A recent study, which set out to understand the genetic makeup of the many different phages that live on the bacteria living on the cells of our skins, found that no fewer than 130 entirely new species. The study, Novel phages of healthy skin metaviromes from South Africa also hinted at directions for future research..
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University of the Western Cape research identifies 130 new skin viruses
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The Showdown at the UN: SA takes on the US for cheaper drugs
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When the US went to bat for Big Pharma in the fight against this killer disease, South Africa wasn’t having any of it. Here’s what happened next.
Graveyard cough, white plague, consumption. A killer by any name, TB has stalked the human race for aeons, lurking in crowded tenements or following miners deep underground, hanging in the air of our hospitals.
Always there, yet rarely spoken.
Today, it kills more people than HIV and malaria combined, the World Health Organisation (WHO) reports. In South Africa, Statistics South Africa’s latest data shows TB remains the leading cause of non-violent deaths.
Yet it took the United Nations 73 years to call a meeting on TB — and only because a very excitable South African health minister agitated enough for it.
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ATM pharmacy launches in Bloemfontein (Free State)
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Twin City Mall in Bloemfontein is the newest site for the innovative ATM pharmacy that gives patients with chronic illnesses repeat medication in under five minutes.
The Pharmacy Dispensing Unit (PDU) was unveiled on 25 September, during Pharmacy Month, at the central community shopping centre, which is on main transport routes and is open for extended hours including weekends and public holidays. The first such dispensing unit was launched in Alexandra in Gauteng in March this year.
The Pharmacy Dispensing Unit works like an ATM for medication, with Skype-like audio-visual interaction between patient and a remotely located tele-pharmacy contact centre. Patients are able to talk to pharmacists in a call centre 400km away in Centurion, Gauteng – showcasing the benefits of tele-pharmacy to patients in rural and outlying areas. This allows patients to access accurate medicine information and counselling from qualified pharmacy staff.
The dispensing data is hosted
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Smart hospitals in Africa set to achieve more high performance facilities
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The next generation of healthcare buildings will be very different from the hospitals, clinics and general practitioner (GP) surgeries we are familiar with today.
A revolution in building design is already underway, which has largely been prompted by an acceleration of technological innovation, changing population demographics, shifts in expectations of how healthcare should be provided and environmental considerations.
In the pursuit of a prosperous future of inclusive and sustainable growth, where all African people have a high standard of living, quality of life, sound health and well-being, learning from global trends and adapting these to suit African conditions may be the key to building successful networks of healthcare infrastructure and medical facilities across the continent.
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It’s now 90 years ago that Penicillin was discovered – and despite resistance, the future looks good for antibiotics
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When the NHS turned 70 this year, I was reminded of another anniversary which has had an enormous impact on healthcare over many years. Penicillin is 90 this year.
Discovered in September 1928 by Alexander Fleming, it was first used as a cure when George Paine treated eye infections with it in 1930. A method for mass production was devised by Howard Florey and Ernst Chain in 1940, and it was first mass produced in 1942, with half of that total supply used for one patient being treated for streptococcal septicaemia.
In 1944, 2.3m doses were produced in time for the Normandy landings of World War II. And it was then that the miracle of penicillin became clear. Soldiers who had previously died from septicaemia were surviving.
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CANCER:- Micorocoil localisation in treating early-stage lung cancer
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A breakthrough minimally invasive surgery technique, microcoil localisation, allows doctors to pinpoint and remove tiny nodules in early-stage lung cancer without damaging additional healthy tissue.
“Rather than cutting out an entire lobe, or potentially even an entire lung, we can just take out a small bit of tissue,” said Dr Jason Lempel, a thoracic radiologist at Cleveland Clinic in the United States. “We’re able to treat patients with early-stage lung cancers quickly and thus decrease the chance of the cancer spreading.”
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Cleveland Clinic is one of a handful of medical centre to offer the surgery. A review of the team’s first 20 cases has revealed a 100% success rate in retr
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New drug approved:- Cipla’s new triple-combination antiretroviral drug approved
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The South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) has approved Cipla’s latest first-line triple-combination antiretroviral (ARV) treatment for HIV.
The new combination medicine commonly referred to as TLD, is a combination of tenofovir (TDF), lamivudine (3TC) and dolutegravir (DTG).
In future, TLD will be manufactured at Cipla’s facilities in Durban and Uganda, reinforcing Cipla’s commitment to produce medicines in Africa for Africa and ensuring more affordable treatment for patients.
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Head of Manufacturing for Cipla South Africa, Ajay Kumar Pal, said the reason for the new formulation complexity related to the three different processes required for the three active pharm
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Will artificial intelligence change the face of patient care? The question remains … How!!
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There is no doubt that artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning will change the way healthcare is managed and delivered, particularly in helping patients in tangible and life-saving ways.
