OVERLOOKED | Dr Hermann Reuter believes substance abuse is the country’s biggest health issue after HIV, but it's being ignored. Spotlight visited his NGO SAHARA in George to find out how he and his team are helping to change this. www.spotlightnsp.co.za/2026/08/03/d...

Dr Hermann Reuter says the biggest battle after HIV in SA is addiction - and it is being ignored

Dr Hermann Reuter did pioneering work treating HIV in the early 2000s in Cape Town and in the rural Eastern Cape. Today, his focus is substance abuse, which he believes is the country’s biggest health...

spotlightnsp.co.za

Positive interim findings on new once-weekly HIV treatment pill A new antiretroviral combination pill that is taken only once a week appears to work as well as daily pills at treating HIV....

Positive interim findings on new once-weekly HIV treatment pill

A new antiretroviral combination pill that is taken only once a week appears to work as well as daily pills at treating HIV. This is according to interim study findings...

spotlightnsp.co.za

A brief history of the Thembisa HIV model, by Leigh Johnson. A great overview of one of the most impressive infectious disease models around https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=7041598

What will be left for us to work on? | Discussion

What will be left for us to work on?

My keynote at ICML 2026

normaltech.ai

UP CLOSE | Being a researcher who studies tuberculosis in the lab is one thing, having the TB bug in your lungs is quite another. @elri-voigt.bsky.social sat down with two of a relatively small number of people who have experienced both. www.spotlightnsp.co.za/2026/07/13/f...

From test tubes to treatment: Two TB researchers on getting the ancient disease themselves

Being a researcher who studies tuberculosis in the lab is one thing, having the TB bug in your lungs is quite another. Elri Voigt sat down with two of a relatively small number of people who have expe...

spotlightnsp.co.za

The Msunduzi Local Municipality has spent R1.18-billion on a new public transport network that is still not operational. It started planning the project 15 years ago, but it has not moved beyond the first phase of construction. Read groundup.org.za/article/piet... by Joseph Bracken

Pietermaritzburg’s R1-billion transport flop

No buses operate on Msunduzi Municipality’s failed public transport system

groundup.org.za

IN THE SPOTLIGHT | Globally, childhood vaccines have saved an estimated 154 million lives since 1974. In this special briefing, we detail which vaccines are in used in South Africa. www.spotlightnsp.co.za/2026/07/01/i...

In The Spotlight | What is in SA’s vaccination schedule and how does it measure up?

Which vaccines are in use in South Africa and how does our vaccination schedule measure up to international standards? In this #InTheSpotlight special briefing, Catherine Tomlinson unpacks the recent ...

spotlightnsp.co.za

SA’s Constitutional Court has found that fair use provisions in the Copyright Amendment Bill are not unconstitutional, as some have argued. It is good to have that settled. The written judgement doesn’t seem to be online yet.

groundup.org.za/article/impo...

Important advance in TB treatment

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

groundup.org.za

SHINGLES VACCINE | A new, more effective shingles vaccine is finally set to hit the market in South Africa. The vaccine, Shingrix, should soon be available at private sector pharmacies, but availability in the public sector seems unlikely for the time being. www.spotlightnsp.co.za/2026/06/25/n...

New shingles vaccine to be launched in SA private sector, but affordability may limit access

Ten years after its launch in the United States, a new, more effective shingles vaccine is finally set to hit the market in South Africa. While the vaccine, called Shingrix, should soon be available a...

spotlightnsp.co.za

Ember, a native iOS Hacker News reader I built around accessibility | Discussion

GitHub - DatanoiseTV/ember-hackernews: Ember — a native, accessible Hacker News reader for iOS, built in SwiftUI with no third-party dependencies.

Ember — a native, accessible Hacker News reader for iOS, built in SwiftUI with no third-party dependencies. - DatanoiseTV/ember-hackernews

github.com

This is an excellent and important series from GroundUp. Unfortunately the South African government seems indifferent.

GroundUp News@groundup.org.za · 2mo ago

Government websites are insecure and a mess. The Constitution says that officials must provide us, the public, with “timely, accessible and accurate information”. The way that is done in the modern world is through websites. Read groundup.org.za/article/here... by Joel Cedras and Nathan Geffen

Our special briefing ahead of the launch of SA’s lenacapavir rollout

Spotlight@spotlightnsp.bsky.social · 2mo ago

A NEW ERA IN HIV PREVENTION | For the first time from 5 June, selected public sector clinics in South Africa will start offering a breakthrough HIV prevention injection. Read our special briefing on everything you need to know about lenacapavir: www.spotlightnsp.co.za/2026/06/03/i...

DELAYED AGAIN | Seven months after a Supreme Court of Appeal ruling allowed for specially trained pharmacists to dispense antiretroviral medicines without a doctor’s script, no pharmacists are yet providing these services. Spotlight explores why. www.spotlightnsp.co.za/2026/06/02/w...

Why pharmacists still can’t prescribe ARVs, months after court gave the green light

A Supreme Court of Appeal ruling in October 2025 cleared the way for specially trained and permitted pharmacists to dispense antiretroviral medicines without a doctor’s script. Seven months later, no ...

spotlightnsp.co.za

Our take on estimates from Thembisa 5.0

Spotlight@spotlightnsp.bsky.social · 3mo ago

SA's LATEST HIV NUMBERS ARE IN | 7.9 million people are living with HIV. Treatment coverage has crept up by just 40 000. And 53 000 HIV-related deaths were recorded. What does it all mean? Find out in our newsletter: tinyurl.com/3a7w5kya You can join our mailing list: tinyurl.com/82jdsfjy

JUST PUBLISHED | The number of people in South Africa on antiretroviral treatment remained roughly unchanged from 2024-2025, according to the newest estimates from the leading mathematical model of HIV in the country. Spotlight unpacks these latest numbers. www.spotlightnsp.co.za/2026/05/15/s...

