South Africa Urged to Secure Better Lenacapavir License Terms With Gilead Before Local Manufacturing
Michael Gwarisa Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has urged South Africa not to rush into local manufacturing of lenacapavir, an injectable HIV prevention drug, without first negotiating stronger, more equitable license terms or using a compulsory license to bypass patent restrictions. Their call follows a recent announcement by the South African government that it is negotiating
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Growing Awareness Slowly Reduces Stigma Around IVF Births in Zimbabwe
Michael Gwarisa For many years, in vitro fertilisation (IVF) has been widely misunderstood and heavily stigmatised in Zimbabwe and across much of Africa. The procedure, which involves fertilising an egg with sperm outside the body in a laboratory before transferring the embryo into the uterus, has often been dismissed as “unnatural” or seen as interfering
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Why climate change is a fight for reproductive justice in Zimbabwe
Michael Gwarisa In cities like Harare, climate crises such as extreme heat and flooding are not just headlines or weather reports; they are a direct theft of a woman’s power to decide her own future. When the floods surge, they do not just wash away roads; they shatter the promise of a safe journey into
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New Global Research Grants Open for Mental Health Nurse Practitioners to Study Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder
Michael Gwarisa Pharmaceutical company Alkermes plc has unveiled a new research funding initiative aimed at supporting psychiatric nurse practitioners who are working to improve treatment for serious mental health conditions. The company announced that applications for the first Alkermes Pathways APN Research Awards™ will officially open on March 16, 2026, offering funding opportunities to advanced
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Over 120,000 Cape Town Teenagers May Need Asthma Care as Pollen Seasons Lengthen
WATCH HERE: Struggling to Breathe: The Silent Burden of COPD & Asthma Michael Gwarisa in Cape Town, South Africa Health experts have warned of a growing asthma burden among children in Cape Town, South Africa, with data showing that over 17 percent of teenagers in the city have a history of asthma and could still
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Misinformation at the Heart of Clause 11 Deletion – Mushoriwa
Michael Gwarisa The Medical Services Amendment Bill [H.B. 6B, 2024] has returned to the National Assembly weeks after passing through the Senate with key amendments. One of the most controversial changes was the deletion of Clause 11, which sought to simplify access to safe abortion under conditions already permitted by Zimbabwean law. Currently, abortion is
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New Single-Pill HIV Treatments Show Strong Results in Global Trials
Michael Gwarisa Two new once-daily HIV treatments taken as a single pill have shown strong results in late-stage clinical trials, raising hopes for simpler treatment options for people living with the virus. The studies were presented at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections 2026 in Denver, United States. Researchers tested whether the new drugs
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If These Children Were on Planes, the World Would Never Look Away
Michael Gwarisa Visualise this: the world’s largest passenger plane, the Airbus A380, a double-deck giant capable of carrying more than 500 people. Now imagine one crashing, killing every child on board. Now imagine it happening again and again, more than thirty times. That is roughly the scale of the estimated 20,000 children killed across Gaza,
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US Clarifies Type of Health Data Requested in Zimbabwe Talks
Michael Gwarisa A United States official has clarified the nature of the health data Washington had requested from Zimbabwe during negotiations over a proposed US$367 million health cooperation deal that has since collapsed. Two weeks ago, a leaked document from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs directing the Ministry of Health and Child Care (MoHCC) and
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South Africa Launches Bid to Produce Lenacapavir as Region Seeks HIV Prevention Breakthrough
Michael Gwarisa South Africa has taken a significant step toward expanding access to next-generation HIV prevention by launching a process aimed at manufacturing lenacapavir, a long-acting injectable drug widely seen as a potential game-changer in the fight against HIV. The initiative forms part of a broader strategy by the government to strengthen regional pharmaceutical
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