o...
On which legal arguments are the NHI court cases set to turn? Part 1: Affordability
Since President Cyril Ramaphposa signed the NHI Act into law last year in May, eight different groups have challenged it in court. One common argument is that it is irrational and unreasonable to rest...
www.spotlightnsp.co.za
1 1
spotlightnsp.bsky.social
Spotlight @spotlightnsp.bsky.social · 29d
MUST READ | A dire picture for HIV/Aids funding emerged at the 12th South African AIDS Conference, raising the call for resilience, adapting and also for government to raise its game.

www.spotlightnsp.co.za/2025/09/15/r...
Response to aid cuts and HIV prevention injections dominate discussions at SA AIDS conference
A dire picture for HIV/Aids funding emerged at the 12th South African AIDS Conference raising the call for resilience, adapting and also for government to raise its game, reports Ufrieda Ho.
www.spotlightnsp.co.za
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