SA’s ARV programme hardly grew in 2025, according to latest estimates

The number of people in South Africa on antiretroviral treatment remained roughly unchanged from 2024 to 2025, according to just-published estimates from the leading mathematical model of HIV in the c...

spotlightnsp.co.za

The latest CID supplement issue examines key aspects of tuberculosis (TB), including transmission, disease progression, diagnostic approaches, and treatment strategies. ↪️ https://bit.ly/3On4jaL

LENACAPAVIR IN KZN | Spotlight visited northern KwaZulu-Natal to see first-hand how collaborative efforts will bring a groundbreaking HIV prevention jab to an area where HIV infection rates remain stubbornly high. www.spotlightnsp.co.za/2026/05/11/a...

Along dusty roads in KZN, a push for a groundbreaking HIV prevention jab takes shape

Along dusty roads in northern KwaZulu-Natal, Biénne Huisman speaks to youth leaders, community mentors and leading scientists who are collaborating to bring a groundbreaking HIV prevention jab to this...

spotlightnsp.co.za

Makhudu Sefara stepped aside as editor of the Sunday Times and chair of the SANEF last week. This followed the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) naming him in an investigation into the alleged misuse of Lottery funds. Read groundup.org.za/article/sane... by GroundUp Editors

SANEF should do better than this

Its defensive response to recent criticism does not earn the public’s confidence in news media

groundup.org.za

THE STAKES ARE HIGH | The Constitutional Court will soon hear the first two of several major court challenges relating to the National Health Insurance Act. Read our newsletter for the crucial takeaways: tinyurl.com/bddwsha9 Join our mailing list: tinyurl.com/82jdsfjy

19 years ago, these 10 NGOs issued a statement opposing a WIPO broadcasting treaty. Not much has changed. web.archive.org/web/20070707...

Vaccines mean malaria deaths should be falling — not rising www.nature.com/articles/d41... Nature Editorial.

Vaccines mean malaria deaths should be falling — not rising

The tools exist to end this killer disease. It is the money and the will that are lacking.

nature.com

After a few weeks of playing with Claude Code, writing Rust code from scratch feels like waking up from an extended fever dream. Suddenly things are clear and concrete again.

We covered the US research funding cuts and their impact on SA in some detail last year. I’m glad we could circle back to it.

Spotlight@spotlightnsp.bsky.social · 4mo ago

CASH CRUNCH | Spotlight looks at what the South African Medical Research Council has done to weather the US health funding storm and what they have planned for the next few years: www.spotlightnsp.co.za/2026/04/15/s...

When are uncontrolled trials in TB scientifically and ethically justified: Borrowing wisdom from early AIDS clinical trials ✅ Just Accepted 🔗 https://bit.ly/4bPWGTk

MOOD MUSIC | The health department needs a world-class manager. President Cyril Ramaphosa’s decision for a new Director-General will say a lot about how serious he is about fixing our many health challenges, argues Spotlight editor @marcuslowx.bsky.social. www.spotlightnsp.co.za/2026/04/10/r...

Ramaphosa’s choice of Director-General for Health will test his commitment to building a capable state

When push comes to shove, President Cyril Ramaphosa’s talk of building a more capable state hasn’t always been backed up by the appointment of committed and capable people to key government positions. His decision regarding a new Director-General for health will say a lot about how serious he actually is about addressing the country’s many health challenges, argues Spotlight editor Marcus Low.

spotlightnsp.co.za

OUR BIG READ | Despite the urgent need for new tools to tackle obesity and weight-related illness in people with HIV, there has been very little research to date on GLP-1 use in people with HIV. www.spotlightnsp.co.za/2026/04/08/w...

What breakthrough weight loss meds might mean for people with HIV

In part 3 of a Spotlight special series on the role of new weight loss medicines like Ozempic in South Africa, we ask what these breakthrough jabs might mean for people living with HIV in the country....

spotlightnsp.co.za

Some healthcare workers in the public sector are allowed to moonlight in the private sector under certain conditions. But amid broader management dysfunction, many are bending these rules to avoid backlash. www.spotlightnsp.co.za/2026/04/07/m...

Moonlighting, money and morals in a looted health system

The Department of Health allows some public sector doctors and nurses to moonlight in the private sector, but the relevant policy and its implementation caused much controversy over the years. Set aga...

spotlightnsp.co.za

CCTV footage shows police officers repeatedly assaulting a Mowbray barber, Juma Igiranieza. Yet, two years later – some of the officers involved – have not only escaped justice, they remain on active duty. Read groundup.org.za/article/how-... by GroundUp Editors

How criminal cops escape justice

Delmore Manuel, Jermaine Conradie, and Leigh-Ann Maroon are getting away with torture

groundup.org.za

Diagnostic Yield of Tongue Swab- Compared to Sputum-Based Molecular Testing for Tuberculosis in Four High-Burden Countries ✅ Just Accepted 🔗 https://bit.ly/4dNKt2M