HPV vaccination programme for schools shows great success

V vaccination programme is showing strong real-world success, significantly reducing infections with high-risk HPV-16 and HPV-18 strains among teenage girls. Research from Wits University found over an 80% drop in these strains in vaccinated girls compared with unvaccinated peers. The school-based initiative, launched in 2014, protects girls before sexual debut and remains effective even among those who later acquire HIV. The findings support continued investment in vaccination and suggest even greater benefits could come from adopting broader-coverage vaccines in future. – Business Day (20 March 2026)

Medical scheme audits ‘traumatise’ physiotherapists

Physiotherapists say medical scheme forensic audits are leaving them “fearful, stigmatised and traumatised”, according to new research from the University of Pretoria (UP). – Times LIVE (19 March 2026).

Children go hungry while millions aren’t spent

“In 2024, R197m was budgeted for the Department of Basic Education’s implementation of a pilot nutrition programme for early childhood development (ECD) centres, going up to R336m the following financial year,” reported Daily Maverick (20 March 2026).

Momentum Bonitas deal lifts market share to 30%

On 19 March Bloomberg reported: “The Momentum Bonitas deal is set to reshape SA’s tightly concentrated medical scheme administration market after Momentum Health won the tender to administer the Bonitas Medical Fund. The transfer takes effect on 1 June 2026 and is being positioned by Momentum as a springboard for further growth in a sector dominated by a handful of large players.” Momentum’s share of the medical scheme administ

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