Bhekisisa Centre for Health Journalism

25/08/2025

From Khayelitsha to London. 🇬🇧 .health wrote a great little feature on some of our learners' work that is currently exhibited alongside the 🌍📸 at in London with a focus on , , and . 🙏 for the insightful words. Exhibition runs until 18 October 2025. Link in bio.

25/08/2025

Through their cameras, 17 learners from Khayelitsha are showing the world what they see every day: stagnant pools of water that pose serious health risks.

| Ehwoza

https://mailchi.mp/bhekisisa.org/8480782-15074108

25/08/2025

“Some people just don’t like music – it may be down to their brain wiring.” Read Rosaline Daniel’s pick for the latest . https://mailchi.mp/bhekisisa.org/8480782-15074108

25/08/2025

Khayelitsha photographers captured hope in the time of climate change: community recyclers, a soup kitchen and Gxarha's Kraal, a makeshift zoo where everyone is welcome.

When a group of learners headed out with their cameras to document infectious disease in the time of climate change, many came back with what they see every day. Dangerous, dirty, stagnant pools of water.

25/08/2025

When a group of learners headed out with their cameras to document infectious disease in the time of climate change, many came back with what they see every day. Dangerous, dirty, stagnant pools of water.

25/08/2025

When 17 learners from Khayelitsha were given cameras to document how they see climate change and infectious disease in their community, many came back with remarkably similar images: pools of stagnant, contaminated water that pose serious health risks.

"This water, it's all around the community," explains grade 11 learner Lihle Tyala. "It's very easy for children to play around with that water. We know that water is not healthy for them to consume."

Their photography collection, "Things We Left Unseen," is now featured alongside winners of the prestigious Wellcome Photography Prize in London, where health science meets photography from around the world.

Working with the Cape Town nonprofit Eh!woza and mentored by renowned artists and UCT health researchers, including Marc Mendelson and Alice McClure, these young photographers are bridging art and science to tell their own stories.

When a group of learners headed out with their cameras to document infectious disease in the time of climate change, many came back with what they see every day. Dangerous, dirty, stagnant pools of water.

25/08/2025

When sewage pipes burst in Khayelitsha during COVID-19, residents lived with polluted water in their homes for over two months.

Four years later, one Eh!woza learner returned to the stagnant pools still there.

When a group of learners headed out with their cameras to document infectious disease in the time of climate change, many came back with what they see every day. Dangerous, dirty, stagnant pools of water.

21/08/2025

“If these trends are not stopped, science is going to be destroyed.” Read Thatego Mashabela’s pick, from the New York Times, that warns of the dangers of fraudulent scientific papers. https://mailchi.mp/bhekisisa.org/8480782-15074103

21/08/2025

In our latest newsletter, read about the journey of Southern African HIV Clinicians Society's Ndiviwe Mphothulo — the student activist from Soweto who became an activist doctor for South Africa. https://mailchi.mp/bhekisisa.org/8480782-15074103

20/08/2025

In today’s newsletter, read about the journey of Southern African HIV Clinicians Society ’s Ndiviwe Mphothulo — the student activist from Soweto who became an activist doctor for South Africa.

https://mailchi.mp/bhekisisa.org/8480782-15074103

20/08/2025

"HIV activists have raised the alarm, saying there is a problem, and the government is once again in a state of denial."

As Trump's funding cuts have shattered South Africa's HIV programmes, Ndiviwe Mphothulo, the president of the Southern African HIV Clinicians Society, is watching a familiar pattern unfold.

Government officials are pointing to stocked clinic shelves, but missing the bigger picture. It's not about pills, he says, it's about reaching vulnerable populations, continuing cutting-edge research and maintaining the momentum toward ending HIV as a public health threat by 2030.

"In the mid-80s, lone voices were written off as lunatics," Mphothulo says about HIV activists. "In the 90s, even politicians like Chris Hani raised concerns, but government kept its ears closed. The same in the early 2000s, despite so many deaths."

Ndiviwe Mphothulo started in politics at the age of 12 in Soweto, where he was born with activism in his bloodline. Now, a medical doctor and the president of the Southern African HIV Clinicians Society, he’s trying to make sure the Trump administration’s funding cuts don’t collapse South Afri...

20/08/2025

Ndiviwe Mphothulo grew up in the 1980s amid police raids and tear gas in Soweto where activism wasn't a choice — it was survival. His grandmother fed anyone who came to her door in Qunu (the same village where Mandela went to school), and his mother picketed courts even after being arrested.

At 16, he negotiated the return of hijacked vehicles as a student leader. Now he’s president of the Southern African HIV Clinicians Society, where he’s trying to protect programmes shattered by US funding cuts.

"Before you criticise struggle heroes," he says, "first understand what it means to be an activist."

Read about Mphothulo’s journey from student activist to medical pioneer, and why his voice matters now more than ever.

Ndiviwe Mphothulo started in politics at the age of 12 in Soweto, where he was born with activism in his bloodline. Now, a medical doctor and the president of the Southern African HIV Clinicians Society, he’s trying to make sure the Trump administration’s funding cuts don’t collapse South Afri...