Markets, attitudes and the war on drugs are the barriers that prevent patients having access to opioid-based pain medication. COMMENT The city in which a terminal cancer patient lives should not determine whether he or she suffers pain, or has…

REUTERS/Lucy NicholsonSara Hinojosa, 31, has her blood pressure read at a free medical and dental health clinic in Los Angeles, California, U.S., April 27, 2016. The most expensive drug in history is a money loser that’s not reaching patients. In fact,…

  Western anti-immunization movements have taken root in local communities resulting in some parents refusing to vaccinate their children. Nearly a third of South African children are not vaccinated, placing them at risk of catching serious diseases. This is, in…

The  buruli ulcer is considered to be a neglected tropical disease but is the third most common bacterial infection after tuberculosis and leprosy. Buruli ulcer is a skin infection that kills the cells and tissue in an affected area and…

WASHINGTON (AP) — They work for the government and even their closest relatives have no idea what they do. It’s not because they’re spies or nuclear scientists, but because their jobs are so arcane: trying to reinvent Medicare to improve…

New technology developed in the US allows a paralyzed man to move for the first time. U.S. researchers announced Wednesday the invention of a brain implant that allowed a man with paralyzed arms and legs to restore his finger, hand…

Big food is just one driving force behind unhealthy eating, and strategies are needed to cut the high cost of associated diseases. South Africans are becoming increasingly corpulent and it’s being driven by the  corporates, as well as cultural, social…

Women said they couldn’t afford to boil water and cook, so a local inventor rolled up his sleeves. A young girl follows her mother down a path that cuts a brown line through the bright green grass as they make…

Only six out of ten Angolan children have been vaccinated against yellow fever. Angola is currently experiencing the biggest yellow fever outbreak the country has seen in 30 years. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the outbreak, which has…

Now the fight is on to eliminate the illness entirely – and save those still at the mercy of the mosquito. In 15 years malaria deaths in Africa have more than halved – and deaths among children younger than five…