Archive for the 'Medical' Category

A major study published in The Lancet this week suggests that for many people depression is a more serious problem than angina, arthritis, asthma and diabetes. And for those who suffer from depression as well as these other chronic diseases, their health is concomitantly worse – because of the depression. This study took place in [...]

In the run up to Breast Cancer Awareness month in October there is plenty of activity to raise awareness of this disease – no longer the automatic death sentence that it once was, thanks to improved detection methods. Women who have regular screening mammographies and who examine their own breasts regularly have a far higher [...]

Along with the recent furore over the sacking of one health minister and continuing office of another, infant and child mortality in South Africa has been hitting the headlines. The Medical Research Council’ss hard-hitting report on the unacceptable levels of child mortality in South Africa is backed up by a study on research priorities to [...]

Well, it is finally official – what medical research has known for some time – no nutritional programme will prevent the progression of HIV to the syndrome AIDS. Not even if it contains garlic, olive oil, beetroot and the much lauded African potato. These are the findings of a panel of South African scientists who [...]

This week has been dominated by the sacking of the Deputy Minister of Health, Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge, as she says, “for doing her job”. The fall out from this rash act will affect our health services for years to come. Madlala-Routledge was rightly acknowledged for her stand on HIV/AIDS – one of the few in government [...]

Thursday, 9 August is National Women’s Day. As a woman who is very much in control of my own life, making my own decisions and earning my own money, it is sometimes difficult to realise that the vast majority of women are not so fortunate. This week saw the publication of a study that suggests [...]

This week saw the release of two major studies suggesting that, contrary to popular opinion, cannabis is a potentially harmful drug. A review of many different studies of cannabis, published in the prestigious journal The Lancet suggests that smoking cannabis when young leads to a greater chance of developing a psychotic disease such as schizophrenia [...]