Children who play a lot learn skills such as sitting, crawling and standing quicker. Play also leads to better health and wellbeing as they grow older.
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Health + Medicine – Articles, Analysis, Comment
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Rural Tanzanians and those living in the city eat unhealthy diets, but their circumstances are very different.
Emotional, violent and sexual abuse are rife at an age when victims are scarred for life.
Corruption imposes mental health costs on individuals.
How students are taught has been shown to be as important as what they are taught.
A higher consumption of sugar leads to worse health outcomes, so we need to be mindful of the added sugar we eat.
Two out of five cases of TB remain undiagnosed. A test using a skin patch could help change that.
Mycotoxins contamination causes health issues. Paying attention to storage of agricultural produce can save many lives.
Same-sex relationships in Zulu culture are perceived as taboo and unAfrican. Some men who have sex with men avoid seeking care at health clinics.
Seven African countries have managed to reduce TB deaths by a third.
About 60% of the human body is made up of water. Excessive water loss can be fatal.
South Africa’s national survey of food and nutrition security identifies the areas most in need.
Sleep is an essential part of life. What happens when we don’t get enough sleep and how do we ensure that we do?
The world’s stockpile of cholera vaccines has run dry, bad news for cholera-ravaged southern Africa. Why is this and what is being done to address vaccine shortages in Africa?
Healthy mothers mean healthy babies. Giving pregnant women cash grants could help prevent conditions such as stunting.
Preterm babies born after 28 weeks can often survive with relatively simple medical care. Here is how.
Kenya’s smallholder farmers aren’t using antibiotics properly, some are of poor quality and some antibiotics are being found in milk.
A significant number of older adults in rural South Africa are HIV-positive. Awareness programmes and self-testing would reduce cases.
The use of medicinal plants in childhood diseases remains largely undocumented. A study in North West province in South Africa catalogued many of these for the first time.
Nearly half of South Africa’s 60 million people receive social grants. Health experts say they improve cognitive health among the elderly.
Agincourt, the University of the Witwatersrand’s rural research centre 500km from Johannesburg, has documented the lives of 120,000 people over decades.
Malaria in Africa accounts for 96% of deaths worldwide. Cape Verde became only the third country in Africa to be declared malaria free this year. This is how they did it.
Neglected tropical diseases are often associated with social exclusion as well as physical suffering. One billion people around the world suffer from these diseases.
Adolescent girls are more at risk during childbirth. Stigma and abuse by healthcare workers makes them less likely to seek medical care, putting their lives further in danger.
It takes a family to raise a child. Vulnerable children should not be treated in isolation. Family-centred interventions usually meet the complex needs of children.