As possibly the longest serving head of a Provincial Health Department in South Africa, Dr Craig Househam shares his autobiographical journey: From a youth growing up in apartheid, to a doctor, specialist paediatrician, and the extraordinary career in public service that followed. From the advent of democracy to the AIDS crisis, Dr Househam was at the coalface of South African healthcare. Journey with him as he regales the reader with analysis, anecdotes and insights into the people and decisions that have influenced healthcare in South Africa over the past 25 years. Walking the Road of Healthcare in South Africa: My 40-year Journey
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COVID-19 vaccination … it cannot be a government alone!
This week I accompanied my wife to apply for a new South African passport at a Home Affairs Office that I will not name but located within the Greater Cape Town area. The office opens its doors at 8am but when we arrived just after 6:30am on a midweek morning the queue stretched along the front of building and around a corner. This was where we joined the queue of South Africans patiently waiting in an orderly fashion in the dark for the doors to open. While most people were wearing masks there was no social distancing. Only as it became light did I notice the red lines painted on…
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The COVID-19 pandemic … is the message the problem?
Bill Maher is an American political commentator and television host of a talk show “Real Time” flighted on HBO. Recently he launched into a monologue on this show, as is his wont, addressing the issue of media reporting on the COVID-19 pandemic. Always controversial and provocative I enjoy his take on various issues with an understandable focus on America and things American. The monologue entitled, “Give it to me straight Doc!” started me thinking about the manner in which the South African media has and continues to report on the COVID-19 pandemic. Maher referred to the penchant of media to focus on the negative referring to their approach that, “If…