Articles for Nathan Geffen

Success against deadly drug-resistant TB in rural KZN

Number of cases has dropped dramatically following bunch of health interventions

By

News | 16 July 2016

Complementary medicine companies are destroying consumer protection

Series of court actions aimed at Advertising Standards Authority

By and

Opinion | 30 May 2016

Treatment for everyone with HIV: what will it mean?

Patients will benefit and there will be fewer new infections

By

Information | 17 May 2016

Art and UCT: an opportunity to encourage debate

We need more art, not less

By

Opinion | 14 April 2016

Mbeki is wrong about death statistics

AIDS has for many years been by far the largest cause of death

By

Information | 14 March 2016

Clearing up two Mbeki misconceptions

There are two misconceptions by Mbeki and people defending him that I wish to debunk.

By

Information | 13 March 2016

Mbeki confirms he is an AIDS denialist

A virus can't cause a syndrome, he says

By

Opinion | 7 March 2016

Mbeki’s reputation is not in tatters because he was aloof

It's because his policies caused hundreds of thousands of avoidable deaths

By

Opinion | 1 February 2016

The banal evil of drug pricing

Martin Shkreli was the most hated man on the internet for a brief time this week. His company, Turing Pharmaceuticals, pushed up the price of a medicine, pyrimethamine, used to treat a life-threatening disease from $13.50 (approx R185) to $750 (approx R10,250) a pill.

Nathan Geffen

Opinion | 23 September 2015

Gays and sin: In limited defence of Zizipho Pae

In response to the United States Supreme Court’s decision recognising gay marriage, UCT Student Representative Council (SRC) vice-president Zizipho Pae wrote on her Facebook page on 28 June, “We are institutionalizing and normalizing sin! Sin. May God have mercy on us...”. Pae has subsequently continued to defend her statement.

Nathan Geffen

Opinion | 30 July 2015

Two massive medicine trials will change the way HIV is treated

Results of two large medicine trials, known as START and TEMPRANO, published this week show that the health of people with HIV will benefit from starting antiretroviral treatment earlier. These findings are a climax of a bit more than three decades of research on this relatively new disease.

Nathan Geffen

News | 22 July 2015

There’s no excuse, Minister: Here’s the proof

There are massive medicine stockouts in the public health system. These are mainly due to failures within the state system, not external problems such as global supply shortages that Minister of Health Aaron Motsoaledi has claimed are primarily responsible. Here’s the proof.

Ashleigh FurlongNathan Geffen

News | 30 June 2015

Where have all the medicines gone?

Drug shortages in South Africa’s health facilities have become a crisis. Today we report that Stanger Hospital and health facilities in Ilembe District KwaZulu-Natal are out of stock of over 200 products between them.

Ashleigh Furlong and Nathan Geffen

Feature | 6 June 2015

Start HIV treatment sooner, study shows

It’s important to start treating people with HIV sooner rather than later, according to the findings of a large clinical study which could change treatment in many countries including South Africa.

Nathan Geffen

News | 27 May 2015

Gauteng hospital shambles

A doctor at South Africa’s largest hospital, Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital (CHBAH) in Soweto, has described chaotic planning and management that is putting patient care at risk.

Nathan Geffen and Ben Stanwix

News | 4 May 2015

Good and bad approaches to upgrading informal settlements

In February the City of Cape Town’s Anti-Land Invasion Unit (ALIU) dismantled a family’s shack in Mfuleni. This acrimonious incident raises important questions about how informal settlements are to be upgraded.

Nathan Geffen

Opinion | 9 March 2015