A recent Price Waterhouse Coopers (PwC) report found that the potential for both AI and robotics in healthcare is vast and that they are increasingly becoming immersed in the modern healthcare system. They allow for more seamless treatments, better decision making for doctor and patient alike, more effective diagnoses and even early detection of diseases.
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Dispensing medication
“A superb example of how AI is changing the face of healthcare on the ground level is in the prescr
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#InnovationMonth: How tech is transforming healthcare
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We're human. We're programmed for instant gratification. Using this principle, Discovery Health has built its very successful Vitality programme, which is a blueprint for other rewards schemes, not only in healthcare, but other sectors too.
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Revolutionise US 911 services to startup local tech
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RapidDeploy, a local tech startup, is set to modernise 911 services in the US, following a recent partnership with multinational telecommunications company AT&T.
The local tech startup that has revolutionised access to emergency services in South Africa, is set to modernise 911 for law enforcement, fire and emergency medical services in the United States. This follows a recent partnership with multinational telecommunications company AT&T.
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Steven Raucher, RapidDeploy CEO and co-founder, says “As a South African born company, we could not be more thrilled that our homegrown, non-traditional approach to emergency services is taking off in such a competitive overseas market. Most important
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Time to develop new malaria drugs before its too late
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It has been more than a century since Ronald Ross discovered that the female Anopheles mosquitoes transmit malaria. In the interim, the world has made unbelievable strides in the fight against malaria. But both the mosquito and the malaria parasite are wily foes with the ability to develop resistance against the tools we use against them.
A recent study, Malaria Futures for Africa (MalaFA), questioned malaria leaders in 14 African countries about their views on the fight against malaria. The report revealed that many of them are highly concerned about resistance to artemisinin combination therapies (ACTs) emerging. The early stages of resistance to ACTs, the current standard treatment recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO) against malaria, have emerged in Southeast Asia and been observed in several countries there.
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AI (Artificial Intelligence) doctors and engineers are coming – but they won’t be stealing high-skill jobs
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Google recently successfully put its DeepMind artificial intelligence system to work recognising eye diseases. With AI also being used to diagnose cancer, and the launch of AI-driven smartphone apps that can discuss symptoms and triage patients, it might sound like we’re not too far from the creation of a fully fledged AI doctor.
Similar progress is being made putting AI to work writing software and evaluating legal contracts. AI has even started to make its mark in the creative world, generating artworks and fashion, evaluating graphic design, and helping people to create music. So does AI pose a threat to highly skilled jobs in the same way it does to ones that involve simple, repetitive tasks?
New technology has been making workers redundant for hundreds of years. But advances in the various industrial revolutions have also always created other new jobs, and people have been able to adapt. In the end, successful technologies were those where human and machine
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Supply of medicine during strike by Sahpra will continue
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The South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (Sahpra) says it has developed contingency plans to ensure that its essential services are not disrupted during the ongoing protest action by the employees of the Department of Health.
Sahpra, which was established in February 2018 to replace the Medicines Control Council (MCC) as South Africa’s regulatory authority, continues with its work to ensure that health products available to the public are safe, effective and of good quality.
As the authority transitions from the MCC to Sahpra, it continues to be housed with the department employees in the Civitas building in Pretoria.
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Microplastics:- We are guinea pigs in a worldwide experiment
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One of the main problems with plastics is that although we may only need them fleetingly – seconds in the case of microbeads in personal care products, or minutes as in plastic grocery bags – they stick around for hundreds of years. Unfortunately, much of this plastic ends up as environmental pollution.
We’ve all seen the gruesome images of a sea turtle killed by a plastic bag, or the array of bottle caps, toothbrush fragments, and other plastic items found in the stomach of an albatross carcass. But what about the tiny microplastics that aren’t as readily visible?
Much of the hundreds of millions of tons of plastic waste in our oceans is made up of microplastics. These are defined as plastic beads, fibers or fragments with a diameter of less than five thousand micrometers (μm), equal to one-half centimeter. Nanoplastics are thousands of times tinier, with a diameter of less than 0.1 μm, and are also likely to be widely present. By comparison, a human hair ran
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By using the IoT to solve the healthcare puzzle
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Footprint Africa Business Solutions (FABS) moves from IoT development into healthcare by creating Doc-in-a-box and brings a plethora of medical tools and technologies for those living and working in rural areas.
There is a way to catch the challenges on the African continent in a web of innovation and ingenuity. It doesn’t involve extensive expense or investment in fresh and shiny technology either. Often, the best solution is one that takes what’s already in play and uses it in a different way. This is precisely what Footprint Africa Business Solutions (FABS) has done with their Doc-in-a-Box.
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IoT solutions that change the lives of people
“We moved our
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