Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

LightNews

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

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Spotlight @spotlightnsp.bsky.social · 16h

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

Spotlight @spotlightnsp.bsky.social · 1d

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

Spotlight @spotlightnsp.bsky.social · 3d

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

Spotlight @spotlightnsp.bsky.social · 4d

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

Reposted by Spotlight

Spotlight @spotlightnsp.bsky.social · 7d

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

Spotlight @spotlightnsp.bsky.social · 7d

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

Reposted by Spotlight

Spotlight @spotlightnsp.bsky.social · 9d

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

Spotlight @spotlightnsp.bsky.social · 9d

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

Spotlight @spotlightnsp.bsky.social · 11d

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

Spotlight @spotlightnsp.bsky.social · 14d

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

Spotlight @spotlightnsp.bsky.social · 15d

This is a major step toward the wide availability of HIV prevention jabs in SA

Unitaid @unitaid.bsky.social · 16d

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

Spotlight @spotlightnsp.bsky.social · 15d

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

Reposted by Spotlight

africacleanair.bsky.social @africacleanair.bsky.social · 16d

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...

Spotlight @spotlightnsp.bsky.social · 21d

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

Spotlight @spotlightnsp.bsky.social · 21d

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

Join our mailing list: shorturl.at/Ntzoa

Spotlight @spotlightnsp.bsky.social · 22d

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...

Spotlight @spotlightnsp.bsky.social · 22d

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

Spotlight @spotlightnsp.bsky.social · 23d

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

Spotlight @spotlightnsp.bsky.social · 24d

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

Spotlight @spotlightnsp.bsky.social · 25d

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

Spotlight @spotlightnsp.bsky.social · 28d

BATTLE TO BREATHE | From wheezing children to adults with lungs so damaged they can no longer work, the human impact of living near coal mines and power plants is stark. Find out more: shorturl.at/0DDTc

Join our mailing list: shorturl.at/Ntzoa

Spotlight @spotlightnsp.bsky.social · 29d

INFOGRAPH | There are still no clear plans for providing CAB-LA in South Africa’s public sector clinics, despite the four-year head start that it had on lenacapavir. By contrast, lenacapavir injections could be available in some select public sector clinics by April of next year.

Spotlight @spotlightnsp.bsky.social · Sep 10

BATTLE TO BREATHE | One of the complexities in reporting on air pollution in an area like Emalahleni is that the air often contains not only one problematic substance, but a soup of potentially harmful stuff.

www.spotlightnsp.co.za/2025/09/10/b...

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...

www.spotlightnsp.co.za

Reposted by Spotlight

UCT Epi & Biostats @epibiostats-uct.bsky.social · Sep 9

Incredible article on a fascinating case of a pregnancy bridging the Gugulethu Midwife Obstetrics Unit, Mowbray Maternity Hospital and Groote Schuur Hospital – a real health systems success story!
www.spotlightnsp.co.za/2025/09/08/h...
@uct-fhs-research.bsky.social @spotlightnsp.bsky.social

How a Cape Town mother gave birth to ‘miracle baby’ who grew outside her womb

Joshua was safely delivered from Sylvia’s belly instead of her uterus one year ago. Biénne Huisman meets mother and baby, and hears from some of the healthcare professionals involved in the remarkable...

www.spotlightnsp.co.za

Spotlight @spotlightnsp.bsky.social · Sep 9

MUST READ | As delegates convene at the SA AIDS Conference, they must publicly call out the demand for price secrecy from Gilead and the Global Fund for what it is: bullying, write Fatima Hassan, Leena Menghaney, and Bellinda Nkoana.

www.spotlightnsp.co.za/2025/09/09/a...

A new HIV prevention jab could end AIDS – unless secrecy and greed get in the way

A new HIV prevention jab has the potential to bring an end to the AIDS epidemic. But a lack of ambition and unjustifiable secrecy over pricing is holding it back, argue three leading health activists.

www.spotlightnsp.co.za